Breton Woods Neighbors Seek Help To Save Brick Parcel

BRICK, NJ — When the Brick Township Planning Board meets on Monday to resume hearing a proposal for homes on a wooded parcel in Breton Woods, neighbors of the parcel are hoping they will have an attorney to fight for them.

The planning board started to hear the application by developer DR Horton to build the homes on property it hopes to purchase from the Church of the Visitation on Feb. 24. But the hearing in the municipal courtroom attracted an overflow audience, forcing the boardto halt the hearing.

The hearing is set to resume Monday at 7 p.m. at the Brick Township Civic Center, 270 Chambers Bridge Road.

Neighbors of the property have since started a GoFundMe campaign to hire an attorney to fight the project. They also have held protests at Church of the Visitation, urging it to halt the sale of the property and instead work out a deal to allow Brick Township and other entities to buy the land and preserve it as woods.

Residents and township officials are still holding out some hope that the church and the Diocese of Trenton will consider selling the property back to the township, which originally sold it to Visitation Church in 1983 for $10,500, according to the deed filed with the Ocean County Clerk's office.

When the church bought the parcel, it had been with plans to create a cemetery, longtime parishioners have said. A proposal to do that was floated several years ago, but township planner Tara Paxton said the church never submitted a formal application for a cemetery.

Diocese officials say selling the property will relieve the church of $25,000 in property taxes on the 30-acre parcel off Laurel Avenue, between Drum Point Road and Mantoloking Road. The diocese said the church also hopes to use proceeds from the land sale for a "Faith Formation Center" to serve youth members of the church, to supplement money in the church's capital campaign fund for that project.

Brick Township officials say they have repeatedly called seeking discussions, but the diocese has not responded.

On Feb. 24, officials with the diocese replied to questions about the communications with the township, saying the diocese had spoken with Brick Township officials in 2019 and were told a garage by the rectory had to be demolished before the town would sign off on a plan to sell the land. The diocese pointed to a "Pastor's Message" from the July 28, 2019 parish bulletin that said the "sale of 34 acres of woodland owned by the parish between East End/Laurel Avenues and Drum Point Road" was being discussed.

"Potential buyers have come forward and we are working with the Diocesan Office of Planning and Construction to obtain the best possible price," the announcement said. "In addition to addressing CAFRA (NJ Coastal Area Facility Review Act) requirements, Brick Township has indicated that we must demolish the old garage by the Rectory before approval of the sale can be considered, which has been completed this week, so I fully expect the sale to go forward."

"The township has been fully aware of this sale and we have no record of any offer being submitted by the township early on," diocese officials said on Feb. 24. "At this point in the process, we have referred any inquiries to the contract purchaser."

Paxton, the township planner, rejected the assertion from the diocese that the township was aware in 2019 of the potential sale.

"Someone is confused or conflating two separate issues," Paxton said in an email to Patch. "The Township (Me) did approve a subdivision exemption in 2019 on Lot 663, Lots 1 and 10 that a garage was required to be demolished on East End And Lynwood Avenues as a condition of approval.

"This is not the 30-plus acres," Paxton said, and included copies of the documentation of the church's request to subdivide the East End Avenue property. "It is adjacent to the Church of the Visitation property at Block 646, Lot 21, but Block 663, Lots 1 and 10 were consolidated at one point and were legally able to be separated by a subdivision exemption to restore it to two lots, 475 and 473 East End Ave."

Paxton said the township never was offered the opportunity to purchase that property as open space.

"It was already under contract to sell at the time that the application was made," she said. "Subsequently, the property was sold and permits for two single-family dwellings at 475 and 473 East End Avenue were granted and were constructed."

The Laurel Avenue property that is the focus of the DR Horton application "is NOT the same property and no one informed me or my office they would be willing to sell this piece to us," Paxton said. "And no one ever approached my office about selling the 30+ acres to us either."

Paxton said the town first learned about the DR Horton proposal when neighbors who were notified about a wetlands determination application to the state Department of Environmental Protection contacted the township.

"The Clerk’s Office received the notification (about the NJDEP wetlands application) about a week later," she said. In August, residents complained to the township that it appeared trees were being cleared at the site, and Paxton said the town investigated and found engineers were testing the soil.

"Shortly thereafter, an application was filed with the Planning Board," Paxton said. "Usually, developers are encouraged to hold an informal concept meeting with us before they file an application before one of the Boards. That didn’t happen and we found out through the neighbors."

Paxton said she contacted Scott Pirozi, the director of the real estate division for the Diocese of Trenton, in the second week of August about setting up a meeting on the issue.

"Mr. Pirozi and I had a conversation involving acquisition and alternative designs and he was going to call me or Joanne Bergin to schedule the meeting. Neither of us received a phone call back and I attempted many more times after that initial conversation and left multiple messages," Paxton said. "I never connected again with Mr. Pirozi."

Paxton said she has never spoken with any representative of the Church of the Visitation "with the exception of Mr. Mike Butler, the attorney who handled the subdivision exemption, and it was limited to that issue and never included acquisition of any land."

Organizers of the GoFundMe campaign, called Save Breton Woods, say they have spoken to an experienced attorney in environmental matters in New Jersey and are hopeful of raising the funds to pay him to represent them.

"The destruction of this oak-pine forest would have devastating environmental effects — the destruction of a wildlife habitat where several protected species live and the increase of pollutant run-offs into groundwater, surrounding marshes, streams, river and bay," the campaign description says. "All of Brick would experience increased traffic, overcrowding of schools, even higher taxes, and demands on emergency services, but the surrounding neighborhoods, including those on Laurel Avenue, Drum Point Road, Aaron’s Way, Downey Avenue, Cedar Knoll Drive & Mayfair Court, and the communities of Breton Woods, Cedarwood Park, Cherry Quay & Shore Acres would be the most negatively impacted, as these woods currently act as a buffer for floodwaters, which is desperately needed in this area."

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