BRICK – A larger crowd than what was expected came out to hear discussion of a plan that would build 59 houses on 31.63 acres of woods owned by Visitation Roman Catholic Church and the Diocese of Trenton.
The Planning Board hearing was postponed and moved to a larger venue in order to abide by fire code limitations and to accommodate members of the public who filled the meeting room at Town Hall and overflowed into the hallway during the February 23 meeting.
Developer DR Horton NJ/PA ℅ Robert Fesco plan to build homes that range from 2,300 to 3,200 square feet on the property, which lies east of Laurel Avenue, backs up to the Osbornville Elementary School and borders Breton Woods.
Many of the residents who wish to keep the land in its natural state have been organizing on social media, have started a petition, and some were wearing t-shirts and carrying signs during the Planning Board meeting.
The petition on change.org says that the demolition of the forest ignores the essential role it plays as a natural buffer to mitigate flooding and pollution.
“If it is lost, the ‘woods’ in Breton Woods will be in name only,” the petition says, which had nearly 6,000 signatures on it as of February 28.
During a February 22 Facebook live program, Mayor John G. Ducey said the Diocese of Trenton has no interest in selling the property to the town.
“We actually have two partners now – the Ocean County Natural Lands Trust is very interested. They actually went out and toured the property,” the mayor said.
“Save Barnegat Bay is very interested in the property as well…the township, we want to save it and keep it as woods,” he said. “We don’t want to do a park or anything like that, we want to keep it as just the woods, keep it beautiful with the trees and animals and everything.”
The problem is there has to be an interested seller, Mayor Ducey said. The Diocese of Trenton haven’t returned the administration’s phone calls, despite the township’s interest.
The mayor said there is also an unnamed private group who would like to donate money towards preserving the land, but the seller has to be on board.
Before the Planning Board meeting was postponed, Chair Bernie Cooke said that an attorney for Save Barnegat Bay objected to any Planning Board member who has a leadership role in Visitation Church from participating in the hearing. Cooke polled the Board members, and none were excluded.
Lake Riviera resident Sam Beecroft attended the Planning Board meeting and said she would also be attending the next meeting.
“I saw on a neighborhood app that they wanted to take down 30 acres of woods to build 59 homes,” she said.
“It’s redundant because there’s lots of houses for sale in Lake Riviera. It doesn’t make any sense to build big houses when many people are downsizing. It also displaces wildlife, so eco-wise and financial-wise, it makes no sense,” Beecroft said.
The larger venue for the March 21 special meeting of the Planning Board, will be held at the Brick Civic Plaza, 270 Chambers Bridge Road at 7 p.m.
