Buyer misses deadline on auctioned parcels.
By: Josh Appelbaum
The Township Committee plans to sell the Barclay properties to the second-highest bidder after ruling that the high bidder breached the terms of an October auction sale.
But local farmer Arthur Danser, high bidder at the October auction, is still hoping to have the auction invalidated. He is appealing a November Superior Court ruling that the auction was legal.
The township auctioned off the 60-acre Barclay North and the 130-acre South properties on Oct. 7. Mr. Danser was the high bidder at the auction with a bid of $1.9 million. Bryce Thompson IV was the second-highest bidder at $1.89 million.
Mr. Danser challenged the auction after it closed and filed suit in Superior Court because the deadline for submitting sealed bid had been extended by Township Administrator Frederick Carr on Sept. 28 and not the full Township Committee. He asked that the court award him the property for his original bid of $1.2 million because he would have been the only legal bidder had the original deadline not been changed.
Judge Joseph C. Messina of the Chancery Division of state Superior Court in Middlesex County ruled Nov. 19 that the auction was legal. He gave Mr. Danser until Dec. 3 to enter into an agreement with the township.
The township later extended the deadline until Dec. 20. At its Dec. 20 meeting, the committee decided to withhold action until the Jan. 3 reorganization meeting.
On Monday, the committee decided to offer the properties to Mr. Thompson for $1.9 million.
Township Attorney Trishka Waterbury said the Township Committee decided to take action against Mr. Danser, who has lived on the property since 1929, because he let the deadline expire. The township will keep his $50,000 deposit, as per the terms of the contract.
Ms. Waterbury said the township is allowed to offer the properties to the next highest bidder through a private sale under a state statute that allows municipalities to sell lands privately for not less than the high bid obtained at auction. If Mr. Thompson agrees to pay $1.9 million, the township would go ahead with the sale.
Mr. Thompson was the high bidder on another parcel up for auction Oct. 7 the 80-acre Wright North parcel. Mr. Thompson was awarded that land for $500,000. The Barclay properties, and the Wright North and South parcels were sold at the same auction and are deed restricted, limiting them to agricultural use.
Mr. Thompson could not be reached for comment.
Robert Hagerty, attorney for Mr. Danser, would not comment Thursday on the committee’s decision. He said his client filed an appeal of Judge Messina’s November decision and is negotiating an alternative resolution to the dispute with the township.
Ms. Waterbury said that, because Mr. Danser had not sought an injunction to stop the township from selling the properties, so the appeal will not affect the township’s course of action.
Ms. Waterbury said the committee’s plan is meant to ensure the land is sold for fair market value.
"The committee wants to see this land sold because the taxpayers had to pay a lot to preserve it," Ms. Waterbury said.
In a telephone interview from Florida on Wednesday, Mr. Danser said the Township Committee’s decision was an administrative one, and he has no other course of action but to abide by the ruling. However, he maintains his earlier position.
"When I was on the Township Committee, anything passed by ordinance was considered to be law, and therefore, it couldn’t be changed by anything but an ordinance," he said. "The township said they made a decision that was to the benefit of the township and the taxpayers."
Mr. Danser said he had no intention of paying $1.9 million for the property. He said he outbid Mr. Thompson because he wouldn’t have been able to challenge the auction as a losing bidder.
If Mr. Thompson declines the purchase and the township chooses to re-auction the properties, Mr. Danser said he would like to participate in bidding, and even holds out hope for staying on the farm if it is sold privately.
"I would hope the new owner would want to rent to me," Mr. Danser said.
The Barclay farmhouse in which Mr. Danser lives is under lease until the end of the year and he is still unsure of his next move.
"I don’t know what will happen in the meantime. If I can’t own or rent, I suppose we’ll have to move on," he said.
Mr. Danser’s challenge has also posed budgetary problems for the township. Officials have said that if the $1.9 million payment for the Barclay properties was delayed beyond the end of the 2004, the township would not be able to use it as revenue in the 2005 municipal budget. The township was planning to use the money to pay down its open space debt.
Mayor Becky Beauregard said Wednesday that the shortfall will not adversely affect the township.
"It will not affect us in moving forward with our priorities," Ms. Beauregard said.
The Township Committee purchased the 60-acre Barclay North and the 130-acre Barclay South properties in 2000 for $3.5 million. Cranbury received $2.1 million in September from the state Agricultural Development Commission for land purchases.
The township acquired the Wright properties in October 2001 for $2.65 million. In November of 2003, the township received $1.02 million for the preservation of the Wright farmland from the SADC. The Barclay properties are west of North Main Street on Ancil Davison Road and the Wright properties are on Plainsboro Road.

