The Enclave at Holmdel – Potter’s Farm

United Methodist Communities (aka UMC or United Methodist Homes of NJ) is a faith-based non-profit organization that specializes in Assisted Living facilities for seniors. In January 2020, UMC purchased the Potter’s Farm property located on Red Hill Road by Garden State Parkway Exit 114. This 18-acre tract had been actively farmed by the Potter Family since 1920.

In May 2021, UMC received a Certificate of Need from the NJ Department of Health which allowed for the project due to the rapidly growing elderly population in New Jersey, particularly in Monmouth County, and including those eligible for Medicaid. This center would serve Holmdel residents and those in surrounding communities.

UMC submitted an application in September 2021 to the Holmdel Board of Adjustment for a 105 bed memory care center to house people with dementia who are unable to live alone. The development, known as The Enclave at Holmdel, would consist of 15 buildings, divided into “households” with seven residents each. There would be communal living rooms, dining rooms, and kitchens with private bedrooms and bathrooms. Three to four of these buildings would be grouped into fully enclosed “neighborhoods” in a secure setting that would mimic the real world. There would be a town center featuring a grocery store, bistro, chapel, salon, fitness room, and auditorium. It would include a village green, secured gardens, and walking trails within the neighborhoods. The plan would call for keeping some of the goats and chickens currently on site but would not maintain the working farm. It would have an underground pump station and sanitary sewer connection to the Holmdel sewer line on Williams Way just north of this property.

The development is based on Amsterdam’s Hogewey Dementia Village model of care for this population and would be the first of its kind in the United States.

Following an on-site inspection and a November 3, 2021 Zoning Board meeting, changes were made to the original plans to give better access throughout the complex for emergency vehicles and to give the project a more rural aesthetic. 

Despite the changes, not everyone was happy with developing this property, which is part of the diminishing legacy of Holmdel’s agricultural history.  A newly formed organization known as Preservation of Potter’s Farm was formed to prevent development there. This citizen’s group has circulated a petition which reportedly has garnered more than 1000 signatures voicing opposition to this application, asking instead that the property be retained as a working farm or preserved as open space. In February 2022, Middletown Township legally notified Holmdel of its objection to the proposal for the property which resides on the Holmdel-Middletown border.

Because Assisted Living is not allowed in the current zone, which is zoned R-40B (residential and agricultural use), the developer in March requested a use variance from the Holmdel Zoning Board. The Public Hearing before the Zoning Board is ongoing. The next meeting will take place on May 4, 2022.

CILU is continuing to study the impact that the development will have on the headwaters of the Mahoras Brook, in particular whether the developer is following the new NJ DEP green stormwater guidelines that went into effect in March 2021.

Written 4/22 by Regina Criscione