Own a Piece of Mooch (sort of)

Norm said:
Like 50 bucks. Would that work?
Click to expand...
Can you talk Elon and Mark into beat each other to a pulp at the next JORBAFest and donate the money to JORBA instead of dumping it on some pesky Italian charity that will go through it in a Jiffy pretending to educate disadvantaged children? That should definitely pay for the land on sale here...
 
ryderX said:
This is from the listing description:
Unique land opportunity recreational or forestry use such as hiking, biking or timbering.. Suited for a non-profit organization or environment group. The property lots are accessible via the northern side of Waterloo Road and surround the MASR camp on three sides in a horseshoe shape. Physical characteristics of the property include irregular shape, heavy woodlands with strong sloping topography from south at 700 MSL to northwest at 1, 222 MSL, It is subject to a conservation easement by the NJDEP which restricts use of property. Unique environmental features include two large wetland areas that encompass 10% of the property and are unspoiled by development. Historical features include lime kilns, the East West Jersey line, and legendary Native American sites.
It’s basically a large plot of land that’s really not developable. (Sic)
Click to expand...
Seems to me that it's an ideal candidate for the state to buy it since it abuts land they already own. Maybe not in the budget currently?
 
SmooveP said:
You're right, I looked it up on njparcels. I'm gonna guess it may have something to do with this:
www.nj.com

2 N.J. Boy Scout councils selling camps to pay for sexual abuse settlements

'This decision was not easy,' a Boy Scout official said.
www.nj.com www.nj.com
Click to expand...
I was going to make a joke about letting child abuse go unchecked in the 70's coming back to bite them and decided it was in bad taste. Guess I wasn't actually off on that.

Considering the housing shortage and how close this is to 80 it's probably a great spot for townhouses. Could do a loop at both connection points to the main road with spurs off it for townhouses.

I prefer bike park. Any Waltons in NJ?
 
SmooveP said:
Seems to me that it's an ideal candidate for the state to buy it since it abuts land they already own. Maybe not in the budget currently?
Click to expand...
They (being the State of NJ) don't own it or BSA would not sell it. They do control how it can be used (or rather not used) through NJDEP on the other hand, which doesn't make any sense for the State to actually buy it, no?
 
serviceguy said:
They (being the State of NJ) don't own it or BSA would not sell it. They do control how it can be used (or rather not used) through NJDEP on the other hand, which doesn't make any sense for the State to actually buy it, no?
Click to expand...

"They" have an open space budget, as do the counties and towns. It also makes more sense for the "people" to own it rather than a private investor because of NJ tort law and the trails that already go through there.

Proper thing to do would be to buy it, then donate it to expand the parks already there.
Maybe the Walton's would like to expand NJ MTBing??
 
serviceguy said:
They (being the State of NJ) don't own it or BSA would not sell it. They do control how it can be used (or rather not used) through NJDEP on the other hand, which doesn't make any sense for the State to actually buy it, no?
Click to expand...
Of course the state doesn't own it. I'm saying they'd be a likely candidate to buy it since they own the park property that abuts the parcels that are up for sale. I'd guess that the BSA has already explored this and it didn't work out for some reason. Seems like finding a private buyer might be tough. There are heavy deed restrictions, wetlands, and the property is a weird shape with little frontage on any road.
 
SmooveP said:
Of course the state doesn't own it. I'm saying they'd be a likely candidate to buy it since they own the park property that abuts the parcels that are up for sale. I'd guess that the BSA has already explored this and it didn't work out for some reason. Seems like finding a private buyer might be tough. There are heavy deed restrictions, wetlands, and the property is a weird shape with little frontage on any road.
Click to expand...
Sorry, I misunderstood part of your post. Still I don’t see why the State would want to buy it or could buy it, given they fail to proper finance the parks ‘they’ already own. A private purchase to donate to the State seems the most likely outcome. Are there specific fiscal advantages from the point of view of a business willing to step in? Could be a good selling point…
 
serviceguy said:
Sorry, I misunderstood part of your post. Still I don’t see why the State would want to buy it or could buy it, given they fail to proper finance the parks ‘they’ already own. A private purchase to donate to the State seems the most likely outcome. Are there specific fiscal advantages from the point of view of a business willing to step in? Could be a good selling point…
Click to expand...
I feel just the opposite- that state has an every reason and the resources to purchase it. I’m guessing the public listing of the parcel is a requirement or something related to the “sunshine law(s)”.
 
ryderX said:
I feel just the opposite- that state has an every reason and the resources to purchase it. I’m guessing the public listing of the parcel is a requirement or something related to the “sunshine law(s)”.
Click to expand...
Not sure about the reasons but the resources? They can’t even afford 1 park police officer in each park as it is.
 
Clearly park maintenance and patrolling are very low on the state priorities. However, I'd rather see the state purchase it for an immaterial amount of money ($1+ million is a rounding error) than take a risk of development. Yes, there are environmental restrictions and it's not the easiest land to build on. In the game of power politics and bending the rules, if there's one thing that trumps environmental concerns, it's affordable housing. Just wait until those steep hillsides are covered with high density condo units. Maybe they'll name the main road "Ice Cream" as a tribute to what was once there. They can give every resident a free ATV to tear up the rest of the trails. That's my dystopian MTB future at any rate.
 
Santapez said:
Different funding sources.
Click to expand...
Yeah, there's definitely a disconnect between acquisition and maintenance/operations. In general, the public in NJ is supportive of open space initiatives. When there's an open space question on the ballot, it's almost always approved. Every county has open space trust funds and the state has the Green Acres program. But there does seem to be less appetite for actually running the parks, at least at the state level. They were even talking about cuts to parks in the last few years when they had a budget surplus. They may justify that by saying the parks are under-utilized, which seems true here in Sussex County. There are some really nice state parks that feel dead, even during peak season. That's just my observation though. I don't have any statistics to back that up.
 
Santapez said:
Different funding sources.
Click to expand...
SmooveP said:
Yeah, there's definitely a disconnect between acquisition and maintenance/operations. In general, the public in NJ is supportive of open space initiatives. When there's an open space question on the ballot, it's almost always approved. Every county has open space trust funds and the state has the Green Acres program. But there does seem to be less appetite for actually running the parks, at least at the state level. They were even talking about cuts to parks in the last few years when they had a budget surplus. They may justify that by saying the parks are under-utilized, which seems true here in Sussex County. There are some really nice state parks that feel dead, even during peak season. That's just my observation though. I don't have any statistics to back that up.
Click to expand...
Kind of points to an absurd budget practice, kind of like buying a car you can’t afford to buy the gasoline to run it. But I do get what you’re saying.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Trail Conditions

Current Conditions

powered by Trailforks.com
Back
Top Bottom