UPPER FREEHOLD – Township Attorney Granville Magee gave an update on the preservation of the 145-acre Breza Road tract at the March 20 Township Committee meeting.
According to Magee, the title company is now in the process of reviewing the 11 deeds for the acreage submitted by landowner Neil Van Cleef ‘s attorney and the nonprofit Trust for Public Land.
"I was told yesterday they want fewer deeds, not 11," he said.
Magee reported that the final, sealed surveys had been received two weeks ago and that the final contract from the state was received three and a half weeks ago.
"I can’t tell you more than that," he said, due to the confidential nature of the land acquisition.
However, Magee noted that Van Cleef’s attorney wrote a letter to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) about the potential removal of the discharge-to-groundwater designation from his client’s property. The designation for 86,760 gallons per day would be removed as the result of a wastewater management plan revision Allentown has applied for with the county and state in order to service the new middle school.
Magee said that the revision would make the land’s current wastewater management plan approval disappear. He said Van Cleef is doing his due diligence in the event that the preservation falls through.
Committeeman Stanley Moslowski Jr. commented that he would like to see the property preserved as soon as possible.
Committeeman David Reed said the preservation would solve a lot of problems. He said the school and any type of non-Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) development could go there. The land is the township’s only designated sewer district.
Mayor Steve Alexander said members of the public have asked about the availability of funds for the Breza Road preservation project. He said that the township would close next week on the 135-acre Smith Farm, located on Route 526 across the street fromWhite Birch Farm. He said that one of the entities involved in preserving Smith Farm did not put up the necessary money and the township stepped up to pay for it.
"If it falls on our shoulders, we have to make sure we have the money," he said.