Hike eyed in open space tax

Officials say raising
levy from 1.5¢ to 3¢
will save more land
BY JOYCE BLAY
Staff Writer

FARRAH MAFFAI staff Thomas Laskay, 4, of Howell, plays catch — or tries to — with his dad during the Howell Independence Day celebration at Oak Glen Park on July 2.

Three years after the Jackson Township Committee enacted a 1.5-cent tax for open space land acquisition purposes, it will seek voter opinion on whether to double that amount to 3 cents per $100 of assessed property value.

The committee held a first reading of an ordinance at its June 28 meeting that, if adopted on July 12, would place a question on the November ballot asking voters to decide whether to raise the open space tax. The vote would not be binding, but it would provide committee members with a litmus test of resident commitment toward future acquisition of developable land in Jackson.

At present the 1.5-cent open space tax costs the owner of a home assessed at $150,000 about $22.50 per year. Raising the tax to 3 cents would boost that payment to about $45 annually. The owner of a home assessed at $300,000 would see his open space tax payment rise from about $45 to $90.

Last year the committee used funds generated by the tax to acquire the 115-acre final phase of the Lakeside Village development, on which 185 single-family homes were to have been built by Kalian at Jackson. The major subdivision was part of the Vista Center development off Jackson Mills-Freehold Road, near Interstate 195 and Dublin Road.

The total cost of the open space land acquisition came to $6.5 million, with a $312,000 down payment exclusive of the bond ordinance. The $6.2 million bond ordinance coupled with matching funds available under the state’s Green Acres program enabled the township to make its first open space land acquisition in more than 20 years, officials said at the time.

Last month, the committee was presented with an opportunity to further expand its open space portfolio. A private owner approached the committee with an offer to sell a 65-acre parcel of developable land on Butterfly Road adjacent to Johnson Park for $1.3 million. Mayor Sean Giblin said 11 homes could have been built on the property, although zoning officer Richard Megill confirmed there was no current application pending to develop the land.

Megill also said the irregularly shaped parcel is in the R-5 zone, which restricts development to one home per 5 acres.

Andrew Strauss, the township’s open space consultant, said he recommended making the acquisition due to the parcel’s proximity to Johnson Park.

At the June 28 meeting, the members of the governing body unanimously adopted a bond ordinance to make the purchase.

Robert Ryley, aide to the mayor and Township Committee, said the township had used all available funds under the state’s Green Acres program in order to make its first open space land acquisition. He said the municipality’s open space preservation tax of 1.5 cents, which was passed in November 2001, generates $350,000 to $400,000 a year, but those funds were used as the down payment to acquire the Vista property last year.

An increase in the open space trust fund tax would provide the committee with additional money to make land acquisitions as opportunities become available. Committee members expressed their hope that residents would support an increase in the tax.

"There have been 1,500 acres preserved and a couple of hundred homes (that have not been developed as a result of the tax)," said Committeeman Michael Kafton. "(Increasing the tax would) enable the committee to continue doing that. It would really benefit us as a community. I encourage people to support it."

During the public forum, Republican Township Committee candidate Mark Seda said that while he supported a ballot question on whether to raise the open space tax, he wanted a stipulation in any future increase that the money be used only for the purchase of open space. He said his objection was based on the township’s recent sale of property it owned across the street from the municipal building.

"We’re taking township property we already own and dumping it," he said. "The intent of open space is to keep it open. Why are we selling it?"

The committee’s only Republican member, Josh Reilly, said he shared Seda’s concern since he had not supported the sale of the municipal property, either.

However, Kafton said the land in question had not been purchased as an open space acquisition. He said the township had purchased it for $260,000 and stood to gain at least $1.1 million from its sale. He said that money could in turn go toward further open space land acquisition.

Committeeman Michael Broderick said the governing body’s purchase of the parcel of land on Butterfly Road was an example of how the money from the land sale could have been used for the public’s benefit.

Resident Steven Brodsky asked the committee why it had said a 1,641-home housing development proposed by developer Mitch Leigh was dead if lawyer Ray Shea, who is representing the project, said it was not.

Giblin told Brodsky the approval for 1,641 homes had indeed lapsed.

He said that only the application for final approval of 130 units out of the 1,641 was currently under consideration by the Planning Board. Giblin said the committee would hold Leigh to the same strict standards faced by other developers should he reapply to build additional homes anytime in the future.

The original approval granted to Leigh in 1988 was extended for 10 years by the state. The Planning Board granted him a five-year extension in 1998.

Leigh made an application to build the 130 homes last year, just before the extension expired in April. The Planning Board is scheduled to hear the application Aug. 16.

Leigh currently has an application before the Zoning Board of Adjustment for two variances to build Jackson Commons, a 2.9-million-square-foot, 38-building commercial campus.

Shea is also representing Leigh’s application before the zoning board. It was at one of the board’s special meetings to hear the Jackson Commons application that Shea made the announcement that Leigh still planned to build 1,641 homes.

In other business on June 28, the committee adopted a capital improvements bonding ordinance for $4.12 million.

The ordinance would pay for road improvements, a new radio system for the police department, a storage shed and purchase of heavy machinery for the public works department, repair of rest room facilities at the Bartley Road baseball field and at Johnson Park, and upgrading and installation of computer hardware and software for municipal use.

The committee also adopted an ordinance upon second reading that regulates the hours for garbage pickup. Kafton said that last year, residents were awakened by the sound of garbage trucks beginning trash collection as early as 3 a.m. He said the ordinance would prohibit firms from beginning collection before 6 a.m.