Plainsboro’s efforts to acquire the 84-acre Bulk Farm on Cranbury Neck Road took another leap forward when the Township Committee unanimously approved an agreement with the Bulk Family Limited Partnership, the next step in the process for the township to jointly purchase the property with the county for a price tag of $3 million.##M:[more]##
The agreement authorized a Phase Two Study on the property, which would allow county officials to test whether or not the soil on the tract has been contaminated, Township Attorney Mike Herbert said.
The township has been eying the property for open space preservation for a while now, with Mayor Peter Cantu pointing to its acquisition as one of the goals for 2008, during his January reorganization speech. The parcel is one of the last remaining large tracts of open space within township borders.
Said Cantu: “This is an important step toward a goal we’ve had for a lot of years, provided that we were able to achieve the level of support from the county that we have been able to achieve. It’s not a done deal yet, but it certainly is an important step.”
In order for the second phase study to move forward, the committee needed to set the terms of the acquisition with the contingency that the county will pay $2.695 million of the $3 million purchase price (with Plainsboro picking up the balance) and a provision for a right-of-entry. The committee’s action at the March 12 meeting puts all of this into place.
The right of entry allows the scientific staff of the Middlesex County Improvement Authority to access the property to conduct the tests, a process that should take about 6 weeks, Herbert said.
Prior to the second phase study, the township also needed to conduct a Phase One study, and environmental study. That study, in which the Middlesex County Improvement Authority looked at the property, and determined whether or not there had been any improvements on the buildings or tanks on the tract, has already been completed, Herbert said.
“That really looked at all of the wetlands delineations, determined whether or not the site has ever been used for storage of hazardous waste, whether or not it was subject to any cleanups, and also to review what’s actually on the property,” Herbert explained. From that study, the MCIA issued a report and two appraisals for the property, which allowed the township to establish the $3 million purchase price.
The purpose of the second phase study is to determine what, if anything, has to be done with the property, whose responsibility it would be to undertake it, and whose expense it would be. “The mayor indicated he’s attempting to be fair and flexible,” Herbert said.
Now that the committee has approved the agreement, it will be sent to the Bulk family, and if “everything goes well, within a couple of months, it will be permanently preserved for all time,” Herbert explained.
“We wanted to move ahead because we wanted to let them know in good faith that the municipality and the county are willing to make a substantial financial commitment, provided there are no serious problems on the property,” Herbert said.
Herbert said the next steps would include considering the possibility of getting a farmer to farm the property, with the township receiving some income from that endeavor.
The county’s dedication of $2.695 million toward the property is coming from an open space referendum, which set aside money for acquisitions such as this. In Plainsboro, the remaining $305,”000 is coming from the township’s own open space fund.
