Surprising information in master plan report

Surprising information
in master plan report

Perhaps the federal bureaucrats who are in charge of the census should think about doing a recount in Freehold Borough.

During a discussion of the borough’s master plan at a recent meeting of the Planning Board, Joseph Layton, the town’s municipal planner, noted that according to U.S. Census figures the town’s population increased from 10,742 residents in 1990 to 10,976 residents in 2000.

That means 234 new people made the borough their home over the course of a decade.

On the face of it, those census figures just don’t seem to make any sense. We are prompted to make that statement because over the course of the decade, it certainly appeared to most observers that the town’s population was increasing by more than 200 people as immigrants settled in the borough and searched for work in western Monmouth County.

Many of these newest residents may be here illegally and that certainly would affect the census count.

Upward of a hundred men line an area along Throckmorton Street each day waiting to be hired for various day laborer jobs throughout the region.

A total of 234 new residents in Freehold Borough from 1990 to 2000? It sounds like a report that should be a segment on the old TV show That’s Incredible.

In addition to the surprising news about the town’s population, the master plan report reviewed by the Planning Board also contains a nugget that we’re sure will come as a surprise to some people.

Buried among all of the information about traffic congestion, parking problems and zoning issues is a statement from the municipal planner that it is not likely Freehold Raceway will continue to operate in the long term.

Wow, talk about being hit with a ton of bricks.

Officials at the harness racing track, whose roots in town go back more than 150 years, have given no public indication that the facility will be closed anytime soon.

The report presented to the Planning Board states that the Commercial Manufacturing (CM) zone, which encompasses the raceway on Park Avenue, should be rezoned to allow specialty retail uses and offices.

Layton told members of the Planning Board that the CM zoning currently in place is inappropriate for long-term development objectives.

He said that since there are few retail uses left in the central business district, it is not anticipated that retail uses on the raceway property will compete with the downtown area.

Freehold Raceway officials could not be reached for comment on Monday. We await their reaction to Layton’s statement that the track is facing an uncertain future.