Berkeley Heights Township : PUBLIC NOTICE: Sale Of County Parkland

Press release from the Berkeley Heights Township:

November 9, 2021

NOTICE OF SALE OF COUNTY PARKLAND

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that pursuant to N.J.A.C. 7:36-26.6(c) the County of Union will hold a Public Meeting, via zoom, on Tuesday, December 14, 2021 at 6:00 PM.   Members of the public wishing to comment on the application may do so via ZOOM.  You can access this zoom meeting from a PC, Mac, iOS or Android.  The contact information is 

https://link.edgepilot.com/s/d029533f/QmfR4gYQZkaUoTY40D-z1A?u=https://transperfect.remotecounsel.com/meetings/xF5ATHZPO60/participant

Password 252613

Zoom Meeting ID: 956-987-80189

Dial In 646-568-7788

In addition to oral comments presented during the hearing, written comments may be submitted to the agencies listed below.  All written comments must be received within two weeks following the hearing of December 14, 2021.

The purpose of this meeting is to inform the public of the County’s application to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Green Acre Program to sell a 0.243 acre portion of its parkland that is located in the Berkeley Heights section of the County’s Passaic River Park.   

This property is identified on the Berkeley Heights tax map as Block 201, part of Lot 2.   Specifically, the land in question is a portion of the former McClellan Street, a paper street vacated by the Township of Berkeley Heights in 1966. 

The County wishes to sell this parkland due to a dispute over its ownership.  The application to vacate this street had been brought by Millmaster, whose property bordered McClellan Street on its northern side.  But when the Township approved Millmaster’s application, it did not clarify who was the owner of the vacated land.  Thus the County, as the owner of the property on the southern side of the vacated street, has a claim on this land as well.  The current owner of the Millmaster property, Chevron U.S.A. Inc., disputes the County’s claim.  

The appraised value of this unbuildable quarter acre of land is $60,237; which is the amount Chevron U.S.A. Inc. has agreed to pay the County.

Pursuant to State Law, the proceeds from this sale will be turned over to the Garden State Preservation Trust Fund.  

An application for this sale (a/k/s ‘diversion’) has been submitted to the Green Acres for approval by the Commissioner of the N.J. Department of Environmental Protection and the State House Commission.   It is available for review at the municipal offices and public library of Berkeley Heights, as well as the offices of the Green Acres Program.

All written comments should be submitted to the County of Union, with a copy to the NJDEP Green Acres Program, at the following addresses:

County of Union                                             N.J. Department of Environmental Protection                       

            Attn: Kevin Campbell, Esq.                            Green Acres Program

            Assistant County Counsel                               Bureau of Legal Services & Stewardship

            10 Elizabethtown Plaza                                  501 E. State St. – 1st Floor

            Elizabeth, N.J.  07027                                     Mail Code 501-01, P.O. Box 420

            Email: kcampbell@ucnj.org                           Trenton, N.J.  08625-0420

                                                                                                Attn: Adam Taylor: 

Email: Adam.Taylor@dep.nj.gov

PLEASE TAKE FURTHER NOTICE that the County will also use this Meeting to comply with the Local Lands and Buildings Law (NJSA 40A:12-13.5(3), by explaining the proposed sale and the money it will be receiving for this property.

This press release was produced by the Berkeley Heights Township. The views expressed here are the author’s own.