Given the plethora of social media posts with misleading information and some from the county sponsored candidate, I thought of posting the facts related to the township committee's discussion on Potter's farm.
- The Potter family sold the farm to United Methodist Development for approximately $4MM in 2020.
- They did not approach the town to see if the town would buy it at cost
- United Methodist is applying to the Zoning Board for a proposed Dementia Center facility
- United Methodist has proposed to keep a working farm at that location
- The proposed financial arrangement between the Township and United Methodist is NOT a PILOT (Payment In Lieu of Taxes) and has no relevance to their proposed plan
- It is a flat fee to subsidize the township’s cost of providing municipal services such as Fire services, EMS and police.
- This flat fee is usually a negotiated amount, and it is entirely up to the non-profit, if they agree to a fee in the first place.
- It is better to negotiate this municipal service fee upfront as the entity can choose to not agree to a fee if approved by the Zoning board.
- The arrangement is not dissimilar to what we have with Bayshore Hospital.
Prakash Santhana
Holmdel Township Committeeman (2020 - 2022)
