JACKSON TOWNSHIP, NJ – Jackson Township Mayor Michael Reina says he and township lawyer Gregory P. McGuckin have successfully negotiated the purchase of a plot of land slated to be turned into a private school campus on Leesville Road. The proposed purchase will save the 32-acre tract from development and become part of the township’s inventory of open space.
“We have been successful in negotiating with the owners of this Leesville Road property with the intent of having the township acquire this parcel of land,” Mayor Michael Reina said.
Reina said township lawyers, RLIUPA lawyers and lawyers for Lakewood developer Mordechai Eichorn, the owner of the property, are still finalizing the details of the agreement, but all parties have agreed on the deal.
“This is a huge win for Jackson,” Reina said.
Council President Marty Flemming met with Eichorn earlier this year to make a deal with the Lakewood-based developer. Instead of four private schools, Flemming proposed a plan to build more than 60 housing units on another property approved for schools owned by Eichorn. The zoning for the area would have only allowed for 10.
Flemming’s plan was shot down by the Jackson Township Zoning Board. Later, Flemming was criticized for inviting Eichorn to a political fundraiser earlier this month.
“My priority is to protect existing neighborhoods within Jackson Township and to protect and honor the rights of all Jackson residents,” Reina said. “We have found a way to achieve both outcomes with this agreement once it is finalized and approved.”
Reina criticized Flemming’s meeting with Eichorn, which would have allowed him to build a high-density development on Leesville Road.
“We’re looking for real ways to save and protect our town’s open spaces, not just election time gimmicks to spend $1.8 million to stop eight homes from being built,” Reina said. “While my opponent was out politicking, my administration was working overtime on this.”
Reina said Flemming’s plan to spend $1.8 million on non-developable land and land that didn’t have any commercial buyers was not in the best interest of Jackson for such a little return on the amount of homes prevented from being built.
“This is real progress, and this is what I mean when I say we’re moving Jackson forward,” he added.
Eichorn was unable to be reached at press time for comment. Reina’s proposal to purchase the land will now head to the township council for a vote. Reina’s opponents, Marty Flemming, Andrew Kern and Samara Porter-O’Neill will now decide the fate of the parcel. If they reject Reina’s offer to the developer, the four schools will be built.
Reina said, like the Rova Farms purchase, the land could be eventually turned into passive or active recreation, but it will never be turned into schools or houses.
Flemming later responded in shock that Reina would not include him in the negotiations between township lawyers and the developer’s lawyers, saying it’s why Reina needs to be voted out of office. Despite proposing 50 homes at Eichorn’s other property, Flemming claimed Reina held Leesville residents “hostage”.
“We wish the residents of Leesville Road had not been held hostage so the mayor could preserve the space a week before the election,” Flemming griped about the purchase before being able to offer Eichorn another sweetheart deal to build a large residential development on the site.
Last week, it became known that Flemming tried to sell his own property to an unknown developer to build a private school on land he owned in nearby Lakehurst.
This is a breaking story. More details will be added throughout the night.