Horse farm enters preservation; town to close on second parcel

MANALAPAN — Township Committeeman Don Holland announced at the Jan. 27 meeting of the Manalapan Township Committee that officials have closed on the purchase of the Sherman farm.

The property is a 58-acre horse farm on McCaffrey Road. Owner Michael Sherman raises horses and breeds horses on the property.

T he Sherman farm will be placed in

Manalapan’s farmland preservation program. The farm’s development rights have been acquired and no homes will be built on the property. The property’s use as a farm will be retained.

A resolution passed by the committee in 2009 in connection with the purchase stated that the certified market value of the agricultural easement was $24,000 per acre and that the agreed-upon purchase price was $25,500 per acre, and it was anticipated that the State Agriculture Development Committee (SADC) would contribute $750,000 to the project through the municipal Planning Incentive Grant program, which is less than its typical 60 percent cost share contribution.

Manalapan’s anticipated cost share was 16 percent of the certified market value ($3,800 per acre), plus $1,500 per acre, plus 50 percent of the SADC’s funding shortfall (approximately $42,600 or $734 per acre), and Manalapan was going to fund its payment through the township’s Open Space Tax Trust Fund.

Holland also announced that the purchase of the Baldachino farm on Iron Ore Road is expected to close in March. Once it is acquired, the Baldachino farm will also be placed in the farmland preservation program and development will not be permitted on that parcel.

In other news at the Jan. 27 meeting, Mayor Andrew Lucas announced that the New Jersey Recreation and Park Association has awarded the Manalapan Recreation Center expansion project a first-place award for design.

The most recent expansion of the recreation center included the construction of a synthetic turf playing field and other athletic fields.

Officials will receive the award at the association’s upcoming conference.

Lucas also said that within the next several weeks Manalapan expects to receive substantive certification from the state Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) for its third round plan to provide opportunities for the development of affordable housing in the community.

The mayor said that with the change in the governor’s office and the introduction of a bill in the state Senate that proposes the elimination of COAH, he expects that Manalapan’s affordable housing obligation will be a topic of discussion among committee members this year.

And, committee members voted unanimously to permit Ron Cucchiaro, who served as Manalapan’s township attorney in 2009, to finish up several matters on which he had been working.

Officials said these items include an environmental impact statement ordinance for the Environmental Commission and several issues relating to Manalapan’s affordable housing obligation.

Roger McLaughlin is serving as Manalapan’s township attorney in 2010.