Developer wants to build 15 homes on old Holmdel farm after previous efforts fell through

HOLMDEL - Plans to build a 15-home neighborhood directly across the former Vonage headquarters were revived after a two-year delay.

Currently a farm house and a handful of outbuildings sit on the 92.4 acres at 26 Main St. The developer, Victory Estate Management LLC, proposes to place a neighborhood with a cul-de-sac called dubbed Heavenly Estates directly to the east of the farm house.

According to an engineering report by the township’s engineer Robert Mullin, a similar plan to subdivide the land into an 18-house neighborhood was approved in 2007, with final approval given in 2012. However, the subdivision was “never filed or recorded.”

In 2021 and 2022, plans for 17 houses, each estimated to cost $1 million, were revived. However, the planning board was concerned about the impact the development would have on the rural feeling of the area. The land is zoned as a Rural Conservation Zone.

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On Tuesday night, the developer returned with similar plans, but removed two proposed houses closest to the road.

There are three main constraints on the property. By township ordinance, over 60% of the property has to be open space. The Willow Brook, a stream to the west, requires a 300-foot conservation easement around it. And from the road to the first house, there has to be a 500-foot setback.

According to the developer’s engineer Brian Murphy, about 64% of the property will be considered open space. The developer’s attorney, Salvatore Alfieri, said the developer has been in talks with Monmouth County to dedicate the land for preservation. It would also create a trail along the Willow Brook for the public.

Multiple board members expressed concern that the backyards of a few of the properties were within Willow Brook’s 300-foot conservation easement.

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The township’s planner, Kate Keller, said there are properties in the township that face the same situation. Alfieri said potential homeowners will be notified of the restriction and the developer will place markers on the property to delineate where the conservation easement begins. Nothing, including pools and fences, can be placed within a conservation easement.

Board chairman Scott Silberman expressed concern that some homeowners might just ignore the rules, noting that some “people’s philosophy in life is it’s easier to ask for forgiveness than permission sometimes.”

The proposed plans also set back the houses by 300 feet from the road when the township’s ordinance is asking for a 500-foot setback.

The developer’s planner, Christine Nazzaro Cofone, argued that there was a previous approval for 18 houses and the township’s 2005 master plan states that the lines drawn “should be considered approximate and subject to reasonable modifications for site-specific factors when development applications are submitted.”

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Cofone argued that when the master plan was approved, the conservation easement to the property’s west and south was 150 feet. After the stream was upgraded to a "category one" stream, the buffer increased. She argued that this site-specific factor should allow the developer to only setback the neighborhood by 300 feet.

Holmdel resident and former planning board member Ralph Blumenthal said the point of the setback was to keep the area bucolic.

Silberman proposed that the board conduct a site visit. He asked the developer to place stakes where the 300- and 500-foot setbacks would be located.

Committee member Kim LaMountain said, “I struggle with 300 being approximate (to) 500.”

The site visit will take place at 6 p.m. May 21 and the next planning board meeting for the neighborhood will take place on at 7 p.m. June 18 at Holmdel Town Hall.

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: Old Holmdel farm could soon grow 15 houses if township approves