Indyk’s Farm in Monroe, established by current owner Ben Konopacki’s grandfather in 1940, has become the 52nd farm to be preserved in Middlesex County under the Farmland Preservation Program. JEREMY GROSSMAN/STAFF Ben Konopacki, owner of Indyk’s Farm, has ensured that the farmland his grandfather bought at a 1940 auction will forever remain undeveloped by entering the Middlesex County Farmland Preservation Program.
Konopacki was paid $904,550 in state, county and township funds last month for deed-restricting his property, a 38-acre stretch of land at 595 Spotswood-Englishtown Road in Monroe.
“I would have either had to sell the farm or get the farmland preservation. I couldn’t keep going the way I was going,” he said.
The land will remain a working farm, Konopacki said.
Since the farmland is now deed-restricted, the property value has dropped significantly, but the sacrifice is well worth it to maintain the land forever, he said.
“I have sentimental attachment to the farm and don’t want to see it turned into housing,” Konopacki said, adding that his uncle farmed the land for 65 years.
With the addition of Indyk’s Farm, 1,296 acres of land have been preserved in Monroe, according to a press release from Middlesex County.
The state contributed the bulk of the cost, picking up $539,433 of the tab in the Indyk’s Farm purchase.
“If we didn’t have this program, every town in New Jersey would probably look the same eventually — you know, have the same Wal-Mart, Target, McDonald’s,” Konopacki said. “Everything would be cookie-cutter. But with farmland preservation, we can at least preserve some areas and have distinction between the towns. But once it’s gone, it’s too late.”
County efforts, in conjunction with the state and local municipalities, have secured substantial holdings of farmland for the purposes of preservation, Monroe Township Council President Gerald Tamburro said. “We have two farms that are going to be approved at the July 8 county Planning Board meeting,” he said.
The “agricultural preservation easement” at Indyk’s Farm is the 52nd acquired within Middlesex County under the county Farmland Preservation Program, bringing the total tally of preserved land to more than 5,400 acres thus far, a press release states.
It’s doubly beneficial, Tamburro said of efforts to preserve farmland and expand open space.
“It preserves the beauty of the town, and … development can’t occur there,” he said.
The Monroe Township Council also adopted a resolution to proceed with open space acquisitions of three undeveloped properties: a 70-acre tract on Hoffman Road, 40 acres at 112 Federal Road and 2.4 acres on Prospect Plains Road.
Monroe Business Administrator Wayne Hamilton said the acquisitions would ensure the 112.4 acres of undeveloped land stay that way.
“Preserved forever,” he said. “That’s the idea.”
Tamburro said the township is committed to maximizing holdings of open space for a number of reasons.
“That has been our goal over the years: to acquire as much open space as we can,” he said. “It does two things: It keeps the town semi-rural … but more importantly, it reduces the number of building units that can come up in the town.”
Tamburro said fewer buildings mean less strain on both the local school district and the environment.
Douglas Singleterry of Shain, Schaffer & Rafanello, who is representing the township in the acquisitions, said the properties are undeveloped, save for one residential property on Prospect Plains Road. “According to the appraisal report, it’s a one-family residential, two-story [home] constructed in 1950. The building is vacant and not habitable,” he said.
Hamilton said the assessed value of the property is $1.5 million.
According to Singleterry, the total cost of the properties will be determined after discussions with the current owners are completed.
“Right now, we’re in the process of negotiating with the owners,” he said. “It should be finalized in the next few months, at which point the township will assume ownership.”
Monroe officials will continue efforts to secure open space holdings as part of an ongoing mission to maintain the township’s rural roots, Hamilton said.
“We’re really lucky, if you look at the green landscape that we’ve got,” he said. “How many towns can boast like that?”