Wednesday, March 21, 2007

The Klockner Woods Debacle goes on and on and on...

Hamilton has declined to fund the purchase of Klockner Woods:

The township council last night rejected an ordinance to fund the $4.2 million purchase of the land, ensuring that the ultimate price will be determined by the court.
"I will in no way support the purchase of this property at this price," said Councilman Dennis Pone. "If we pay this amount we will have less money to preserve other open space in this township."
The $4.2 million was to be used to fund the land while the township waited for about $1.3 million in state and county grants and a $2.9 million state loan to pay for the land.
The council has appealed a recent Superior Court judge's ruling upholding the purchase from Doylestown-based developer Fieldstone Associates and council members said they would continue the appeal rather than withdraw it and vote to pay for the controversial tract.

This appeal is a waste of time and money. Pone is absolutely right that by paying this outrageous price there's less funds to preserve other parts of this quickly-developing township, but the time to decide that was probably before the agreement was signed. The judge was pretty clear that the original agreement stands and Fieldstone gets their interest. Good luck with that appeal- you'll need it.

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