Campaign by D&R Greenway means 337-acre St. Michael’s property in Hopewell Township will remain open space
By: Ruth Luse
HOPEWELL TOWNSHIP – The D&R Greenway Land Trust, with lots of help from the community, beat Wednesday’s fundraising deadline, paving the way for the purchase the of the sprawling St. Michael’s property for open space preservation.
As of Tuesday, the trust had raised $3,257,682 in cash and pledges from private donors for the preservation project.
"This means that the organization has fulfilled their contractual obligation with the Diocese of Trenton and will be able to purchase the St. Michael’s property for $11 million and permanently protect the land, forever," Jo-Ann Munoz, Greenway director of communications, said late Tuesday.
The Greenway expects to receive $8 million in state, county and municipal funding. To gather the extra $3 million in private donations, it began a fundraising campaign in September.
"We have a contract with the D&R Greenway Trust that is contingent on D&R’s assembling the necessary funds," said David Roskos, attorney for the property’s record owner, St. Michael’s Orphan Asylum and Industrial School. "If the preservation effort falls through the property can be developed as a hamlet under current zoning." Now that the money has been raised, there will be no hamlet.
Support from private donors for the preservation of the 337-acre tract, just south and east of Hopewell Borough, has constant since early February, when the Greenway still needed $1,500,000.
"The support for preserving the St. Michael’s land has been phenomenal," said Greenway Executive Director Linda J. Mead. "The dedication and enthusiasm of the St. Michael’s Preservation Committee was transferred to the entire community. This past week, as our funding deadline approached, D&R received over 150 contributions, in checks, delivered by mail or in person, and in donations made over the phone with credit cards.
"This weekend’s events were a huge success, collectively raising $20,000. As a result, the residents of Hopewell and surrounding communities will now have 337 acres of farmland and open space and a permanent natural asset to be enjoyed by future generations. We are deeply grateful to the more than 650 private donors to the St. Michael’s Preservation Project," Ms. Mead noted.
"By happy coincidence, a well-timed call by representatives of the Larson Land Foundation on March 8, resulted in a $20,000 donation that nudged D&R over their $3 million private funding goal," Ms. Mead added.
The Larson Land Foundation was established by two sisters – Edith Hillman and Ruth Becher Chartier – after they preserved their 72-acre farm along Crusher and Pennington-Rocky Hill roads in Hopewell Township with D&R Greenway in 2000. Now deceased, they were the daughters of the late Nils and Siri Larson, who originally came to Brooklyn, N.Y., from Sweden and moved to Hopewell Township in 1919. Years ago, the sisters set up the Larson Land Foundation to provide specifically for the maintenance of preserved farmlands.
The private funds raised in excess of the $3 million needed to complete the purchase price of St. Michael’s will be used for closing costs for the preservation transaction, expected to be in the $200,000 range, and earmarked to cover the interest payments on the loan the Greenway will need to take on, in order to up-front pledge amounts for several substantial donations that individuals have promised to pay to D&R Greenway over the next three or four years, said Ms. Munoz.
"In all likelihood, D&R will not complete the purchase of the St. Michael’s property for several months," said Ms. Munoz. "Having succeeded in raising the funds to purchase the property, D&R will now enter the technical phase of the acquisition that includes completing the survey of the property and finalizing the environmental reports that enable closing."
Testing has suggested that significant contamination on the property in unlikely, said Ms. Munoz, who added: "D&R’s contract obligates the diocese to evaluate and remediate the old dumpsites on the property."
Until the Greenway actually acquires the site, the land is still private property. No one should enter the property unless they are with a Greenway representative, who would have secured permission from the diocese to tour the land.
More funds will be needed in order to "create the kind of asset that the community deserves and expects," said Ms. Munoz.
The Greenway will continue to farm St. Michael’s, Ms. Munoz said. Farming has been going on at the site since Hopewell was settled over 300 years ago.
The Greenway’s ultimate goal for the St. Michael’s property is to "continue productive agriculture, protect the wildlife associated with agriculture and woodlands, and to provide the public with safe and appropriate access to the land."

