By Audrey Levine, Staff Writer
Following the approvals for early transfer from Gov. Jon Corzine and the United States House of Representatives, the Township Committee has moved closer to transferring the ownership of the General Services Administration Belle Mead Depot with the unanimous approval of three separate resolutions Tuesday.
The first resolution allows for an assignment of the option to purchase to the Somerset County Improvement Authority, since the United States General Services Administration signed the offer to purchase on March 16. The county Improvement Authority has been granted the authorization to front the $15.735 million for the purchase, all of which will be placed in escrow accounts for the cleanup of the property.
The township will still be responsible for paying its share of the purchase, but Mayor DelCore said this offer to purchase will give the township and county the opportunity to seek a subdivision of 48 acres of the property for research and development. Once that is done, the rest of the land can be designated for open space, and thereby enable the township to use money from the Open Space Trust Fund to pay for its half of the purchase.
In a second resolution, the township entered into a joint management agreement with the Improvement Authority, which will provide Hillsborough and Somerset County with equal control over the cleanup, development and management of the 369 acres.
The final resolution authorizes Maser Consulting to serve as the professional environment engineer for the negotiations and transfer of the GSA Depot. The contract is for an amount not to exceed $16,500.
Mayor Frank DelCore said he hopes to have the transfer complete sometime in April.

