BERKELEY TOWNSHIP, NJ – The Ocean County Board of Commissioners and Berkeley Township partnered to preserve 46 acres of land in Berkeley Township this week.
The land will be added to the Ocean County Natural Lands Trust, and the Township will take ownership of around 20 acres for the development of active recreation fields.
The area is zoned for high-density residential and mixed residential and retail development, and two different applications for development have been submitted in the past.
Berkeley Township provided $241,000 toward the purchase and will donate about 18 acres of property to the County’s open space inventory to buffer Ocean County’s Barnegat Branch Trail, which is adjacent to the site. The cost of purchasing the land was $1.9 million and $1,050,000 for parcels owned by two different owners, respectively.
The site is a former sand and gravel pit, and it has evidence of threatened and endangered species habitat with Barred Owls observed in the past.
The Ocean County Natural Lands Trust Advisory Committee recommended the purchase of the lands. Virginia E. Haines, Ocean County Commissioner, who is the liaison to the County’s open space program, said, “This is a key acquisition for the natural lands trust program.”