Council drops opposition to university expansion Resident will continue appeal of OK for dorms in residential zone BY CHRISTINE VARNO Staff Writer WEST LONG BRANCH — The Borough Council will not continue to pursue legal action to overturn the Zoning Board’s approval of Monmouth University’s expansion plans. Mayor Janet W. Tucci said at the Dec. 6 municipal meeting that the council will not appeal a recent court decision that upheld the borough Zoning Board of Adjustment’s approval of an expansion of university facilities. However, at least one borough homeowner said that he is not ready to call it quits and will appeal the court ruling. “Our appeal is going forward,” said Joseph Hughes Monday. “I do want to thank the mayor and council for their courage in being involved with the appeal at the trial level,” said Hughes, president of the West Long Branch Coalition of Neighbors. “Any time you stand up for open space, you bring credibility to your constituents,” he said. State Superior Court Judge Alexander D. Lehrer ruled in October that the Zoning Board’s decision to permit Monmouth University to construct institutional-type facilities on former farmland land is a permitted use. The Republican-controlled council had decided in January to take legal action to overturn the Zoning Board’s approval of the university’s application to construct institutional-type facilities on the site of the former Kilkare Farm. The council challenged only the portion of the approval pertaining to the Kilkare tract, which is owned by the university and is located in a residential zone. The West Long Branch Coalition of Neighbors, a grass-roots group of residents opposed to the university’s expansion in their neighborhood, chose to appeal the entire application, including construction of an on-campus dormitory and a parking lot on a separate tract as well as the Kilkare portion. The challenge by the council came after the Zoning Board granted several variances to allow the college to construct facilities in the residential R-22 zone. Tucci and several other council members supported the legal action on the basis that the zoners had violated the borough’s master plan by approving the university’s expansion plans. As part of the same application, the university sought and won use variance approvals to construct an on-campus, 196-bed dormitory and 126-stall parking lot near Cedar and Pinewood avenues. The Zoning Board granted approval after 19 months of testimony on Aug. 31, 2005. Hughes, of Pinewood Avenue, said he wants to continue with the appeal because he is concerned about the destruction of the historic Kilkare property. “The Kilkare property dates back to the 1800s,” Hughes said. “It is a gorgeous farm. While other towns are preserving open space, the university is planning to pave a good portion of it. “There are neighbors living here who will be impacted by it,” he said.