Owners of Cream Ridge Golf Course will either sell their land to Monmouth County for preservation or to developers.
By: Marisa Maldonado
UPPER FREEHOLD The owners of the Cream Ridge Golf Course will decide by March 1 either to sell their land to Monmouth County for preservation or to developers, one of the owners said Monday.
Township Committeeman Bill Miscoski said he approached the Monmouth County Park System to talk about preserving the 51-acre golf course on Route 539 last month. He said competition from other golf courses in Monmouth and Mercer counties has forced his family to sell the business, which it has owned for 57 years.
"I’ve been approaching the county for 20 years," Mr. Miscoski said. "Now that my business has gotten to the shape to where I have to do something and developers are knocking on my doors, I contacted them again and said, ‘I’m serious this time.’"
Mr. Miscoski said the partners in the business his wife, mother, brother, sister and brother-in-law have received offers from about 10 developers. They would prefer the land be preserved as open space, even though they could make millions of dollars more by selling the land to developers.
"The county could make a beautiful park out of it, do whatever they want," Mr. Miscoski said.
He has given the county a minimum dollar amount that the family will accept for the land, which he declined to specify. The family could wait past March 1 to get the money, but they need to know by then if a deal with the county would work.
The dialogue between the Miscoskis and the county park system prompted James J. Truncer, secretary-director of the Monmouth County Park System, to write to the Township Committee asking if it would support making the golf course open space. Mr. Truncer said the land’s proximity to the 36-acre Historic Walnford district in Crosswicks Creek Park on Walnford Road makes it a good piece of land to target.
"Normally the community in which properties are located becomes a partner in some way," Mr. Truncer said. "I don’t know what role the township would play."
The Township Committee responded enthusiastically to the letter at its meeting Feb. 3, agreeing to have Township Attorney Granville Magee draft a response in support of preserving the land.
"I would be the first to sign the letter," said Committeeman Stephen Alexander at the meeting. "It is an incredible location it’s in the center of our town, it would be a great spot to have a golf course."
Some possibilities include buying the land with money from the county’s Open Space Trust Fund or purchasing the development rights through an easement, meaning the owners of the land could continue to own the property but could not develop on it.
Under this, Mr. Truncer said, the county could still use the land as a golf course.
This would be a more cost-effective way to use the land than keeping the business as family-run, Mr. Miscoski said.
"The county doesn’t have property taxes to pay," Mr. Miscoski said. "They don’t have all the expenses I have as a private business owner."

