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UPPER FREEHOLD: Deal to preserve 1,900 acres announced

By Joanne Degnan, Staff Writer
   UPPER FREEHOLD — A $27.8 million deal to preserve more than 1,900 acres of land, most of which is in Upper Freehold, was announced Monday in what state officials are calling the largest joint farmland preservation and open space acquisition project in New Jersey’s history.
   The contracts were presented to the Flemer family, which had until recently operated the land as Princeton Nurseries, during a crowded news conference beneath a magnolia tree on the lawn of the family’s property on Polhemustown Road. Members of the extended Flemer clan and scores of environmentalists and state, county and local officials were on hand to celebrate the achievement.
   The land being preserved includes more than 1,900 acres flanking Province Line Road in Upper Freehold, North Hanover and Hamilton townships. The official closing is expected to take place by early next year, state officials said.
   In its heyday, when the family-run business had operated in the Princeton area, it had been one of the nation’s largest commercial nurseries. It began as F&F Nurseries in Springfield, Union County, moved to the Princeton area in 1911 and expanded  to Monmouth County in the 1960s before closing in 2009.
   ”It’s a sweet moment for our family, but it’s also a moment tinged with sadness because it’s one big step toward the end of an era,” said Bill Flemer, noting his family had been in the commercial nursery business for more than 100 years.
   The $27.8 million deal uses about $16.4 million in state, local and nonprofit open-space funding sources to purchase and preserve more than 1,000 acres for open space. Another $11.4 million, provided by the State Agriculture Development Committee (SADC) and local government partners, will pay for farmland easements on the remaining 900 acres, thereby preserving it forever for agricultural use.
   The 1,000-plus acres of open space landscape includes 512 acres of grasslands, forests and wetlands that will be used to create a wildlife management area that can support a wide variety of wildlife. There will be opportunities for hunting, hiking, fishing, bike riding and horseback riding, with some of the old nursery roads being developed into a trail system, state officials said.
   The other 500 acres of open space will be added to the Monmouth County Park System’s Crosswicks Creek Greenway and the Mercer County Park System’s Crosswicks Creek Greenway Corridor, officials said. The new acreage will help connect thousands of acres of existing county parklands and greenways along the Crosswicks Creek where Burlington, Mercer and Monmouth counties meet.
   Upper Freehold Mayor LoriSue Mount noted that even though the preservation deal for the Flemer properties involves acreage in three counties, the bulk of the land — more than 1,000 acres — is in Upper Freehold.
   ”This proudly puts us over the top with over 10,000 acres of preserved land in our municipality,” Mayor Mount said.
   Linda Mead, president of the D&R Greenway Land Trust, who worked closely with the Flemer family to help it sort through various land preservation options, discussed what could have happened if the township’s largest landowner had decided to sell to developers.
   ”This could easily have gone another way,” Ms. Mead pointed out. “Nineteen-hundred acres could have easily produced one last big crop of houses, but instead, because of the preservation commitment first and foremost by this family, we are going to be able to enjoy the crops from this land, enjoy walking along the greenways and streams here forever and ever.
   ”It’s an amazing legacy,” Ms. Mead said.
   Mr. Flemer said he and his family were happy that the land they are so rooted in will be preserved forever and not turned into shopping malls or housing tracts. He recounted that when his family sold some of its nursery land in the Princeton area, he was horrified to return to the area and discover a “giant hundred-acre intersection” had been built on what had been a field of maple trees.
   ”Things change, families come and go and businesses open and prosper and close — everything has a lifespan,” Mr. Flemer said. “The beautiful thing here is that this is always going to be a farm long after we’re gone.”
   The funding sources for the open space acquisitions include: $7.2 million from the state Department of Environmental Protection’s Green Acres program; $7 million from Monmouth County; $1.7 million from Mercer County; and $500,000 from the Monmouth Conservation Foundation.
   The funding sources for the farmland easements include: $6.6 million from the SADC; $4.6 million from Monmouth County and Upper Freehold Township; and $257,000 from Burlington County.
   Upper Freehold CFO Dianne Kelly said Monday the township has $2,179,199 in open space bond money already in reserve for the project.