MILLSTONE – Municipal officials have taken action to advance the purchase of land for purposes of preservation.
On June 7, Township Committee members passed a resolution authorizing the execution of documents related to the purchase of a 19-acre property on Old Noah Hunt Road.
Old Noah Hunt Road runs between Route 537 and Yellow Meeting Housing Road.
The property is being sought for purchase by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP.) Millstone Township officials previously committed to participate as a funding partner for the planned purchase in October.
The committee’s resolution executes a quitclaim deed, a certification of residency, an affidavit of consideration and other documents necessary to assist the DEP in the property’s purchase.
According to the resolution, the quitclaim deed will be used by the township to convey out interest to the DEP in return for a restriction and reservation that the DEP will subject the property to restrictions set forth by the state’s Green Acres program.
Millstone will pay $200,000 of the total purchase price, which has not yet been determined, according to the resolution. Half of the $200,000 payment will come from the township’s open space trust fund and the other half will come from an appropriated funding allocation provided by Green Acres.
Millstone Township and the Monmouth Conservation Foundation are the proposed funding partners that will join the DEP in the purchase of the property, according to the resolution.
The property to be acquired is predominantly open farm fields with smaller amounts of forested lands and includes tributaries of the Ivanhoe Brook, which is within the Delaware River-Crosswicks Creek watershed, according to the resolution.
The resolution states that the purchase of the property by the DEP will assure its preservation as open space with no potential for residential, commercial or industrial development.
“It is the opinion of the Township Committee that participating in the purchase of this property is in the best interest of Millstone Township residents in assisting in maintaining the rural nature of our municipality,” the resolution reads.
William Kastning, the executive director of the Monmouth Conservation Foundation, previously said the organization will be a funding partner as part of its mission to preserve land in Monmouth County. He said the foundation will pay 15 percent of the property’s purchase price.
Because the purchase of the Old Noah Hunt Road property is under negotiation, state officials said they could not comment on the matter.
To also aid the DEP in the purchase of the property, municipal officials adopted an ordinance vacating portions of the land and an ordinance vacating existing interests on the parcel.
The ordinances, which were adopted at the request of the DEP, vacate a 10-foot right-of-way on Old Noah Hunt Road, an internal road known as McNeill Drive, easements, a right-of-way dedication, a developer’s agreement and an assignment and assumption agreement.
The ordinances will only take effect if the property is ultimately purchased by the DEP and the DEP becomes the property’s fee simple owner.
