The Joe Morris Co. of Rutherford has met with local and state officials to discuss the possibility of preserving the tract.
By: Joseph Harvie
A developer hoping to build about 70 houses on the 220-acre Van Dyke farm on Davidsons Mill Road wants to know how much money he would receive for preserving the historic farm, Mayor Frank Gambatese said Wednesday.
Mayor Gambatese said he and officials from the state Farmland Preservation program and the state Green Acres program met in April with the Joe Morris Company of Rutherford, which is under contract to buy the land from Walter Pulda of Piscataway, to discuss the possibility of preserving the tract.
The Van Dyke farm has a house that dates back to before the Revolutionary War. The Van Dyke family owned the farm until it was sold in the 1950s.
Morris approached the Township Council in February 2005 about rezoning the property to allow construction of three warehouses. Residents in the area fought the proposal and the council turned the developer down. Morris has since approached the Planning Board with a concept plan for 76 single-family homes.
Mayor Gambatese said Morris agreed to file an application for preservation through the state, which would set a price for the land.
"He said he was going to fill out an application and send it in," Mayor Gambatese said. "On it would be what he expects to get from the property. The state would review the application and, if it’s in reason, have the property appraised, and if it is not within in reason, not proceed further."
Frank Petrino, Mr. Morris’ attorney, did not return phone calls as of the Post’s Wednesday evening deadline.
Mayor Gambatese said Wednesday he has not heard anything about the application, and said he would reach out to Mr. Morris to see where he stands on preservation. He said that, although no action has been taken, the meeting seemed promising.
"The main thing was to get them together and open up a dialogue," Mayor Gambatese said. "It was a successful big first step and we’ll have to go from there and hopefully we are successful."
Bill Klimowicz of Davidsons Mill Road, a founding member of the Eastern Villages Association citizens group, said he is happy to see the township taking action on the parcel. He said that EVA would like to see the farm preserved and plans on having an exhibit at the Municipal Building later this month of artifacts from the farm. He said many of the artifacts were picked up from Arthur Van Dyke, a relative of the family that once owned the land.
"We picked up a spinning wheel that spools wool into yarn and he said that he always suspected that it came over with family from the Netherlands," Mr. Klimowicz said Wednesday. "It’s still intact and looked like it was used yesterday."
Mr. Klimowicz said that no date has been set for the display but that it would be announced shortly.

