WHITEHOUSE STATION, N.J. – Readington Township has finalized the purchase of roughly 8 acres to further expand Cornhuskers Park.The purchase of 622 Route 523, in Whitehouse Station, was approved unanimously by ordinance at the committee’s Dec. 1 meeting.The acquisition resulted from the subdivision of the property of a nearby home that was being sold, and had been delayed by a month when the purchase price was raised by $1,200 to $98,000.According to committee member Juergen Huelsebusch, the purchase of the 7...
WHITEHOUSE STATION, N.J. – Readington Township has finalized the purchase of roughly 8 acres to further expand Cornhuskers Park.
The purchase of 622 Route 523, in Whitehouse Station, was approved unanimously by ordinance at the committee’s Dec. 1 meeting.
The acquisition resulted from the subdivision of the property of a nearby home that was being sold, and had been delayed by a month when the purchase price was raised by $1,200 to $98,000.
According to committee member Juergen Huelsebusch, the purchase of the 7.839 acres is fully funded by county and state grant money, and is not expected to raise the local budget or tax bill.
“We’re doing a subdivision to add acreage to Cornhuskers Park, and it captures two tributaries of the Holland Brook so it’s got the confluence of two tributaries,” said Huelsebusch when asked by Mueller to explain the purchase. “It’s got the natural lands to extend our park, and it goes by the wishes of the prior (property) owner, who wanted to dedicate it to township natural lands.”
Huelsebusch is spearheading a drive to meet Readington’s aggressive open space goal of preserving fully 40% of the land in the township as either open space or preserved farmland. The township’s commitment to open space dates back to a 1978 open space referendum, but was cemented in its 2018 master plan, which calls for an additional 3,000 acres to be set aside by the year 2050.
Over 70 farms are currently preserved, as well as roughly 9,500 acres of open space.
The next potential open space acquisition on the docket will likely be 177 acres to be preserved in conjunction with the Tewksbury Land Trust. The land has been referred to on executive session agendas as the Rockaway Greenway & Stavola property, located on the north branch of the Rockaway River.
Huelsebusch has told his fellow committee members and the public the purchase would capture a “pristine stream” that runs from Tewksbury down to Route 78.
Funds for that purchase would come from county Green Acres funds, as well as a municipal grant program and, once again, would not be expected to move the needle at all for local taxpayers, according to Huelsebusch. The committeeman said it is his hope to close on that property in the middle of 2026.