Millstone hopes to preserve two more large family farms
Stagecoach Road and Battleground Road acreage sought
BY JANE MEGGITT
Staff Writer

MILLSTONE - The amount of preserved acreage noted on township signs may have to be adjusted again soon.

At the April 18 Township Committee meeting, four members of the governing body unanimously voted to authorize the purchase of development rights easements for a 117-acre farm on Stagecoach Road and a 168-acre property on Battleground Road.

Mayor Nancy Grbelja was not present at the meeting, because she was at a Monmouth Council of Girl Scouts dinner where she was honored as one of the organization's Community Award recipients.

Township officials would not disclose how much the township's portion of the preservation would cost.

Millstone Township voters adopted, by referendum, a special tax to be set aside for the purpose of purchasing development rights easements in order to preserve more farmland in town.

The Millstone Township Open Space and Farmland Preservation Council reviews and ranks various undeveloped parcels of land within the township as desirable for farmland preservation purposes. The Township Committee reviews the applications for the purchase of development easements as a condition for receiving State Agricultural Development Committee (SADC) grant funds.

In its latest review, the township gave a high ranking to the 117-acre tract, owned by David Wong, Edward Wong, May Wong Bolek, Lillian Chu and Fay Eng, on Stagecoach Road. As per township ordinance, 1 acre of the parcel will be set aside for future residential construction.

The other farm the township is hoping to preserve is the 168-acre parcel owned by Frank and Wickie Hom. One acre of that tract would also be set aside for future residential construction.

The township will assign the development easements to the SADC and/or the Monmouth County Agricultural Development Board.

Both farms are currently used for the production of Chinese vegetables. Frank Hom, who attended the meeting, said his family has owned the Battleground Road farm, known as New Sun Sang Farm, since the early 1980s.

When asked why he decided to put the land into preservation, Hom, who grew up in the township, said his brother lived on the farm and didn't want housing around him.

The family owns a total of about 300 acres in the township, including the Battleground Road property. Another large tract is located on Millstone Road near Route 33, Hom said. He said his family has not discussed putting additional land into preservation at this time.

According to Harriet Honigfeld of the Monmouth County Agricultural Development Board, the county and state will partially reimburse the township for easements it is purchasing from the landowners.

"The county and state are reimbursing the town based on 2004 zoning," Honigfeld said. "However, the township has the ability to pay the landowners based on 1998 zoning. I believe that the consideration for the township's easements will depend on whether or not the landowners agree to do Installment Purchase Agreements."

Honigfeld said she could not provide figures as to what the preservation would cost and could not say for certain if the county would approve the preservation of the properties.

"The state won't even be opening the offers for the County Easement Purchase Program until May 7," she said. "Final approvals from the county and state wouldn't be until June."