Holmdel Courant

09/02/2026

Lowenstein, Ashkar, & Wilson for Holmdel BOE, the second slate for the Holmdel Board of Education election.

We're excited to announce that we're running together for Holmdel Board of Education! We each bring a different perspective with backgrounds in special education, community outreach, and public education, but we share a common thread: advocacy.

09/01/2026

When considering the upcoming Board of Education election, here is an article from NJ21st worth reviewing brought to our attention by Kai Collins - National Education Rights Watch.

A March meeting over a student’s special education program led the NJDOE to find the Holmdel School District noncompliant on how it noticed and framed that meeting, and the records we obtained and reviewed from the investigation, along with what happened after, raise important questions for parent...

09/01/2026

We agree with the Holmdel Republican Party. This is why we are asking for LoPresti and Libecci of LoPresti-Libecci-Hayden BOE to step down. They are part of the 7% tax increase with less provided educational service.

Everyone is getting ready for Holmdel Schools to open this week! It’s important to turn our attention to the BOE and what’s happening there…

08/31/2026

From a concerned Holmdel Township citizen:

Terna Infrastructure USA, Inc. (Who are they anyway?) wants to build a 40MW data center at 101 Crawfords Corner Road, Bell Works. The application is on file.

Understand what that means for us. 40MW is an industrial power load running 24/7/365, with the backup generation, cooling infrastructure, noise, and grid demand that comes with it, permanently, in the middle of our town. It rewrites what Bell Works is and sets the precedent for what gets approved on that property next. And it does not get un-built.

Here’s the part people miss: there is no public vote on this. A planning board approves it in a room that’s usually half empty. Silence gets read as consent.

Come to the meeting. Speak at the hearing. Ask your officials where they stand, publicly, on the record.

08/27/2026

It is important to listen and learn, especially when you are new to a role. However, when elected to serve, it is equally important to recognize and utilize the most qualified and experienced individuals for the task at hand.

Especially when a Board member, or two, are a CPA, and the district is staring at a potential $5 million budget problem.

Experience matters. So does expertise.

New members should listen and learn. Perhaps leadership should occasionally do the same.

When a discussion about better communication ends in shouting and interruption, the argument rather makes itself.

08/25/2026

Holmdel Township has been making many headlines in recent publications. Read the latest from The Asbury Park Press about the Oak Hill Farm.

Oak Hill Farm in Holmdel has continued to build after a judge ordered it to stop construction in June. See link below ⬇️

📸 Tanya Breen

08/24/2026

More on the current situation facing Holmdel.

Holmdel voted to ban data centers, joining a growing list of New Jersey towns doing the same. But the ban may not stop a 40-megawatt data center already proposed for the Bell Works site, the former Bell Labs campus known as a filming location for "Severance." A 2012 redevelopment agreement and the timing of the application could keep the project alive, and residents raised concerns at the meeting. Do you think the data center belongs at Bell Works?

08/21/2026

More on Bell Works in Holmdel Township

Bell Works and the surrounding land is part of the Alcatel-Lucent Redevelopment Area. Data centers were listed as a permitted under the 2014 pact. See link below ⬇️

📸 Olivia Liu

08/21/2026

Note: The following data and information was organized and visually represented through the utilization of AI.

🚩 NEW FINDING: The data center's own architectural plans admit what's missing.

We pulled the sealed architectural plans filed for the Bell Works data center. Printed in red, in the applicant's own assumptions box:

📌 "STORMWATER MANAGEMENT AREAS ARE NOT DEPICTED, will be identified by others"

📌 "FLOOD HAZARD AREAS AND RIPARIAN ZONES ARE NOT VERIFIED"

Now look at the same drawing: wetlands, TWO 300-foot riparian zones, an unnamed tributary, and Hop Brook, all wrapping around the proposed site. The plan shows exactly how environmentally sensitive this land is, then disclaims that none of it has been verified. And nobody can say where the stormwater goes.

The same plans also confirm, in the title block: 40 megawatts. 1,176 server racks. A 74-foot-tall building, while the zoning paperwork that would show whether 74 feet is even allowed was left out of the application, marked "will provide later."

They're asking the Planning Board to approve a building when their own drawings say the environmental review isn't done.

Full breakdown, with the plans cited page by page:

https://bellworkscompleterecord.netlify.app/

Read it before the hearing. Then show up.

08/18/2026

Data Center at Bell Works: Claims, Filing, and the Agreement.

https://bellworkscompleterecord.netlify.app/