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HOLMDEL – The community wants to buy Potters Farm, nearly two years after the Planning Board approved the construction of a $12,000-a-month dementia care home on the site. The village is located off Exit 114 of the Garden State Parkway.
The dementia care village, originally called The Enclave at Holmdel and renamed Avandell, was approved by a vote of 5 to 2. Plans were designed to mimic the normalcy of everyday life, as dementia sufferers would live in a safe environment. Within its perimeter, there would be a grocery store, restaurant and theater for its 105 residents.
The plans were developed by the nonprofit health organization United Methodist Communities and are based on an urban dementia village in the Netherlands called Hogeweyk. United Methodist Communities bought the property, known as the William Potter Homestead, in 2020 for $5.5 million.
The village would have been the first of its kind in the United States. Residents of a neighborhood further up the hill and in neighboring Middletown rejected the proposal.
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Both residents and Middletown sued the Zoning Department and United Methodist Communities to stop the development of the dementia village. According to the lawsuit, the property in question was zoned for a “low-density use consistent with existing development to reduce the overall impact of the development on the undeveloped, rural character of the zone.”
She argued that the plans for the dementia care village would not fit with the existing rural character of the area. But a state Supreme Court judge in Monmouth County ruled against the residents and Middletown on July 26.
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A resolution passed unanimously at a town board meeting on August 13 would allow the board to begin “honest negotiations … regarding open space and recreational uses.”
Mayor Rocco Impreveduto declined to comment on the negotiations during the committee meeting, citing possible legal disputes.
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Olivia Liu is a transportation reporter covering Red Bank and western Monmouth County. Reach her at [email protected].
