Effort to swap Millville protected land pits environmentalists against city officials

MILLVILLE, N.J. - A vacant piece of land preserved under the state Green Acres program a year and a half ago that was previously zoned for industrial use - and is now part of one of the most pristine and critical forest tracts in the state - is at the center of a tug-of-war between environmentalists and city officials.

Local officials want to buy back the site, known as the Durand Tract, from the state and remove it from preservation rolls so it can be sold for development. The property straddles the 474-acre Menantico Ponds Wildlife Management Area and a site zoned for commercial and industrial use.

But environmentalists are contending that if the 81-acre parcel is taken out of the land preservation program, it would set a "dangerous" precedent that could open up protected lands to development - ultimately undermining the entire purpose of such state and federal set-asides.

The state Department of Environmental Protection held a final public hearing Tuesday to gather input on its plan to sell the parcel to the city or another government agency designated by the city, such as the Millville Urban Redevelopment Corporation or the Cumberland County Improvement Authority. It is also taking written comments on the matter from the public until Jan. 20.

The DEP purchased the property in July 2013 from Durand Glass Manufacturing for $335,000 and under the proposal would sell it back to the City of Millville for $395,000, so the Cumberland County town could ultimately sell it to a commercial entity. The additional $60,000 the city would pay covers technical and administrative costs incurred by the DEP after the 2013 sale, officials said.

City officials say the property is prime industrial space - and never should have been considered for preservation - because it has the largest railroad access area in the county and would be attractive to manufacturing firms that may want to locate their business here. It sits along the edge of the city's industrial tract along Gorton Road off Route 49.

Local officials said they had previously lined up a buyer for the land - Railings Dynamics - which had promised to bring as many as 300 new jobs to the economically depressed region. But the company ultimately moved its operation to Egg Harbor Township in Atlantic County when the deal fell through and the property was sold by Durand to the state for preservation.

"People are an important species, too, and we need to have room to grow and develop and have the opportunity for improvement in our community," said Millville City Commissioner Joseph Sooy. "It's the only vacant parcel of land left in the county with rail access. Environmentalists need to keep in mind that there needs to be a balance between economic and environmental needs."

Sooy contends that as much as 48 percent of Millville's 44 square miles is already either rural or permanently preserved land. On the flip side, preservation proponents say that there is already more than 56 million square feet of industrial and commercial space in the town - by comparison enough to build almost 50 Cherry Hill Malls - and the town doesn't need more.

"This is the state acting as a purchasing agent for private developers," said Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey chapter of the Sierra Club.

But the DEP has participated "quite often" in what it calls a "diversion process" where it has swapped one parcel of protected land for another to allow for needed development, said Larry Hajna, a spokesman for the state DEP.

Hajna said the department will have 90 days to render a decision from when the comment period is closed later this month. In previous cases of such diversions, the state has allowed the swap to build roads, hospitals, or other types of construction projects and requires that the purchasing entity preserve even more acres of land elsewhere to compensate for the swap.

But environmental groups say the Durand property is the largest such tract ever slated for diversion from a preserved status to public or private ownership for development.

And land preservationists say that the parcel shouldn't be removed from the mostly contiguous ribbon of natural lands that run the width of the midsection of deep southern New Jersey from the Delaware River to the Jersey Shore. The vast swath is so rife with unique species of flora and fauna that National Geographic once called it a rival to the world's great rain forests for its natural beauty.

The spot, which is also contiguous to the 3,000-acre Manumuskin Preserve, which is owned by the Nature Conservancy, is considered integral to one of the largest and most pristine tracts of forest in New Jersey.

The DEP has documented the site as prime breeding habitat for six threatened, endangered, or "special concern" species in the state and it was listed as a "high priority" for acquisition by the state Division of Fish and Wildlife biologists during the Green Acres purchasing process. They documented it as (Northern) "Pine Snake Paradise." The Northern Pine Snake is a threatened species and the state biologists said that the Durand site was likely the only population of the species remaining in all of New Jersey that was not contained within the highly managed and regulated Pinelands preservation zone.

The tract is also an upland property with significant water recharge capacity that could affect the Kirkwood-Cohansey aquifer as well as the ecosystem of the Maurice River Watershed, which is part of the National Wild and Scenic River system. The designation means that the Maurice River and its tributaries, which include the Menantico Creek and the Manumuskin River, are part of a protected system of undeveloped and pristine waterways.

"This is the worst sellout of open space in 50 years," said the Sierra Club's Tittel. "This is not a diversion, but a perversion, putting all our open space lands at risk."

Edward Markowski, a member of the New Jersey Outdoor Alliance Conservation Foundation, said the move could spawn the development upon other preserved lands.

"Believe me, this is not the only municipality that covets properties that are owned by the state of New Jersey," Markowski said.

But Millville resident Jeannine Davis, 42, a single mother who has been out of work for six months after being laid off as a bookkeeper at an Atlantic City casino, said she would welcome more commercial development in the town.

"Protecting the environment is important," Davis said. "But putting food on the table for my family is more important to me. We need jobs in Millville. It's that simple."