Plumsted preserves two farms

PLUMSTED - The township added two more farms to its preservation program on May 22 with 14-acre and 24-acre farms on West Millstream Road being forever saved from residential development.

According to Mayor Ron Dancer, Plumsted now has an all-time high of 32 farms preserved, with another three farms having received preliminary approvals.

During the May 2 meeting of the Township Committee, municipal endorsement was authorized for the following two farms: the 24-acre Clyne Farm on East Colliers Mills Road and the 23-acre Perry Christmas Tree farm on Evergreen Road.

The committee is scheduled to authorize municipal endorsement of the 56-acre Nash Farm on Long Swamp Road at its June 6 meeting. These farms represent another 141 acres that will be added to the more than 3,000 acres of township farms and woodlands permanently preserved from future residential development, according to the mayor.

Dancer said that in Plumsted, agriculture is an integral part of the local economy. In addition to the traditional tax ratables of commercial and light industrial, the township also has the agricultural tax ratables of farmer's markets and buildings.

The mayor said the general public may not realize that farmers pay full taxes on their buildings and only receive a reduced assessment on the farmland itself. He said farm buildings do not produce or house school children, yet, are yielding millions of dollars in tax ratables.

Dancer said Plumsted's land preservation program has prevented the construction of more than 2,000 homes and saved taxpayers millions in school taxes.

The committee thanked Ocean County Freeholder Director Jack Kelly and the Board of Freeholders for their financial support of the preservation program.

The committee will also authorize municipal endorsement to permanently preserve another 21 acres of woodlands off Route 539, about a mile north from the intersection of Route 539 and Route 528, according to the mayor.

Dancer said the Township Committee applied for and recently received a $38,000 grant from the Department of Agriculture to help offset the cost of aerial spraying to suppress the infestation of gypsy moths and save thousands of acres of woodlands that have been preserved and protected from future development.

The committee's next regularly scheduled public meeting will be at 8 p.m. June 6 p.m.