Déjà vu All over Again?

[Updated April 1, 2021 to reflect that Committeeman Tom Critelli was the Township Committee Liaison to the Recreation Committee and not the Chairman as was previously reported.]

March 24, 2021 - Whether it was due to the COVID-19 pandemic or newly elected members, the Holmdel Township Committee (“TC”) meetings were, for the most part, relatively quiet in 2020. Things got excited in the last two TC meetings in 2021.

At the March 9th TC meeting, Mayor Buontempo announced the delivery of the much-needed and anticipated new fire truck by Fire Company #2. This was the culmination of the efforts by Holmdel grassroots group FAST (in particular by one of its member Ron Emma) in 2019 following the release of Dr. Carter’s report on fire safety that identified needs by the Township that included a centrally located firehouse and new equipment including a new fire truck.

During the public comment portion of the March 9th meeting, an inquiry was made regarding the proposed land swap deal that was announced in 2018 (Holmdel to give up 115 acres at Cross Farm Park to the County in exchange for about 13 acres across from Holmdel High School). At last night’s TC meeting, there was a follow-up discussion regarding the status of this proposed deal.

Committeeman Tom Critelli argued that County will preserve this land and the Township could get the parcel across from the high school, so there is no difference whether the Township or the County preserves. Deputy Mayor Cathy Weber countered that Holmdel doesn’t need to give up such a disproportional amount of land. The County is interested in the historic house that is currently on the 115-acre parcel located at Cross Farm Park. Holmdel could swap that historic house along with some land near it in an “even” exchange. That should still leave around 100 acres of prime pristine open space for Holmdel. It wasn’t that long ago when former Mayor Pat Impreveduto wanted to sell that parcel of land to balance Holmdel’s budget during the financial crisis.

Mayor Greg Buontempo also pointed out that keeping the 100+ acre of land for the Township could have other advantages. Last year, during the COVID-19 pandemic, while the State and County closed their park system, Holmdel kept its park open - this won praises by residents anxious to be outdoors while keeping social distancing.

Finally, there were extensive discussions during the public comment expressed about the need for a football field and how much money out of the 2019 $2.5 million bond ordinance has been spent. Earlier at the meeting, the TC approved the purchase of new playground equipment at Allocco Park. More than $200,000 out of the $317,000 price tag was from a grant by the County. One resident, with close ties to Committeeman Critelli, raised a question about the purchase of the playground and expressed a concern that the money from the $2.5 million bond should be being spent based on the “spirit” of that bond ordinance and not spent where it is not supposed to be spent.

It is very interesting to note that no such concerns were raised by this individual when, almost immediately after approval of the bond ordinance in 2019, an attempt was made to divert more than $2 million for an artificial turf field at the Holmdel Swim Club when the project was not on the list that detailed recreational improvements recommended by HYAA that served as the “spirit” of the bond ordinance and that the turf field was not never publicly discussed or approved by the TC.

Given the public comments regarding needs for lacrosse and football, Deputy Mayor Weber reminded the public that the Recreation Committee (of which she is currently the Township Committee Liaison) with representatives from Holmdel’s Director of Recreation, HYAA, and the Board of Education, is coordinating a plan on a comprehensive basis to review all recreation improvements needs. Individuals expressing needs for any single sport should be coordinated with either HYAA or the Rec Committee. After Committeeman Critelli expressed his desire to sit in on the next Rec Committee meeting, it was shockingly revealed that this same Rec Committee did not hold any meetings at all during the year 2020 while Committeeman Critelli was the Township Committee Liaison. The implication was that Critelli’s interest seems a little disingenuous. Critelli’s response? We had the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The fact that the Township Committee, Planning Board, Zoning Board, and advisory committees all continued to hold virtual meetings in 2020 via Zoom seemed lost to Critelli.

Last but not least, it was also revealed that there was at least one offer, possible two, for a donation of $10,000 for a scoreboard but that no action was taken. It was hinted that there may be some “strings” and/or legal issues with at least one of the offers. More on this after the next TC meeting.

It looks like some past discussions, in particular for sports fields, are heating up again. We already know that there is a very interesting election race between two Holmdel residents for one of two Assembly seats in our legislative district – Holmdel BOE President Vicky Flynn is challenging incumbent Assemblywoman Serena DiMaso in the June Republican primary. Could it be that recent comments and attention on sports fields are being used to set the political stage for the local Republican primary for Holmdel Township Committee?

Stay tuned. More to come!