Board spat puts Havens Cove application on hold
Planning Board postpones hearing on controversial subdivision until Jan. 24.
BY PATRICIA A. MILLER
Staff Writer

BRICK TOWNSHIP - Havens Cove area residents and developer Thomas Critelli will have to wait a little longer for a decision on his controversial application to put up 11 single-family homes in their neighborhood.

The application was postponed for the third time at the Jan. 3 Planning Board meeting, after new appointments to the board were challenged.

Michelle Donato, the attorney representing the environmental group Save Barnegat Bay, asked that the matter be carried again after now-Mayor and then-board chairman Daniel J. Kelly asked the audience to "just bear with us."

"There have been some situations coming up since the evening started," Kelly said. "One of the situations is the configuration of this Planning Board. There is a question of who should be seated and who shouldn't. There's a judgment our attorney has made and it could cause a problem down the road. That's to be seen."

Donato, who requested two previous postponements, said she came prepared to move forward with the application. Save Barnegat Bay and area residents say the tract is too wet for development and contend the proposed project would harm their Baywood neighborhood.

"I think if there is a question as to the validity of the membership, it causes difficulty all around," she said. "I think the safest course would be for the board to carry this to another meeting."

Nicholas Montenegro, the attorney for Danitom, Critelli's firm, said he was ready to proceed.

"We have been here two or three times," he said. "We have always been ready to proceed."

Board Attorney Charles Tivenan said it was likely the new mayor would have different appointments for various positions than those made by Township Clerk and then-acting Mayor Virginia Lampman. He advised the board to carry the matter.

"I think Mr. Montenegro is ready to proceed, but I think he understands and recognizes that perhaps this request for an adjournment is different from requests for adjournments that have been made by Save Barnegat Bay in the past," Tivenan said. "This might fall into a separate category."

Kelly agreed. The application is a "very important case" because it involves 37 acres, he said.

"We want to get this right," Kelly said. "Five years from now, 10 years from now, nobody is going to remember that we waited a week, two weeks or three weeks to get it. With that it mind, we are going to carry this case to Jan. 24."

Helen Henderson, project manager for Save Barnegat Bay, said after the meeting the group agreed with the decision to postpone the application.

"Apparently the whole validity of the appointments was in question," Henderson said. "We didn't want to risk any decision that the board may make. This has been carried on so long to begin with."

Save Barnegat Bay was ready for the application to be heard that night, until the controversy about the board appointments came to light, she said.

"It's a bit of a political mess we would rather not be involved in," Henderson said. "But we are so thankful for all the residents who took the time to come out and we are hoping they can make it back on the 24th. It was the best crowd we've had yet."

The 37.5-acre parcel is located in the rural residential zone, along the south side of Havens Cove Road, north of Baywood Boulevard, with access from the end of Atlantic Drive.

Danitom wants to subdivide the property into 13 lots - 11 for 2.5-story single-family homes, and two lots that would be dedicated to the township for open space. The property could yield 15 conforming single-family lots.

The house lots would use 12.58 acres of the site, with the balance of the tract - 24.98 acres - dedicated to the township.