Monmouth, Ocean counties trying to balance affordable housing and open space

To visitors, the Jersey Shore means beaches and boardwalks. But to locals like Neptune Mayor Keith Cafferty, it's the green woods and open fields where he grew up playing.

That's why he campaigned on bringing more preserved open space to the township — last year saw the opening of a skatepark on Asbury Park Boulevard — and why he's now pushing for a park on the vacant Welsh Farms dairy property at 703 Old Corlies Road.

It's part of a larger effort to protect Monmouth and Ocean counties, which have grown so quickly in recent decades, from losing the open space that made them so attractive to home buyers in the first place. But leaders have to balance that against a growing population, where constricting the space available to supply new homes will inevitably make it more expensive to live here.

The Neptune Township Committee is asking for $362,000 from the Monmouth County Park Improvement Grant Program to improve the Welsh Farms property, out of a total expected cost of $482,942. Monmouth County will fund a maximum of 75% of the project costs under this program.

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Pointing around the old Welsh Farms site, Cafferty rattles off his vision. "There's going to be a gazebo hangout area, there's going to be a tree line and plantings and flowers," he said. "I was hoping for bee-friendly local plantings, and then we were hoping to remediate all this land because it was all an old dairy farm at one point," Cafferty said. There are also plans for bocce ball courts, a picnic pavilion and an outdoor fitness equipment area.

'It is all a mess right now'

Monmouth County approved an Open Space Trust Fund and established the municipal open space program to provide funds for municipal acquisition of lands for county parks, recreation, conservation and farmland preservation purposes, as well as for county recreation and conservation, and maintenance purposes.

"This isn't open land right now," Cafferty said. "It is all a mess right now we want to clean it up. … We want to turn this (site) into something usable. You can see there's trees growing in the middle of this old parking lot."

The site was once home to the old Wardell-Welsh dairy. Albert Wardell and his brother Joseph founded their dairy in 1900 while living on their family farm at what is now Route 66. The property was the Wardell dairy until 1975, when it closed after merging with Welsh Farms. It was the largest undeveloped tract on Old Corlies Avenue in an area filled with single-family homes.

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Neptune purchased the 6.46-acre tract a decade ago with the intent of making it a park. A century-old dairy house was demolished along with the old loading bays and a concrete storage area attached to the rear of the house.

Today, on the eastern side of the parcel, is Veterans Memorial Park, a passive park. A disc golf course called the Creamery, an homage to the former dairy, was developed along the perimeter of the park in a way that preserves the healthy trees and vegetation, while creating a popular recreational use.

The west side of the parcel, which the township now seeks to develop, is the site of the former dairy garages and house. It was contaminated by hydrocarbons related to the fuel tanks and operations at the dairy.

The township has been working with the state Department of Environmental Protection and an environmental firm to clean up the site, which is expected to be complete in the coming months. Once that is done, township officials expect to attain the clearance to develop the park by the end of 2023.

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'Give the farmers a fair opportunity'

The push to preserve such properties has some state-level support too. Assemblyman Alex Sauickie, R-Ocean, has introduced a package of state legislation to help preserve land, educate local officials and provide towns with "resources to responsibly plan for the future."

One of bills (A-4729) by sponsored by Sauickie proposes revisions in farmland appraisals for preservation purposes, so local governments can make comparable offers to developers.

"That would really increase the amount of land preservation, as far as farmers not having to sell to developers to get a fair price on the land, which is really the problem, because it is an outdated formula," he said. "This would give the farmers a fair opportunity for the market value and they wouldn't have to sell what could be generational farmland to a developer."

Sauickie has also been working to preserve Revolutionary War land. Nearly 250 years ago, a Revolutionary War skirmish took place over an expansive field alongside Indian Run Creek in Allentown, one that laid the groundwork for the Battle of Monmouth three days later.

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That location has been targeted as the site for two giant warehouses with dozens of loading docks.

"It is actually pretty relevant in our area and real-life issue going on right now in Allentown and Upper Freehold," he said. "We are seeing the possibility of a warehouse going on what some people would call sacred land."

Sauickie considers his work in the Assembly as a "continuation" of his time as a councilman in Jackson, where he pushed for preservation of recreational and historic sites.

"In the time that I was on the (Jackson Township) council I think combined we preserved more land in just two years than previous councils had in the previous 20, including one pretty large parcel, 48 acres, I think was the largest in 20 years," Sauickie said.

In 2019, Jackson officials purchased 34 acres for $600,000 at 120 Cassville Road, land that was previously connected to the Rova Farms property, built by Russian immigrants in the early 20th century seeking to keep their religion and culture alive.

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'Housing affordability crisis'

Jeff Kolakowski, chief executive officer of the New Jersey Builders Association, a trade group, told the Press that "open space, recreational and historical elements are important features that make many (New Jersey) towns desirable.

"And that is why many communities have been and will continue to incorporate such elements in their designs," Kolakowski said. "At the same time, we need to be mindful that (New Jersey) also faces a housing affordability crisis driven largely by a lack of supply, and we need to be smart with how we manage our limited land in New Jersey to meet all of our needs, including the growth of not only residential but also commercial, industrial, educational, transportation, cultural and entertainment assets," Kolakowski said.

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Sauickie believes preservation efforts will not do much to drive up home prices.

“Policies to preserve land in New Jersey, where roughly only 280,000 acres out of 4.75 million land acres have been preserved to date, should have minimal impact on housing costs," Sauickie said. "Most of the land preservation and the bills that I’ve introduced are focused on incentivizing and providing good land use guidance in preserving land against large commercial development."

He added "I’m not against smart commercial development. "

"It can create jobs which we need in this state, and the ratables can be very good for a municipality to offset the taxes residents would otherwise have to pay," Sauickie said. "However there are several ways to provide more affordable housing, including policies to lower inflation, which affects the cost of housing materials for example."

He added "affordable housing needs to be done right as well."

"Just building affordable housing units in towns not equipped with things like mass transit needs for those residents doesn’t do anyone involved any good either," Sauickie said.

Charles Daye is the metro reporter for Asbury Park and Neptune, with a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion. @CharlesDayeAPP Contact him: CDaye@gannettnj.com

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Jersey Shore real estate: Are Monmouth, Ocean County losing open space