Englishtown to Apply for Land Acquisition Grant to Help Fund Parking Lot

The Englishtown Council introduced a resolution last week to apply for a Monmouth County Municipal Open Space Program land acquisition grant to help fund the purchase of the property adjacent to . The council has been proactive in acquiring the in hopes of turning it into a municipal parking lot.

The central location of this lot between Lake Weamaconk and Sanford Park qualifies it for the grant since it will be benefiting recreation facilities within the Borough by supplying a parking lot sufficient in size for both locations.

The Monmouth County Municipal Open Space Program does a 50 percent matching for all projects up to $250,000. Therefore, the most that Englishtown can apply for right now is $95,000 to go towards the purchase of the 17 Main St. property; the governing body has put in an offer for purchase of $190,000.

The application for the grant must be filed by the third week of September, but the award will not be announced until sometime between January and June of 2013. Currently, the property is dealing with an oil spill issue in which remediation is being looked into.

“There’s still some issues with that property,” Englishtown Mayor Tom Reynolds said. “But, to go forward with the application if everything gets cleared up and we can get $95,000 that the taxpayers of Englishtown don’t have to deal with makes sense.”

The fee for an Englishtown engineer to put together the application could cost up to $1,000 since aerial photographs, land design, and an explanation of what Englishtown’s intention with the land is must be submitted.

The $1,000 initial application for the grant can be charged towards the $400,000 bond ordinance which has been budgeted for the property. If Englishtown is awarded the grant, the bond ordinance would be cancelled and Borough’s debt would be reduced, according to Borough Administrator Laurie Finger.

In the event that the purchase of the property does not go through, Finger said that the application would most likely be denied.

The public hearing on the resolution will be held at the Englishtown Council’s next meeting, which is scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 22.