Tuesday, September 16, 2008

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.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jack Morris is building his shopping center along Perrineville Road. That location didn't miserably fail traffic studdies like Millhurst Road did. How convenient that you keep omitting the fact that the County and the State haven't liked the Village Center from the start.

Anonymous said...

Interesting guy that Jack Morris...donated 14 acres of his property so the Make A Wish foundation could put up a building for sick kids: http://newstranscript.gmnews.com/news/2008/0116/front_page/008.html

Anonymous said...

that's because Perrineville Road doesn't have all the housing on it that Millhurst Road has -- housing that was rammed through the planning board by Gray and Shapiro. We will be paying the price forever for the damage Gray and Shapiro did to Manalapan and, apparently, they are not through screwing Manalapan yet.

Anonymous said...

that's because Perrineville Road doesn't have all the housing on it that Millhurst Road has -- housing that was rammed through the planning board by Gray and Shapiro. We will be paying the price forever for the damage Gray and Shapiro did to Manalapan and, apparently, they are not through screwing Manalapan yet. Just watch their stooge Spodak in action every meeting.

Anonymous said...

I think a point here has been missed. If this blog is true then it seems that the towns that surround Manalapan are working diligently on building an infrastructure for their towns while Manalapan continues to build houses. Where are all of the people who buy those house and already live here going to shop?

Personally, I'd rather drive down the street in Manalapan and use my dollars here rather than subsidize Marlboro or Monroe and spend more gas getting there.

Anonymous said...

I'd rather drive to and shop in stores in Manalapan too...but not if those stores are going to increase traffic beyond what the local roads can handle. Want an apartment building in your development? Of course not...nor do you want stores that are going to cause gridlock.

Anonymous said...

So how do we fix this problem the politicians have left us with. Manalapan needs shopping and less homes but has too many homes and not enough shopping.

My taxes have gone up too high in just 2 years with no end in sight - thanks to those tax and spend liberals Roth & Lucas.

If we travel to Monroe we cause traffic on roads not built to handle it in Manalapan. if we travel to Marlboro, same story.

I don't see any other way around it. If you have a plan, let us know because we really need a good one.

Anonymous said...

Very simple...build shopping centers and make road improvements that properties are zoned for. Don't be a pig and try to overbuild the property to increase your profit at the expense of local residents. So simple....

Anonymous said...

Lets see now....6 stories on the home page of this blog...3 have to do with DaMegaMall...sounds like our host has a keen interest in this monstrocity getting done....

Anonymous said...

It sure does. It sounds like our host isn't happy paying Michelle Roth's 46% tax hike. It sounds like our host realizes what everybody else realizes, that if the village center was built, we would have had a tax cut. It sounds like our host is disgusted that Michelle Roth is killing our pocketbooks to protect her financier, inmate John Lynch. It sounds like our host is fed up with the corruption that Michelle Roth represents, including the 1.4 million she wants to spend for John Lynch's 400,000 Tillis property which she wants to turn over to a pal to make hundreds of thousands of dollars on at taxpayers' expense. Yes, it sure does sound like that.

Anonymous said...

Roth's poll numbers are not too good for her chance for re election.

I want to thank Channel 77 for showing us who she really is.

Not even Covered Bridge can save her.

Anonymous said...

I want to know what Garcia & Green think about the Village Center. I wonder if Garcia even knows where Millhurst Rd is. It's obvious that their puppeteer Lucas is now against the Manalapan project. Will the G & G Boys show they aren't controlled by Lucas & the Dems?

Anonymous said...

I know one thing for sure...McEnery, Lucas, Green or Garcia were not at the Republican club meeting last night at Covered Bridge. I guess Freeholder Lillian Burrie & Freeholder candidate John Curley knows who the true supporters are. I know the board at Covered Bridge were upset that they didn't attend. I guess Covered Bridge is not important to them?

Anonymous said...

Here's why I'm voting for Green & Holland.

Green has an ego big enough that if someone where to turn away from Lucas & McEnery first, it would be him.

A vote for Holland is a vote against Roth. If Holland & Green win, Roth is out which is a win-win for everyone.

Anonymous said...

The last paragraph says it all. Roth is on the township committee of Manalapan, not Monroe, so speaking out on their issues is just a waste of time. As to her being 'staunchly against' the Village Center, that's not what she's publicly stated. She's in favor of a supermarket and neighborhood stores. She is reponsible in being against a MegaMall that will cause gridlock on Millhurst Road. Lucas and Klauber feel the same way. Former Planning Board member Susan Cohen voted against the residential housing component that the builder tried to shove through. While running for office Tony Gennaro said: "“The answer lies in the quality of life. If the quality of life will be improved, it has to be considered, but the applicant has to make their case and satisfy all of the questions that the residents’ quality of life will be improved by their proposal.” Clogging local roads obviously doesn't improve quality of life.

The entire Township Committee is against the development of a MegaMall.

After 5 years of fighting, after a ridiculous lawsuit under the guise of COAH, the developer finally realized that he doesn't stand a chance to get the zoning changed so he recently submitted an application for a 500,000 square foot site plan to be considered. Just think how much everyone lost out over the last 5 years because of Manalapan Retail Partner's greed: The developer now has higher construction costs and lost out on 4-5 years of rent. THe township lost out on tax revnue. And the local residents had to drive further away to do some of their shopping. So sad...

Anonymous said...

Gee...did I miss something? What did the PB give preliminary approval for last year? Wasn't that for the 500,000 sq. ft. proposal? Then Lucas stopped it with the traffic study committee. From what I understand that committee has only met twice for a hour each time.

Anonymous said...

You think your TAXES are high now? Just wait... it's going to SKYROCKET. Why, you ask? Because of the new COAH, Council on Affordable Housing, rules. The rules have been changed by the NJ Supreme Court. The changes will double the impact on Manalapan. It also limits the amount of units that can be shifted to other towns. IT WILL have major impact on YOUR PROPERTY TAXES over the next 10 or 20 YEARS. This is a issue for many other municipalities in the state.

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080918/NEWS01/809180491/1004

Join Senator Jennifer Beck, Assemblyman Declan O'Scanlan, Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande and the League of Municipalities in a discussion on the effects of affordable housing on Manalapan.


Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2008
7 to 9 PM

Manalapan Township Municipal Building

Anonymous said...

NJ Supreme Court had nothing to do with it. it was the appellate court that threw out the rules in 1/07. They referred the matter to DCA to rewrite the rules. These rules are the DCA rules not the court's.

Anonymous said...

supreme court or appellate court who cares? It was the courts that caused the rewriting of the rules. Butch should be thanked for pointing it out to us. Now go back and bury your head in da sand and wait for a typo so you can correct it.