Foodtown site could have a green future

BY PATRICIA A. MILLER
Staff Writer

Tired of looking at the old Foodtown site on Route 70? So is Brick Township Council President Stephen C. Acropolis.

"We don't need any more strip malls," he said. "We have to have smart development, smart growth."

The vacant, boarded-up property could be transformed into an environmentally friendly, mixed-use development of upscale retail and office space, according to Anthony V. Sblendorio, a landscape architect and principal in the Oldwick firm of Back to Nature Landscape Associates Inc.

Sblendorio gave a presentation to the Township Council at the end of the Feb. 20 council caucus meeting in which he detailed the possibilities for the site's future.

"I'm a bennie," he told the council. "I love Brick. The more we looked into it, the more we sort of fell in love with doing something with the Foodtown site."

One of the primary concepts of building "green" is not to just limit environmental damage, but to regenerate natural resources, Sblendorio said.

That can be done by constructing man-made wetlands, with plants and swales, to mimic natural wetlands, which are the planet's "kidneys," he said.

Brick Township is now 97 percent built-out, he said.

"We see this as a very significant opportunity for development," Sblendorio told the council. "Not only just for a site, but for what this can translate to your community as a whole."

The primary attraction for his firm's interest in the Foodtown site is its proximity to Forge Pond, he said.

"It's obviously a critical resource for your community," Sblendorio said.

He proposed a number of uses for the site, including a hotel, a Whole Foods grocery store, a residential component and walking trails in back of the site so senior citizens could walk from the Housing Authority complex to the store.

"Unbelievable," Acropolis said during the presentation. "Fantastic. Where do we sign up?"

A town has a lot more control over a site using the redevelopment process, which puts it on the fast track to Trenton and gives officials more say in just what goes on the site, Sblendorio said.

"We would like to have some sort of agreement, some sort of a recognition on moving forward, so that we can continue to invest money in the study and come back to you with a plan that you will embrace," he told the council.

Councilman Michael Thulen said the township would have to be compensated for the site's increased value since the town purchased it.

"I don't think we should have bought it in the first place," Thulen said. "Whoever does get into this has to recognize this is going to be a major commitment on their part."

Acropolis said after the meeting the council would start to discuss redevelopment issues after the budget is finished.

"I loved it," he said. "I think those are the types of things the township is looking to do as we move forward. But we have to get through the budget process. In April or May, we may really tackle redevelopment issues. And that doesn't mean eminent domain. We are not going to be taking any property from private property owners."