Middletown Township approves Bamm Hollow settlement

The Middletown Township Committee approved a litigation settlement with the owners of Bamm Hollow Country Club, which would allow the construction of up to 190 single-family homes on the 280-acre property. The settlement with Bamm Hollow LLC stipulates that each lot would exceed 1 acre in size, preserve 120 acres of open space and include no Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) units, Township Attorney Brian Nelson said at the Township Committee meeting May 16.

Bamm Hollow originally presented a proposal for 1,204 multifamily homes, which entered COAH-sponsored mediation and resulted in a gag order on the township.

“I’m not crazy about it, let’s be frank,” Mayor Anthony Fiore said.

“I made this vote not because I wanted to, but I made this vote because unfortunately I have to.”

Fiore said that he felt this plan was the best the township would be able to achieve.

Nelson said that the settlement was reasonable, considering the size of the property and the potential for high-density housing on the site.

“The density under this proposed settlement is far lower than the average density throughout the rest of Lincroft, and this would end years of litigation between Bamm Hollow and the township,” he said.

“It’s far less development than what was being pursued.”

Committeeman Kevin Settembrino said that density congruency was a high priority for the committee.

“At 190 single-family units, it was the intent of the committee to try and get a development as close to the same density that we have in the surrounding properties,” he said.

The density of the settlement is less than the density of the surrounding properties, he said.

“We do not have a decision on how property owners act on their property,” Settembrino said.

“We must make the best of what our options are.”

Despite the reduced number of units, residents voiced mixed reactions.

Many praised the committee for its prolonged fight against the development and success in reducing the proposed density, but for some, already riled by the 342-unit townhome/apartment Four Ponds proposal for the former Avaya site heard earlier this month, it was not enough.

Apress release from the Lincroft Village Green Association, an organization of Lincroft residents opposing the proposed townhouses of the Four Ponds development, said that any development in Lincroft should match the style of the majority of the Lincroft homes, single-family homes on large lots .

Fiore defended the committee’s decision to settle with Bamm Hollow.

“What if we don’t do this and the courts, which are in favor of the builders, force 1,200 multifamily units downMiddletown’s throat, which they’ve done in other towns?” he said.

“If I had confidence that they wouldn’t do that, I wouldn’t support this tonight.”

The township has been in litigation with Bamm Hollow since 2005, said Nelson, when it sued over the site’s exclusion from Middletown’s affordable housing plan.

According to Fiore, the site was originally excluded from the township’s affordable housing plan due to its size.

The settlement is still subject to approval by the Planning Board, Nelson said.

Nelson said that this settlement is the first step in the process, and an ordinance needs to be developed between the planner and other professionals and reviewed by both the committee and Planning Board.