Holmdel Planners To Consider Nokia Site For Redevelopment

HOLMDEL, NJ — The Township Planning Board will meet Tuesday, Sept. 5, to consider declaring the former Nokia office building an area in need of redevelopment, paving the way for condemnation of the property adjacent to the Horn antenna site.

There will be a public hearing on the matter at 7 p.m. in Town Hall.

The site in question is Block 27, Lot 7, the former Nokia Crawford Hill Facility.

There will be a presentation of a preliminary investigation by Phillips Preiss Grygiel Leheny Hughes LLC regarding the site's qualification as a “condemnation area in need of redevelopment,” as defined under the Local Redevelopment and Housing Law, according to the meeting agenda.

The draft plan recommends that the area "qualifies as a condemnation area in need of redevelopment," according to the document on the township Planning Board website.

The owners of the site on 791 Holmdel Road, Crawford Hill Holdings, the same company that owns the property where the historic Horn antenna is located, plan to contest the condemnation, a spokesperson for the company said Friday.

The owner, Rakesh Antala, and his condemnation attorney will be present, the spokesperson said.

The Township Committee on Aug. 22 voted unanimously to adopt an ordinance authorizing the acquisition by eminent domain of the 34.3-acre Crawford Hill property, the site of the National Landmark Horn antenna, also owned by Crawford Hill Holdings.

The owners have discussed plans for an 88-unit, age-restricted townhouse development there.

Crawford Hill is the highest point in Monmouth County, and it is also the site of the antenna that was used in research by two scientists that confirmed the Big Bang theory of the creation of the universe.

That area to be acquired by Holmdel includes Lots 6, 6.01 and part of Lot 7 for a partial easement on Block 27 - 34.3 acres - to be used for open space, recreation and historic preservation purposes under the township's Master Plan.

The committee also adopted a second ordinance that would appropriate $2 million in bond anticipation notes to finance the purchase of the site.

But there is also support to preserve the full Lot 7, the site of the abandoned Nokia building, the company that purchased the site from Bell Labs and then sold it to its current owner.

That is the site being considered on Tuesday. The Nokia site, combined with Lots 6 and 6.01, make up a total of 43 acres on Crawford Hill.

But opponents say an undisturbed Crawford Hill, with the 1960s-era antenna, is integral to its preservation. And preservation groups would also like to the see the Nokia site included in the overall open-space and historic preservation area.

Township Attorney Michael L. Collins explained at a recent meeting of the governing body that a letter from special counsel in the matter been sent to the owners of the property to engage in good faith negotiations.

The bond to purchase the larger area would be supported by the township’s Open Space, Recreation, Floodplain Protection, Farmland, and Historic Preservation Trust Fund. In 2021, Holmdel voters voted to increase the collection rate to this fund, which is legally restricted to use for land acquisition and similar expenses.

The Horn antenna was used in research by Bell Labs physicists. The antenna's national significance arises from its use in the detection of cosmic microwave radiation that provided irrefutable evidence of the Big Bang theory of the creation of the universe. In 1978, scientists Robert Wilson and Arno Penzias earned a Nobel Prize in Physics for this work.

“Holmdel voters overwhelmingly supported increasing funding to the trust fund. We are now looking to responsibly use the trust fund to complete an historic property acquisition that would benefit Holmdel for generations to come,” Mayor DJ Luccarelli said earlier this month.

Antala has said previously, "We want nothing more than to have honest negotiations with the town officials and open-minded residents - based on facts not fear. We are more than willing to work in good faith as before and develop alternate options where the Horn antenna is preserved and open space is maintained.”