BY JANE MEGGITT
Staff Writer
Millstone MILLSTONE — Freeholder William C. Barham presented a farmland preservation check to Millstone Township officials at the June 1 Township Committee meeting.
The $560,899 check is the State Agriculture Development Committee’s (SADC) share of the agricultural easement placed on the 70-acre former Valerio Farm on Back Bone Hill Road, now operating as Halka Nurseries.
According to Barham, “Buying development rights is the most effective way to preserve open space and ensure that Monmouth County maintains its outstanding quality of life.”
Millstone, according to Barham, is among 10 municipalities identified by the Monmouth County Planning Board as having grown the fastest during the last year.
“I am proud to present this check so it can be used to preserve even more open space,” Barham said.
“One of the great things we do in this county is give money to open space and farmland preservation,” he added. “With farmland, we can keep the ‘garden’ in the Garden State.”
Barham presented a large ceremonial check to township officials, and gave the authentic check to Township Administrator James Pickering.
Under the Monmouth County Farmland Preservation Program, landowners sell the development rights of their properties for a value determined by two independent appraisers.
Typically, the state pays 60 percent, the county pays 24 percent and the municipality pays 16 percent. The easement permanently retires the development rights, but the property remains in private ownership and can be used solely for agricultural purposes.
In February, Millstone was presented with a $425,000 check representing Monmouth County’s obligation toward the preservation of four parcels in Millstone, including the Halka Nurseries parcel.
The county’s share for Halka Nurseries was $224,359. The remaining three parcels are Bright Meadows Equestrian Center, the former Buono farm and the Mattei farm. Altogether, the four parcels make up 220 acres of preserved land.
The four parcels are part of nine farms Millstone Township originally purchased from its own farmland preservation fund during the last 10 years. Monmouth County is reviewing five of those parcels for eventual reimbursement and is working with Millstone officials to recoup the state’s obligation on the remaining eight.
So far, Millstone has preserved more than 3,000 acres.
“We greatly appreciate the work the Board of Chosen Freeholders has been doing to help us recover these open space funds,” Mayor Elias Abilheira said. “We intend to use the check to purchase and preserve many more acres of open space in Millstone.”
Abilheira also thanked Deputy Mayor Nancy Grbelja and Open Space Committee Chairwoman Pat Butch for “the tremendous amount of work they did going through files and paperwork to recover this money.”
Barham noted that just last week the Board of Freeholders adopted a $31.5 million open space bond ordinance for county parkland acquisition projects. The bond includes funding to add 166 acres to Perrineville Lake Park and create a buffer at Charleston Springs Golf Course. He said the county just paid off 15-year bonds issued in 1990, with which they preserved 2,200 acres.
Because of the escalating cost of land, the new bond ordinance will only cover the cost of 840 acres, according to Barham.
“We’re losing the per-acre price battle in Monmouth County,” he said. “Everyone wants to live here.
“It’s a nice place,” Barham said, “plus the farmland preservation and open space are very important.”