JEFF HUNTLEY It’s a familiar sight in Monmouth County — new homes such as these at Forge Mill Estates, off Route 526, Upper Freehold Township, rising every day and bringing more residents to a county ranked as one of the premier residential areas in the United States.
IIn sheer numbers, Western Monmouth County continues to be the center of the population explosion that occurred in the county as a whole during the last decade.
According to a report released by the Monmouth County Planning Board, the county’s 53 municipalities experienced, on the average, a 13 percent growth in population from 1990 to 2000 — from a total of 553,124 to 623,694 residents.
Of the seven municipalities that have accounted for 72 percent of this growth, four are in Freehold area — Marlboro, Howell, Freehold Township and Manalapan — and each experienced at least double the county’s 13 percent overall increase.
Even Colts Neck showed a significant increase with 2,028 new residents over the last 10 years, a 23.7 percent increase from 8,559 residents in 1990 to an estimated 10,587 residents in 2000.
Percentage-wise, Millstone Township, which borders Freehold Township and Manalapan, experienced the largest pop-ulation explosion in the county in the last 10 years — 70.2 percent — from 5,069 to 8,626 residents.
Marlboro was also among the leaders in percentage growth — a 38.7 percent increase from 27,974 residents in 1990 to an estimated 38,7986 residents in 2000, an addition of 10,812 new residents in the last 10 years.
Englishtown, because of the construction of several new residential developments and an assisted living facility, is among the leaders in percentage growth, increasing 30.2 percent from 1,268 residents in 1990 to an estimated 1,651 residents in 2000.
New residents in Freehold Township jumped 29.6 percent in the last 10 years, from 24,710 in 1990 to an estimated 32,028 in 2000.
Manalapan’s population increased 26.9 percent during the same period, from 26,716 residents in 1990 to an estimated 33,093 residents in 2000.
Howell’s population increase over the last decade was 24.5 percent, from 38,987 in 1990 to an estimated 48,535 residents in 2000.
The boroughs of Freehold and Farmingdale showed the least growth in the last 10 years — Freehold, 0.3 percent, from 10,742 in 1990 to an estimated 10,777 residents in 2000; and Farmingdale, 1.9 percent, from 1,462 in 1990 to an estimated 1,490 residents in 2000.
However, Freehold Borough’s numbers may be the most misleading because of the many immigrants who have flocked into the county seat in the last decade— many of whom officials believe to be undocumented — that may have thrown estimates of the town’s population off.
"I think the borough’s actual population may be closer to 11,500," Freehold Borough Mayor Michael Wilson said.
Out in the "panhandle" region of Western Monmouth, Upper Freehold Town-ship, the most rural of the county’s com-munities, was also among the percentage leaders in population growth — 31.4 percent — going from 3,277 residents in 1990 to an estimated 4,304 residents in 2000.
The boroughs of Roosevelt and Allentown experienced minimal population growth, Roosevelt increasing 1.5 percent, from 884 in 1990 to an estimated 897 residents in 2000, and Allentown increasing 3.7 percent, from 1,828 in 1990 to an estimated 1,932 residents in 2000.
The population figures recently released by the county Planning Board were derived as a result of an annual survey of municipal certificates of occupancy and demolition permits in each of the county’s 53 municipalities.
IIt is certain that school districts feel the impact of the population explosion as much or more than any other element of a community’s infrastructure, as is clearly indicated by developments in Western Monmouth County in recent years.
Currently, and within the last five years, almost every school district in Western Monmouth County has undertaken or completed school construction projects, and some school officials said the end may not yet be in sight.
These include:
• Colts Neck School District — currently making plans to build a new elementary school approved in a recent referendum.
• Freehold Regional High School District — built and opened a new high school in Colts Neck two years ago; currently undertaking a $69 million project to make additions and renovations to all six of its high schools.
• Freehold Borough School District — completed additions to three schools; planning to build an addition for an early childhood program at the Freehold Learning Center.
• Freehold Township School District — completed additions and renovations at all district schools.
• Howell School District — built and opened a second middle school in September 1999.
• Manalapan-Englishtown Regional School District — currently building a new elementary school on Millhurst Road.
• Marlboro School District — in planning stages to build a second middle school, on Nolan Road, and an early childhood learning center, on Tennent Road.
• Millstone Township School District — built and opened a new elementary school.
• Upper Freehold Regional School District — completed additions and renovations to the elementary-middle school.
Dr. David Abbott, now in his third year as the superintendent of schools of the Marlboro School District, and the Marlboro Board of Education have been forced to deal with the dramatic population explosion in the municipality.
According to figures provided by Abbott, over the last nine years student enrollment grew from 3,770 pupils in the 1991-92 school year to 5,259 as of December 1999, or 1,489 additional students, an aggregate increase of 39.9 percent, and an average annual increase of 4.39 percent.
The January 2000 superintendent’s report pointed out that 28 percent of Marlboro’s current school enrollment is a result of residential growth since the 1991-92 school year.
"I have no doubt that school districts are the part of a community’s infrastructure that are most impacted by such increases in population," Abbott told Greater Media Newspapers, which publishes the Examiner. "We must deal with these population increases in our schools so that we can continue to provide quality education for our students."
Even with additions and renovations completed in a project in the mid-1990s, the Marlboro district still faces the prospect of overcrowding at all schools in the foreseeable future, according to the school board report.
"The use of trailers has allowed us to deal with the overcrowding problem," Abbott said. "After all the additions and renovations were made, we placed 14 trailers at five schools to help deal with the situation. We have recommended that one more trailer be added for next year."
Abbott said that such school population growth places a significant financial burden on a municipality.
However, there are other elements of a community’s infrastructure that feel the strain of population explosions.
Most Western Monmouth County communities have added more police officers over the last few years to deal with increasing populations. Federal grants have helped to soften the initial financial impact of hiring new officers.
More people also means more traffic on already overcrowded local, county and state roads. Many of the newcomers to Western Monmouth must commute to such places as New York City to reach their places of employment.
Route 9, the main state thoroughfare through Western Monmouth, is bulging at the seams with cars, trucks and buses. Local roads in more rural communities such as Millstone Township and Upper Freehold Township have also borne the weight of increased traffic volume.
One option seen as a way of reducing the strain on area roads — at least during the morning and evening rush hours — is the resumption after nearly half a century of passenger rail service through the northern Ocean County, Western Monmouth and southern Middlesex County region. But even if all goes according to plan with a passenger rail line, service would not begin for at least seven to 10 years, according to the estimates of NJ Transit administrators.
With a continuing strong economy and a high demand for housing, there appears to be no end in sight to the population increase that has been going on in Monmouth County for the last 10 years.