273-Unit Development Site to be Purchased for Open Space

Tinton Falls will purchase about 75 acres of land in the southern portion of town that had been slated for the development of a 273-unit community with a clubhouse and a swimming pool.

According to Mayor Michael Skudera, the borough council agreed at a special executive session on Monday to use money budgeted for open space to purchase the lot along Wardell Avenue that had been approved for a non-age restricted development in 2006 by the Tinton Falls Planning Board.

The acquisition of the site is the largest open space transaction in Tinton Falls followed by the , said Skudera.

In an e-mail to Patch, Skudera stated, "If this land is developed it would most certainly require the construction of a new school at a cost of tens of millions of dollars to the taxpayers of Tinton Falls."

Skudera said that Monday's meeting of the and administration finalized negotiation of terms Skudera said had been taking place over the last six months. A resolution should be on the agenda for the Oct. 18 council meeting and Skudera said he hoped to have the deal closed before the end of the year.

Funding for the purchase will come from the borough's dedicated Open Space Trust Fund, said Skudera. In his e-mail, the mayor wrote: "A portion of the financing will come through general appropriations in order to resolve a Green Acres diversion that took place more than a decade ago. The resolution of the Green Acres diversion will also help replenish the borough’s Open Space Trust Fund by freeing up grants held in abeyance (pending its resolution) as well as resolve long-standing issues with certain private landowners in the borough."

An application for the Traditions at Tinton Falls development was approved by the planning board in November 2006 according to a resolution on file with the borough and included Council on Affordable Housing units.

Planning Board Secretary Erin Swartz said that while the application received approval in 2006, a few conditions were never met, including the posting of performance bonds and submitting permits from the Department of Environmental Protection.

Hearings on the development, which is located on Wardell Road between Mount Run and Fox Chase Drive, began in 2005.

The application called for 273 residential units, including 162 town-homes and 111 condominium units, with a total of 24 buildings,  a clubhouse and an outdoor swimming pool.