The former Foodtown site off Route 70 in Brick. (Photo: Daniel Nee)
The Brick Township council is expected to vote Tuesday on a proposed ordinance that would ban residential housing from being built at the former Foodtown site on Route 70.
An ordinance amending the redevelopment plan for the site would remove residential uses as a permitted use for the site, with another ordinance removing the two lots on which the site is found from what is known as the “Mixed Use Overlay Zone” in township code.
The removal of the site from the mixed use zone, as well as prohibiting residential development at the site, is significant because the site’s former redeveloper, M&M Realty Partners, asked the council for permission to build 192 condominiums at the site, plus a number of rental units and retail storefronts, after initially pledging to build a hotel at the site.
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M&M representatives eventually said a hotel would not be viable at the site, but the township council – which must approve all changes to the redevelopment plan, which at the time called for a hotel to be built – expressed dissatisfaction with the plan to build housing there and never voted on a proposed change. That allowed the site to continue to languish until Mayor John Ducey and the council terminated M&M’s redevelopment agreement. The matter is now being fought over in court, with M&M suing for the right to stay on as redeveloper.
In addition to the vote to introduce the ordinances, the council will also vote to send both to the planning board for review. The planning board must return the ordinance to the council within 45 days, so a second vote can be taken.
Tuesday’s council meeting will be held at 7 p.m. at the township municipal complex on Chambers Bridge Road.
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