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Real Estate
in Marlboro New Jersey
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This is from a recent
article from gmnews
Preserving the natural character of Millstone, Open space
program flourishes under Pat Butch’s watch
BY JANE MEGGITT
Staff Writer
People who have moved to Millstone often cite its rural
atmosphere as one of the reasons they chose to live there.
Pat Butch, who moved to the township for that very reason, has
been working hard to keep it rural. Because of her efforts as chairwoman of
the Millstone Township Open Space Farmland Preservation Commission, vice
chairwoman of the Millstone Trailblazers and a member of the
township’s Agriculture Advisory Council, she has been chosen as one
of this year’s People Who Make A Difference.
This year was a difficult one for Butch. Her husband, John,
died unexpectedly in March. The couple has two children, Jason, of
Manalapan, and Kristin, who lives with her husband, Chris, and their two
kids in a newly built house on Butch’s farm.
Butch moved to Millstone 17 years ago from North Brunswick in Middlesex County, which she said had become
too congested with traffic. Back then, she had two horses that she boarded,
but she and her husband decided to make a major change.
“We wanted a more rural setting, with open space,”
she said. “Exactly what Millstone is.”
What became their Bright Meadows Farm on Prodelin Way was previously owned by
a developer. Butch said the real estate market was not good in 1990 so the
owner sold to her family all but a relatively small part of his approved
subdivision.
Butch lives in a farmhouse that is more than 200 years old on
the 80-acre farm consisting of two adjoining properties. There are 36
horses on one parcel and 30 on the other, she said. Fifteen of the horses,
including lesson horses and broodmares, belong to Butch, while the rest are
boarders.
In 2001, Butch put Bright Meadows Farm into the Farmland
Preservation Program. The process of putting her own property into the
program, she said, got her involved in the township’s open space and
trail issues.
At that time, the Millstone Township Open Space Farmland
Preservation Commission was short of members, so she decided to join.
Although the commission helped preserve nine township farms, according to
Butch, there was no money at that time to go any further.
Today, as a result of township, county and state efforts,
there are 5,140 acres in some form of preservation in Millstone. The
acreage preserved includes 2,445 acres of state-owned land, 1,256
county-owned acres, 465 acres that belong to the township, 817 acres in
preserved farmland and trail easements, and 157 acres in camps. An additional
1,387 acres in the township are also in the process of being preserved,
according to Butch.
This year alone, the 28-acre Rising Sun Farm and the 35-acre
Dey Farm went into preservation. Two more properties should close within
the next two months, according to Butch. Those properties are the Restine
tract on Route 524 in Clarksburg,
where Penny’s Petals is located, and the McFie acreage on Witches Hollow Road,
which Butch said is a central piece of the county’s Rocky Brook Park
in Millstone.
Butch stressed that a lot of the preservation process is done
through networking with county and state agencies, as well as nonprofit
land trusts such as the Monmouth Conservation Foundation (MCF) and the
Delaware & Raritan (D&R) Greenway Land Trust. Butch said Rocky
Brook Park is coming into fruition partly because township officials took
representatives from the Monmouth County Park System on a very long walk on
the land and sold them on the idea that it should be a park.
“Now they are purchasing it with no money from Millstone
for parkland,” she said.
Anthony Romano, a member of the Open Space Farmland
Preservation Commission, “When
Pat took the lead of the open space commission, the first job she did was
to reorganize the [commission] to be effective and active. She also worked
very hard and closely with the Township Committee.”
He said that Butch opened up channels at the state and county
levels and learned as much as possible about how open space laws work and
what partnerships were available for Millstone.
“Pat, along with the Township Committee, was able to get
funded moneys refunded back to the town’s open space fund,”
Romano said.
“Pat works many hours on managing the program and
keeping Millstone in the forefront of open space,” Romano added.
Romano also said that teamwork is a big part of Butch’s
success. He said she involves council members in the preservation process
as much as possible and teaches them what she has learned.
“Pat and the council burn the late-night oil at meetings
to accomplish our goals,” he said. “Pat has the respect of the
town, county and state people when it comes to her efforts with open space.
[She] has put Millstone in a good position moving forward to preserve our
town.”
Matt Shipkey, coordinator of the county Farmland
Preservation Program, said that Butch “has been tireless and creative
in her work to preserve farmland in Millstone.”
“She has given countless hours of her time,” he
said, “and always makes herself available for matters related to
farmland preservation.”
Shipkey said that Millstone is fortunate to have such a strong
and selfless advocate for farmland preservation.
“I appreciate immensely the fruitful partnership she has
made possible between the county Farmland [Preservation] Program and the Millstone Township
agricultural community,” he said.
Recalling that she knew little about preservation prior to
going through the process with her own land, Butch said she now tries hard
to be an advocate for landowners and to explain to them how the
preservation process works.
“Communication is so important,” she said.
Putting property into preservation is a big incentive for
those who would like to stay in Millstone and don’t want to have to
sell their land and move, she said.
“[Landowners] can get equity and make improvements on
their land,” she said. “They can stay here and live their lives
out.”
Butch’s future goals include producing recreation and
open space maps for the township so people know where parks and open space
are and what activities are permissible there.
“That’s a big priority,” Butch said.
While there are already trails connecting Wagner Farm
Park with the
Charleston Springs tract, they must be cleared and marked, she said. The
Millstone Trailblazers is working on getting a $25,000 state grant to clear
and mark those and other trails in the community, according to Butch.
Next year, she said, the Trailblazers hope to connect Perrineville Lake Park
trails to those in the Assunpink Wildlife Management Area.
Rob Obusek, president of the Millstone Trailblazers, said that
Butch works tirelessly with landowners and developers and has played a
critical role in obtaining many of the trail easements that Millstone has
in place today.
“Pat is one of the rare people that can take initiative,
organize and inspire others,” he said. “She really believes in
what she is doing and is a true steward of the land.”
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Tip #23
Home Buying Tip, Big Ticket Items:
Before you buy a home
you should avoid buying any big ticket items. When this is found out during the
credit process or reporting it can make mortgage banks nervous.
Even if you will be able to get a loan, you might not be
able to get the best available interest rate.
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Tip #24
Home Selling Tip, Listing Right:
A common mistake when people list their house (especially in a
buyers’ market) is list the house at a high price that they
don’t anticipate to sell it at.
They figure that if they get it then GREAT but if not they can always
lower the price.
This is not a good practice because what
mostly happens is it will stay on the market for a while and make
potential home buyers
nervous because it’s been on the market so long.
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