COUNTY TO PURCHASE 291 ACRES IN BERKELEY FOR OPEN SPACE
TOMS RIVER – Ocean County is expected to buy 291 acres of land along Route 530 and Davenport Road in Berkeley
Township as part of its open space program.
Referring to it as a missing link, the purchase, which has been approved by the Ocean County Natural Lands Trust
Fund Advisory Committee, will fill in a continuous swath of land in public ownership from Toms River to the western county
boundary in Manchester Township.
“This property fits in perfectly with our Natural Lands program,” said Freeholder Director Joseph H. Vicari in
presenting the plan for preservation to the Board of Freeholders. “The property is within the Jakes Branch and Wrangle
Brook watersheds.
“It is also less than a quarter-mile from the Toms River Divide Natural Lands purchase and about one-third of a mile north
of the new Jakes Branch County Park,” he said.
The parcel known as the Lumley property, located south of Holiday City developments in western Berkeley Township, is owned
by Fellows, Haines, Butler et al & Reynolds. The county expects to purchase the land for $5.9 million.
The New Jersey Land Trust has offered the county $960,000 in grant funds from its Threatened and Endangered Species Program
to offset the price of the purchase. The funding would be payable in installments over a one-year period after the
property is purchased.
A public hearing on the purchase has been scheduled for the May 7 meeting of the Ocean County Board of Chosen Freeholders.
Vicari noted that the property had been considered for a 141-unit housing development and the owners were in litigation
with Berkeley Township over a zoning change.
“This addition to our open space program will leave tens of thousands of acres in the western area of Ocean County as open
space,” Vicari said. “This is a benefit for our environment and our residents.”
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