November 14, 2007
The Status of Land Preservation in Central New Jersey
Linda Mead
Executive Director Delaware and Raritan Greenway
Minutes of the Ninth Meeting of the 66th Year
President Joe Giordmaine opened the meeting at 10:15 AM in the Friend Center. Following the invocation, Ruth Miller read the minutes of the November 7 meeting. Dick Katen introduced his guest Ted Vial, and visitors Bobby Ittman and Scott Sheldon were introduced by Bob Hopkins and John Harper respectively. President Giordmaine asked for a moment of silence for deceased Old Guard member Tom Hartmann and announced a memorial service for Hartmann on December 1 at the Unitarian-Universalist Church.
The speaker, Linda Mead, Executive Director of the D&R Greenway Land Trust was introduced by Dick Hanson. Dick mentioned that Linda had recently celebrated her 10th anniversary with the D&R at about the same time as the ten-thousandth acre had been preserved by the D&R in central New Jersey. Referring to her as a “space pilot”, Dick listed the preservation of Coventry Farm and the establishment of the Johnson Education Center on Rosedale Road as but two of the many accomplishments during her tenure.
The talk offered a brief discussion of the founding and purpose of the D&R followed by a tour of some of the lands it has preserved. The D&R Greenway was founded in 1989 by representatives of a number of organizations who felt that it was important to protect land in central New Jersey—specifically Mercer, Middlesex, Hunterdon, Burlington, Somerset, and Monmouth Counties—before the remaining open space was lost to development. Recently Salem County has been added to the list. These groups were the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association, the Friends of Princeton Open Space, The D&R Canal Commission, and the Regional Planning Partnership. Working with the state Green Acres Program, they formed a committee which became the first board of D&R Greenway.
The original focus was on protecting corridors along waterways such as the Delaware and Raritan Canal and streams flowing into it with a view toward guarding water quality. his goal expanded to protection of lands joining the waterways and in the last eight years has focused heavily on the Sourland Mountains. The D&R has succeeded in connecting about 90% of the land in the Sourlands from the Delaware to Somerville. The goal is to build hiking trails on these lands so that one could walk from the D&R Canal near the Delaware to trails coming down from North Jersey and on into the Princeton area.
The mission of land preservation is achieved either through purchase of the land itself or of its development rights, thus achieving permanent protection regardless of changes in regulations or composition of town councils or zoning boards. That in the relatively short period of 18 years the D&R has protected in central Jersey an area the size of Princeton Township bespeaks remarkable success.
Land management is a second important responsibility. It is heaviest on lands D&R actually owns but even extends to lands preserved under conservation or agricultural easements, where inspections are held to assure that the owners live up to their contractual responsibilities.
D&R frequently works with state, county, and municipal funding partners, as well as with NGO’s like the Friends of Princeton Open Space and the Nature Conservancy. It also exercises an educational responsibility in assisting local organizations in their preservation activities.
The reasons to preserve open space in populated areas include filtering pollution from air and water, recharging aquifers, preserving wildlife habitat, enabling local sustainable agriculture, preserving history, human enjoyment, and keeping a community attractive. There are practical reasons for a landowner to preserve his or her land. An agricultural or conservation easement keeps the land in the family and reduces inheritance taxes. A so-called bargain sale, a sale at less than market value, elicits both cash and an income tax deduction, which under current law can be carried forward for 15 years. In both cases, cash can frequently be put in the owner’s pocket more quickly than if he or she sells to a developer, who might put contingencies on the sale.
Ms. Mead made the uncomfortable statement that New Jersey will be the first state to be totally built out and that by the time a child born today finishes college there will be no lands left to preserve. With this in mind the accomplishment of D&R Greenway in just 18 years of preserving 184 properties, with over 10,000 acres, with a value at the time of preservation of $235 million, seems all the more important and remarkable. The present rate of preservation is 20-25 properties per year, with 50 under consideration at any given time. Among the properties preserved in the Princetons, frequently with partners, are the Institute Lands, Coventry Farm, Greenway Meadows, Drakes Corner Preserve, the Updike Farm, and Tusculum. Interesting PowerPoint pictures of other lands protected throughout the area were shown, and a question period followed.
Respectfully Submitted,
Jerry Berkelhammer
The speaker, Linda Mead, Executive Director of the D&R Greenway Land Trust was introduced by Dick Hanson. Dick mentioned that Linda had recently celebrated her 10th anniversary with the D&R at about the same time as the ten-thousandth acre had been preserved by the D&R in central New Jersey. Referring to her as a “space pilot”, Dick listed the preservation of Coventry Farm and the establishment of the Johnson Education Center on Rosedale Road as but two of the many accomplishments during her tenure.
The talk offered a brief discussion of the founding and purpose of the D&R followed by a tour of some of the lands it has preserved. The D&R Greenway was founded in 1989 by representatives of a number of organizations who felt that it was important to protect land in central New Jersey—specifically Mercer, Middlesex, Hunterdon, Burlington, Somerset, and Monmouth Counties—before the remaining open space was lost to development. Recently Salem County has been added to the list. These groups were the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association, the Friends of Princeton Open Space, The D&R Canal Commission, and the Regional Planning Partnership. Working with the state Green Acres Program, they formed a committee which became the first board of D&R Greenway.
The original focus was on protecting corridors along waterways such as the Delaware and Raritan Canal and streams flowing into it with a view toward guarding water quality. his goal expanded to protection of lands joining the waterways and in the last eight years has focused heavily on the Sourland Mountains. The D&R has succeeded in connecting about 90% of the land in the Sourlands from the Delaware to Somerville. The goal is to build hiking trails on these lands so that one could walk from the D&R Canal near the Delaware to trails coming down from North Jersey and on into the Princeton area.
The mission of land preservation is achieved either through purchase of the land itself or of its development rights, thus achieving permanent protection regardless of changes in regulations or composition of town councils or zoning boards. That in the relatively short period of 18 years the D&R has protected in central Jersey an area the size of Princeton Township bespeaks remarkable success.
Land management is a second important responsibility. It is heaviest on lands D&R actually owns but even extends to lands preserved under conservation or agricultural easements, where inspections are held to assure that the owners live up to their contractual responsibilities.
D&R frequently works with state, county, and municipal funding partners, as well as with NGO’s like the Friends of Princeton Open Space and the Nature Conservancy. It also exercises an educational responsibility in assisting local organizations in their preservation activities.
The reasons to preserve open space in populated areas include filtering pollution from air and water, recharging aquifers, preserving wildlife habitat, enabling local sustainable agriculture, preserving history, human enjoyment, and keeping a community attractive. There are practical reasons for a landowner to preserve his or her land. An agricultural or conservation easement keeps the land in the family and reduces inheritance taxes. A so-called bargain sale, a sale at less than market value, elicits both cash and an income tax deduction, which under current law can be carried forward for 15 years. In both cases, cash can frequently be put in the owner’s pocket more quickly than if he or she sells to a developer, who might put contingencies on the sale.
Ms. Mead made the uncomfortable statement that New Jersey will be the first state to be totally built out and that by the time a child born today finishes college there will be no lands left to preserve. With this in mind the accomplishment of D&R Greenway in just 18 years of preserving 184 properties, with over 10,000 acres, with a value at the time of preservation of $235 million, seems all the more important and remarkable. The present rate of preservation is 20-25 properties per year, with 50 under consideration at any given time. Among the properties preserved in the Princetons, frequently with partners, are the Institute Lands, Coventry Farm, Greenway Meadows, Drakes Corner Preserve, the Updike Farm, and Tusculum. Interesting PowerPoint pictures of other lands protected throughout the area were shown, and a question period followed.
Respectfully Submitted,
Jerry Berkelhammer