South Brunswick Planning Board chairman’s tenure scrutinized

Before Frank Antisell sprains his arm patting himself on the back, let’s look at a more complete picture of his tenure as South Brunswick’s Planning Board chairman.

As a member of the Planned Adult Residential Community subcommittee, he urged Toll Brothers to speed up their application to rezone a patchwork of about 20 properties bundled together, totaling 225 acres, to a density four times its current zoning. Township residents strongly opposed this high-density land grab.

According to the mayor, he erroneously advised her to recuse herself from considering the rezoning of the largest tract of undeveloped land west of Route 1.

After the hearing of this rezoning request, despite erroneous, evasive and misleading testimony by Toll Brothers’ hired "experts," Mr. Antisell led the charge to reduce to five minutes the time residents might question these "experts." Only after the public outcry did he amend this decision.

The Planning Board, by a vote of 6-3, voted down this ill-advised rezoning after lengthy consideration. Mr. Antisell, who voted in the minority, clearly feels more comfortable voting for the interests of those who might move to this high-density community within South Brunswick rather than speaking up for the folks who are already here.

Keith Rasmussen

South Brunswick