Perfect Timing As Latest Robo-Call Counters RedBankGreen Fluff Piece On Bamm Hollow Development

Earlier today I was surfing my favorite website and found a fluff piece on RedBankGreen.com concerning some old news about the redevelopment of the Bamm Hollow Country Club in Lincroft. I was going to post about it but I got dragged away until now, which as circumstances will have it was a good thing, because an hour or so later after reading how Township "OFFICIALS TOUT BAMM HOLLOW OPEN SPACE", the telephone rang.

On the other end of the phone was another robo-call issued by the group calling themselves "Concerned Citizens of Middletown". It stated how the addition of 500 homes in and around Lincroft is will be eroding the quality of life of residents in Middletown.

I copied the message off of my answering machine and have it posted below, along with a transcript for anyone interested in hearing it.

It must have been a slow news day for Dustin Racioppi and the RedBankGreen, as I said the story is old and is reporting on what was said in May when the court case was settled.

Middletown, as Township Attorney Brian Nelson (how come Township Administrator Tony Mercantante or Assistant Administrator James Van Nest didn't talk to RBG about this?) would like everyone to believe, did not win big.

Bam Hollow was originally zoned for 50 homes. The original proposal was to increase it to 200 homes. The Plannig Board said no and Bamm Hollow sued for 1,200. The Township setteld for 190. So who actually won big time here?

Brian Nelson and friends were not going to win the lawsuit, which is why they settled. They spent hundreds of thousands of dollars fighting it, so it is apparent who won big time. The lawyers hired by the Township to fight a losing battle. the open space would have been there
regardless.

(Concerned Citizens Robo-Call #6: Eroding the Quality Of Life)


Have you heard the quality of life in Middletown, according to Money Magazine, has dropped 39% during the past four years?

Poor planning and dense re-zoning by Middletown politicians led to approval for over 500 new homes in Lincroft and Bamm Hollow.

Increased density will further erode our declining quality of life, and compete with homeowner’s unable to sell their homes in this dismal economy.

It’s time to clean house and throw-out incumbent politicians.

(Paid for by Concerned Citizens of Middletown)

Interesting Timing Behind Bamm Hollow Resolution

With all the hoopla surrounding the redevelopment of the Avaya industrial site in Lincroft which is calling for 342 housing units to be built, I find a resolution on the docket for approval at tonight's Township Committee meeting in Middletown interesting in it's timing.

Resolution No. 11-169 , which authorizes the settlement agreement between Bamm Hollow builders and the Township, seems to be an attempt by the Township to sugarcoat the history behind the redevelopment of the Bamm Hollow Country Club property, in a way that show outspoken community groups like SONIC and the Lincroft Village Green Association that the Township Committee is really looking out for their best interests and are not really interested in building high density housing in Lincroft.

Unfortunately though we know differently.

Bamm Hollow developers originally wanted to build 200-300 homes on the site when plans were first proposed with no COAH units, I was told. The Township objected to the initial development due to the it's size and wanted the developers to scale it back a bit.

After further discussions took place, the Township approached the Bamm Hollow developers, along with several other land owners, wanted to know if they would be interested in having their properties included in the Township's Master Plan for residential development. Many of them (including Bamm Hollow) agreed to join the Township's planned most of them then had their properties rezoned from commercial properties to residential (Avaya being an example).

From what I had been told, the Bamm Hollow property and the Avaya property where then (on paper) combined to make one large development. It was only after plans were leaked out that the development of the Avaya site would not include Bamm Hollow, that Bamm Hollow decided to revise their plans from 200 or so single units to the 1200 units with COAH housing.

The developers knew at the time that Middletown had failed to meet it's COAH requirements so they decided to seek a "Builder's Remedy" in the courts to have the property zoned to the way that they had originally wanted. The 1200 units were a bluff by the builder and would have never been built with COAH in mind because the site did not meet the conditions to satisfy COAH requirements on its own.

So now that the Bamm Hollow case has been settled in courts (pretty much to the way Bamm Hollow had originally wanted in the first place), the Township is attempting to show residents of Lincroft and the rest of the Township, that they are fighting for their best interests (after spending hundred of thousands of dollars) by fighting Bamm Hollow in the court and winning so that now, the "little" (in caparison ) 342 unit redevelopment of the Avaya property doesn't look so big and bad to those that live in the area.

I'm sure that there will be some discussion about this tonight that will be very interesting and somewhat revealing, it will make for a great show. The meeting starts at 8:00 if you wish to attend.