County approves studies, considers preservation
By: Joseph Harvie
An engineering analysis and the appraisal of the 200-acre Van Dyke farm on Davidsons Mill Road should begin soon, Middlesex County officials said.
Jane Leal, director of administration for the Middlesex County Improvement Authority, said Wednesday that the MCIA authorized a $21,470 contract to CME Associates engineering firm to conduct the engineering study, which will assess the environmental makeup of the property, which includes determining whether or not there are wetlands present.
She said that $5,000 of the contract has been set aside and will be used only if environmental problems are found on the farm.
The study is the first step in the process of trying to preserve the farm as open space. The county, state and South Brunswick Township are in negotiations to purchase the land from the contract purchaser of the property, Joe Morris of the Morris Co., of Rutherford.
Walter Pulda, of Piscataway, owns the property, but Mr. Morris has a contract to purchase it from Mr. Pulda.
In November 2004, Mr. Morris approached the township to change the zoning of the property from rural residential to an industrial zone so that three warehouses could be built on the site, a proposal that was rejected by the council.
Mr. Morris later filed an application with the New Jersey Farmland Preservation Program to preserve the farm. The application was filed as a way to determine how much the state would pay him to preserve the farm. The state would not release the asking price.
Since then Mr. Morris has filed a concept plan with the township Planning Department to build 76 houses on the site. The Planning Board does not have a deadline by which it must act on concept plans.
Once the engineering analysis of the farm is completed, two appraisals will be done on the property, Ms. Leal said. She said that because the state is involved with negotiations, two appraisals were needed.
Fleming White Appraisals of Colonia was awarded a $2,900 contract with the county to appraise the property and JGT management Inc., of Woodbridge, was awarded a $3,000 contract to appraise the property.
Ms. Leal said engineering work would take about a month to complete and as long as there are no problems the appraisals would be done after that.

