Tag: #redevelopment

A Public Record NJ analysis identified $12,500 in direct contributions to Middletown Mayor Tony Perry's county commissioner campaign from three donors with indirect ties to a waterfront redevelopment and proposed digital billboards in the township. Perry did not respond to questions about those relationships before publication.

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At the beginning of 2026, Perry described local government as the place “where values become decisions.” At the township's annual reorganization meeting, he emphasized public officials' responsibility to earn residents' trust, highlighting park improvements, open-space preservation and property-tax relief for volunteer emergency responders as the nation prepared to celebrate its 250th anniversary.¹

Perry has also spoken sharply about what he considers limits on municipal authority. During a September discussion of an open-space land transaction involving campaign donors, he said, “Zoning gets thrown out the window when it comes to Mount Laurel.” He has argued that court decisions and affordable-housing requirements restrict the township's control over where higher-density development may be permitted.²

Two development matters came before the Township Committee on July 13. With little discussion, Perry moved to approve a 30-year tax agreement for a waterfront redevelopment estimated to cost $166.7 million. Later that evening, he defended the township's earlier decision to allow digital billboard applications at three locations, despite objections from residents and the Environmental Commission.

July 13 appears nine times in Perry's county commissioner campaign-finance records, accounting for $38,500 in reported contributions. Three entries totaled $12,500: $2,500 from a Georgia billboard contractor, $5,000 from an Atlantic City Municipal Utilities Authority executive and $5,000 from a PAC chaired by former state Sen. Joseph Kyrillos Jr. Perry previously served as Kyrillos' chief of staff. The other contributors' connections required a closer examination of business and municipal records.³

The ties differ: a PAC received earlier contributions from an executive associated with the redevelopment; a billboard contractor previously worked for a company linked to the Middletown applicant; and an individual contributor was formerly married to that company's owner. The records do not establish that the donors coordinated their contributions, gave money on a developer's behalf or influenced Perry's official actions. With Perry running for Monmouth County commissioner in the November 3 election and the billboard applications expected to return to the Planning Board on November 4, those relationships carry immediate public interest.

The Middletown Township Committee introduced an ordinance Monday that would permit up to 450 homes on the Circus Liquors property along Route 35, taking a legislative step required by the court-approved settlement of a three-year affordable-housing lawsuit.

The October 19, 2026, vote advanced Ordinance 2026-3544 to a November 9 public hearing. It did not approve construction or a final site plan. If the committee adopts the ordinance, a designated redeveloper would still have to submit engineered plans to the Middletown Planning Board for review.

The ordinance and attached redevelopment plan detail the housing types, building heights, affordable-housing requirements and infrastructure standards that would apply to the approximately 52-acre property. The 450-home figure is a permitted maximum, not a guaranteed buildout.

The Middletown Township Committee is scheduled to introduce an ordinance Monday that would adopt a redevelopment plan for the Circus Liquors property on Route 35, beginning the municipal approval process required by a court-approved affordable housing settlement.

Ordinance 2026-3544 is the first local legislative step toward allowing as many as 450 homes on the property, including 68 affordable units if the full project is built. Introduction would not amount to final adoption or development approval.

The action matters because the New Jersey Superior Court has set a November 10 deadline for Middletown to adopt the plan and take other steps needed to implement the settlement of a builder’s remedy lawsuit filed more than three years ago by AAMHMT Property LLC.

The Oceanport Planning Board on March 10 held an advisory “courtesy review” of updated redevelopment plans for Monmouth Park, including Phase II youth sports fields and an expanded residential component.

Board counsel and project representatives said the agenda item was not an application hearing and the board had no authority to approve or deny it. Counsel described it as a state-agency presentation required under New Jersey law when a governmental or state agency is using public funds and appears before the planning board for recommendations. In the meeting, attorney Jennifer Phillips Smith said she appeared on behalf of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority (NJSEA) and described NJSEA as “the state entity that owns the” property.

The discussion also previewed issues likely to carry into a broader public forum: multiple speakers referenced a presentation to Oceanport’s Mayor and Council scheduled for Thursday, March 12. The planning board later voted to send a letter summarizing its comments because its next regular meeting would be after that workshop.