MARLBORO – Mayor Jonathan Hornik, Township Councilwoman Randi Marder and the members of Marlboro’s Open Space Committee recently dedicated three open space acquisitions in a ceremony held at the Smith farm, Tennent Road.
The officials said 16 acres will be preserved at the Smith farm and they recognized 21 acres that have been preserved on Harbor Road (the Penksa farm) and 50 acres that have been preserved on Tennent Road (the Baydock parcel), for a total of 87 acres.
Capt. Shital Rajan chairs the Open Space Committee and the vice chair is Fran Owtiz. Committee members are Jack Appel, Harry Cross, Dennis Stack, Linda Sullivan and Linda Lee.
According to a press release from the township, the parcels were acquired using dedicated township open space funds, 50 percent matching grants from the New Jersey Green Acres program and a $250,000 grant from the Monmouth County Open Space Program toward the purchase of the Smith farm.
“Preserving open space is critical to the quality of life for Marlboro. The Open Space Committee has been a partner with my administration in aggressively pursuing open space opportunities and I want to thank Capt. Rajan and the committee members for their dedication,” Hornik said.
“As the Township Council’s liaison to the Open Space, Farmland Preservation and Shade Tree committees since I was first elected in 2007, it gives me tremendous pride to see the benefits of our hard work,” Marder said. “ … It is even more gratifying to know that preserving these properties not only keeps Marlboro green, but helps to prevent the increased traffic that would occur if these properties were allowed to be developed with hundreds of new homes.”
Earlier this year, Hornik announced Marlboro was also the recipient of an additional $825,000 in matching funds from the Green Acres program. That grant was the largest in Marlboro’s history and the largest grant given to any single municipality, according to the press release.