Sayreville must curtail residential development

Kennedy O’Brien was elected Sayreville’s mayor on one issue: over-development. In January he appointed new members to the Planning Board and in March he introduced a bold proposal that would preserve open space and curb residential development. Hopefully those new members recognize his mandate, share the vision he put forth for the community and will implement his promises.

There is now a plan to build 102 homes across from the police station on the very property O’Brien suggested be rezoned for light industry or warehouses. The application may be approved because the Planning Board has yet to act on the mayor’s rezoning proposal. Sayreville has had good experience with this type of commercial development in the past. The warehouses on the Main Street extension produce very little traffic, no school children and pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax ratables. Similar clean, quiet commercial development should be pursued on upper Main Street.

The board has lost precious time in considering O’Brien’s zoning proposals, but it’s not too late. Through dedicated, swift but careful and deliberative action, they can rezone that property to a use that would provide jobs and ratables, not a demand for increased services and more schools. We know the traffic that 102 new homes will produce; we’ve also seen the warehouses on the Main Street extension generate very little traffic.

The people of Sayreville demonstrated they don’t want more houses when they elected a new mayor; now that mayor and his Planning Board can demonstrate they will deliver what the people want. Kennedy O’Brien is a good man; fulfilling his promises will make him a great mayor.

Robert Noppe

Parlin section of Sayreville