By Allison Perrine
MIDDLETOWN – When voters look at their ballots this November, they will be faced with a question about increasing payments to the township’s Open Space Trust Fund for the first time in 18 years.
Township committee members are asking residents to weigh in on a 1 cent increase per $100 valuation of property, from $0.02 to $0.03, in hopes of preserving more open space. Officials are continually looking at the market to find parcels of land and have currently identified about 30 properties that could potentially qualify for open space designation, according to Mayor Tony Perry.
“We all know that Middletown has only so much land,” he said, calling the referendum a “critically important” question on the November 2020 ballot. “We need – and it is imperative – for all of us to take a look and examine and know that there is space around town that we should and that we can work to preserve.”
The decision came at the Monday night, July 20 township committee meeting as elected officials unanimously voted to place the referendum on the November ballot. If approved, properties could be preserved by buying development rights to the lands and purchasing property outright, said Perry. The trust covers open space, recreation, floodplain protection and farmland and historic preservation.
“There’s been no increase in the open space trust for almost two decades. It makes it difficult for the township to compete with developers and with folks trying to buy these properties,” said Perry. “I want to try and preserve or get the development rights for as many properties as I can but that takes funding.”
The Middletown Open Space Trust Fund was established in 1998 with a collection rate $0.01 per $100 of equalized valuation, according to the township. That rate was increased to $0.02 in 2002, which is the last time the trust collection rate increased. At that time the vote passed with about 68 percent of resident approval, according to Perry.
Deputy mayor Tony Fiore said it’s a “great thing” that the committee decided to pose the question to Middletown residents in November. “It’s been a great tool for many township committees prior to my service and hopefully will be a great tool to many township committees of the future.
“I really hope that when that question is posed to taxpayers that they will see all the great things that open spaces do to prevent overdevelopment and to help rehabilitate certain things that make the property values not only higher in this town, but also add to the tremendous quality of life we all share,” Fiore continued.
Beach Curfew Implemented
At the Monday night meeting Perry also called for a curfew at the township’s beaches effective 8 p.m. each night. It was unanimously approved by the committee. The decision came after the community noticed an influx of visitors, especially at Ideal Beach in North Middletown. Due to the pandemic, with fewer people taking vacations, Ideal Beach has been more crowded than in years past. He said many visitors have told him that they would normally go to Sandy Hook, but now frequent Ideal Beach because of the capacity limits and restrictions imposed by the state for social distancing.
“It’s beginning to put a strain on our beaches,” said Perry. “And folks are on our beaches till all hours of the night. Folks have been shooting off fireworks…we can’t have that. It’s a very residential area; it’s a very close-knit community and we just can’t have people partying till all hours of the night.”
With that in mind, the township committee and Ideal Beach community have organized a neighborhood meeting July 23 at 7 p.m. at the Tonya Keller Community Center, 50 Bray Ave., to discuss “future plans” to address some of the issues that have arisen, said Perry. It will also be attended by members of the township police department and administration.
“There’s no question that we have beautiful beaches,” said Perry, “but we need to ensure that the residents in the surrounding community also have some control over there.”
The article originally appeared in the July 23 – 29, 2020 print edition of The Two River Times.
