430 Acres Of Township Land Preserved After Hillsborough Committee Approval

HILLSBOROUGH, NJ — The Township has officially preserved 430 acres of land near Hamilton and Amwell Roads, known as the Mindel Tract.

"This is a big deal for Hillsborough," said Committeeman Robert Britting Jr. "This is one of the largest land purchases, I think the largest land purchase, in Hillsborough history."

The Hillsborough Township Committee unanimously approved an ordinance authorizing the sale of a development easement to the State Agriculture Development Committee for township-owned land at Hamilton Road and Amwell Road at its March 24 meeting.

According to the ordinance, the township bought the property on Jan. 6, 2022, for $14 million after being approached by the Mindel family regarding a potential sale to block a warehouse.

The Township used a bond ordinance to make the purchase.

The SADC offered to buy the development rights to preserve the land as farmland.

According to the ordinance, the offer includes $27,200 per acre under the statewide farmland preservation formula, plus an optional $1,700 per acre if the township accepts a 10 percent impervious coverage restriction on acreage outside any exception areas and another optional $1,700 per acre if the township accepts a residential building size limit of 2,500 square feet of heated living space.

The ordinance says the township committee accepted both optional restrictions, bringing the price to $30,600 per acre for the development easement.

Under the new agreement with the SADC, Hillsborough is expected to receive around $13.1 million in exchange for the development rights. The money will be used to offset the debt incurred from the original purchase of the land in 2022.

Deputy Mayor Shawn Lipani said, "This started as an opportunity back in 2023... to acquire this land to preserve it and ultimately, prevent excess building on this property, and we've all been waxing poetic and how it's nice to preserve 450 acres of land, but it took a lot of work."

He also said, "I'd like to thank the SADC and the state for moving expeditiously over the past year to get this done."

The township will retain ownership of the acreage for the time being.

In the future, the committee may consider selling the property as a preserved farm, which would allow it to return to private ownership as a working landscape.

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