State, county will fund 2 tracts to be preserved

PLUMSTED - The Township Com-mittee will be obtaining a $785,000 New Jersey Planning Incentive Grant award toward the acquisition of two more properties totaling 79 acres that will be saved and preserved forever from future major residential subdivisions.

According to Mayor Ron Dancer, the first property consists of 23 acres of mature forest with oaks and holly trees off Route 539, about 1 mile north of the Route 539 and Route 528 intersection. The second property has 56 acres that are partially wooded with open spaces off Long Swamp Road.

The $785,000 from the state represents about 50 percent of the total purchase price and the Township Committee obtained a commitment from the Ocean County Board of Freeholders on July 25 to fund the remaining 50 percent (for a total of $1.6 million) to permanently preserve these 79 acres forever in their natural state.

Dancer said more than 3,000 acres of Plumsted's woodland, farmland and open spaces have been permanently preserved, thereby preventing the construction of more than 2,000 homes.

With the value of land today, the grants and funding the Township Committee obtains from federal, state and county sources is critical for the continued success of the municipality's land preservation program, according to the mayor. For example, the value of one developable acre of land in Plumsted can exceed $200,000 and that would deplete the annual revenue generated by the voter-approved Recreation, Historic, Farmland, Open Space and Natural Lands trust fund.

Additionally, the ballot question in Plumsted approved by voters set forth that the trust fund will be used for not only land preservation, but the maintenance and development of recreation land, historic land, open space and natural lands as well. Portions of the maintenance and development funding will provide for new recreation playground equipment this year; the gypsy moth aerial spray program on woodlands; improvements to the historic museum, etc.

Regarding the historic component of the trust fund, the Township Committee applied for and was awarded $16,920 from the state Historic Grant Program for the New Egypt Historical Society museum. At the July 18 meeting of the Township Committee, authorization to sign the state Historic Grant Program agreement was approved with matching funds from the local trust fund, Dancer said.

The next regularly scheduled public meeting of the Township Committee is Sept. 5 at 8 p.m.