By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
Montgomery Township officials expect to close on the purchase of a 34-acre parcel of land on Route 518, between Hollow Road and Spring Hill Road, within the next few weeks.
The township, which had been eyeing the property for open space preservation for some time, agreed to pay $1.1 million for the tract. There is the possibility of cost-sharing with Somerset County.
The land is located on the south side of Route 518. It is adjacent to other preserved open space parcels and farmland, as well as other parcels that the township would like to preserve.
The goal is to create a greenway to keep the view shed open and rural along the township’s western gateway, where motorists, pedestrians and bicyclists enter Montgomery from Hopewell Township.
Township officials became aware that the property was available when two "for-sale" signs appeared on it in May. The township contacted 901 Realty Associates LLC, which has owned the land since 2001, and offered to buy it.
"The township regularly reaches out to property owners about potential preservation, but when we see a ‘for-sale’ sign on a property targeted for preservation in our Open Space Master Plan, we seize the opportunity," Mayor Ed Tzaska said.
The property owner had plans to develop the land at some point in the future, but listed it for sale. Part of the land is in the sewer service area and could have been developed for residential purposes.
"I am really proud of this deal," Mayor Trzaska said.
Other parties had expressed interest in the 34-acre parcel and were pursuing it, the mayor said. If the township had not purchased the land, "it would have been developed and its view shed lost forever," he said.
The frontage of the property on Route 518 blends a former farm field with shrubs, red cedars and young saplings. There are forested wetlands areas toward the rear of the property, where a tributary to Bedens Brook forms the southern boundary line.
This is the latest in a string of open space purchases by Montgomery Township. About 36 percent of the township is preserved or protected land, Mayor Trzaska said.
This includes traditional open space preserved land by Montgomery Township and Somerset County, and preserved farmland that is privately owned.
