HOLMDEL – A judge will conduct a public hearing on an appeal of a decision of the Holmdel Zoning Board of Adjustment denying the application of New Jersey Natural Gas (NJNG) for the construction of a proposed regulator station on a 16-acre tract at 960 Holmdel Road.
The judge from the New Jersey Office of Administrative Law will hold the hearing at 6 p.m. on Feb. 13 at the Holmdel Senior/Community Center, which is located at 6 Crawfords Corner Road.
During the hearing, members of the public will have an opportunity to be heard and/or to submit written comments or statements, according to a notice posted on the Holmdel municipal website.
Written comments or statements may also be submitted directly to the clerk of the Office of Administrative Law, 33 Washington St., Newark, NJ 07102 or to Aida Camacho-Welch, Secretary, New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, 44 South Clinton Ave., 3rd Floor, Suite 314, P.O. Box 350, Trenton, NJ 08625-0350.
Comments, if any, should be identified with the heading “In the Matter of the Petition of New Jersey Natural Gas Company for a Determination Concerning Holmdel Regulator Station Pursuant to NJSA 40:55D-19, BPU Docket No. GO18111257: OAL Docket No. PUC 17810-2018S.”
During a Township Committee meeting on Jan. 14, Mayor Gregory Buontempo announced the Feb. 13 hearing and he encouraged residents to “contact your friends and neighbors and have them come out to that hearing. We (the township) are completely against this project and we are going to do everything in our power to stop it.”
Representatives of NJNG have been attempting to secure municipal approval for a regulator station in Holmdel for several years.
In 2016, the zoning board denied the company’s proposal to construct a regulator station at 970 Holmdel Road.
In 2018, the zoning board denied the company’s proposal to construct a regulator station at 960 Holmdel Road.
NJNG is a statewide supplier of natural gas and serves more than 525,000 customers in Monmouth, Ocean, Morris, Middlesex and Burlington counties, according to its website.