SOUTH TOMS RIVER - Vacant land behind the Wawa off Dover Road will soon be home to 360 apartments, a 100-room hotel and more than 8,000-square-feet of retail after the outgoing Borough Council approved a tax abatement for the developer.

The controversial 30-year tax agreement - or payment in lieu of taxes - with developer M&T at STR Urban Renewal LLC allows the builder to make annual payments to the municipality that will be based on a percentage of the revenue generated by the project, instead of traditional property tax payments.

The 14-acre site where the project will be built was declared a redevelopment area by the borough, allowing the governing body to approve a tax abatement for the property. See what the land looks like now in the video above.

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Jack Morris, whose Edgewood properties has built luxury rental communities like The Pointe at Neptune, Gabrielle Run in Toms River, and The Edge at Matawan, is the developer the borough has been working with on the project, Borough Administrator/Clerk Joseph Kostecki said.

An analysis released by the borough estimated that M&T would pay a total of about $16 million in "service charges" to South Toms River over the 30-year life of the tax agreement, with about $1.9 million in service charges going to the Toms River Regional school district, and $1.2 million to Ocean County.

New Mayor Greg Handshy, a Democrat, and his runningmates, Democrats Samuel S. Fennell and Robert Taylor, who election election to the mayor's seat in November on a platform opposing construction of the development. The Democrats took control of the council in January.

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But Handshy said the decision by the outgoing administration to approve the tax abatement agreement with M&T at a special meeting in late December has made it almost impossible for him to stop the project.

"I’m sorry to say that there is not much I can do to stop the project now that the wheels are rolling," Handshy said. "I can only hope that it will be success. I am still opposed to the density."

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Handshy said he "wasn’t opposed to rebuilding the whole area. I was opposed to the density."

He said the proposed apartment complex had been mostly panned by borough residents, who fear the increased traffic that the construction will bring. Many also voiced opposition to the tax abatement, he said.

"Most residents of town were not in favor of this," said Handshy, "Nobody expected us to win, the campaign, it’s one of our major campaign points, I can only hope for the best, and see what happened

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The developer will pay taxes on the property, but not on any improvements to the land, according to the tax abatement agreement. Payments for land taxes will be applied as a credit against the annual "service charge" for the following year.

The 360 rental apartments will include 1- and 2-bedroom units, Admnistrator Kostecki said. Adjacent to the apartments will be a 100-room Residence Inn that will include a banquet hall and restaurant.

There are also two retail pad sites on the property, that will accommodate two businesses, each 4,200-square-feet.

The entire property will be gated and have 24-hour security, Kostecki said. Residents of the apartments will have access to the Residence Inn's swimming pool and other amenities.

Kostecki said the apartments would be "high-end rentals," and because the units will only have one or two bedrooms, only about 60 school-age children are expected to live there.

"Every person who rents there will get a background check," Kostecki said. There will be a 6,000-square-foot clubhouse on the land.

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There will be no access to the apartment project from the Wawa property, Kostecki said.

"Everything on here is already acceptable under the zoning," Kostecki said of the project, which required no major variances.

The borough previously considered Morris' proposal to build 314 townhouse and apartment units on South Toms River's old landfill, located at Drew and Drake lanes.

That project, opposed by the Pinelands Preservation Alliance and many local residents, was eventually abandoned in favor of the current proposal, Kostecki said.

Jean Mikle: 732-643-4050; @jeanmikle, jmikle@gannettnj.com