Brochure touts effort
to buy up open space
By karl vilacoba
Staff Writer
MARLBORO — Farmland, Historic, Open Space Preservation Committee Chairman Stephen Dick has enlisted the aid of his toddler grandson to help slow development in the township.
The youngster is featured on the cover of a new brochure that describes the committee’s mission and history. The brochure will soon be widely distributed and possibly part of a mass mailing in the township.
"Wherever booklets like that can be seen, it will be available to the public," Dick said. "It’s going to be multi-used. It’s our first effort in public advertising, so we have to be aggressive."
The cover of the brochure reads "Pre-serving Marlboro’s Open Space and Future for Everyone" above the photo of a child. Dick, who designed the cover concept, hopes the image will spark a casual viewer’s curiosity and draw him into the brochure.
"We want readership, and there’s nothing more boring than a picture of empty fields," Dick said. "When you see something like this, you’re compelled to open it up. We wanted to keep it a bit intriguing."
The brochure earned the committee a 2002 New Jersey Environmental Achieve-ment Award from the Mendham-based Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions.
The copy in the brochure, written by Jack Appel and other contributors from the committee, offers a brief history of Marlboro’s growth and the group’s efforts to slow it. Census figures cite populations for the town of 6,359 residents in 1950 and 12,273 residents in 1970. While 2000 census figures report a population of 36,398 residents, the brochure projects that number to be about 40,330 residents by 2010.
The Farmland, Historic, Open Space Preservation Committee is a seven-member group of volunteer Marlboro residents appointed by the mayor. Organized in February 2001, the committee’s responsibilities are recommending properties for acquisition to the mayor and Township Council, compiling a list of those lands in order of priority and pursuing state and federal funding for open space purchases. Marlboro resident John Mullan, of Bay Pointe Engineering Associates, Point Pleasant Beach, acts as a consultant to the committee.
The finest hour of the committee’s brief existence came on June 13 when the council approved a resolution authorizing the township to purchase a 77-acre tract known as the Dimeo farm, at Conover and Pleasant Valley roads, for $4.35 million. The property was studied and came with the group’s highest recommendations.
"We needed that victory because it showed the township could make a fair deal with a property owner for the benefit of this community," Dick said.
Residents who are considering selling 2 or more acres of property for open space purposes are encouraged to contact the committee through the township’s offices.
"The game plan is to get people to call us first," Dick said. "Don’t call the builder right away when he’s waving that check. Just give us that chance."