Developer has master plan for Millstone

BY JENNIFER KOHLHEPP
Staff Writer

MIGUEL JUAREZ staff Developer Gerald Baldachino Sr., of Millstone, drives his convertible Cadillac through the housing development he built next to Charleston Golf Course in Millstone. A local developer has what he considers a smart growth plan for Millstone Township.

Gerald Baldachino Sr., 68, a principal of Scenic Builders, has worked and lived in Millstone for 35 years. He has built more than 300 homes in the community since the 1980s.

“Sure I’m a developer,” Baldachino said. “But I’m also a farmer and a landowner, so I understand the town’s growth and all aspects of the situation.”

Baldachino wasn’t always a developer. He raced horses at the Meadowlands for more than 25 years.

“I had three farms in Millstone and grew hay and raised horses,” Baldachino said. “I had a successful career in racing and trading horses, but as I got older, I started having accidents.”

Even up until his last race, Baldachino said he had no intentions of becoming a developer.

“During my last race, I remember falling off the horse and smacking into the ground,” Baldachino said. “I remember hearing the horses and crowd around me, but all I could see was the sky. I remember thinking that I had to get out of the racing business, and I never did it again.”

He was so disenchanted with what became of his racing career that Baldachino made a knee-jerk reaction and put his three farms in Millstone up for sale.

“I sold one within the first week and got a lump some of money,” Baldachino said. “I started buying and selling other properties on a whim and soon became knowledgeable about land regulations. I love Millstone, and at the time of the real estate recession, I saw its development path changing, and I thought, and still think, I know the best way to go.”

Baldachino said he recognizes Millstone Township officials are trying to make it more difficult than ever for developers to build in the township in an effort to preserve the township’s rural character.

“Officials have created a situation where they’re only allowing 10-acre zoning in the township,” Baldachino said. “But, what they don’t realize is that, as a developer, I don’t care if the township has 2,4,8 or 10-acre zoning. I buy land based on the number of lots I can get.”

Baldachino said he currently pays approximately $250,000 for each buildable lot when he buys out a property.

Baldachino said the 10-acre zoning rule is hurting farmers and landowners, like himself, in the township.

“As farmers, under the 10-acre zoning rule, we would lose two-thirds of any profit we would get in surrounding towns if we sold off our farms,” Baldachino said.

The township needs to work hand-in-hand with farmers and developers to achieve the best development plan, according to Baldachino.

“Township officials have to get all of the landowners together and admit that 10-acre zoning hurt them,” Baldachino said. “Then, officials have to give the people an incentive to save their farms.”

In his experience, Baldachino said farmers usually want to keep their property to farm and to pass on to future generations.

“Traditionally, the only time a farming family would build a home on a property was when they had children or had a bad crop season,” Baldachino said. “A family with a bad season would build a house and rent it out, just so they could get by that year.”

Baldachino said many Millstone farmers still don’t want to develop their property unless they have to. He suggested that township officials create an incentive program for them that would motivate them to hold onto their land.

“Tell the farmers that if they stay on their property for x amount of years, they will get one developable lot,” Baldachino said. “Then, if their family stays on the farm for 10 years, they get more, and so on and so on. This would give the farmers the relief they need, if they need it, and would keep the rural character of Millstone long into the future.”

Baldachino said such an incentive program would limit any residential development to large homes situated on 4-acre lots.

“We would end up with homes like those in my developments, that take into consideration the character of the town and the need to keep open space,” Baldachino said.

Baldachino said he fears the township is leaving itself open for a lawsuit.

“By taking a chance and creating 10-acre zoning rules to keep developers out, I think officials are jeopardizing the township,” Baldachino said. “Any day a big developer could come in and sue the town to build townhouses or condominiums. Who knows if they would win, but why risk it.”

Baldachino estimates there are approximately 10,000 developable acres left in Millstone. Currently, he owns about 200 acres, already subdivided. He also owns a few other parcels of 8, 20 and 35 acres that he calls “of no significance.”

“If we do this right, we would build about 800 more houses in town over many years and then stop development, instead of ending up with thousands of more cheap residential units,” Baldachino said.

Baldachino said Millstone would profit from working with local developers.

“I’ve been telling people for years that if Millstone officials would just work with people from the community, they would get whatever they wanted,” Baldachino said. “They would never have to buy another piece of property again.”

For example, Baldachino said, “With 10-acre zoning, a developer will come in and build 10 houses, but if officials work with a developer, the developer could buy the farm, build 10 houses on 10 acres and have the rest of the land for horses or alfalfa or a new municipal building or school.”

Over the years, Baldachino said he’s donated about 100 acres to the township. He said he also bought Scenic View, a horse farm for $670,000 in 1995, repaired the horse tracks and buildings, and then sold it to the township for $900,000 a few years later.

“I spent $100,000 or so fixing up the place, but officials came to me and said they really wanted it for a recreational area,” Baldachino said. “I could have made a lot more money by selling it to someone else, but it’s my hometown and I knew everyone would benefit from it. That’s how we can work together.”

If officials chose to work with developers who build large estate homes, Baldachino said the township would profit with good ratables, Baldachino said.

“Our tax rate is 2 percent lower than most towns and in my opinion it’s because 94 percent of our tax ratables come from large estate homes,” Baldachino said. “If we didn’t have these kinds of homes in town, there would be no schools.”

When asked about how school-age children in the new homes could offset property tax profits for the township, Baldachino said, “That’s the biggest misconception about developers is that we bring in 2.5 children per house.”

According to information Baldachino gathered from the Millstone Township Board of Education and the Millstone Township Tax Collector, in 1998 Millstone had 2,532 homes and 1,589 children in Millstone public schools. In 2004, Millstone had 3,057 homes and 2,237 children attending Millstone public schools.

“We’ve gone from having .63 kids per household to .73 kids per household and we could keep the increase at a minimum with a smart growth plan,” Baldachino said.

As a developer with both developable and built-out properties in Millstone, Matawan and as far away as Pennsylvania, Baldachino said the township’s current zoning laws don’t bother him.

“I have other interests outside of Millstone, so if I could never build another house in the township, it wouldn’t bother me,” Baldachino said.

As a landowner, Baldachino said the 10-acre zoning rule bothers him because his sons or daughter might want to sell the family’s land one day and they wouldn’t profit as much as farmers in surrounding towns.

As a resident, Baldachino said he questions the future of Millstone.

“If we keep doing what we’re doing and not working together, things will drastically change,” Baldachino said. “I have children here, horses here and my home here and I want to try to preserve the town the way it is, but there is more development in its future and we should make sure we do it the right way.”