Land use tops Upper Freehold's '08 issues

The Upper Freehold Township Committee had a busy and productive year in 2008.

CHRIS KELLY staff The new Upper Freehold Regional Middle School takes shape off Breza Road and Route 524. After three years of discussion, the governing body finally adopted master plan revisions and changed residential zoning from 3-acre and 5-acre lots to 6-acre and 10-acre lots.

The governing body made township history this year by getting its first-ever female member when Lori Horsnall Mount was sworn in on Jan. 3. Her former schoolmate, Stanley Moslowski Jr., also took the oath of office as a new committeeman.

Steve Alexander became mayor in a 3-2 vote, with Moslowski and Committeeman David Reed voting against the choice. The Township Committee also voted to hire a new planner, Charles Newcomb, of the firm Banisch Associates.

In February, the executive director of Project Freedom, an organization that develops housing for people with disabilities, appeared before the committee and the governing body started looking at various ways to fulfill its Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) obligation. The committee considered working with Project Freedom in conjunction with the Occupational Training Center (OTC), a Mount Holly-based nonprofit that provides employment for people with disabilities and works with the local school district to provide janitorial services.

In March, the committee passed resolutions to raise recreation program fees for nonresidents. Neighboring Allentown's Borough Council protested the fee differentiation. In later meetings, the committee noted that recreation costs almost 5 percent of the municipal budget. Reed said the township gave Upper Freehold residents a $10 discount because their taxes pay to maintain the fields used for the programs.

In April, the committee approved a bond ordinance for $535,000 to be used toward the purchase of a four-wheel-drive wheel loader and a 5-cubic-yard dump truck with a snowplow and stainless steel sander for the township's Department of Public Works. Due to various technical problems, the ordinance had to be redone several times and was not actually passed until November.

The township's $6.5 million 2008-09 budget, passed earlier this year, means a house assessed at the township's average of $519,800 will pay an estimated $125 more in municipal taxes. Residents also have to pay $21 in county taxes and $52 in regional school taxes.

Land, located on the northeast side of Breza Road, that was the focus of several development plans over the years, including a golf course community and large commercial warehouses, was permanently preserved in 2008. The Trust for Public Land (TPL), a nonprofit land conservation organization, negotiated the $4.4 million purchase of the 101-acre property, which is located in both Upper Freehold and Allentown, through a partnership with both towns and the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Green Acres Program, the Monmouth Conservation Foundation (MCF), Monmouth County and private donors.

Two Republican candidates vied in the June primary for their party's nod to seek election in November to the one available Township Committee seat. Newcomers Bryan Scheff and Robert Frascella contended for the seat Republican Committeeman David Reed declined to run for again. Frascella won the party nomination and the November election. No Democrats ran in either election.

The Township Committee created the Upper Freehold Township Veterans Council in April.

In June, Princeton Nurseries held an equipment auction, as the company plans to phase out its operations by 2010. With 1,800 acres, the company is the largest landowner in Upper Freehold.

In July, the Township Committee unanimously approved a resolution to purchase a new brush truck for Hope Fire Company, which services both the township and Allentown.

The township wanted to join other towns in legally challenging the state's new COAH regulations, but it did not get the opportunity to do so. Township Attorney Granville Magee said Stuart Koenig, the lead attorney for the numerous towns in the suit, indicated that Upper Freehold would not be a good party to his lawsuit. At the time, Alexander noted that Upper Freehold would change to larger lot zoning, which factored into the decision to keep Upper Freehold out of the lawsuit.

The township did win another battle with the state this year. Gov. Jon Corzine's office sent letters to 89 small and/or rural municipalities stating they would have to start paying for New Jersey State Police patrols they have had since the 1920s. Along with the taxes residents already pay toward this service, Upper Freehold was scheduled to pay an additional $254,065. At the time, Alexander said Upper Freehold would not just roll over and pay the new bill, which would result in a 2-cent per $100 of assessed value increase in residents' taxes. He urged every town involved in the issue to question its bill. On Oct. 23, the state's Council on Local Mandates nullified provisions of the state budget that would have required the 89 municipalities to pay a total of $12.5 million for State Police service.

In September, Open Space Committee (OSC) Chairwoman Liz Kwasnik gave the committee a presentation to make the case for an open space referendum, which would increase taxes for the average homeowner by $80 per year if approved on the November ballot. Voters ultimately passed the referendum for a 2-cent increase in the open space tax.

The governing body reviewed the nonresidential zoning changes the Planning Board recommended in the new land use plan it adopted in December. Newcomb did not recommend that the committee accept all of the board's commercial zoning recommendations. He said the governing body should change the proposed HD zone near interchange eight of Interstate 1-195 on Old York Road to CC, as the permitted uses in a CC zone are more compatible with existing and proposed residential development along the northern section of the road. He also recommended the governing body change the current HD zone along Route 537 to a CC zone between Meirs Road and Route 539, due to the extensive wetlands in the area.

While the board also recommended eliminating the General Industrial (GI) district by expanding the CC zone, the Township Committee decided to keep the GI designation. The committee also decided to keep the Research, Office and Manufacturing (ROM) zone along Route 524, despite board recommendations not to.

Imlaystown residents were glad to hear that their village would not undergo zoning changes. In October, Newcomb said that after the public voiced concerns at an earlier meeting, the implementation of the Village Neighborhood (VN) zoning designation would be split into two ordinances. One ordinance would be called VNI, for Imlaystown, and would not make changes to the village's current zoning. The second ordinance would be called VNH, for Hornerstown, and would expand permitted land uses in that village.

During a special meeting at Allentown High School Nov. 25, the Planning Board and Township Committee unanimously voted to pass a resolution adopting the Housing Plan Element and Fair Share Plan of the master plan to deal with the municipality's COAH obligation.

The Township Committee would later discover that the 45-acre parcel on Breza Road, scheduled for preservation but also being considered as a site for COAH units, has contamination issues. Alexander said the committee was advised that there is contamination on the portion of the site known as phase two of the Breza Road preservation project, and it wants to do its due diligence prior to closing on the tract. He said the township wants to review the reports it has received and conduct its own studies to feel comfortable with any decision made for the parcel.

When landowners along Route 537 protested the township changing the zoning of their properties from Highway Development (HD) to Community Commercial (CC) at a Dec. 18 public hearing, the governing body listened. To finish off its busy year, the committee voted unanimously against changing the zoning, which had been recommended by Newcomb.