Mallet Questions Easement Purchase of Land Owned by Manalapan Mayor

Freeholder Amy Mallet cast the dissenting vote at the Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholder’s meeting Thursday evening on a development easement purchase involving land owned by Manalapan Mayor Andrew Lucas.

The 96-acre property in Manalapan is being acquired under the New Jersey State Agriculture Development Committee’s County Planning Incentive Grant Program. Diamond Developers at Burke Farm LLC, which includes Lucas as a partner, will receive $1,152,000 from the state, county and municipality to preserve the property as farmland. Monmouth County’s share of the cost is $276,480; the state will pay $691,200 for the development easement rights and Manalapan is responsible for $184,320.

Mallet said that while she supported the county’s farmland preservation efforts, she had questions about why this land was selected.

“We have 53 municipalities, we have hundreds of parcels that are available—why this property?” Mallet said. “The people of Manalapan, Monmouth County and New Jersey appear to be purchasing a farm for the mayor of Manalapan and that is not right.”

Freeholder Lillian Burry said that size of the parcel and its proximity to other preserved farms made it an attractive candidate for the state’s program. She noted that committees involved with farmland preservation face obstacles in acquiring parcels.

“The development rights are less than half the fair market value,” Burry said. “Rather than criticize we should be applauding this action tonight. It’s not an easy thing to convince people to go into farmland preservation.”

Lucas’ purchase of the property .

During a Manalapan Township Committee meeting in February, Committeewoman Michelle Roth criticized Lucas’ involvement in the project. Roth said that while the process to preserve the farmland may be legal, it was highly unethical.

“That property went into distress. It went up for tax sale. You saw a business opportunity; that's great. What you’re not telling the public is that you fast-tracked the project in nine days,” Roth said to Lucas at the February 23 meeting. Lucas moved the property into the Farmland Preservation Program within nine days of purchase, according to Roth.

Lucas defended his actions, stating that they were legal.

During the freeholders’ afternoon workshop meeting, Monmouth County Farmland Preservation Program Coordinator Harriet Honigfeld said Lucas reached out to the state to make sure he was following ethics guidelines.

Nevertheless, Mallet said she would like to see greater transparency in the process by which resolutions on development easements are presented to the Board of Chosen Freeholders, such as receiving appraisals and other supporting documents.