Your Turn Time for Bayshore to stand up to overdevelopment John Curran Guest Column The current owners of the historic Van Mater homestead situated on the corner of Stone Road and Poole Avenue in Hazlet Township have recently presented conceptual drawings to the Hazlet Planning Board proposing the construction of a high-density residential condominium development at that site. From the start, the historic homestead has been included in our effort and goal to preserve Stone Road Meadows and to create a county park there. Since the "Meadows" is uniquely located to serve as a gateway to the Bayshore, our broader vision and concept has called for the purchase, restoration and preservation of the homestead as a historical site which would serve as a visitors welcoming center to the Bayshore and as a destination point along the Henry Hudson Trail, which is located within 1,000 feet of the meadows. Preserving the homestead buildings would prevent the need to further disturb or develop the meadows' 26 acres of open space. The restored historic buildings would be used as a Bayshore inter-community historical museum to display local historic artifacts and provide facilities and restrooms and other amenities such as Bayshore town maps and brochures, snacks, and a gift shop for tourists, trail hikers and residents. It would also provide ample parking. The meadows, preserved in its entirety, has the potential to accommodate a diversity of uses such as a birding observation point, fitness/jogging trail, organic farm and market, picnicking areas, a playground, passive recreation and the like. Currently, the Bayshore Regional Strategic Plan the Hazlet Township Master Plan and zoning ordinances all call for various types of mixed-use development of Stone Road Meadows. In September, the Hazlet Township Committee adopted resolution No. 268, which calls for the purchase and preservation of Stone Road Meadows as an open space park. In November, Hazlet Township residents voted yes to the creation of an Open Space tax fund. Clearly, major conflicts now exist between the old and the new plans that must be remedied before any new development proposals are approved to proceed. Hence, with this in mind, long-term fiscal, economic and environmental impact studies for all future development proposals should be required and should undergo the close scrutiny of the Township Committee and the Planning and Zoning boards, to assure the fulfillment of these newly established goals. Hazlet Area Quality of Life Alliance (HAQLA) is hopeful that Mayor James DiNardo and the Hazlet Township Committee - along with the Planning and Zoning boards - will make it a top priority in 2007 to proceed in a bipartisan effort to amend pre-existing township planning and zoning goals and to enact appropriate plans and ordinances so as to swiftly establish and implement the mechanisms needed in order to carry out the mission and purpose of the new Open Space Tax Fund Plan (open space, recreation, farmland and historic preservation) and township resolution No. 268 (preservation of Stone Road Meadows for open space and recreation) to the full realization of their intended goals, without delay. Hazlet Township and the communities located in the western reach of the Bayshore will all benefit by first preserving the homestead and meadows before any further development in this area is approved and not the other way around. In that way, carefully planned commercial, retail and residential smart-growth development - which will conform with and reinforce the open space, park-like setting, and which will appropriately respond to the provisional needs of the local residents, consumers and park visitors - will follow and flourish. The presence of a county park will enhance the quality of life in this area and our natural environment will thrive, making it a more desirable place to live. Property values will rise; the tax base will increase. The Van Mater homestead and Stone Road Meadows are among the oldest and very last surviving historic, agricultural and open space properties in Hazlet Township. Lou Andreuzzi, co-chair, along with the numerous other supporters of the consortium to purchase, preserve and protect Stone Road Meadows and the Van Mater Homestead, are presently anticipating the assistance of the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders, who had promised back in October to convene an ad hoc meeting in the very near future that will focus on developing a plan to achieve this important preservation goal. We encourage all Hazlet and Bayshore area residents to get involved and to impress upon their elected officials that it is time to turn the corner, stop the overdevelopment and embark on an environmentally friendly course in shaping the future of our communities, before what little remaining historic and environmental resources are destroyed and lost forever. The private developers should no longer enjoy free rein to obtain the kinds of variances and approvals on projects which are destroying the character of our communities in defiance of the expressed desire of the residents of many of our communities to put a stop to the rampant overdevelopment. Route 36 need not mirror the urban sprawl development pattern we find on Route 35. Instead, it can more pleasingly reflect and protect, enhance and accommodate our maritime, tourism and local environmental characteristics here in the Bayshore. It is high time for our elected officials from the towns lining the Raritan Bayshore, to draw that line in the sand and to stop the further urbanization of our communities along the Route 36 corridor. John M. Curran III is president of the Hazlet Area Quality of Life Alliance