By Stephen Appezzato
COLTS NECK – The future of Colts Neck just got a little greener.
Thanks to a pricey property easement, 235 acres of land bordering Naval Weapons Station Earle in the southern part of the township have been permanently protected from development. An additional 20 acres in Howell have also been preserved.
Both deals were brokered between private landowners and a partnership among the Monmouth Conservation Foundation (MCF), the U.S. Navy, the Monmouth County government and both townships for conservation purposes and to prevent the encroachment of further development on the Naval base.
“Saving any open space in the county is a top priority,” said MCF executive director William Kastning. “Not just these two. There are lots of things that we do in terms of agriculture, habitat protection and water protection,” he said.
“The big parcel there covers all those things – habitat, water, other environmental things, as well as preventing houses from being built,” he added, referring to the Colts Neck plot.
The deal marks the inaugural partnership between MCF and the U.S. Navy and was made possible through the Department of Defense Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) program. The program allocates federal funding for partnerships between military branches and private conservation groups to preserve open space and promote military interests.
“Thanks to this program, we are able to promote military readiness and prevent encroachment while helping our neighbors protect and preserve more of our surrounding landscapes,” said Capt. Kent D. Smith, NWS Earle Commanding Officer, in a press release.
Kastning said that MCF learned several years ago that the Navy was interested in protecting land around Naval Weapons Station Earle, which spans from Colts Neck to Leonardo, to prevent encroachment.
“Any properties that could be preserved from a willing seller, they would be willing to help fund,” said Kastning. “So, that caught our attention, because we’re always looking for money to preserve property and they have pretty deep pockets,” he added.
Under the REPI program, the federal government matches up to 50 percent of the cost for easements around military installations, with organizations like MCF and the county partnering to cover the remaining cost.
The preserved land in Colts Neck includes a thoroughbred racing farm, while the space in Howell is a mature hardwood forest.
“A number of years ago, the owner of that property actually had a subdivision approval to create 30-plus homes on the site, and for whatever reason, they never pursued that. They never protected that subdivision and they chose not to proceed,” Kastning said.
The deals, which total more than $5 million, are known as easements, where the private landowner still owns the land, but interested parties compensate the owner for adding property restrictions.
“When you own property, you have a lot of property rights. One of which is to develop the property, subdivide it, and build as many homes or commercial establishments as the zoning within the town permits,” Kastning said.
“When you put an easement on a property, in this case, you’re limiting the development. In other words, you’re eliminating the development,” he said.
“Neither property can be subdivided. That’s forever. Subdivision will never be allowed.”
While the current property owner still retains ownership, the partnership is essentially “paying that owner for the value of the right to develop the property,” Kastning explained.
Through the purchase of the easement, the county-MCF-U.S. Navy partnership eliminated the potential for 30 new homes to be built on the land while upholding “conservation values.” The Colts Neck parcel includes streams, forests and wildlife. Halting the potential for development there ensures these features will remain untouched in a rapidly developing county, Kastning said.
“Anything we do as a nonprofit, there has to be conservation values. We just don’t buy or preserve property for the sake of preventing development. We preserve properties that are in threat of development, but that have conservation values worthy of protecting,” he noted.
In return for their funding, the U.S. Navy gets peace of mind that houses won’t be built closer to the base’s borders.
“By having open space you’re also protecting things that make the base more resilient,” Kastning said.
“The Navy doesn’t want any more houses built close to their base,” he said. “Obviously they can’t stop it, but they like to work with partners such as us and the county and the townships to limit the amount of construction that occurs near their base,” he added.
The REPI-funded easement represents one of MCF’s largest preservation projects in recent years, a continuing partnership with Monmouth County officials and a new relationship with Naval Weapons Station Earle.
But, as Kastning explained, much more work remains for MCF as many large parcels in Monmouth County are “under threat and are not preserved.”
The article originally appeared in the February 22 –28, 2024 print edition of The Two River Times.
