County, town team up to acquire 1,036 acres
Testing, appraisals under way on parcels sought for open space
BY SETH MANDEL
Staff Writer

Monroe Township officials are moving ahead on efforts to preserve 23 parcels of land being sought for open space.

The land, comprising 1,036 acres, is now being tested

and appraised by Middlesex County, according to Township Engineer Ernest Feist, who last week presented a report to the mayor and council on the acquisition effort.

Township officials have been working for more than a year on a priority list of land parcels that originally totaled 1,500 acres. Feist's report indicates that the overall target is now more than 1,800 acres, including the 1,036 acres sought this year alone.

Feist has taken over work on the Open Space Plan from the late Joe Montanti, who died suddenly in April. Montanti was Monroe's environmental protection manager, in addition to serving on a variety of township boards and agencies.

The county, Feist said, is performing the due diligence on the properties, which includes wetlands delineation, Phase I environmental analysis, development yield mapping, and property value appraisals.

"The county is obviously the lead agency, not only in terms of doing the due diligence prior to a land acquisition but also in terms of providing funding for these acquisitions," Feist said.

The value of all the properties is estimated at between $20 million and $30 million. The township would fund about 10 percent of acquisition costs, with some assistance from the state Green Acres Program. Green Acres provides the township with matching grants each year, and the program would probably fund about half the township's portion through those grants.

Middlesex County, Feist said, would fund the rest, though the county would also receive financial assistance from Green Acres.

Feist said the appraisals may conclude within the next several months, at which point the county would make an offer to purchase each parcel from the landowner. If a landowner accepts that offer, the transfer of title could take place within a couple of months of that date. A property owner can also choose to hire a private appraiser and make a counteroffer. If the property owner decides to reject any deal, Feist said, the county would have to determine whether to pursue the property through condemnation. That, Feist said, could delay that particular acquisition process for years.

Three properties, totaling just under 33 acres, are located west of Perrineville Road and adjacent to Thompson Park. One of those property owners has been contacted with an offer, but has not responded.

Officials are pursuing certain properties along the Millstone River for the establishment of a Millstone River Watershed Conservation Area. Three properties totaling more than 350 acres are included in the report, and appraisers have been contracted for those properties.

Four properties on the list would connect Thompson Park with the conservation area. Two of the properties total 90 acres and are listed as the fourth expansion of Thompson Park.

The other two properties are listed as the fifth expansion of the park, adding about 100 acres to the park. An additional 14 acres is also included in that expansion.

Also part of the 2006 plan are lands where the Rose Garden and Castle Gardens developments are slated to be built, combining for about 114 acres.

While the wetlands delineation and environmental analysis of a property can greatly affect the value of the land, Feist said such testing has not revealed, and is not likely to reveal, factors that would deter the township and county from pursuing acquisition of the property.

"But you may find that there's more wetlands than we thought, or maybe there is some environmental issue that may need to be addressed that will cost money to accomplish," Feist said. "And that would reduce the offer of purchase the county ultimately makes for any of those parcels, but there's nothing that's come up that would sour the deal completely."

Officials earlier this year discussed the possibility of acquiring 1,500 acres this year.

The township and county are looking at the process from the standpoint of financial boundaries, not total acreage, Feist said.

That 1,500 acres may have been considered plausible at the time, he said, but the estimated value of the 1,036 acres is near the current monetary limit.

After all the appraisals are concluded, he said, officials will have a better idea of what the municipality and county can afford for 2006.

In February, Montanti had spoken of officials' intentions to create walking trails through some of the properties this year. In order to enable one of the trails, the township needs to acquire a 46-acre tract of land west of Old Forge Road, along the Matchaponix Brook. That property, also referred to as the Old Forge Gun Club property, is on Feist's list as well.

The trails, which would tie together large sections of town, are still a primary goal of the Open Space Plan, Feist said.

"And these are some of the properties that are instrumental in making that happen," he said.