Open space issue to come to a head in November U.F. residents show support for additional preservation taxes BY JANE MEGGITT Staff Writer UPPER FREEHOLD - Residents had both praise and questions for the governing body after it unanimously decided to put an additional 2-cent municipal open space tax on the November ballot. Upper Freehold currently has a 4-cent municipal open space tax. The Township Committee made a decision at its Aug. 16 meeting to go to referendum for the two additional cents per $100 of assessed value. In the November election, voters will also have to make a decision regarding preservation on a state level, as they will be asked to vote on the $200 million Green Acres, Farmland, Blue Acres and Historic Preservation Bond Act of 2007. According to New Jersey's Keep It Green Campaign - a coalition of more than 85 environmental organizations, land trusts, sportsmen's groups, faith-based groups, watershed associations, and historic preservation, affordable housing and urban park advocates from across the state - the act would provide much-needed funds to keep New Jersey's open space, farmland and historic preservation programs afloat for one more year and to begin a new Blue Acres program to purchase flood-prone properties. According to the township's chief financial officer, Dianne Kelly, the additional 2- cent municipal open space tax would mean that residents with homes assessed at the township's average of $519,000 would pay an extra $104 per year. Residents with homes assessed at the township's average would pay roughly $300 per year for a municipal open space tax of 6 cents, she said. Resident Gerry Nathanson told the Township Committee that this is the first time he has ever agreed with all the committee members. Nathanson, who lives in the Four Seasons active-adult community, said the tax is a small amount of money but that it is needed "to have skin in the game" of preservation. Lori Horsnall Lori Horsnall Mount, a Republican candidate for Township Committee, said the state has been unable to come up with a stable funding source for open space and farmland preservation. She also said that the township's Planning Board has not been able to come up with a plan that would help preserve open space by minimizing residential development. The Planning Board has been working on a revision of the master plan since early 2005. Resident Phil Sinicropi called the township's 7,000-plus acres already in farmland preservation "an awesome feat." He agreed with Nathanson, saying that the town needs to be in the game to preserve every parcel possible in an effort to maintain the integrity of the community. Sinicropi said that landowners who have already put their property in preservation should be exempt from the additional 2-cent tax, if it is passed. He told the Township Committee that he is also concerned about the lack of direction in the master plan revision process. "Three years without a [revision of] the master plan is ridiculous," he said. Sinicropi alleged that the Planning Board is not making any progress because it is overly concerned with landowner equity. "I'm not convinced downzoning to 6 acres would be a loss of equity," he said. The township currently has 3-acre zoning with a 35 percent density bonus for developers who opt to cluster developments on a large tract of land in an effort to preserve a greater portion of that tract. However, at its Sept. 6 meeting, the Township Committee is expected to vote on an ordinance to eliminate the bonus density for those who opt to cluster. Sinicropi called the large-lot farmettes near his house on Meirs Road an example of zoning that could protect landowner equity. "We should insist the Planning Board zone accordingly to what the land can handle and the [township's] country code," he said. Mayor Stephen Fleischacker noted that three members of the Township Committee - Deputy Mayor William Miscoski and Committeemen David Reed and Bob Faber - have all put their land into some sort of preservation program. Fleischacker also said that Princeton Nurseries, the largest landowner in the township, recently announced that it will cease operations. The mayor said that until Princeton Nurseries decided to sell, the Planning Board's master plan revision process was "all in abstract." For example, Fleischacker said that Planning Board discussions about the possibility of designating White Birch Farm as a receiving area "was talking in the abstract." "Sometimes people don't grasp it," he said. Fleischacker said that the township will work with Princeton Nurseries to see that its 1,500 buildable acres do not get covered with houses. He said doing so is a matter of condensing potential development to a certain area rather than having it spread out all over the property. Such a plan "doesn't have to [result] in Washington Township," he said. Fleischacker told members of the Township Committee that if they are not happy with the way the Planning Board is considering the revision of the master plan, they should speak up about a redirection.