Platz farm will add to holdings near Sourland Preserve.
By: Paul Sisolak
MONTGOMERY The Montgomery Friends of Open Space announced the purchase Friday of a historic piece of land in coordination with the township, bringing the organization’s first preservation effort to a successful conclusion.
The 39-acre Platz farm, which borders Dutchtown-Harlingen Road and the east side of CSX railroad tracks off Route 601, was bought by the township from its open-space trust fund in a triple partnership among the township, the Montgomery Friends and land trust group Delaware & Raritan Greenway.
Loraine Otis, Montgomery Friends’ founder, said the organization paid the land appraisal costs and partnered with the D&R Greenway before the township’s involvement.
"Once we had some real numbers and had reached an agreement in principle," she said, "then we brought in the township."
Ms. Otis said the partnership was also successful in negotiations with the developer with whom the Platz owners were already under contract for a proposed 10-unit housing development.
"We were very fortunate to be dealing with a developer who was open-minded and willing to meet with us and hear what we had to say," she said.
The Platz purchase, according to Montgomery Open Space coordinator Lori Savron, cost over $1.35 million.
A New Jersey Green Acres grant still pending for the Montgomery Friends will eventually be used to pay for a pathway along the perimeter of the Platz property, said Ms. Otis.
With the acquisition of the acreage, a contiguous piece of open space is slowly being formed at that section of Route 601 near the Sourland Mountain, which now includes the Platz, Tucker and Runyon-Fulper tracts.
"This property provides a crucial link to the Sourland Mountain Preserve," said Ms. Otis.
While Montgomery Friends is not involved in the project, Ms. Savron said the township is partnered with Somerset County in further pursuing the purchase of the Zeloof tract, a 30-acre piece of land near the Platz tract to the west of the railroad tracks that neighbor the historic Gulick houses.
The nonprofit Montgomery Friends of Open Space was formed last spring to preserve township land.