MILLSTONE – Municipal officials have taken action to acquire a property that could eventually be the location of affordable housing in Millstone Township.
On Sept. 6, the Township Committee adopted a bond ordinance restating a 2016 ordinance that provides an appropriation of $1.1 million for the acquisition of property at 27 Burnt Tavern Road.
The total appropriation includes the issuance of $1.045 million in bonds or notes and a down payment of $55,000.
The $1.045 million in bonds or notes consists of $270,000 in open space bonds or notes and $775,000 in general improvement bonds or notes.
The down payment will be funded with $39,435 from the Millstone Open Space Farmland Preservation Trust Fund and $15,565 from the New Jersey Council on Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
No money will be directed toward items of expense listed in and permitted under the local bond law, according to the ordinance.
According to the ordinance, the property on Burnt Tavern Road contains about 53.39 acres. The portion of the tract that may be developed is 15.11 acres. Slightly more than 38 acres would remain as open space.
The original bond ordinance, which was adopted in August 2016, did not specify what the allocated $1.045 million in bonds or notes consisted of. The current bond ordinance restates the allocation to specify that 74 percent of the bonds and notes will be general bond anticipation notes and 26 percent will be open space bond anticipation notes.
The committee previously passed a resolution authorizing the township’s 2016 capital budget to be amended to include the acquisition of the Burnt Tavern Road parcel after the bond ordinance was introduced that year.
Officials said no plan has been drawn up for a residential project at the Burnt Tavern Road site, nor has a developer been selected.
New Jersey municipalities are required by law to provide opportunities for the development of housing that is sold or rented at below market rates to individuals and families whose income meets certain guidelines.
In other business on Sept. 6, the committee passed a resolution awarding a $196,188 contract to Mid-Atlantic Truck Centre for a 2017 hook lift, class VIII truck and accessories.
And, committee members passed a resolution authorizing a second change order for ongoing work on the first phase of the Millstone Park project on Red Valley Road.
The original contract that was awarded to Meco Inc. for the project totaled $3.43 million and was decreased to $3.4 million as a result of the first change order, according to the resolution.
The resolution states that Millstone requires changes to the project’s storm water design, lighting and well, resulting in a $17,856 decrease in the contract. As a result of the second change order, the new contract for the project totals $3.38 million, according to the resolution.
