Lease Auction Effective Jan. 1: Township’s Agenda Trick Leaves DePalmas on Notice

Holmdel Township Committee scheduled its June 13 meeting at a time when most residents were least able to attend, demonstrating a troubling disregard for public input. Yet despite the late Friday-morning start, a remarkable number of DePalma supporters turned out—including longtime neighbors and even those who’d previously been neutral or supportive of the Township’s actions—to protest the looming eviction of the DePalma family and demand a fair resolution of the lease that has governed DePalma Farm for a quarter-century.

The Township Attorney opted for a narrow reading of New Jersey law governing municipal leases, asserting that no portion of the lease could be renewed without going through an open-bid process. DePalma family counsel and several residents pointed out that at least the larger, non-Green Acres 60-acre parcel could have been exempt and renewed under the “fair and open” process, but the attorney rejected those arguments—leaving the family and its supporters frustrated and alarmed.

Faced with mounting public outcry, Committeewoman LaMountain asked her colleagues for a two-week respite to revisit the Farm issue. Once it became clear the item would be tabled, many DePalma allies—assuming their presence was no longer needed—left the packed room. Seizing the moment, the Committee slipped into executive session and, minutes later, re-emerged into a nearly empty chamber to adopt Resolution 2025-164—an item conspicuously absent from the published agenda. LaMountain, who had pressed for a full two-week review, accepted a two-minute explanation behind closed doors.

Resolution 2025-164 directs the Township Administrator to solicit “fair and open” bids for the Farm lease, effective January 1, 2026, without imposing any preconditions on potential respondents. In practical terms, this opens the door to any developer—far removed from the family that has stewarded these lands for over a century—to undercut the DePalmas. By scheduling the discussion at an inconvenient hour, withholding key legal interpretations until most residents departed, and then approving a last-minute resolution, the Committee effectively sidelined the community’s voice and left the DePalmas with virtually no legal foothold on their ancestral land.

This procedural maneuvering undermines both transparency and trust in local government. Residents who showed up in good faith to defend fairness were outsmarted by a strategic adjournment and an unannounced agenda change. The DePalmas, who honored every term of their lease for 25 years, now face the real prospect of eviction—despite having offered to continue caring for the Farm, at least for the non-encumbered acreage.

If true justice means giving every stakeholder a fair hearing, this episode stands as a stark reminder that process can be weaponized to silence even the most rightful claims. Clearly, the four Committee members chose political expediency over transparency.

Prakash Santhana

Former Deputy Mayor