$7.5 Million Land Preservation to Serve As Buffer for Military Base

Ocean County, the New Jersey Pinelands Commission and the U.S. Department of Defense will spend $7.5 million to preserve 1,800 acres of Jackson as part of the continuing effort to buffer the Joint Base created from Navy Lakehurst, McGuire Air Force Base, and Fort Dix.

In a deal put together by the Trust for Public Land, land owned by the Clayton Sand and Gravel Company in Jackson at the end of a runway on the base will be acquired or deed restricted to prevent future development.

Freeholder John C. Bartlett Jr. and Capt. Andrew Butterfield announced the agreement as Cindy Roberts of the TPL looked on late Wednesday.

Bartlett said the county will buy 400 acres of the Clayton tract that adjoins the existing county Patriots’ Park in Jackson. The county will pay $3,375,000 and the Pinelands Commission $1.25 million for that property, he said.

The DOD will spend $3 million to buy the development rights on the remaining 1,400 acres, meaning the Clayton interests will continue to own and mine the site, but cannot develop it in the future.

“This is a great TPL initiative,’’ Butterfield said. That organization has been a major facilitator of land preservation purchases in the county since it developed its century plan, identifying 100 places worth saving, more than a decade ago.

In addition to keeping homes away from runways at the base, Freeholder John P. Kelly said the expanding buffer “helps us keep off future BRAC lists.’’

Several years ago, Lakehurst was targeted by the Base Realignment And Closure Commission as a base to be closed, but local opposition and pressure in Congress reversed that decision.

Butterfield said there are about 40,000 people at the base every day, and in addition to those employed there a lot of high tech jobs are created around the facility to support its missions.