Lafayette makes open space purchase

LAFAYETTE — If you were to stand within the woodlands atop Lafayette Township's newest open space acquisition, off Lantz Road near the western boundary with Frankford Township, the forest is so dense in parts that you can't see the cornfields below. If you look up from Statesville Quarry Road, the forest spreads across the hilltop like a mantle of green.

The Township passed an ordinance creating a Ridgeline and Hilside Viewshed Protection Are Overlay Zone. The 73-acre acquisition, finalized on March 25, is the township's second open space acquisition and first property to be preserved within the overlay zone.

"About 10 years ago, when the original Open Space and Recreation Plan [for Lafayette Township] was prepared, ridgelines were identified as one of Lafayette s unique assets in need of preservation," Mayor Rich Bruning said. "Since then the township has worked with its professionals to enact an ordinance designed to encourage preservation of the views after the Open Space Plan was adopted. We have also worked with The Land Conservancy of New Jersey to identify land within our Ridgeline Protection Overlay Zone that might be suitable for preservation."

The acquisition includes two lots, one previously owned by Emery and Lillian Castimore and one by their daughter Candice Moose.

The Land Conservancy of New Jersey, a non-profit organization devoted to preserving and protecting land and water resources, has served as open space advisor to Lafayette Township for several years, helping the Township prepare its open space plan in 2005 and make its first open space acquisition in 2012. The Land Conservancy also worked with Sussex County and the State Agriculture Development Committee to preserve Wintergreen Farm, just down the road from this latest acquisition, in 2013.

Conservancy Land Preservation Specialist Linda Gloshinski, who worked with the township to identify this property as a prospect for preservation, notes

"It was a pleasure working with the landowners and the township in preserving this beautiful property," Land Conservancy specialist Linda Gloshinski said. "The views from the front lot, which is farmed, are spectacular, while the remaining 62 acres consist of a healthy mature forest."

Due to its location within the township's Ridgeline and Hillside Viewshed Protection Area Overlay Zone, preservation of this property was an important addition to the Township's open space inventory. The State Green Acres program provided a 50 percent match to funds from the township's Open Space Trust Fund to cover the cost of this acquisition. Because the property was farmland assessed, the effect on the tax rolls of its transition to municipal open space is minimal.

Plans call for the cornfields to continue to be leased to farmers and for the wooded area to be used for passive recreation. The property falls within the Statesville Quarry Ridge scenic ridgeline area, one of four such areas designated by the Open Space and Recreation Plan.