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Land Owner Frustrated By Delays In Wal- Mart Approval
By Bill McLaughlin
Life would have been much simpler if a retailer other than Wal- Mart had come knocking on the Grunins’ door three years ago.
The Grunins, Jay and Linda, are no babes in the woods. They have fashioned long careers in real estate. They are hardly newcomers to the business world. They know the intricacies of deal making.
Their 43-acre parcel of land on Route 37 West near Northampton Boulevard represents one of the largest undeveloped tracts in the Toms River-Manchester area. It would require a major player to develop the site, so when the king of retailers came knocking, the Grunins listened.
Since the Wal-Mart super center would straddle both towns, the application faced two approval hearings. After 25 sessions in two towns, by October 2005, approval was granted by both municipalities.
Since then, the application had been put in peril because the Department of Environmental Protection, which at first indicated the presence of a snake spending the winter on the site would not halt construction, reversed course earlier this year.
DEP approved mitigation, i.e. moving the resident snake to a nearby area. The Grunins would provide land that would become the snake’s new habitat.
The snake’s presence was cited as one of four reasons for denial. The rejection also said federal regulations do not permit mitigation of a place where an endangered species has made its home. DEP also said increased traffic in the area and lack of potable (drinkable) water are two other stumbling blocks.
Jay Grunin, at a meeting with DEP officials in Trenton, mentioned the presence of the lone snake himself.
“I stood and asked about the one snake and was told that wouldn’t halt the project,” Jay Grunin said.
When the rejection was made public, they said, it represented a sharp about face in attitudes that coincided with a change in the head of state government and the elevation of Linda Jackson to the head of DEP.
The couple didn’t want to turn the land deal into a popularity contest involving the retailer, but that’s what it became. Now, they want the truth of their ordeal known.
“It’s not a PR (public relations) campaign,” said Linda Grunin. We want to answer questions the state came up with that have nothing to do with us.”
As an example, she noted the state Department of Transportation harped at perceived increases in traffic at the intersection of Route 9 and Route 166 – nearly four miles away. The original DOT study area didn’t include that busy traffic area which is east of the Garden State Parkway. DOT eventually signed off on the proposed reconfiguration of the Northampton intersection.
DEP originally said the application could not be processed because United Water Company was unable to provide a sufficient supply of potable water to the site, so the Grunins went through the process of planning for a private well on the site, which the DEP approved last month.
But the application was hung up by the presence of two snakes on the property.
“We don’t want to get involved in a culture war,” Jay Grunin said. “We accept it’s a habitat. But a marginal one at best.”
Grunin said his experts claim the two snakes caught on his property were loners living apart from the main cluster of snakes in the area. After all, he was told, the property is bounded by two busy roads, Route 37 and Northampton, a boulevard that serves as the main thoroughfare for the Toms River School District yellow bus lot.
“(The snakes) run a greater risk of getting killed on the highway,” Jay Grunin shook his head.
The applicants were thwarted for many months, they said, by stalling tactics employed by lawyer Ronald Gasiorowki, who represented Shop-Rite interests at the hearings. Gasiorowki delayed the proceedings for months saying a study of the area was being done.
“(Gasiorowki’s) expert wrote a history of the area,” Jay Grunin said. “They didn’t study the land or we’d know about it. They never asked permission. The bottom line is the DEP has nothing in its files to refute the presence of one snake.”
So the Grunins wait until DEP changes its attitude or they get their day in court.
“Every day nothing is done, thousands of dollars are lost,” Jay Grunin said. “Money that could help the finances of two towns who need the ratable. There has been a disinformation program at work here. We’ve done everything asked of us. We’re ready to break ground.”
As for the public’s take on this, he said nearly 7,000 signatures asking for a settlement speaks volumes.
“Even those who said no when we asked if they would shop at Wal-Mart signed our petitions,” Jay Grunin said.
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