Land to be Preserved at Bedminster Intersection

Bedminster Township Committee approved an ordinance recently to continue a plan that started more than a year ago to purchase open space from The Chubb Corporation.

According to Bedminster Township Mayor Robert Holtaway, this is part of a deal that involves one purchase with the county and another sale to Fiddler’s Elbow Country Club.

“We’re doing a joint purchase with the county,” he said.

For a portion of 46 acres of property at the corner of River Road West and Rattlesnake Bridge Road, Holtaway said, Bedminster Township will be providing $500,000 from its Open Space Trust Fund, while the county will be paying approximately $1.5 million.

Holtaway said that when the deal was first made, it was actually two tracts of land, one of 46 acres and another of 90 acres. But, he said, Chubb was refusing to sell them as two separate pieces.

“Bedminster entered into a contract with Chubb to buy both lots,” he said. “We’re managing the sale of the 90-acre part to Fiddler’s Elbow and the other 46 to the county.”

In return, with the money spent from Bedminster, the township will receive a conservation easement prohibiting the subdivision of the land, and allowing for only golf and golf-related activities to be performed on the piece owned by Fiddler’s.

“And the county piece will not allow development,” Holtaway said.

At this point, Holtaway said, the ordinance approval is to allow for Bedminster to make its contribution of funds to the county toward the 46 acres of land.

“There’s been no closing on either piece of land yet,” he said. “We have a contract and we are working toward closing.”

Holtaway said the township is also working on the contract for the 90-acre piece, but Bedminster is not putting out any money for that, just overseeing the passage of the land.

“We have been working on this piece for over a year,” he said. “But things move very slowly.”

Holtaway said the township began looking at this tract of land initially because it is a very good location for development—Bedminster wanted to prevent that from happening.

“The issue is that it’s a good location for major development because it’s 140 acres all told,” he said. “We’ve been trying to preserve all the property around that interchange to prevent major development because that is not where it belongs.”

“This is going to help us preserve that corner and just leave it for golf,” he added.