* * Manchester Update * *

McGreevey Administration Has Been No Help At All

After Long Effort To Keep Heritage Minerals Tract Free Of Development, Manchester Mayor Mike Fressola Fears State DEP May Permit As Many As 2500 Homes Near Route 70

DEP “Still Negotiating” With Heritage Developer, But Mayor Fressola Says “The War Is Not Over, But We May Have Lost An Important Battle”

Manchester Township: Governor Jim McGreevey is supposedly making the preservation of open space the centerpiece of his administration, and this premise will presumably be a big part of his re-election campaign.

But McGreevey’s promises do not match his deeds, at least as far as the McGreevey Department Of Environmental Protection’s posturing and waffling on a proposal to put as many as 2500 homes on the Heritage Mineral tract in Manchester Township, Mayor Mike Fressola says.

Arduous And Frustrating Battle

Mayor Fressola has been fighting an arduous and frustrating battle against the proposed Heritage Minerals housing development for more years than he cares to think about.

He wants the state or the county - or somebody - to buy the tract and dedicate it as open space.

In a letter to the editor which appeared in the Ocean County Observer, Mayor Fressola noted he wrote “to former Governor Christie Whitman many times and delivered a petition signed by more than 10,000 of our residents, asking the state to buy and preserve this property.”

Whitman Resigned, Took Off, Did Nothing For Manchester

Whitman resigned the governorship early in 2001 and took off for Washington DC without taking any action on the Heritage Minerals tract open space proposal, despite the 10,000 signatures.

Mayor Fressola would have been just as happy if the federal government ended up buying the property, as long as it was dedicated for open space (Whitman became the federal “Environmental Protection” administrator), but Whitman forgot there even was a Manchester Township - or an Ocean County - as soon as she left New Jersey.

What Goes Around Comes Around: Hovnanians Crop Up Again

Her successor, “Acting” Governor Donald DiFrancesco, who borrowed $325,000 from the Hovnanians and, according to published reports, never paid the money back, never bothered with the Heritage tract either. And Mike Fressola hasn’t gotten the time of day from Governor McGreevey, successor to Whitman and DiFrancesco.

Will The DEP Approve Big Housing Development?

Now, the Mayor is very fearful the DEP will approve a big housing development on the Heritage tract, despite promises to hold hearings, get public comment and, according to DEP Commissioner Bradley Campbell, provide Manchester with “relevant documents”, whatever that means.

“I came away with the impression that they have basically approved it, and the only question is how many homes to build on the property”, Mayor Fressola told the Asbury Park Press last week.

What Goes Around Comes Around: Hovnanians Crop Up Again

The property was purchased in 1984 by Hovsons Inc. and Homeland Corp. (connected to guess who).

Hovsons wants to build Heritage Village, a collection of residential housing, town houses, garden apartments and commercial buildings on 900 acres of the 7000 acre tract.

Mayor Fressola doesn’t want any part of it, and his Manchester constituents appear to agree with virtual unanimity.

Ideal Open Space Acquisition

“The Heritage tract open space plan would be an ideal acquisition because it would stop unnecessary and unwanted growth in addition to preserving the largest and most pristine aquifer in New Jersey”, the Mayor has said repeatedly for years.

Click here for previous story on Mayor Fressola’s
crusade to save the Heritage Tract.

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