On Wednesday, March 12, 2025, the Carteret Borough Planning Board will hold a special meeting on a sizable new housing project that has been kept under wraps for the past several years.
At the meeting, the planning board will consider a site plan for the construction of a 326-unit apartment complex that begins at the corner of Carteret Avenue and Roosevelt Avenue. The development will add more than 750 people and hundreds of cars to the neighborhood – worsening traffic congestion in the area that includes the Columbus School and a church.
The special planning board meeting is not noticed on the borough’s website, demonstrating, once again, the lack of official transparency in Carteret. To further shield the project from public scrutiny, the meeting will be virtual only – starting at 10 a.m. – a time when most people will be at work. Moreover, there are no instructions on the town website to tell people how to log into to the virtual meeting. There is no agenda for the special meeting on the town or planning board website. https://www.carteret.net/construction-office-3/
Why all the secrecy about this project? The mayor routinely touts every new development in town, but on this one, he is silent. Why? Perhaps because the secretive body appointed by the mayor – The Carteret Business Partnership – took control of the property at 2 Carteret Avenue several years ago and has been quietly moving tenants out of the building. The executive Director of the CBP is a town employee, Mark Hruska, the borough fire chief – who in indebted to the mayor for his job.
If you care about overdevelopment and traffic congestions in the area — and the safety of school children, we urge you to call the Town Hall and demand that the March 12 meeting be rescheduled to a day and time convenient for residents to attend either both in person or online. Demand that the town provide residents with information about the project – before the meeting.
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