Holmdel Approves Action Needed For Acquisition of Horn Antenna
- Kin Gee
- Oct 29, 2023
- 3 min read
Holmdel Approves Action Needed to Complete Acquisition of Horn Antenna
In a relatively quiet and short meeting on Tuesday, the Holmdel Township Committee approved actions that will be needed to complete the acquisition of the two lots on Crawford Hill that will preserve the historic Horn Antenna and create a public park.
The steps that are needed include the settlement of the eminent domain legal action and signing all agreements including the assignment by Nokia of any rights that it may have with respect to the Horn Antenna.
A bond ordinance for $3.5 million to fund the acquisition was also introduced, with a public hearing scheduled for November 21, 2023.
During the public comment session, Mayor DJ Luccarelli also mentioned that the Township had a productive meeting with Monmouth County Park System regarding the Crawford Hill acquisition and that the Township Committee is expected to introduce a resolution regarding that soon.
Back on Oct. 12, 2023, the Township Committee announced that it had reached a Memorandum of Understanding with Crawford Hill Holding LLC (“CHH”) to acquire Lots 6 and 6.01, comprising 34.5 acres including the Horn Antenna, for a net sale price of $4.75 million.
Before this agreement, the Township, armed with an appraisal of $2 million for the two lots (Lots 6 and 6.01), was pursuing good faith negotiations with the owner before an eminent domain action.
CHH had purchased the property (all three lots) for $3.7 million in December 2020. Prior to the purchase, the property was assessed at $8.58 million for the year 2020. CHH filed a direct tax appeal with the tax court in April 2021. The Township and CHH agreed to a tax assessment of $4 million according to a “Stipulation of Settlement”.
CHH publicly questioned the Township’s $2 million appraisal for the two lots and asked the question: What price do you put on the unique site (i.e., the historic Horn Antenna)? $10 million? $20 million? $50 million?
On one hand, it appears that CHH will get about $1 million more than what it had paid for all three lots just less than three years ago and gets to keep the lower Lot 7, which contains the former Nokia building, essentially for free.
On the other hand, the agreement will allow the Township to obtain title to the Horn Antenna and the 34.5-acre lots quickly while preventing litigation exposure from a drawn-out eminent domain process (at least with respect to fair or “just” compensation). The agreement also does not allow for residential development on Lot 7.
Most of the supporters applaud the outcome and the efforts by the Township Committee while keeping a watchful eye on the future development of Lot 7.
Holmdel Democrats Say Vote for Bauer and Luccarelli
In recent years, Holmdel’s local elections, whether it’s the primary or the general election, were never dull. This year proves to be no exception.
A few days ago, the Asbury Park Press broke a story about a letter posted by the Holmdel Democratic County Committee (“HDCC”) that urged residents to “Vote for Kathy Bauer; Vote DJ Luccarelli; but say NO to Romano” for Holmdel Township Committee due to multiple ethical violations by Romano.
The HDCC letter said that in 2021, Romano, an elected member of the HDCC at the time, publicly endorsed Republican candidate Rocco Impreveduto while simultaneously working on Democrat candidate Rahul Diddi’s campaign.
As reported by the APP, Barbara Singer, chair of the HDCC, “said there’s a difference between a voter affiliated with the Democratic Party endorsing a Republican candidate and an elected member of the local Democratic County Committee endorsing a Republican candidate over its own candidate.” This was an ethical violation since it violated the by-laws of the HDCC that its elected members must support and promote the Democratic candidate on the ballot.
In addition, HDCC stated that Romano, who worked as Diddi’s closest trusted advisor, shared certain confidential campaign information about Diddi’s campaign with people outside of the campaign.
According to the letter, HDCC voted unanimously to remove Romano from his elected office for multiple ethical violations and notified the Monmouth County Clerk’s office of the action.
See the links below for more details.
APP article
HDCC letter
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