JACKSON – Property that the township had at one time considered buying for open space might now be preserved by Ocean County’s open space funds.
Council President Mordechai Burnstein spoke about it during a recent Township Council meeting. An item on the meeting’s agenda was supporting the county in this endeavor to buy 3.22 acres at 277 Grawtown Road.
The Ocean County Natural Lands Trust Fund is fueled by a tax on every taxable property in the county. One of the requirements is that the governing body needs to support the property becoming open space, because it takes the property off the tax rolls.
“It wasn’t in the best interest of utilization of our open space funds but the county is now looking into it,” Burnstein said. “It doesn’t mean that it will happen but the county needs a resolution to just pursue it further.”
Councilman Nino Borrelli voted against the resolution giving the county support on the purchase. “I know the owners of the property are very eager to sell and I hope they do. I just don’t think it’s appropriate to do it with taxpayers’ money. The last we heard is that there was a legal matter regarding the property. That we were holding off on it. It was discovered that there was some wetland on the 3.32-acre property.”
“I question how much of it is really buildable. I don’t think a lot of it. Maybe a house or two – if that – so we’re not protecting our town from sprawl or overdevelopment in this case. I don’t think it’s a wise use of county open space tax dollars either which Jackson taxpayers pay into as well. There is no amount or address listed in this resolution so I am voting no at this time,” Borrelli added.
“I’m going to vote yes,” Councilman Ken Bressi said. “The County is looking at it. They’ll do their due diligence. I don’t want to discourage the county from looking for property in Jackson. They may have other plans for it. Let’s see what happens.”
“I agree with Councilman Borrelli. Nothing against the homeowners in any shape or form and I feel terrible but we diligently look for land to preserve because this is what is important to us. We pay into that fund and we care about nature,” Councilman Chris Pollak said.
He noted that “Councilman Borrelli brought up a 30-acre parcel that is going for $1.85 million in relation to spending $800,000 on 3.2 acres. I’m not sure why? There is a lot of very strange surrounding properties to it which always makes me question what is going on. Powerful, rich and influential people own property around it. I’m going to be voting no on that.”
Council Vice President Giuseppe Palmeri voted yes on all the resolutions.
Burnstein said he was unaware that the property was “strategically located as some people alleged online. Whenever we have the county looking into open space no matter what it is I always like to consider it.”
He added “the County is currently in the process of an appraisal on over 150 acres of buildable land off County Line Road in Jackson which I think would be the largest open space preservation in Jackson in a very long time and it intersects Lakewood by the border.”
Mayor Jennifer Kuhn and the Council were looking at preserving the township’s natural landscape by advancing the purchase of that property for permanent open space preservation. An ordinance was introduced on June 24 authorizing the acquisition of 277 Grawtown Road for $795,000. The mayor said this purchase would permanently preserve this land as open space, protecting it from future development and would also prevent the potential construction of up to a dozen residential homes or a school.
An ordinance needs two readings before becoming official. During its second reading and final vote members of the public and several councilmen pointed out that there were some issues concerning the purchase of the property expressing that it would not be beneficial to the township. This put off the town’s attempts to purchase it.
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