Proposed Ordinances Would Block Residential Development At Foodtown Site

When John Ducey took office as mayor of Brick Township a year ago, one of the items on his 100-day plan to change the town was a rather general one about township-owned properties.

“15. Conduct comprehensive review of all township owned properties and redevelopment sites - make sure they are properly used or returned to the tax rolls.”

The main target of that Item in the last few months has been the old Foodtown site. Township officials have moved to oust the developer in recent months. Tonight, the Township Council is expected to take another step to enforce its desires for the site, namely that no residential development occur there, when two ordinances are given a first reading at the meeting, set for 7 p.m. at the municipal building.

The ordinances would remove residential zoning and the mixed use overlay from the site, known formally as the Metedeconk Village Redevelopment Plan.

Ducey referred to residential development of the site as unacceptable when the township filed a notice of default in September, seeking to terminate an agreement with M&M Properties at Route 70, LLC, the redeveloper chosen in 2009 to give the site new life.

Under a $7 million agreement signed by M&M and the township, M&M was to demolish the decaying Foodtown building, purchase the site from the township and build a full-service hotel on the site, which the township has owned since 2003.

The building was demolished, but since 2010 nothing further has occurred. M&M sought approval to change from the planned hotel to a 192-unit condominium complex and 19,000 square feet of commercial space, but the township has balked at the change. In September, Ducey was more declarative, saying any plan for residential development there was unacceptable.

“The Council and I will not agree to any plan that is inconsistent with the current zoning of the Foodtown site,” Ducey said at the time.

In December, M&M fired back, filing suit in Superior Court in Ocean County, saying its lack of progress at the site was due to the town’s inability to obtain a permit from the state Department of Transportation that was holding up development at the site and charging the town with a failure to negotiate in good faith.

Officials with M&M have presented marketing studies which they say show a plan for a hotel in town is not viable. But Ducey in December said plans filed late in 2014 to build a Courtyard by Marriott on Route 88 show that a hotel is viable in the township.

The two ordinances set for first introduction tonight would solidify the township’s determination to prevent residential development at the site.

The first one amends the Metedeconk Village Redevelopment Plan, removing residential development from the plan. According to the proposed ordinance, the plan initially did not include residential development when it was adopted in June 2008, but a May 2011 amendment added that use.

The second ordinance removes the “Mixed Use Zone Overlay” from the two lots that encompass the site on the township property map.

“It has been 11 years since the township purchased the old Foodtown and nearly six years since M&M was selected to redevelop the site. And yet the property remains vacant; a financial burden that cannot be allowed to continue,” Ducey has said. The town has paid $465,192 per year on debt service for the site, almost $4 million since the agreement with M&M was first signed, he said.

The amendments will go to the Planning Board for its review at its Jan. 28 meeting, with final adoption of the ordinances tentatively set for the Feb. 3 Township Council meeting.

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