Support grows for new Hazlet park
Bayshore residents, officials say area not served well by county
BY TOM CAIAZZA
Staff Writer

"If there were other sources out there, we would be more than happy to go after those sources." - Michael Sachs Hazlet mayor

Lou Andreuzzi called it the "Stone Road road show."He and John Curran, both members of the Bayshore Regional Watershed Council, have been drumming up support for a new county park off Route 36 in Hazlet by making "pilgrimages" to the municipal government meetings of western Bayshore towns seeking local backing for a county project.

The pair approached the Aberdeen Township Council on Oct. 3 and asked for a letter of support and a resolution requesting the Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders to support a park for the Bayshore. The council opted to put it on the Oct. 17 agenda. Curran and Andreuzzi successfully received support from Matawan and Holmdel this week as well.

Stone Road Meadows is the last of the dying breed. According to Curran and Andreuzzi, it is the last piece of open space on the Route 36 corridor. Coming in around 30 acres, Stone Road Meadows provides much-needed watershed infrastructure to Route 36 and is located within 1,000 feet of the Henry Hudson Trail, they said.

Andreuzzi and Curran believe that having a park in the Bayshore will provide residents the opportunity to access the county park system without a cumbersome commute, while eliminating the specter of overdevelopment in an area already grappling with that issue.

"We in the Bayshore have managed to create another Route 18," Andreuzzi said of the congestion and development on Route 36, "and we can rival Route 18."

Most of all, they feel it's only fair.

The western reach of the Bayshore area, towns which include Keansburg, Aberdeen, Union Beach, Hazlet, Matawan and Keyport, make up 8.5 percent of the total population of Monmouth County and cover 17.8 square miles of land, according to figures from the 2000 U.S. Census Bureau. The western reach has an average of 4,083 people per square mile and provides nearly $1.5 million to the Monmouth County Park System, Curran said. Barring the Henry Hudson Trail, the same area has zero county parks.

In contrast, Middletown alone has nine county parks, and with the inclusion of the Haskell farm property in the newly passed county open space plan, they are on the verge of a tenth.

Laura Kirkpatrick, public information officer for the county park system, said that the Stone Road Meadows tract does not meet the requirements for a county park. Due to its size and a lack of specific historic or scenic attributes, the park system did not include it in the open space plan.

Kirkpatrick said that the parks system requires a minimum of 100 acres of land to create a county park. Since the site does not meet that criteria or that of a "special use area" like Mt. Mitchell park in Atlantic Highlands or Longstreet Farm in Holmdel, it is unlikely that the county would make Stone Road a park.

Curran said that it is unfair that the requirement eliminates areas that do not have those resources.

"It's a disparate system because we don't have 200 acres to make a county park," Curran said. "They've shut the door already if they don't make the rules more flexible."

As is often the case, however, the closing of a door can coincide with the opening of a window.

Curran said that when he and Andreuzzi approached the Monmouth County Planning Board, which approved the county open space plan several weeks ago, they said that if they received the unanimous blessing of the Hazlet Township Committee, they would consider an amendment to the plan to include Stone Road Meadows.

They have since received that support.

"They left us a lifeline," Curran said, "and we're taking advantage of that lifeline."

Hazlet Mayor Michael Sachs said that the Township Committee supported the acquisition of the land for a possible park.

"Whatever happens to preserve the piece of property would be a great thing," Sachs said.

Friends in high places

The pair have implored and received support for Stone Road from the Monmouth County Freeholders, and in particular, Lillian Burry. Burry serves as the board's liaison to the parks department and issued a press release on Oct. 4 supporting the project and calling on the Bayshore area municipalities to appoint members to a new county collaborative that would plan, develop and preserve regional resources.

"This is not just another study to sit and gather dust," Burry said in the release. "I support making this valuable parcel a county park that the whole region can enjoy."

The release said all of the freeholders echoed Burry's sentiments.

Assemblywoman Amy Handlin (R-Monmouth/Middlesex) has also thrown her support behind the project, calling it a "critical step not only for Hazlet, but for all the towns in northern Monmouth County."

Handlin said in a press release that preserving Stone Road would safeguard "an overly developed urban watershed area that already suffers from flooding" and would provide active recreation to people in the area and a greenway link to the Henry Hudson Trail.

Not protecting the area, Handlin warned, would "surely bring more traffic and potential environmental degradation to an area already congested and environmentally stressed."

County or township

Laura Kirkpatrick said that the park system can not afford to buy and convert all the open space in the county into parks. She said that they concentrate on areas they feel will make the most significant impact on the area.

Kirkpatrick said that Stone Road Meadows would fit better as a township park than a county one. The difference in the mind of the park visitor could be minimal, she said.

"People don't separate in their minds the difference between a county park and a municipal park," Kirkpatrick said. "The county doesn't have the resources to acquire it [open space] all."

Curran said that they had the opportunity to approach the county through the open space plan and that is why they are pushing for a county park.

Mayor Sachs said that at the present time, Hazlet does not have the means to turn Stone Road into a township park, but would not shut out the possibility of using other sources of income.

"If there were other sources out there, we would be more than happy to go after those sources," Sachs said.

Kirkpatrick feels making Stone Road a township park would make more sense than making it a county park.

"Sometimes there is a better mechanism to making it open space than coming to the county parks system," Kirkpatrick said.