Politics Could Force a MegaMegaMall on Manalapan With No Tax Benefits

Manalapan could soon be surrounded by "Villages," and not one of them may even be in Manalapan!

For the last several years Manalapan has been embroiled in “Village-Gate,” a kind of “do you want the tax ratables or do you want homeowners to keep paying for everything in Manalapan.” There’s da side that says they don’t need shopping there. There’s another side that says they don’t want to travel to Freehold or Marlboro to shop and spend their tax dollars in another town.

Now, da debate may be moot.

According to da Asbury Park Press, which has been very much on top of this issue, da planning boards in both towns will be taking on da issue of which town will get their shopping center.

Da folks putting together da “Village” have offered up a redesigned just-under 500,000 square foot “strip of stores fronting Route 33 at Millhurst Road with larger retailers to the rear.” At one point, Manalapan was offered a larger plan which included a “Village-style” atmosphere, complete with parks and recreation fields, a bandshell, 300 loft-style condos which could have helped COAH obligations, and a movie theater. That concept was shot down by a few politicians who do not want anything built on da site, despite plans which come in within legal specifications and is now being delayed by a “traffic study”, despite da fact da Manalapan Planning Board approved da preliminary plans in 2006.

Also on Route 33’s westbound side, and just a stone’s throw from da Manalapan border in Monroe could sit what has been called da MegaMegaMall, a more-than 500,000 square foot scaled down version of what a developer named Jack Morris wanted to originally build, but pressure there also scaled back the idea. His original Mega-Plan on a 400-acre piece of land would have made da Village seem as big as a “WaWa.”

Wouldn't it be ironic if Monroe's MegaMegaMall gets direct access to Route 33 and da smaller Manalapan project doesn't?

Marlboro has also toyed with a potential "Village" of their own, and one potential site for a proposed Marlboro "Village" could be very close to da Manalapan border!

Now, before we go further, there’s some things you need to know to make an informative decision that you might not read in some other local weeklies.

Issue #1: Who is Jack Morris? Smiling Jack is a very nice guy. He’s also da former business associate of INMATE John Lynch, described as an "Ex-Kingpin" by da Star ledger who is serving time in a Federal Prison for breaking da law, although he feels his creaky knee, balky back, and da fact he may lose his $5 million Mega-mansion to foreclosure should be deemed a “get-out-of-jail-early” card.

Issue #2: Da head of da Pucci Posse. He’s da guy who was a “consultant” to Lynch to da tune of over $160,000!

Issue #3: Manalapan Democrats & Lynch. In 2003, according to da Asbury Park Press, “New Jersey campaign reports show the property owner, Providence Corp.(Manalapan’s other controversial land issue), made a $1,000 donation to New Directions in July 2003. New Directions gave a $1,000 campaign contribution to former Democratic Committeeman and Mayor Drew Shapiro's campaign in November the same year.”

Nothing is ever easy.

DaTruth is, one way or da other, Route 33 is going to become much more traveled, as will all Manalapan roads heading to Route 33. Da question you need to ask yourself is:

1. Where do you want that traffic to be going?

2. Do you want Route 33 West leaving Manalapan to resemble Route 9?

3. Would you rather Route 33 leaving Freehold to be worse?

4. Would you rather have tax money and business revenue stay in Manalapan to ease taxpayer burden?

If you answered “Yes” to questions 1 & 2, then you’re a Manalapan resident who supports business in Monroe and have no problem with traffic jamming up country roads to leave town and take its tax money with them.

If you answered “Yes” to questions 3 & 4, then you’re a Manalapan resident who supports business in Manalapan and have a serious problem with traffic jamming up country roads to leave town and take its tax money with them.

DaTruth is, da southern part of Manalapan, with 3,000 homes & probably 5,000 cars and SUV's coming in needs a place to shop. Those cars will need to either head down Millhurst Road to da Village, or down every road to Route 33 anyway heading to shop in Monroe or Freehold and take the tax dollars with them.

Da question, if you’re a Manalapan resident, is what town do you want your tax dollars to help, how far do you want to travel to shop, and do you want ratables to help offset Manalapan’s last 2 tax hikes, which equaled 42% over da last 2 years with da Queen Mayor & alleged Manalapan and/or Freehold resident Andy Boy at da help of da ship?

At this point, it really doesn’t matter if you are for or against da Village in Manalapan. One way or da other something big will be built on Route 33. It will either be in Manalapan, Monroe, Marlboro, or possibly all three. Da problem is, where do YOU want to spend your money, and do you want tax dollars to stay in Manalapan so “Manalapan” doesn’t turn into “Tax-alapan?”

With the November election coming, and da Queen Mayor staunchly opposed to da Village in Manalapan and has never spoke out against building in Monroe on Route 33, your vote may decide Manalapan’s fate.

And that’s daTruth.