Wantage approves open space grant application

WANTAGE — The Wantage Committee unanimously approved an application for a $550,000 New Jersey Dept. of Environmental Protection Green Acres grant.

The grant is part of the Wantage Open Space program which will help expand outdoor recreation. Deputy Mayor Ron Bassani said Wantage Township has already earmarked $600,000 for Open Spaces, and the Open Space Committee has identified several properties in which it is in the initial procurement discussion stage.

In addition, the Open Space Committee Chairman Tom Davis and Bassani met with the Sussex County Open Space Committee Administrator Don Ploetner, Autumn Sylvester of Conservation and Farmland Preservation, and Barbara Heskins Davis of the Land Conservancy of New Jersey. They discussed the possibility of developing abandoned rail beds to use for recreational trails, “Rails to Trails.”

In addition, the parties discussed linking the Wantage improvements to other state and national park websites in the hopes of tying them to commerce through the advertising of hotels, food, and their own Wantage bike shop, Sussex Bike & Sport Shop.

Also there is a $44,000 Sussex County grant that no municipality has applied for yet. Wantage plans to apply.

During a discussion with Mayor Bill Gaechter, Bassani said the bike trails could go through all of Wantage Township to the Sussex County Farm and Horse Show.

Resident Ann Smulewicz said she has mixed feelings about Green Acres. She agreed it was good to get every crumb possible from the state, but she said she was concerned about other people's taxes being forced on the rest of the township.

Bassani said Open Spaces targets 30-acre or larger farms. He said those farms would be a minimum tax burden or benefit, and the township would not lose a lot of money. He said the good news is that taxpayers support Green Acres at the county and township level, as the general consensus is to maintain Wantage's rural nature.