For Immediate Release
Media Contact: Taylor.McFarland@sierraclub.org
Last night the Colts Neck Planning Board held a special meeting to vote on the Colts Neck Manor Development. The proposal is a 360 unit high density housing complex including 72 units of Affordable Housing with approximately 1000 residents. The site is next to Yellow Brook, a C1 Stream, and tributaries to the Swimming River Reservoir which provides drinking water for 300,000 people of Monmouth County. Several residents submitted dozens of questions to the planning before the meeting for Kushner Associates to answer but they failed to do so. The planning board decided to extend the application and postpone their vote until December 1st at 6:30pm to accompany all public participation.
“We have major environmental and public health concerns associated with the proposed Colts Neck Manor development and its Amphidrome wastewater system. The site for this project is completely inappropriate. This area is part of a watershed that feeds into a critical reserior for Monmouth County. Kushner associates have also completely failed to adequately answer questions regarding their wastewater system and the environmental impacts if this system failed,” said Taylor McFarland, Acting Director of the Sierra Club New Jersey Chapter. “We thank the Planning Board for extending the application so that residents have the opportunity to ask questions and comment. However, it’s important that they consider the environmental and public health impacts this development can have on the town and nearby areas. There should be alternative sites for Affordable Housing in areas that will have less impact on our drinking water.”
The proposal calls for constructing Amphidrome wastewater treatment system underground buried under pavement to handle all wastewater generated on the site, which includes the 15 apartment buildings, maintenance facilities, a club house and a swimming pool. There will also be 715 parking spaces provided. The applicant stated that this Amphridome system has been used at the Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts, however this system has not been used in New Jersey.
“Colts Neck should not be experimenting with such a waste water system that has never been used in a residential area next to C1 streams and tributaries of a reservoir. If there is no data to show the effectiveness of this system in this environmentally sensitive area, how can Kushner guarantee minimal impacts to our drinking water and the health of the residents of Colts Neck and surrounding towns who rely on the reservoir for drinking water,” said McFarland. “According to the application for the Colts Neck Manor, there will be 715 parking spaces which is over 72,000 square feet or 1.5 football fields. This means more impervious cover, more flooding, and more polluted stormwater runoff going into wetlands and critical streams.”
There have been over 100 residents at each planning board meeting on the Colts Neck Manor proposal who have raised public health and environmental concerns with the development. When asked about their proposed wastewater system, Kushner Associates punt the question and say it’s NJDEP’s responsibility. During the planning board meeting last night, residents who would be directly impacted by this development were cut off by Kushner because their zoom video was not on, even though their audio worked perfectly.
“Kushner is trying to rush this development through without adequate public input. They care about profits, not people or the impact on our drinking water. The Colts Neck Manor development will be a disaster for our drinking water, public health and safety. This development would have serious impacts to critical streams and drinking water for 300,000 people of Monmouth County. Hundreds of residents have been showing up to these planning board meetings but leave with more unanswered questions,” said Taylor McFarland, Acting Director of the Sierra Club NJ Chapter. “Given the environmentally sensitive site, Colts Neck should not approve a wastewater system that has never been used in New Jersey.”