by Audrey Levine, Staff Writer
The township will recoup $920,000 for the Open Space Trust Fund if the sale of about 178 acres of preserved farmland is approved.
The Township Committee unanimously approved the introduction of two ordinances Nov. 11 for the sale of the 158-acre Bothers Farm and the 20-acre Mill Lane Farm to Briarwood Farms, Inc. and resident Ignatius Pyne, respectively, the highest bidders at an Oct. 17 auction.
Public hearing for the two ordinances will be held Dec. 9.
”This is a big step for our preservation efforts,” Committeeman Bob Wagner said. “No development can take place on either property.”
The development rights for both properties were stripped away under the state’s Planned Incentive Grant (PIG) program when purchased by the township in 2002. The land can be used only for farming.
The auction sold 158 acres of the 194-acre Bothers Farm to Briarwood Farms, Inc., for a total of $845,000.
According to Mayor Anthony Ferrera, Briarwood Farms, Inc. has been engaged in horse boarding and management in Hunterdon County, and will use the Bothers Farm for the same purpose.
Township Clerk Kevin Davis said the township initially purchased the Bothers Farm for a total of $3.5 million, with $2.9 million going toward purchasing the development rights. Mr. Davis said a grant from the state and county covered about $1.8 million of the development rights.
At the time of the purchase, the Bothers Farm land – which was originally 194 acres – was valued at $600,000.
After the purchase, 36 acres was subdivided from the Bothers Farm, and is still owned by the township. About 8 of those acres are in small preserved lots, while the remaining 28 acres create the Bothers Greenway, a trail that surrounds a portion of the farm.
These pieces were not part of the auction, and the township is waiting for about $180,000 in Green Acres reimbursements for the greenway.
The remaining 158 acres, which were sold in the auction, were valued at a total of $510,000, and were sold for $845,000. Mr. Davis said the township spent a total of about $600,000 on the purchase of the land and development rights.
The Mill Lane Farm has been sold to Hillsborough resident, and neighboring farm owner, Mr. Pyne for $75,000.
Mr. Davis said the township originally paid about $348,000 for the Mill Lane Farm, with the land itself being valued at a total of $105,000. When Transco pipeline built its piping through the farm, it paid about $18,000 to the township, reducing the value of the property to $87,000.
The township also received a $190,000 grant for the purchase of the development rights of the Mill Lane Farm.
The money from the sale of the two farms will be placed in the township’s Open Space Trust Fund.
”These will both continue to be working farms, and cannot be developed,” Mr. Wagner said. “But these properties will be put back on the tax rolls.”

