Vonage PILOT and Petitions

The Holmdel Township Committee is looking to introduce a tax break, called PILOT, for the Vonage redeveloper at its meeting on Tuesday.

Grassroots efforts are circulating two separate petitions urging the Township Committee not to approve the Vonage PILOT program.

Save Holmdel Water

The first group, Save Holmdel Water, is concerned with the contamination of potable water at the Swimming River Reservoir from direct discharge of wastewater from the proposed design of the wastewater treatment plant.

Their petition urges the Township Committee not to approve any PILOT program for the Vonage redevelopment until “the developer changes its wastewater management design to a modern design, meeting current standards and not discharging any wastewater directly into any stream that feeds into the source for our potable water! “  See the link to their petition below.

Link to Save Holmdel Water Petition

The group, led by Peter and Kristin Franco, is also raising funds to hire professionals to help with their efforts to stop the redevelopment at Vonage.  Their GoFundMe page shows that they have raised $5,250 thus far.  Holmdel’s open space grassroots group, Citizens For Informed Land Use (“CILU”), announced on its Facebook page that it will donate $2,000.

Save Holmdel Schools

Former Holmdel Deputy Mayor Prakash Santhana posted an article on the Patch about the pending introduction of the PILOT program for the Vonage redeveloper and what it could mean for Holmdel schools.  He explained why there should be no Vonage PILOT until the Township has an agreement that will share at least 40% of Holmdel PILOT receipts with the school district or agrees to a public question (referendum) for Holmdel voters to decide whether there should be a sharing of at least 40% of the PILOT receipts with the school district.

Santhana urges Holmdel residents to sign the petition to “stop the township from approving another PILOT that takes money away from the schools.”

Link to Santhana Patch article

Link to Save Holmdel Schools Petition

Despite the holiday season, it looks like things are on a fast track.

The Township Committee meeting introducing the Vonage PILOT program is on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, at 7:30 PM.  The continued hearing on the Vonage application before the Holmdel Planning Board is on Tuesday, December 16, 2025, at 7 PM.  The public hearing for the Vonage PILOT ordinance is scheduled at the special Township Committee meeting on Monday, December 22, 2025, at 7:30 PM.

The Planning Board may conclude the process of the Vonage application review and vote on the application at the end of the meeting.

Stay tuned.  In our last post, we shared some questions raised due to the Vonage redeveloper’s conduct and behavior in a lawsuit over a $3 million promissory note.  It will be interesting to see whether the Township Committee will put the Vonage redeveloper on the naughty or nice Christmas list and reward them with a PILOT program.