Town center developer plans to appeal ruling BY DAN NEWMAN Staff Writer MIDDLETOWN - After a recent ruling upholding the township's decision to rezone an 87-acre tract on Route 35 from being primarily commercial to an active adult residential zone, Mountain Hill LLC's attorney has said that his client still hopes to build the town center and will file an appeal. Mountain Hill attorney Gary Fox said he was not surprised by Superior Court Judge Lawrence Lawson's Nov. 13 decision. His client plans to fight on at the appellate level by filing an appeal some time this week. "Hopefully the appellate division will correct the decision that was made at the trial level," Fox said. Fox also took the opportunity to respond to those within the township's government who felt that here would be no further appeals concerning this matter, which has gone on for many years. "[Township Committeewoman] Rosemarie Peters said that she thought the appeal process was over. She has obviously already started working at the surrogate's office and forgot she's still on the Township Committee," Fox said about Peters, who recently won the general election to be the next Monmouth County Surrogate. Township Attorney Bernard Reilly feels that this is all a classic case of sour grapes. "He's just disgruntled because he lost," Reilly said. "It's unfortunate he's not getting what he wants, but really the sentiment of the community is that they didn't want something the size of the Monmouth Mall in Middletown." "A project like that would turn Middletown into Edison. People moved from there to get away from that stuff," he said. Fox said that people in Middletown should not be stunned by the latest appeal, and that the members of the Township Committee are merely "grandstanding." "I'm so offended by what they are doing over there in Middletown," Fox said. "This is an injustice and what they're doing is outrageous. My client owns the property and the court is stopping him from doing what he wants with it." While Fox is less than thrilled with all that has gone on, he did say that his client may re-evaluate the status of his property and what may be done with it somewhere down the road. "And when my client does that, then I am sure of course that the township once again will rezone," Fox said. "Throughout the history of this application, the township always rezones every time. This is ridiculous and absurd."