Plans For Holmdel’s Potters Farm Seek To Reinvent Dementia Care

HOLMDEL, NJ — Much has been speculated about the future of Potters Farm, which United Methodist Communities bought with plans to build a memory care center.

Last Wednesday, the developers had their first presentation before the Holmdel Zoning Board of Adjustment. No decision has been made yet and there will likely be at least two future hearings before the board votes.

Dubbed The Enclave At Holmdel, the project draws inspiration from the model of care found at Hogewey Dementia Village in Amsterdam.

Developers seek to create a sort of village that mimics the real world, with apartment-style houses, front porches, gardens to walk around and even a grocery store. There's also a focus on aesthetics, with a contemporary take on the farmhouse design.

Instead of the average number of 24 to 26 residents in most care facilities, here patients would live in houses of up to seven people with private rooms and bathrooms and a more "single-family residence" feel, the developers explained.

Meals would not be served in a cafeteria. Residents themselves would go shopping and prepare their food together at home.

"How would you prefer to spend the last years of your life? In a sterile hospital-like institution? Or a village with a supermarket, a pub, a theatre, a park with an easy walking distance," President CEO of United Methodist communities Lary Carlson asked.

Carlson said the project would be the first of its kind in the United States.

"I really think that this model is going to elevate the standard of care for providers across the country. We're seeking to be a model," he said.

Zoning board members raised concerns over how the perimeter would be secured, seeing as residents would be free to walk around from one building to the next.

The developers explained that although there would be no big fence around the site, the houses would form a secure perimeter, with no doors facing the outside. The only way to get into the garden would be through the main building which will be staffed with security.

Current plans account also for three emergency gates for fire emergencies and an ambulance gate.

Zoning Board Vice-Chair Demetri Orfanitopoulos said he was worried about how first responders would be able to carry stretchers between the gate and houses further away (seeing as ambulances are not meant to drive inside the property), especially with harsher conditions in the winter.

The applicant agreed to have the chief of the Holmdel First Aid Squad and of the fire department take a closer look at the project. A letter from the fire marshal had already been submitted as evidence in the proposal.

"We want to make sure that everybody is comfortable, that we have a safe workable plan," Zoning Board Chair Ralph Blumenthal said.

The application is seeking a waiver for the number of trees planted on-site.

Current requirements dictate that there should be one tree and two shrubs per 1,000 square feet of open space, which would translate to the planting of 591 trees and 1,182 shrubs. The plan instead proposes 229 new trees.

"We don't think that this is the bucolic rural nature that you want this site to embody," project architect David Hoglund said. "This is something that we can work together and make sure that we come up with something that meets everybody's expectations."

Hoglund said that there would be a tree buffer between The Enclave and the adjacent neighborhood consisting of 85 trees additional to the ones that are already there. A fourth of them would be evergreen.

There would also be a 100-foot setback all around the property and the closest point of distance between a building and the next neighborhood would be 125 feet.

"We think we've done everything possible to be a good neighbor and a good part of Holmdel," Hoglund said.

One resident of Country Woods asked if it was guaranteed that there would be no connection between the two areas.

"It would be a significant problem for members of the Country Woods community if that lane is open," the resident said.

Developers were also asked if a project of this type would not be better suited for a more rural area. Carlson stated that being close to a parkway makes the location ideal because it would facilitate access for families visiting.

The planning board set the next hearing for the project for Oct. 20. They also made tentative plans to do an on-site visit on Oct. 23.

Annual Payments To Holmdel

The Enclave at Holmdel project caused some controversy back in August after the Township Committee tried to pass an agreement stating that United Methodist Communities would pay a financial contribution of $95,000 annually to the township if in the future they received land use approvals from the zoning board.

Township attorney Michael Collins explained that this was a voluntary gesture. As a non for profit organization, they have no obligation to pay property taxes.

"They wanted to make this overture to obviously recognize that they would be receiving municipal services such as police and fire and EMS," Collins said.

Township Committee Member Tom Critelli voted no on the ordinance, after expressing concerns on the "misuse of influence" that this could represent.

"This one really bothers me. The fact that we're agreeing to accept money if it gets approved is just really bad optics to me," Critelli said. "You've got a zoning board that's supposed to operate independently from our purview here yet those people were appointed by mayors and myself in the past."

Critelli said it would be a mistake to approve the ordinance before the Zoning Board of Adjustment made their decision.

"This to me blurs the line, " he said. "I'm embarrassed that we would even put it on the agenda."

Committee Member Prakash Santhana voted yes and urged the zoning board to be "as independent as possible."

He added that this was simply a good financial agreement.

"Right now this is in front of us. I like the financial agreement," Santhana said.

The committee agreed to withdraw the motion to vote and to later go into executive session to further discuss the issue.