Piscataway gets OK to condemn farmland

New Jersey Star-Ledger | December 3, 2002 | Patrick Jenkins

[sauropod]

Piscataway gets OK to condemn farmland

December 3, 2002

By Patrick Jenkins, Star-Ledger Staff

pjenkins@starledger.com

732-634-3607

To submit a Letter to the Editor: eletters@starledger.com

The future of the Cornell Dairy Farm was decided yesterday when a state judge granted Piscataway the power to condemn property that has been at the center of a bitter, three-year legal battle between the Halper family and township officials.

Superior Court Assignment Judge Robert Longhi rejected arguments by Halper attorney John J. Reilly to dismiss the condemnation proceeding.

Longhi restated his ruling from June 2000 that Piscataway had a legitimate purpose in taking the 75-acre tract at South Washington Avenue and Metlars Lane, in the southeast section of the township.

Longhi said he would appoint three commissioners to determine the value of the farm, which has been in the Halper family for 80 years.

Although she said she expected the decision, family member Clara Halper was devastated.

"I felt it was decided before today, but it's still sad to see your home taken away," a tearful Halper said. "It's sad to see, in my lifetime, the erosion of our rights. Everything our relatives fought for have been taken away. They fought for freedom and they've been slapped in the face."

Halper said the family would appeal the ruling.

"Your home is supposed to be your castle, your safe haven," Halper said. "Now they've shown us we don't have any safe haven, we don't have any rights."

But Piscataway Mayor Brian Wahler said he thought the judge made the correct decision.

Wahler said the township would negotiate with the Halpers on the value of the farm.

"In fairness to the Halpers, the offer has to be reasonable. The last thing we want is that they are paid money that is not fair market value," he said.

The township initiated the condemnation proceedings in December 1999, with an offer of $4.3 million, based on appraisals at that time, Wahler said.

He said the property would be used for open space, most likely passive pursuits such as hiking trails. Active pursuits, such as basketball courts or soccer fields, are banned by the covenant covering the condemnation proceedings, Wahler said.

The condemnation was put on hold for nearly two years while the Halpers, with the township's support, applied for admission into the farmland preservation program.

The application died in August when the Halpers rejected an offer of slightly more than $3 million for the development rights for their farm, and the township restarted the condemnation.

Wahler said then and again yesterday that he did not understand why the Halpers rejected the offer since they could have kept the farm in perpetuity or, if they later decided to sell, could do so for market value to someone else who wanted to operate the farm.

The township began the condemnation proceedings after officials said they learned that the Halper family tried to sell the farm to a developer who was going to put up more than 100 homes. [Where is the PROOF of this hearsay?]

They said Piscataway could not handle the traffic nor afford the additional costs of schools and other services those additional homes would generate.

The Halpers have long denied they intended to sell the property for development, saying they want to continue to live there and operate it as a farm.

As the last operating farm in Piscataway, it features egg sales, horse and pony rides, a horseback riding academy, horse boarding and grazing and hay rides.

The Halpers also grow nursery stock, vegetables, fruits, flowers, shrubs, ornamentals and pumpkins and sell agricultural supplies.

Several Piscataway residents who support the Halpers were in court yesterday, including Dan and Nancy Swarbrick.

"We've been lifelong Democrats but we just voted Republican because of what the Piscataway Democrats are doing," said Nancy Swarbrick.

"People have a right to own property," she said. "They're stripping away the Constitution."

After Longhi issued his ruling, Dan Swarbrick yelled, "You soulless old man. You're stealing a family's home. This is not over."

Clara Halper said the only good thing she sees coming out of the whole proceeding is that a strong property rights movement is growing across the country and in New Jersey.

"We are joining to protect and preserve what our forefathers fought for -- the American Dream. This is not what the authors of the Constitution envisioned," she said.

[Question_Assumptions]

Poor Helen. She swam with the sharks and got eaten.

Looking forward to shaking the dust of this town from my sandals!

Are you planning on leaving or is this wishful thinking? I find myself wondering if Rutgers students registered to vote in Piscataway would have any interest in the plight of the farm.

[Tamzee]

I used to live in Piscataway and am trying to remember where this farm is... any hint you can give me?

I lived at Pleasantview Gardens, oh, about 20 years ago :-) What's it look like now, BTW??

Thanks!

[Question_Assumptions]

It's the large blank square between 665, 609, and 529 south of 287. Note that Centennial Ave now connects to Hadley Road and the place marked "Seeley Ave" now includes a huge Walmart shopping center that was only recently built.

[Tamzee]

Oh, wow... thanks for the map! Now that you pointed out the location I can see what the uproar is all about :-( A developer would pounce on that in a heartbeat to put up an apartment complex.

Thanks again!

[sauropod]

No kidding. Same with his brother.

[Beck_isright]

" But the Halper's need to blame their fellow citizens for allowing their predicament."

You know, that's funny. It reminds me of a similar thought that the Jews had about blaming their fellow Germans when they allowed their predicament to occur. We're not heading down that road yet, but the sheeple are allowing more and more power to be acquired by the state and soon, very soon, it will all be over. This started with Bush 1, sped up under Klintoon, and now, will soon, be too powerful to overcome. God help this once great nation.

[Beck_isright]

It's interesting because this power of eminent domain is being widely abused in Florida. Now it's being used against farms which have existed for over 100 years in South Florida for "environmental" reasons. The reality is that because the citizens of our country have never fought hard for property rights since the Civil War, no one has seen a need to. Now it's too late. All it takes is one Dept. of the Interior flake alleging a rare cockroach lays it's eggs on your property, or a developer paying off a state politician then whammo. You've lost your property. As our nation continues down this road the capitalist system will collapse. The basic premise of a free nation using the capitalist system is the concept of "private property". Since only about 10% of us care about this issue, I can see a major change happening in my lifetime. That's a shame too, because soon, after the next major hurricane, I can see all of the private homes which were on the coastline of Florida decades before the mega condos and hotels were developed, being declared "environmentally sensitive zones" after they are destroyed. Then of course suddenly a developer will buy the property back from the state of Florida for a song and build an "environmentally friendly" resort on the same piece of land. Welcome to Amerika my friends.

[tcostell]

I can't imagine that the current Rutgers undergraduates are interested in supporting the private property rights of anyone. At least not after they get done having their heads filled with mush.

I'm a Rutgers graduate ('85, Economics) and the stories I could tell you ... well,... I guess they wouldn't really suprise anyone here.

[Beck_isright]

Remember, Willie Sutton would go to jail. CEO's and politicians get probation. Two sets of laws for two different economic castes. That's the way it will be. I gurantee you that you'll never see the day Ted Turner's ranch property in Montana will be acquired by the state. But your back yard or my beach home are fair game.

[gridlock]

$53,000 an acre is cheap for this part of the country. I live about 10 miles from Piscataway, and my land is assessed at $150,000 for a quarter acre. And the only way the assessment relates to market value is because the town uses really ridiculously high figures for construction costs. Actual market value is probably closer to $250,000.

A vacant quarter acre residential lot across town adjacent to the industrial quarter and backing up on an active freight line that carries municipal waste from NYC five hours a day sold recently $175,000. That's what land costs in NJ.

Using a more typical value of $150,000 per quarter acre lot, this farm should go for $30 million. That's what it is worth to a developer, so that is what the town should pay.

[Question_Assumptions]

I was a Rutgers undergrad, too (graduated in 89). The key would be to convince them that this is "big business" vs. "the environment" and open spaces. The harder part would be to convince them that it's the Democrats who are in the pockets of big buiness. I think they've drunk too much Democrat Kool Aid to wrap their little brains full of mush around the idea.

[LaserLock]

So how do we create an organized ground-swell to change this injustice and others around the country.

LaserLock

[Coleus]

When is your property not yours?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/915095/posts
http://www.msnbc.com/news/914260.asp?cp1=1

[fineoldethings]

Your question made me smile (ironically) and remember. I lived on Hanover St in Piscataway during my whole childhood. The apartment complex of Pleasantview Gardens was built on a farm!! The whole neighborhood was devastated when the farm was sold to "developers" and the neighborhood and traffic situation changed forever. Once the barns were torn down, the ponds filled in, the cornfields gone...it was never the same.

[Tamzee]

I think the entire state of NJ was built in that manner :-(

My husband grew up in Freehold and there were several acres behind his road of undeveloped land - fields and wooded area. One day some construction crews showed up and built an apartment complex there almost the size of Pleasantview Gardens... big, sprawling, and yes, ugly.

We just moved back to the Tri-State area now after having lived in New Hampshire recently. Our house there was part of a pretty community association, nice little houses with a tiny private lake. After we bought the house we found out that the lake and homes were built on what was once a mink farm. The area residents were NOT sad to see that go, however, the minks had quite a reputation for being vicious little neighbors ;-)