'Save Our Woods': Brick Residents Want Visitation Church To Halt Land Sale To Development

BRICK, NJ — Brick Township officials say they would love to see a 30-acre parcel of woods in the Breton Woods section preserved as open space.

And even as testimony is set to begin Wednesday before the Brick Township Planning Board on a proposal for 59 homes on that parcel, residents who oppose the proposal by developer DR Horton are holding out hope that land can be preserved.

There's one problem: The parcel is owned by Church of the Visitation and the Diocese of Trenton, and neither has shown any willingness to even discuss maintaining it as open space, residents and township officials say.

The church has a deal with DR Horton to sell the 30 acres off Laurel Avenue.

Brick Township officials have reached out, seeking to buy the land to protect it from development, with assistance from the Ocean County Natural Lands Trust.

"No one has returned our calls," Brick Township Mayor John G. Ducey said Tuesday night.

The Planning Board meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the township municipal building, 401 Chambers Bridge Road.

Residents of the Breton Woods section have been opposing the proposed development since they were first notified about the DR Horton plan last summer. A petition to stop the development, started by Ryan Gittler-Muniz, has garnered more than 5,700 signatures.

But it was the notifications that went out about the planning board meeting that have galvanized activity among the residents, many of whom are parishioners at the church.

"We walk our dogs here," said Brendan Stuk, who organized protests Saturday and Sunday in front of the church, which bought the parcel in 1983 from Brick Township for $10,500, according to the deed filed with the Ocean County Clerk's office.

For Stuk, it has been a sanctuary from the stresses of health challenges amid the pandemic. "You can go back there and no one bothers you."

For Marisela Gittler, it is a haven. Her home backs up to the property and the woods are filled with wildlife, she said.

When her son started the petition seeking to halt the development, the church had only the developer seeking to buy the land, she said. The town's willingness to try to preserve it as open space is something she wishes the church would consider.

She and Stuk and other parishioners said they have been told the church needs the money from the sale, rumored to be as much as $3 million, to make repave the church parking lot and make repairs. They have received pushback from church officials when they have approached them.

"This is our parish," Gittler said. "If you want to bring us in, you have to care about us," she said.

Joan Sullivan, a parishioner who attended the protest, has lived in the neighborhood since 1959.

"This is one of the last woods in Brick," she said. As a child, she walked through the woods to get to nearby Cherry Quay and to school in Osbornville. She has seen the dramatic changes since then, including the steady stream of traffic along Mantoloking Road.

"I'm really hoping we can save it," she said.

Increasing attention, however, has made the diocese tightlipped.

Ducey said township officials initially contacted the church about the possibility of buying the land to protect it as open space, but were told to contact the Diocese of Trenton.

The diocese has not responded to repeated calls, he said.

On Wednesday afternoon, the diocese said the information about the land sale was presented to parishioners of the church and the township in mid-2019.

In the "Pastor's Message" from the July 28, 2019 parish bulletin, it 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 sale of the land aimed to provide funding 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, the diocese said. Selling the property also will relieve the church of the $25,000 yearly property tax on those acres, the diocese said.

"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. "At this point in the process, we have referred any inquiries to the contract purchaser."

Rumors circulated over the weekend that the Ocean County Natural Lands Trust had offered to buy the property, but that information was inaccurate. Ducey said a property owner has to apply to be considered for an open space purchase, and Ocean County officials confirmed no application has been made.

Ducey said officials with the Natural Lands Trust had expressed a willingness, but as of Tuesday there was no movement from the church or the diocese to apply.

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.

This has been updated with comment from the diocese.

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