Payoff or gift? Officials, residents square off on farm
elaine van develde
The Hub

Picture this: "Ol’ Frank Weny had a farm E-I-E-I-O. And on his farm he had 299 age-restricted homes, tennis courts, a pool, a recreation center."

To municipal officials in Tinton Falls, it’s just a cost-effective, new twist on an old nursery rhyme. To open space advocates, it’s neither a pretty picture nor a twist on the old rhyme. Instead, it’s just bad news incited by a $2 million payoff that will seal the fate of the Willowbrook Farms, formerly owned by Frank Weny.

It’s a saga that’s been hanging in the balance for months now: Will Tinton Falls buy back Willowbrook Farms in the interest of preserving open space? Can it be done without incurring a major expense to the borough and taxpayers?

Preservationists stand firm in saying that it can be done. However, the borough’s final answer is that neither buying the farm nor retaining its current zoning parameters is a cost effective option. Yet that final answer came after months of what borough officials deem "toil over the situation" and a $2 million dedicated donation to open space by developer Terry Sherman who bought the property more than six months ago.

"We just can’t afford to buy the farm," said Tinton Falls Mayor Ann McNamara. "It’s the money. Some things you can afford and some you just can’t. Asking the builder to work within the current zoning parameters — which would allow 110 single-family (not age-restricted) homes — will increase the tax burden and bring on traffic-flow problems in the neighborhood. Buying the farm outright is just not an option. We got a lot of maybes on state aid and no definites. This way we’ll save taxpayers’ money with the gated community and we’ll have $2 million in our budget dedicated to open space elsewhere. That money must be used toward open space initiatives, just not the Weny farm."

Preservationists will not accept this decision with open arms, mind, space or anything else for that matter. Borough resident Carl Calendar spoke in their stead when he called it a "payoff and an unwritten contract with the developer, allowing him to build more homes on the property and make substantially more money on the deal in exchange for a $2 million ‘donation’ to open space."

"The borough is using ordinance language to camouflage the fact that they have a verbal contract with the developer," Calendar said. "Rezoning this property is not in the best interest of the community. It’s rape of the land. The ordinance calls for homes 35 feet tall and only 20 feet apart. That’s worse than living in Brooklyn! In addition to that, what they’re calling open space on the property itself is actually a recreation center, tennis courts and a pool. It’s cement, not open space, and certainly not for the community to share."

Mayor McNamara countered that claim in a later interview stating that "there will be about 30 acres of actual open space in the gated community. No, it will not be for borough residents to share, but they will also not have to bear the burden of increased taxes and traffic," she said.

"The $2 million dedicated donation by the developer is also something I see as a great gift to the town’s open space fund," McNamara continued. "We have an actual open space fund which was established when our open space referendum was passed. I can see how the preservationists would think this is a payoff, but I don’t see it that way. I am an open space advocate myself. This just seems to be the best way to go for all concerned."

Not only are preservationists not buying the farm, they’re also not buying any of what Mayor McNamara is claiming. They say the mayor is contradicting herself. They say they don’t understand how she can call herself an open space advocate when she is not trying very hard to buy the farm and when she introduces an ordinance that "defies zoning parameters set by the master plan and disrespects the wishes of the community at large."

Another issue is the mayor’s veto power over this proposed ordinance.

Tinton Falls operates under the mayor-council form of government which does not allow the mayor to vote, but gives her veto power over an ordinance before it is voted on. The council, however, can override the mayor’s veto by a two-thirds majority vote.

While the mayor concedes that she can, indeed, put an end to the preservationists’ Willowbrook Farms angst and veto the ordinance before it’s even voted on, she believes that the 299 homes in a gated community are a "good trade-off considering the fact that the town will now have an additional $2 million in the pot towards open space."

She also reiterated her belief that the town and its residents will save a lot of tax money if the gated community is built and no additional children enter the school system.

"It looks like the $2 million may go to the Scarano tract, which is centrally located in town (on Shafto Road and West Park Avenue). The Open Space Committee has a wish list which I believe this property is at the top of. In any event, what will happen is that the open space committee will present open space preservation recommendations to the council and they will then vote on it," McNamara said.

This is yet another point of contention for the preservationists.

"If the town rezones the Weny tract with no problem, what’s to say they won’t just rezone all the open space in Tinton Falls?" said Calendar. "How can we be sure that once this property is rezoned, the rest of the town doesn’t turn into a giant gated community? Once they bend these rules, where do they go from there? It seems like the rezoning of this property will be setting a precedent for ‘anything goes’ as far as development is concerned. This ordinance to rezone the farm is a violation of our own master plan. It increases the density by a factor of three. Zoning is supposed to protect residents. Our zoning has offered zero protection. No one living next to a field in Tinton Falls is safe. The town is for sale."

McNamara is adamant that everything being done is legal. She claims there is no violation of the master plan. According to her, it can legally be rezoned. "The ordinance is a proposal to amend the current R-1 zoning to permit this use and the building of 299 homes — that’s a little over two per acre," she commented.

That "little over two per acre" is too much for preservationists and they intend to fight it in the name of every square foot of open space left in the borough.

In the meantime, the public hearing on the proposed amendment to the ordinance will be held July 18 at the Tinton Falls Municipal Complex. McNamara and preservationists alike urge attendance in the name of what Ol’ Frank Weny will have on his former farm.