OCEAN COUNTY – Public comment will be heard in relation to a development plan to build more than 1,800 homes on the former Eagle Ridge Golf Course in Lakewood.
The applicant, GDMS Holdings, LLC, has filed to build a residential development on Eagle Ridge Golf Course. The proposed development would include 936 senior housing residences, 936 basement apartments, community centers, a retail facility with 243 parking spaces, a clubhouse and other features.
The applicant has also applied for a Freshwater Wetlands Permit 6 because they want to fill 14,941 square feet of wetlands to build upon.
The meeting will be held on May 9 at 6 p.m. in the auditorium of Jackson Memorial High School, located at 101 Don Connor Blvd.
The meeting is just to gather comments about the development. No decisions will be made at that time.
To provide written comments, write to the Bureau Section Chief, Bureau of Coastal Regulation, Division of Land Use Regulation, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Mail Code 501-02A, P.O. Box 420, Trenton, NJ 08625-0420.
A letter from the DEP addressed to Mordechai Sternstein at GDMS Holdings listed a number of deficiencies in the project. Some might just be paperwork filing issues, but some might be greater.
- Documentation proving that the utility providers have adequate capacity for water and sewer.
- Additionally, the sewer line is proposed to link to a development across from August Boulevard. There needs to be documentation to prove that there will not be any negative effects from this.
- There might be too much impervious coverage in the development plan. Environmental regulations require a certain percentage of open ground. The remainder, made up of roads and buildings, is called impervious coverage. Developers are given a certain percentage of impervious coverage, and they can’t build more than that. However, the property was previously part of a larger development, which included the residential community “The Fairways.” The permit from this development predates this proposal. If Fairways was part of the impervious coverage percentage, there might not be enough left over to have this proposal.
- An off-site parcel is proposed to be part of the open space for the area, but it is not clear if it meets certain requirements.
- The applicant has asked that 41.066 acres of forested areas be built upon. The applicant has not shown that this is in the public interest.
- There can be no adverse impact to two species, the red headed woodpecker and the northern long eared bat.
- The development is also planned in wetlands, and upon habitat of the northern pine snake.
- The traffic impact study does not account for the total number of proposed units.
- Construction on steep slopes associated with wetlands, threatened and endangered species habitat, and forested areas is “discouraged.”
- Standing water in the infiltration basins shall not be more than 2 feet. It is estimated to be 6.3 feet in the retail lot basin and 11.07 feet in the main infiltration basin.
- The way that the proposal measured permeability of the soil and the high water table needs to be up to a different standard.
