The Monmouth County Park System is acquiring 88 acres of the Freneau woodlands in Aberdeen to become part of a passive recreational park. MONMOUTH COUNTY PARK SYSTEM ABERDEEN — A 10-year effort to preserve approximately 183 acres of the Freneau woodlands as a county park is nearing fruition.
The Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders approved the purchase of an 88- acre parcel of the woodlands for $10.6 million at its Jan. 9 meeting.
The county is expected to close on the parcel later this year, along with a 66-acre tract the county acquired last May, according to Karen Livingstone, public information officer for the Monmouth County Park System.
“These acquisitions and any additional land the county will be able to acquire in the area are intended for the development of a regional county park,” Livingstone said, adding that the park would be used for passive recreation.
“Developing a regional park in this section has the potential to serve many residents while preserving one of the last relatively large, undeveloped areas of the county,” she said.
According to the freeholders’ resolution, the county will fund approximately $5.6 million of the purchase. The deal is contingent on a pending agreement with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which would fund the remaining $5 million.
Greg Remaud, deputy director of the NY/NJ Baykeeper, which has been involved in negotiations between the county and the Port Authority, said discussions are ongoing and he is pleased with the progress.
“The Baykeeper is appreciative of the hard work and dedication of Monmouth County and is thrilled that, if we can provide matching funds, they will make $5.6 million available to buy this property,” he said in an interview.
The Baykeeper has been interested in preserving the Freneau tract since 2003, when the site was slated for development as residential housing.
In September 2003, the Aberdeen Planning Board adopted a general redevelopment plan for the 183.5-acre tract. The plan included three subsections — two to be developed as agerestricted, market-rate housing, and one to be developed as affordable housing, according to the township’s fair-share housing plan.
However, several residents filed suit against the township after developers proposed major residential developments on the land. The lawsuits were ultimately dismissed.
“The only thing that stopped it was the downturn in the market,” Remaud said.
The site was then identified by the New York-New Jersey Harbor Estuary Program as a priority for protection due to its location in the headwaters area of the Matawan Creek, which flows into Raritan Bay.
In recent years, the Baykeeper has played a supportive role in locating funding sources for the acquisition of the remaining two parcels.
The park system received approval from the freeholders in May 2013 to acquire an approximately 66-acre parcel of Freneau land known as the Fariello Estate, which borders Marlboro and Aberdeen. The county used its open space fund to acquire the property for $2.93 million.
In 2012, Aberdeen acquired the smallest of the three parcels — 22 acres known as the Hauser Farm on Greenwood Road — at a cost of $950,000. The land was acquired from the Fiorini family.
The purchase was made through a combination of public and private funding sources, including $250,000 from the Monmouth County Municipal Open Space program; $316,250 from the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Green Acres program; $130,000 from the DEP Office of Natural Resource Restoration; and $153,750 from the national nonprofit Trust for Public Land. Aberdeen also contributed $100,000 from its open space fund, Township Manager Holly Reycraft has said.
According to Reycraft, the parcel acquired by the township will eventually be deeded over to the county.