Chatham Open Space Project Recommended To County Commissioners

CHATHAM, NJ — An open space project in Chatham Township is one of four that the Morris County Open Space Trust Fund Committee suggested the Board of County Commissioners approve for a 2021 preservation grant.

The project in Chatham Township known as the “McDon Fen Property Acquisition,” has been recommended that its applicant, the Trust for Public Land - which will then turn over the property to the township - receive $350,000 in grant monies. The acquisition is for 17.74 acres within two tracts of land on Southern Boulevard and adjacent to Nash Park. According to a news release from the County of Morris, one of the two tracts “contains a tributary of Black Brook that drains into the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge and ultimately the Passaic River.”

Subscribe to Patch for local news updates to your inbox. (It's free) https://patch.com/subscribe

Once the property ownership is transferred to the township, the county indicates Chatham Township plans to expand Nash Park.

The other three properties in the running for the preservation grants, that are part of the 43 total acres recommended for preservation, are:

• Montville Township’s Jean Drive Preserve 19.62 acre acquisition, which seeks $465,000 in grant funding to protect an aquifer and water supply properties, as well as, “expand township owned lands in the region.”
• Dover’s .20 acre preservation of an East Blackwell Street vacant lot, near Dover’s downtown, which the town is looking for $35,000 to preserve a “trout-stocked section of the Rockaway River,” for recreational purposes.
• Parsippany’s 5.44 acres off of Knoll Road, which is planned for creation of a recreational facility across from watershed lands, including the Boonton and Jersey City Reservoirs.

Jay Thomson, chair of the Morris County Open Space Trust Fund Committee, a 15-member group, said of all the projects, “These are four great additions to an outstanding lineup of Open Space projects that will contribute to making Morris County a great place to live and work,” describing the four different projects as ones that “run the whole gamut.”

The funding for open space acquisitions and preservation comes through a special county tax that voters approved, the Morris County Open Space Farmland Preservation Trust Fund, which helps to preserve, “farmland and historic preservation, county parkland acquisition, trail construction, and the purchase of residential properties prone to flooding,” according to the County of Morris.

The Morris County Open Space Program has awarded over $318.7 million in grants for 416 projects and 17,668 acres preserved since 1994, equating to a size, "larger than Parsippany Township and almost as large as Chester Township.”

Commissioner Director Stephen H. Shaw described the approval of open space grants as, “one of the most important things we do as commissioners,” stating in the pandemic, there was a quadruple uptick in “visits to our open spaces, parks and trails” countywide.

“Morris County has always placed great value on preserving open space and parkland, as well as restoring historic sites and expanding recreational trails, and the importance of that ongoing effort may never have been so evident as during the past 18 months,” Shaw said. “Residents flocked to these sites to find solace and just enjoy the outdoors during the pandemic.”

Questions or comments about this story? Have a news tip? Contact me at: jennifer.miller@patch.com.