11-acre wooded lot on the road to preservation
BY KAREN E. BOWES Staff Writer

HOLMDEL - Plans to preserve an 11-acre tract adjacent to Allocco Park continue to make progress.

On Sept. 6, the township committee voted to apply for a Monmouth County open-space grant to cover any leftover costs pursuant to the land's purchase by NY/NJ Baykeeper, a nonprofit organization that works to protect the area's water bodies. Called the Bachstadt tract, the property is located off Middle Road, between Laurel and Palmer avenues.

According to Township Administrator Christopher Schultz, Baykeeper is currently working to secure funding from the Port Authority to purchase the property. The county grant, if won, would only pay for any additional costs associated with the land's transfer to the town. If Baykeeper succeeds in buying the land, the property would become part of Allocco Park, Schultz said.

Greg Remaud, conservation director for Baykeeper, spoke at the Sept. 6 township committee meeting. Calling the tract a "regional priority," Remaud stressed the importance of the property's natural habitat for animals, wooded areas and wetland's stream.

Not discussed at the meeting was the township's long struggle to preserve the tract. In 2001, Pulte Homes, a Bernardsville-based developer, proposed building 34 homes on the site as part of an overall planned retirement community. This project would have required a use variance and was ultimately rejected in 2002. At that time, Committeeman Larry Fink suggested the town purchase the land as open space, but this suggestion was not acted upon at the time.

According to Schultz, Pulte Homes is currently negotiating with Baykeeper as a potential purchaser while Baykeeper continues to work toward securing funding through the Port Authority.

"But the township would get the deed," Schultz said.