Upper Freehold residents hear from state, county and non-profit organizations.
By: Frank C. D’Amico
UPPER FREEHOLD Township officials say Upper Freehold is at the forefront of land preservation efforts in the state, and they want it to stay that way.
The township covers 47 square miles 30,080 acres; 5 percent, 6,000 acres, is in farmland preservation.
Add to that the Monmouth County-owned land of Clayton Park, 418 acres, and the Crosswicks Creek-Walnford Park, 1,085 acres, and the area preserved in Upper Freehold increases.
The township also owns the 28-acre Byron Johnson Recreation Area behind Allentown High School. To further preservation efforts, township voters last year approved an open space and farmland preservation tax.
However, Upper Freehold leaders don’t want preservation efforts to stop there. A joint Planning Board-Open Space Committee meeting was held March 8 to let "property owners know what the options are," Township Committeeman Richard Osborn said.
Representatives from the state and county Farmland Preservation programs, state Green Acres and a private non-profit organization, the Delaware and Raritan Greenway, each made a presentation to an audience of 70 people.
Tim Brill, the representative from the state Farmland Preservation program, gave the longest presentation because of the various preservation programs the State Agriculture Development Committee (SADC) offers.
One of the most popular programs is the direct easement purchase, Mr. Brill said.
Landowners sell their development rights, also known as easements, to the SADC and retain ownership of the land. However, the land is permanently deed restricted to allow only agriculture use and bar any type of development.
Mr. Brill said the SADC evaluates each application with the following factors in mind: soil quality, percentage of tillable acres, bordering farms and open space, local commitment to agriculture, size of the farm, agricultural density of the area and threat of development.
Payment for the development rights is done through an appraisal process, said Karen Fedosh, who was at the meeting for county Farmland Preservation program.
"Each property is different and each application is different," she said. "Applications are non-binding and you can cancel at any time."
The SADC negotiates purchase prices with a landowner subject to the recommendations of two independent appraisers and a review by a state appraiser.
Mr. Brill said another SADC program is the fee simple purchase.
With this program, the SADC purchases farms outright from willing sellers. The SADC deed restricts the farms to permanently preserve them for agricultural use and resells them at auction to the highest bidder.
A new program is the Planning Incentive Grant (PIG). With this grant, the SADC provides municipalities or counties with grants to obtain development easements for large blocks of contiguous farmland.
"We want contiguous blocks of land, not isolated pieces," Mr. Brill said. "We want farmers to have neighbors who are farmers."
Also, there is a program for eight-year preservation.
The program offers farm owners, who have voluntarily agreed to restrict non-agricultural development for eight years, certain benefits. There is no direct compensation under this program.
The benefits include: grants for up to 50 percent of the costs of approved soil and water conservation projects, lands in this program also enjoy greater protection from emergency fuel and water rationing, zoning changes and eminent domain actions.
Mr. Brill also said landowners can always donate land directly to the SADC.
A person might own land, but not a farm, and that’s where the state Green Acres program fits.
Now in its 40th year, the program works to acquire open space in the state. A current goal is to protect 1 million acres in the next 10 years.
Like the SADC, the Green Acres program works with landowners to protect land through direct purchase or conservation easements.
Renee Jones, the Green Acres representative at the meeting, said the program often works to add land to state parks, mostly through fee simple purchases.
"We only work with willing sellers," she said. "We don’t use condemnation."
Linda Mead, of the Delaware and Raritan Greenway, said non-profit groups are another option.
"Conservation is a busy business," she said.
The SADC funds some non-profit groups with 50 percent grants to help its endeavors.
"People in Upper Freehold have farms because it’s a way of life," Mr. Osborn said. "They want to take stewardship of the land."
For more information about the SADC’s farmland preservation program, call (609) 984-2504. The Monmouth County farmland program: (732) 431-7460. Delaware and Raritan Greenway: (609) 924-4646.