Decision may
be coming on
adult homes
BY KATHY BARATTA
Staff Writer
HOWELL — A vote is expected tonight on a Planning Board application that has become the center of attention in the community.
The meeting will begin at 7 p.m.
Colts Neck Crossing is proposed as a 500-home age-restricted gated community to be built on 334 acres bounded by Route 33 and Cranberry, Yellow Brook and Colts Neck roads.
Tonight’s expected vote will be for preliminary site plan approval for the construction of the 500 homes, six open space lots, a clubhouse and recreation areas scattered throughout the adult community.
If the homes are approved tonight, a separate application will follow for a commercial component consisting of boutique stores in a strip mall.
The applicant is Crawford Holdings, whose principals are Terry Sherman of Holmdel and Anthony Spalliero of Hazlet.
Concession seemed to be the order of the day at an Oct. 9 Planning Board meeting as Sherman agreed to shift lots to decrease wetland encroachment, increase buffer zones and consider including a 10 percent affordable housing component among the 500 homes for sale.
Resident Jay Migliaccio was the first person to request that the Colts Neck Crossing application include housing that would be sold at below market prices to people whose income meets regional guidelines established by the state Council On Affordable Housing.
As presented by the applicant, all 500 homes would be sold at fair market prices.
Responding to Migliaccio, Sherman said the developers would make monetary contributions toward Howell’s state-mandated affordable housing obligation, but would not make any of the Colts Neck Crossing homes available at below market prices.
Sherman has previously said the price of the homes at Colts Neck Crossing will start at about $300,000.
Migliaccio’s request for affordable housing in the development was later put forth by Mayor Timothy J. Konopka, who sits on the board. Konopka requested that 10 percent (50 homes) of the homes at Colts Neck Crossing be set aside as affordable housing.
Konopka told Sherman that if he and Spalliero agreed to set aside 10 percent of the homes for affordable housing, it would be "a gesture of good faith."
"We’ll take it under consideration," Sherman said.
Board chairwoman Pauline Smith told Sherman he also needed to remember that some of the neighboring residents’ families had homes in the area for generations.
In asking that adequate buffers be constructed and that garbage bins be placed on the opposite side of any existing homes, Smith said, "I’m begging you to please not affect these people’s lifestyle."
Attorney Sal Alfieri, representing Crawford Holdings, told board members the builders are willing to make "every concession to make any changes that preclude waivers."
Sherman assured Smith the garbage bins would be properly located away from any homes or nearby property lines.
Said Alfieri, "We are faced with an ordinance change so we want the application to be in absolute compliance with all ordinances."
Alfieri was referring to an ordinance that was introduced by the Township Council last week that could void the Colts Neck Crossing application through a zoning change. The ordinance introduced by the council in a 3-1 vote on Oct. 7 would rezone the 334-acre tract from planned retirement community back to highway development.
Kenneth Fears, the board’s traffic engineer, said statistics indicate that traffic generated by an age-restricted community is less than that generated by a regular residential community.
Also, board attorney Ronald Cucchiaro reminded everyone that under the law, the applicant could volunteer to include any donations to the community he wished to make, but he said the board could not make any compensatory requests of the applicant, such as for equipment or buildings for emergency services as had been requested by residents who spoke during the public hearings.