By Mike Deak, MyCentralJersey.com
June 28, 2023
The Township Committee will pay $8 million buy a 10-acre property in the North Branch section that had been targeted for warehouse development.
The Committee introduced an ordinance at Monday’s meeting to purchase the land at the corner of Route 28 and Raritan Valley Community College Drive, less than a half mile from Route 22, from KSP Investments.
The Committee also approved an emergency appropriation of $405,000 for a down payment on the purchase.
The public hearing on the ordinance is scheduled for July 10.
Committee members did not say what the property tax impact of the purchase will be.
Township records indicate the property is assessed at $7 million. The 2022 property tax bill on the lot was $80,138.30. Once the township acquires the property, it will be exempt from property taxes.
Last November voters approved a referendum to allow the Township Committee to spend taxpayer money to buy properties in the North Branch section to avoid their development as warehouses or affordable housing.
The referendum gave the Township Committee the option to buy properties in the North Branch area that are valued at about $25 million. The land targeted for potential acquisition is within the Route 22/28 corridor west of North Branch village and near Raritan Valley Community College.
Committeeman Tom Young said the township is considering purchasing two properties that will cost $25 million and “a little bit more.”
“There will be tax implications, obviously if you going to spend $25 million,” he said. “And we’ll try our best to mitigate that.”
Young said the details of the referendum were kept “light” and conceptual because “we didn’t want to telegraph” the township’s intentions.
The committeeman also said that the township will hold onto the land “until we find a better use.”
“Wr’re working through this,” he said, admitting “we don’t have all the answers.”
KSP Investments of Bridgewater, which acquired the property earlier this year from the estate of the late developer, Ken Pizzo Sr., is proposing an approximately 140,146-square-foot building with about 103,665 square feet of warehouse space, 34,518 square feet for assembly and fabrication of goods manufactured at another site and 1,963 square feet of office space.
KSP Investments, in its application to the township Planning Board, said the plans are “fully conforming” with township zoning regulations and does not require variances.
Branchburg had envisioned a “synergistic” plan for the area to fit with Raritan Valley Community College’s preliminary concept to expand its campus on Route 28 and possibly become the first community college in New Jersey to offer student housing.
This is the second major land purchase by the township this year.
The township will buy 9.1 acres of land for $6 million where a residential subdivision was approved off South Branch Road and Crestwood Avenue.
The township will fund the $6 million purchase through a $1 million grant from Somerset County, $75,000 from the township’s Open Space Trust Fund and the remainder through the issuance of bonds.
Email: mdeak@mycentraljersey.com