Holmdel Township Committee Ends with a Bang
- Kin Gee
- Dec 14, 2019
- 6 min read
Editorial note – Please share and cross post this to family, friends and neighbors. If you wish to receive this as an email directly, please send an email to betterholmdel@yahoo.com.]
Holmdel Township Committee Ends with a Bang
Dec. 14, 2019 – Given what has transpired in 2019, it is fitting that the last Holmdel Township Committee meeting ended with a bang!
The first sign that this was going to be an interesting night was when the formal part of the meeting was about to begin. Deputy Mayor Michael Nikolis interrupted and asked for a motion to direct the Township Attorney to dismiss the lawsuit filed against the Township. In case you missed it, a lawsuit was filed by Mayor Eric Hinds on Friday, Dec. 6th, asking a judge to “void” the censure adopted against him. Please see the link to a Patch article regarding this lawsuit.
The Patch article points out that Mayor Hinds’ lawyer is Larry Luttrell, the Chair of the Holmdel Democratic Party and who made the surprising decision to support Hinds, a Republican, through the investigation of the censure proceedings. The article goes on to say that “Luttrell and Hinds argue that the fellow Twp. Committee members should have notified the public 48 hours in advance they intended to vote to censure Hinds at the Oct. 22 meeting.”
Mayor Hinds, as the presiding official of the Township Committee meetings, is the individual that has the responsibility to set and approve the agenda for the meetings. In 2019, the agendas for Township Committee meetings were rarely, if ever, publicly released 48 hours in advance of a meeting. So, it is fascinating to see that Luttrell and Mayor Hinds would choose this argument as part of their complaint when Mayor Hinds has not been in compliance with this throughout 2019.
NJ Natural Gas Regulator Station
A settlement agreement for NJ Natural Gas (“NJNG”) to build a high-pressure regulator station in south Holmdel made a surprising appearance on the agenda. Holmdel residents have successfully opposed this before the Holmdel Zoning Board twice in the past three years, the first time in 2016 and then again 2018. For more information, please see the link to the Facebook post following the Zoning Board meeting in which the application was denied.
Following the Oct. 2018 Zoning Board’s decision, NJNG filed a petition with the NJ Board of Public Utilities seeking an order that the Holmdel land use law does not apply to the regulator station. The BPU sent this petition to the Office of Administrative Law as a contested case. Holmdel, as an intervenor, is a party to this legal proceeding. Surprisingly, the proposed settlement agreement would essentially give NJNG everything it wanted for the construction of the regulator station
Alarmed by this proposed settlement agreement, residents made sure that members of the Township Committee knew of their continued opposition to this facility. At the meeting, the Township Committee, by a vote of 5-0, voted NO to the settlement agreement.
Remember that this is part of a legal proceeding before an Administrative Law Judge. What this means is that all parties will need to go back to the drawing board and continue with the proceeding to its conclusion. There may also be pressure to negotiate another settlement.
Affordable Housing
One year ago, the Township Committee unveiled and approved the latest affordable housing plan (also known as COAH). The meeting was well-attended with many public comments by Holmdel residents. See https://betterholmdel.wixsite.com/home/post/holmdel-approves-affordable-housing-plan
A month after that meeting, I wrote about the twists and turns of that affordable housing plan. Specifically, two developers have filed as intervenors alleging they were led down the primrose path only to be excluded in the current agreement. See https://betterholmdel.wixsite.com/home/post/yet-another-coah-surprise
Now, in yet another surprising twist, the property known as N. Beers Street is no longer included in the plan. This property has been the subject of allegations that Committeeman Tom Critelli has a financial interest and therefore a conflict of interest. The developer now claims that the plan as requested by the Township cannot be supported as economically feasible and withdrew. Instead, the site known as “Route 35” is now included in the plan.
Residents from the Palmer Square Condominium development once again made public comments opposing the inclusion of the site known as Palmer Avenue (as it is currently proposed) due to flooding concerns A similar plan was voted down by the Holmdel Planning Board, including by then Planning Board member Eric Hinds, just 3 years ago due to the same flooding concerns.
Resident Pradeep Jhanjee raised the issue of the high hidden education costs for additional school children due to the density of these sites. He believes that a cost benefit analysis to “buy down” the density of the units in these developments should be done. He emphasized that Holmdel should be planning for these rounds of affordable housing requirements on a more strategic basis rather than reacting with the proverbial “gun to our head” as in this case with a court order from an unhappy judge.
By a vote of 4-0 (Committeeman Critelli recused himself), the Township Committee moved ahead with zoning requirements pursuant to an order by the judge presiding over the case.
New Firehouse
At the end of January, the long awaited official Fire Study by Dr. Carter was released. Among the key findings was the need for a centrally located firehouse. This has been an issue since Fire Company #1 was closed down in 2014, more than 5 years ago.
There are two sites under consideration – the combined first aid/firehouse at Crawfords Corner Road or a new construction at the old F&F property that Holmdel currently owns. At the meeting, Committeeman Rocco Pascucci, as the Chair of the Public safety Subcommittee, recommended the F&F location and attempted to pass a resolution to move forward for a more detailed engineering study.
By a vote of 2-3 (Pacucci and Buontempo voted yes and Hinds, Critelli and Nikolis voted no), this motion failed to pass. Hinds and Critelli cited a need for public notice to get input. Nikolis said that he didn’t get any drawing or architect plan and he doesn’t have enough information to vote on the motion. Clearly upset about what have transpired, Committeeman Pascucci then left the meeting before the conclusion of the meeting.
It is interesting to note that back in March 2019, Mayor Hinds announced a plan to have a new firehouse at Bell Works to be built by Somerset Development in exchange for 195 micro-apartment units (600-700 sq. ft.) without any public notice for input from residents. See
This idea was later scrapped when faced with opposition from residents. Similarly, there was no public notice for input for a proposed artificial turf field at the Swim Club back in April even though detailed engineering studies have been performed and bid procurements to build the turf field have already taken place.
After the meeting, Committeeman Pascucci indicated that an email with architect drawing for a firehouse on the F&F site was, in fact, sent to all Township Committee members in November. In addition, Committeeman Pascucci indicated that he spoke with members individually and no one raised any questions or issues with him.
The discussion for a new centrally located firehouse has been a topic of discussion for the better half of 2019 and updates were given at almost every Township Committee meeting. It is not clear what happened behind the scenes that led to a failed motion to take the next step for something that is critically important for Holmdel residents.
What we do know is that despite the public safety risks and the undisputed need for a centrally located firehouse, another year has come and gone, and no clear plan is in place. Critics say that there is plenty of blame to be shared by everyone.
Health Benefits for TC Members
Given the other agenda items, what was under the radar was the ordinance to restrict Township Committee members from receiving health insurance and similar benefits. In 2016, the Township restricted newly elected officials after April 1, 2016 from receiving health benefits. However, it allowed existing members that included Mayor Hinds, Committeeman Buontempo, and Committeeman Critelli to be on Holmdel Township’s health plan, all at the expense of Holmdel taxpayers.
This ordinance seeks to expand the restriction by clarifying that members of the Township Committee are part time employees and accordingly, are not eligible to receive any health benefits after December 31, 2019. While the Township does not participate in the State Health Benefits Plans, this ordinance puts it on a consistent basis to the public law passed in 2010 that recognized the increasing costs of health insurance and similar benefits and the fiscal impact that these benefits have on taxpayers of Holmdel.
New Township Committee
With the terms of Mayor Hinds and Deputy Mayor Nikolis expiring on December 31, 2019, two seats for the Township Committee were up for grabs in the November election. After all the votes were counted, independent candidate Cathy Weber won one of the two seats – the first win by an independent candidate in more than 25 years.
Prakash Santhana, another independent candidate, was in third place, behind Republican candidate Chiung-Yin Liu by 3 votes. Now, after a petition filed in Superior Court and a lengthy recount, Santhana is in second place and will join Cathy Weber to be sworn as a new member of the Township Committee in January 2020.
2019 has been a very eventful year for Holmdel Township. Let’s all hope that 2020 will be a lot different.
Happy Holidays!
Comments