HILLSBOROUGH: Township acts to buy 237 acres as open space

By Gene Robbins, Managing Editor
    More farmland and open space likely will come under the township’s preservation umbrella soon.
    The Township Committee took the first steps Tuesday night to spend nearly $3.1 million to buy 237 acres located between East Mountain Road, Mill Lane and the Norfolk Southern railroad tracks.
    An ordinance to go ahead with the purchase from PID Associates was introduced. A public hearing was scheduled for Tuesday, March 27.
    As revenue for the project, the township has a $1.35 million state Green Acres open space grant and $82,000 from the PSE&G diversion right-of-way. The remainder comes from the township’s open space trust fund, which shows up on the tax bill as 3 cents for each $100 of assessed value or $30 for each $100,000 of value.
    “The cost per acre for this purchase is $13,004 per acre, which is historically much lower than previous purchases in the general vicinity,” Mayor Carl Suraci said.
    The township portrayed this as a move to thwart future residential development. The land will be designated for passive recreation, said a township release.
    The purchase “will assist in connecting to other preserved land, increasing the overall footprint in that area,” Township Committeeman Robert Wagner said.
    The mayor said this increased protected land to 30.9 percent of the total acres in the township.