Article ID: 3300050
Published on November 14, 1998, The Record (New Jersey)

ROCKLEIGH TO BUY 3 UNDEVELOPED ACRES

Three acres of open space near the New York border will become a field of spruce seedlings next year, rather than an office building or nursing home. The Borough Council voted unanimously Thursday to buy the property for $400,000, the equivalent of nearly half the annual municipal budget, to keep it from development. "We're just happy that it finally happened and it's settled this way," Mayor Roberta Adams said. The sale should close by year's...

OVERSIGHT MAY COST BOROUGH $400,000
ROCKLEIGH SEEKS TO PRESERVE LAND

A costly mistake 36 years ago means the borough will have to borrow $400,000, nearly half its annual budget, to preserve three acres near the New York border as open space. But the money is worth it, borough officials and neighbors say, to keep the land at Piermont and King roads from becoming more office space or another nursing home in a town that already has three others and an alcohol rehabilitation clinic. "It's better than them putting up apartments or offices or...

ALPINE, ROCKLEIGH SEEK $3.1M FOR TRACT

Representatives from Alpine and Rockleigh asked Bergen County officials on Wednesday to consider spending $3.1 million to help preserve a swath of woodland at the northern tip of the county.The 134-acre tract, which is being sold by the Boy Scouts of America, would serve as a giant open park for all county residents, and would help two of the county's wealthiest communities eliminate space for state-mandated affordable housing. Alpine Borough Attorney James P. Logan told the Board...

COUNTY SUPPORTS LAND PURCHASE

I write in response to the Aug. 14 letter from Alpine Councilman Karakian Bedrosian, concerning the effort by Alpine and Rockleigh to preserve open space by buying Boy Scout property in their boroughs.Alpine and Rockleigh approached Bergen County in late 1994, as it was apparent to the elected officials that the two municipalities might not be able to afford the ultimate cost of the 134-acre property. At that time, I pledged to commit county funding and technical assistance to the...

PRESERVING OPEN SPACE

Your editorial of July 31, endorsing the purchase of Boy Scout property in Alpine by Alpine and Rockleigh, was appreciated except for the statement that the towns may be asking Bergen County to contribute too much $3 million toward the $6.5 million purchase price.As a resident of Alpine since 1969, I have paid more in taxes each year to Bergen County than I have for municipal government. I know what I get for my money in municipal services, but all I can see from the county is that they...

OPEN SPACE IN ALPINE
A PARCEL IS SPARED THE BULLDOZER

The tentative agreement to purchase 134 acres of open land in Alpine from the Boy Scouts is a boon for residents of Bergen County. It also underscores the value of the state's Green Acres program. The Boy Scouts announced their intention to sell the land in 1989, setting off fears that another piece of the county's dwindling supply of open land would be lost. The land is zoned for single-family homes, but some local officials worried that commercial developers might mount legal challanges that would open it to office and hotel development as well.

The land, on the west side of Route (w in Alpine, abuts Rockleigh and parkland owned by the Palisades Interstate Park Commission. The Boy Scouts have agreed to sell it for $6.5 million, and Alpine an Rockleigh have tentatively agreed to buy it. Green Acres, the state program that funds the purchase of open space, has loaned the towns $1.1 million and given them $375,000 toward the deal. A possible snag remains: The towns are counting on $3 million in aid from the county government, a condition that will be written into the purchase contract. That may be too much to ask, since the primary beneficiaries will be residents of Alpine and Rockleigh.

But the County should contribute something, since it has an interest in preserving land. The trails would be open to all.

SCOUTS, 2 TOWNS AGREE ON LAND SALE
ALPINE, ROCKLEIGH PLAN 134-ACRE PARK

Alpine and Rockleigh have reached a tentative agreement to buy 134 acres of Boy Scout property to preserve as parkland.The purchase price is $6.5 million, said James P. Logan, who is borough attorney for both towns. Two independent appraisers and the state Green Acres program had set the value of the land at $6.7 million, Logan said Wednesday. The joint offer for the property, which lies on the border between the two towns, was accepted by the Greater New York Councils of the Boy...

ROCKLEIGH, ALPINE TO BUY 134 ACRES FROM SCOUTS

Officials from Rockleigh and Alpine have agreed to pursue a joint purchase of 134 acres owned by the Greater New York Councils, Boy Scouts of America after both boroughs received independent appraisals saying the land is worth about $6.7 million.The officials met earlier this month to discuss the assessments by two appraisal firms, which submitted similar estimates."We are giving the go-ahead to continue pursuing this," said Rockleigh Mayor Roberta Adams. "We are very...

COUNTY GETS $9M TO SAVE GREENERY

STATE ANNOUNCES PRESERVATION GRANTS

Endangered by suburban sprawl, some of North Jersey's last stands of forest and wetlands could be saved through the release of more than $75 million in Green Acres funds, state environmental officials announced Tuesday.The grants and loans will go locally to preservation projects ranging from a two-acre park in Tenafly to a 134-acre wooded tract in Alpine. One of the state's last virgin forests, in the middle of Hackensack, is also on the list.About $8.9 million in grants and...

ALPINE, ROCKLEIGH TO APPRAISE BOY SCOUT TRACT

With the goal of preserving one of the last undeveloped pieces of woodland in northern New Jersey, two Northern Valley towns have agreed to share the cost of appraising 134 acres up for sale by the Boy Scouts.T he parcel, known as the Lamont tract, lies within Alpine but borders Rockleigh. Officials of both boroughs said Wednesday they would like to see the property protected from development, but stressed that they are a long way from any agreement to purchase the land. The property is...