Drinking water danger? Monmouth asked to shoot down plan for 360 Colts Neck apartments

Susanne Cervenka, Asbury Park Press
·3 min read

FREEHOLD - Colts Neck residents have asked the Monmouth County Commissioners to reject a proposed sewer plan for a controversial 360-unit apartment complex to be built on Route 537.

More than 1,800 people have signed an online petition asking for a more in-depth review of the environmental impacts of Colts Neck Manor. Leaders of the petition drive also spoke to the commissioners at their meeting Tuesday.

Their concern is Colts Neck Manor's location near the Yellow Brook, which feeds into the Swimming River Reservoir.

Failure of the sewer system proposed for the project "could create a major contamination event affecting the drinking water of half of the residents of Monmouth County," Colts Neck resident Rick Orriss said.

A rendering of the proposed Colts Neck Manor along Route 537 in Colts Neck.
A rendering of the proposed Colts Neck Manor along Route 537 in Colts Neck.

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The Colts Neck Planning Board already signed off on zoning for Colts Neck, which would construct a 15-building complex with a clubhouse and a pool at Route 537 and School Road East. The developer, Kushner Cos. LLC, is seeking an amendment to Monmouth County's Water Quality Management Plan to allow for a package plant, a prefabricated wastewater treatment system.

Colts Neck does not have municipal water and sewer services.

The Monmouth County Commissioners would need to sign off on the amendment before it goes to the state Department of Environmental Protection for final approval. A date for the commissioners to review the amendment has not been set.

A rendering of the proposed Colts Neck Manor along Route 537 in Colts Neck.
A rendering of the proposed Colts Neck Manor along Route 537 in Colts Neck.

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Heeding to legal advice, Commissioner Director Tom Arnone did not comment on the project directly, but said he would research the matter more to understand the issues.

"I'd like to know more about it," he said.

The site previously received a water quality management plan amendment in 2006 when it was slated for a 48-townhouse project.

But the project is now significantly larger and should meet current environmental standards, former Colts Neck Mayor RoseAnn Scotti said.

"This project seems to be progressing through the processes on a design for a project that was approved in 2006 for a 48-unit townhouse development, and it is now a 360-apartment unit project," she said. "We are simply asking that it be developed subject to the same environmental standards as any other project would be."

Colts Neck Manor is a project that is included in the township's affordable housing settlement with Fair Share Housing Center, a statewide housing advocacy group.

New Jersey has a housing shortage overall and a severe shortage of affordable housing. For every 100 families earning extremely low incomes, New Jersey has only 31 affordable and available rentals, according to data from Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey and National Low Income Housing Coalition.

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Site plan for the proposed Colts Neck Manor along Route 537 in Colts Neck.
Site plan for the proposed Colts Neck Manor along Route 537 in Colts Neck.

Housing advocates say stringent municipal zoning laws are often the biggest barrier to building more homes to help low-to-moderate income families. The settlement requires Colts Neck both to rezone the site and to do everything it can to support the water quality plan amendment, Fair Share Housing Center executive director Adam Gordon said. In almost all cases, counties defer to what towns want. "Residents of Colts Neck always find a way to argue that any particular site in the town is not appropriate for affordable housing," he said. "Those arguments about sites being suitable somehow do not seem to come up when new mansions are proposed in Colts Neck."

Scotti said the residents are not against affordable housing. Scotti was mayor in 1993 when Colts Neck implemented an affordable housing project called The Grande.

"It has worked out beautifully and satisfied our quota at the time along with a rehabilitation housing program paid for by the developer," she said.

Susanne Cervenka covers Monmouth County government and property tax issues, winning several state and regional awards for her work. She's covered local government for nearly 20 years, with stops in Ohio and Florida before arriving in New Jersey in 2013. Contact her at @scervenka; 732-643-4229; scervenka@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Colts Neck Manor: Residents tell Monmouth apartment project is too big