A crowd of supporters cheered the West Windsor Township Council after a unanimous vote on November 22 to purchase a 27.6-acre open space parcel on Clarksville Road from the JCC of Princeton Mercer Bucks.
The parcel has been a highly-valued target for years by West Windsor officials as the last significant parcel on the township’s open space wish list.
The approval of the two ordinances, which allow the township to purchase the land at a price of $1.39 million, which breaks down to roughly $49,000 per acre, ends months of concern from council members over the land value analysis — a process they say needs to be revamped, perhaps at the state level, for future land deals.
In recent months, the pending deal caused some concern for Township Council members Linda Geevers and George Borek, who originally wanted the JCC to bring in a commercial real estate broker for an opinion on the land’s value.
They became concerned after appraisals over the summer estimated the value of the property between $55,000 and $58,000 per acre — a $19,000 increase over the $37,000 per acre the JCC purchased the property for in 2005.
However, Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh and other township officials maintained that the state-mandated process requires municipalities to rely on certified appraisals when making decisions involving land deals, and that opinions from commercial real estate brokers were not acceptable.
Geevers, who was still wary of the renegotiated price, said on November 22 prior to voting in favor of the deal that she was originally concerned by the appreciation in value of the property, but was unable to get support from her colleagues to bring in another expert opinion.
“I do feel that in the future, when we get appraisals, we need to get a commercial broker or residential broker,” she said. “I see the appraisal as a tool for negotiations; I don’t see it as an end-all.”
The township has appropriated a total of $1.4 million toward the acquisition, to pay for items such as surveys, environmental assessments, and other administrative and legal work. Those “soft” costs total around $25,625 — about $5,000 of which is paid for by the state Green Acres program.
Leading up to the vote, the administration was able to renegotiate with JCC officials to lower the selling price by more than $200,000 off the original price. The parcel is part of the larger 81-acre property that will house the Jewish Community Center campus.
The funds for the purchase will come from the township’s Open Space and Recreation Trust Fund — dedicated to open space acquisition. The Friends of West Windsor Open Space (FOWWOS) will contribute $100,000 to the fund after the transaction to help offset some of the cost.
In addition, Hsueh says Mercer County officials have agreed to contribute $203,808 to further offset the costs to West Windsor.
The township is also awaiting word from the state Green Acres officials as to whether the township could receive an additional $629,363 from the state. If state Green Acres funding comes through, West Windsor could end up paying only about $425,554 out of the $1.35 million total purchase cost.
The first ordinance is a capital ordinance that provides the funding for the acquisition of the parcel — $1,385,000 — to be taken from the township’s dedicated Open Space and Recreation Trust Fund. The second ordinance authorizes the contract with the JCC for the land purchase.
Members of FOWWOS and other residents urged support of the purchase. Resident Mark Shallcross noted that the timing of the deal coincided with the settlement in the InterCap litigation (see story, page 1). When a block of land like the JCC parcel is available in the township, it becomes attractive to developers, he said.
“I doubt land here is going to get any cheaper,” he said. “We still have a few opportunities to do something like this.”
FOWWOS member John Sabino said that forgoing the purchase now will lead to uncertainty that the township could even acquire the land in the future. “To me, it looks like a pretty good deal,” he said. “You’re getting it at a discount, and it’s a certainty.”
Hsueh said the township was able to negotiate a much better price for the property, one that is hard to find in today’s economy. And even if the township does not get the state Green Acres funding, the township would only end up paying roughly $1 million of the cost out of its own open space fund.
Borek said that neither he nor Geevers — nor any of the council members — were ever against acquiring open space.
However, the township did follow the appropriate process in obtaining information about the value of the property, and “we’ve reached a resolve.”
But “the process needs to be revisited,” he said. He said he has said he reached out to legislators, calling for a change in the mandated procedures for expert review when it comes to land acquisition.
Councilman Charles Morgan said, however, that asking the mayor to go back to renegotiate a price after both the JCC and township had agreed to take the average price of the appraisals put the administration in a bad position.
“We pulled the rug out from under them,” said Morgan. In future negotiations, “how will anybody ever know they have a credible offer?”
“I think we got lucky,” he added. “It really was not the right thing to do to this mayor and administration.”
Council President Diane Ciccone defended Geevers and Borek, saying the council has a responsibility to look into all factors. “I supported them looking into it for the future,” she said.
The parcel was identified as one of 91 parcels targeted for acquisition in 1999, when it was owned by Dataram. The township tried to purchase the land in 2002 from Dataram but was unsuccessful in reaching an agreement. Instead, Dataram sold the property to the JCC in 2002 for $3.075 million.
Despite efforts to purchase the property in 2009, negotiations were unsuccessful. The JCC contacted township officials this past March to discuss the sale of the lot again, and both sides agreed to have two additional appraisals completed and to abide by average value of both properties.
