On June 18th Friends of Forge Pond NJ initiated an online survey that was designed to measure the opinions of residents of Brick on the subject of the redevelopment of the old Foodtown property at Forge Pond.
This very basic survey, which was available on Brick Patch and the Facebook page of Friends of Forge Pond (click here), was intended to gauge whether residents felt that the current redeveloper’s proposal to build 170 condominium units, 44 apartment units and 20,000 square feet of retail space was in the best interest of the residents and, if not, what would be better.
To briefly summarize, there were over 300 respondents and the results were very easy to analyze. On the question whether Brick Township would benefit from the redeveloper’s proposal 88 percent of the recorded responses were NO. Only 6% were in favor of new retail space and 1% indicated support for new condos and/or apartments.
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When asked to rank seven different possible uses for the Forge Pond property the most popular response was open, passive park space, followed by a community center and aquatic center. The least popular by far were apartments and condominiums, which received nearly no support.
The sentiment of the vast majority of the residents who responded was that the current redeveloper's proposal be scrapped and that the Council needs to develop a planning process that encourages public participation. This is, in fact, exactly what Friends of Forge Pond, NJ has been promoting since its inception in 2013. We have reached out to the Mayor and Council on numerous occasions to request an opportunity to discuss the topic and we hope to receive a positive response from them shortly. We will continue to promote full public participation, sharing of information, and a truthful and transparent decision making process in a public forum.
