What to Expect in Middletown in 2016

Middletown, NJ - What to expect in Middletown in 2016? New Mayor Gerry Scharfenberger, sworn in Jan. 3, talks to Patch about what he sees happening in the coming year.

Who is Gerry Scharfenberger?

Brooklyn-born Scharfenberger, 57, (no, he hasn’t lost the accent) has been an elected committee member for the past 12 years and 2016 will be his fifth non-consecutive term as Middletown’s mayor. (Middletown residents elect five people to a committee, and the committee then chooses a new mayor each year. There are no limits as to how often one can serve.) He is a Republican, as are the four other current committee members.

Scharfenberger has called Middletown home for the past 22 years; he and his wife live in Lincroft. In his day job, he works in Gov. Chris Christie’s administration as the Director of the Office for Planning Advocacy, and admits his daily commute to Trenton is “the worst part of the job.” A professional archaeologist by trade, he also teaches night classes in archaeology at Monmouth University.

The position of mayor comes with a $4,000 stipend, but Scharfenberger declined to take it. “I would spend more than that in gas from all the meetings I have to go to for this job,” he said. “Being mayor is a labor of love.” He has two children, a daughter, 25, and a son, 18.

Redevelopment is priority #1

One of Scharfenberger’s biggest goals this year is the redevelopment of vacant and blighted lots in the township.

“We want to take pressure off what’s known as ‘green field’ development,” he said. ”You can’t legally stop many open spaces from being developed, but we’re trying to encourage new buildings to go up in places that have already been developed, and are now sitting empty.”

One such example is a new T.J. Maxx and Bed Bath & Beyond that will open in the former Pathmark shopping center site on Rt. 35, a property he called currently “an eyesore.” The new stores will hopefully open before Labor Day, he said.

“Pathmark has been gone from that site for six years, and I’ve had so many people come up to me and ask, ’What’s going to go there?’ It’s going to be completely renovated and pretty attractive,” Scharfenberger said.

Other sites he’d like to see redeveloped include a vacant car dealership on Rt. 36.

“It’s really critical to get more businesses in. We want more commercial properties paying taxes so residents pay less,” he said.

Big shared services announcement coming soon

Middletown Township is very close to finalizing a new shared services plan that could potentially save taxpayers up to $1 million a year, he said. But Scharfenberger didn’t want to give details of the plan yet, saying it wasn’t finalized. Stay tuned for more on that.

However, he did cite current examples of cost-savings, such as Middletown’s Animal Control officers working in Holmdel, and speculated on potential new shared services, like township DPW workers maintaining fields on school property.

Continuing to fight the heroin epidemic

Heroin is an epidemic not just in the Bayshore region, but across the country, Scharfenberger says.

“This is a drug that doesn’t discriminate across class, it doesn’t discriminate across income levels or race — I know friends of my own daughter who got mixed up in this,” he said. ”We are trying to be very aggressive and do everything we can ... to insulate ourselves.”

Such measures include Project P.L.U.S., where Middletown fifth graders learn about the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse. There will also be an assembly at Middletown South this spring to address the heroin problem. The Municipal Drug and Alcohol Alliance meets on the third Saturday of every month in The Annex on Newman Springs Road, and is open to all, he reminded readers.

New farmers’ market and seafood market to open

Yes, that’s correct. A farmers’ and seafood market will hopefully open by this summer, he said, and will ideally be a place for local produce and locally-caught fish to be sold.

“It will probably be located close to the Middletown NJ Transit train station, and the Middletown Arts Center,” he said. ”We are working on getting all the food permits now.”

New Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to open this year

2016 is also the year Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center will open its new outpatient center in Middletown. The center will be located on Red Hill Road right off Exit 114 on the Parkway, and will bring with it about 600 new jobs, Scharfenberger said. It will provide world-class cancer care to the entire Jersey Shore area, saving residents a trek to New York. It may open as early as June, the mayor said.

The Belford Seaport: A challenge

Scharfenberger admitted one of the biggest challenges this year will be how to redevelop the Belford Seaport, 390 acres of waterfront property near the NY Waterways ferry terminal that Middletown has long struggled to develop.

In fact, the township will put out a request for proposals this spring, Scharfenberger said, and is welcoming developers — and anyone from the community — to pitch ideas for the area.

“We’re envisioning shops in there, a few restaurants, maybe a maritime museum that could share the history of the Bayshore region,” he said. “With its location, and the ferry right there, and the views ... it could be so tremendous. Perhaps something similar to the Tuckerton Seaport, but maybe even better than that.”

Keeping Middletown ’well-run’

“Overall, Middletown is very well run and we’re trying to keep it that way,” ​Scharfenberger said. “We’ve got some of the lowest spending per capita in the state, and crime-wise, the lowest number of police officers per capita — 102 officers for 66,000 people — and crime is at 25-year lows.”

“I will meet with any civic group that will have me this year, from the Boy Scouts to the VFW, senior citizens’ groups — you name it,” he said. “I want to hear from everyone about what they want for the community.”

To that end, Scharfenberger will hold office hours the first and third Saturday of each month from 10 a.m. to noon at Town Hall. Residents are welcome on a first-come basis to discuss any concerns or issues they may have related to township government. Mayor Scharfenberger is also available by appointment. Please call (732) 615-2024.