That is my worry. This developer is very politically connected, and his lawyers are a lot sharper at real estate than anyone the town can retain. The thing to keep in mind is that this is the man responsible for the Master Plan of Lakewood - a town consumed by tax-exempt entities sucking the life out of the public school district. And Chris Christie keeps shoveling money in the direction of the Yeshiva schools and students there. A recent APP article had Chris Christie promising vouchers for private religious schools, and the rabbi who owned the yeshiva at which he was speaking on the record bragging about delivering 20,000 votes from Lakewood and 100,000 votes from Ocean county. I worry that Somerset is a Trojan Horse, and I do NOT believe it is bigoted to say that the developer responsible for the Master Plan of Lakewood may not have the best interests of the CURRENT residents of Holmdel in mind.

And to short-circuit the usual cries of " bigot", Holmdel has a distinguishing characteristic, which is a lovely blend of many different people, speaking different languages, some from recent immigrants from other countries, some yes, from Staten Island, many cultures and religions represented - yes, Jewish people live in Holmdel, too - but the one thing we all have in common is our pride in and concern for the valua of our excellent public schools. There are people in Holmdel who send their children to private schools, but there is not a concentrated block of people whose interests are directly opposed to the public school system. Seniors as a whole may be unhappy with the school tax levy, but seniors are not an organized voting bloc, they are individuals who vote along a spectrum. If you look at how Lakewood became Lakewood, the third-largest city in New Jersey, and research the political power held by Mr. Ralph or Raphael Zucker as a member of the Vaad, and then as a member of the master plan committee, if you take the time to research before you cry bigot, you will see how Ralph Zucker and the Vaad helped consolidate the orthodox Jewish vote until they held sway over the school board and the town council, and now apparently over the Governor himself.

Your taxes are not going to be lowered. Are you on meth?

Holmdel never had an panache. Just a bunch of guidos from staten island and asians from bell labs.

The Zoning on Lucent is Office/Labratory, that why the building has been vacant for so long. You would rather that building sit vacant than put a sewer in....you're an extremist and should move to Colts Neck if you like septics that much.

Let's bring good ratables onto that site.

I've been following the recent Lucent debates, and I finally decided to jump in to the discussion. At the end of the day, this is about getting a ratable back in a meaningful way. A way that doesn't change the character of our town, and that will make all of the current residents feel good about the progress. There's no way taxes are going down, and I haven't heard any of our committee members promise that. There's also no way we're turning the property into a park (although I'd love to see a healthy dosage of sports facilities for the kids). People like Ms. beckenstein above are no more extremist than those wanting to develop something at all costs. So maybe we can stick to the issues and state our opinions without the personal attacks. I will say the sewer expansion makes me nervous. Personally I have no problem with septics. I had mine installed when I moved in 10 years ago, have it inspected and pumped every other year, and it is in fine working order. I've seen just a couple issues with my neighbors systems over the years, but then again I've seen sewer repairs happen as well. Neither is infallible. The issue with sewers is the add to our infrastructure which typically leads to opportunities for more development. I hope that view doesn't make me an extremist