Jackson Purchases Open Space, Supporting School District With $970K Purchase

Jackson Township Mayor Michael Reina and the Jackson Township Council have announced they are planning to purchase a 114.3-acre tract of land from the Jackson Township School District in order to save it from being developed as well as to assist the public school district with much-needed funding.

The land, which includes several parcels in the area of West Commodore Boulevard near Goetz Middle School and Elms Elementary school will be purchased for $970,000.00

The property could have possibly been sold to developers to help overcome a multi million dollar shortfall due to the States S2 funding cuts. Mayor Michael Reina says the purchase now allows the Township to preserve the land therefore adding these 114 acres to the Open space inventory list that has been growing steadily over the last 6 years.

Jackson Council President Jennifer Kuhn noted that the purchase will not translate to a tax increase on the municipal side as the purchase is being made with open space trust funds.

“Our goal has been to increase the inventory of open space to 3,000 acres by the end of the year,” Councilwoman Kuhn said. “This purchase allows us to meet that goal months ahead of schedule and to satisfy two needs in the community at one time.”

“The Mayor and Council have been looking for properties to preserve for open space and while the community has offered us some great ideas, we felt it was important to not only preserve open space and protect land from being developed, but to help the school district in their time of need,” said Councilman Mordechai Burnstein. “This purchase relieves the school district of some financial burden and takes the need to sell those properties to private entities off the table at the same time.”