Split Holmdel board OKs dementia care village for old farm as neighbors divide

HOLMDEL - A $12,000-per-month fully enclosed dementia care village right off the Garden State Parkway at exit 114 was approved by the zoning board in a 5-2 vote Wednesday night, marking the end of an application that began more than a year ago and divided neighbors against each other.

The village will be built by the elder care nonprofit United Methodist Communities, not to be confused with the church.

The project was bought by the nonprofit for $5.5 million from a previous developer that dropped plans for a neighborhood with an affordable housing component. The land was known as The William Potter Homestead or Potter’s farm, which closed in 2020, after the Potter’s family, who had owned the land since 1920, moved to Upper Freehold.

According to chair of the zoning board Ralph Blumenthal, William Potter III, who had given statements to the board in favor of developing the farm into a dementia village, died two weeks ago.

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The village, modeled after the urban dementia village in the Netherlands called Hogeweyk, will include 11 one-story residential buildings, a pair of two-story residential buildings, a two-story administrative building and a recreation center. The entire village will be enclosed by a secure perimeter. A grocery store, restaurant and theater are planned to open with the site to mimic normalcy for its residents with dementia. A total of 105 beds could be available, with 10% being reserved for residents on Medicaid, which would help fulfill future affordable housing quotas for Holmdel.

Cindy Jacques, vice president of housing and community initiatives with the United Methodist Communities, said in April that there will be a staffing ratio of about one staff member for every eight residents. She said at night there will be four caregivers and two floaters for the four neighborhoods. A registered nurse and a security person will also be on site.

The original design would have had only one way in and out of the village, but after substantial revisions, the plan would include seven emergency gates in addition to the main entrance. Keys to the gates will be housed with the township’s various emergency response teams.

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Opposition to the plan questioned whether the plan should be built on the land it is located on.

Kevin Asadi, an attorney hired by certain residents in the adjacent County Woods neighborhood, said, “This project belongs in the Route 35 overlay district not in a rural R40-B zone.”

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The Route 35 overlay district is Holmdel’s commercial district, where a three-story Brightview Senior Living Facility was approved in February. Asadi argued that the R40-B zone is for residential development that mimics the existing neighboring houses and not a dementia village.

Asadi also brought Joelle Winter, an administrator at a Cherry Hill-based dementia facility called Arden Court, in July. Winter said staffing for the 54 beds is difficult. In a three-month period, she said her facility received 234 job applications and interviewed 21 candidates who showed up. Of the 21, she only hired four who were qualified.

“I have staffing challenges,” she said. “That happens a lot since COVID and even before.”

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Other neighbors have spoken in favor of the dementia village’s construction.

Stephen Grywalski, who lives a few houses from the proposed property, said, “There’s no longer an option to save the farm. The Potter family sold the property a couple years ago and I’m concerned that if it’s not approved, the current owner will then be forced to sell and there’s many examples all around of what could happen. … There’s a need for housing and care of these people with dementia throughout the world. We should be honored to call this groundbreaking, state-of-the-art community our neighbor.”

Before a vote, board members gave statements explaining their reasoning.

Board members Valerie Avrin-Marchiano said the application was one of the hardest and, while many neighbors agreed with the application, others did not.

She said there are seven other assisted living facilities in Holmdel and the design of this property looks like army barracks. She ultimately voted against it.

The other board member to vote against the proposal was Irfan Lateef, who said with the cost of living increasing and the economy possibly going into a recession, he was afraid the township would be “saddled with a property that cannot be possibly used in (any) other suitable fashion.”

He said the proposal would change the bucolic atmosphere of that neighborhood. “I don’t think by putting (that) large facility there, we can mitigate this impact. It alters the character of the township.”

Board member Jason Buerkle said he moved to Holmdel because of the rural nature of the township, but said he believes property owners have a right to develop their land.

Board member Francine Campis said she would like to see the farm preserved “but honestly that ship sailed long ago.” She said she feared that if the board denied that application, another owner could propose another project that becomes more controversial.

Blumenthal, the board chair, said Holmdel’s population is aging. He said he was “very intrigued” by the proposal because the facility would feel less like a hospital.

Olivia Liu is a reporter covering transportation, Red Bank and western Monmouth County. She can be reached at oliu@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Holmdel NJ OKs dementia care village for Potter's farm over opposition