Township Council Changes Funding Method Of Consolata Property Purchase

Township officials called the Consolata property purchase one of the most important in township history. (File photo).

As promised, the Township Council Oct. 24 began the process to change the way it will fund the purchase of the 65-acre Consolata property on Route 27.

The $14,090,000 price for the property was initially funded from the township’s capital account. Mayor Phil Kramer said in May that that would probably change.

On Oct. 24, the Township Council introduced two ordinances to do just that, after rescinding the original funding ordinance.

The first ordinance appropriates $10,194,000 from the township’s Open Space Trust Fund, $5 million of which will be financed through municipal bonds, with the remaining $5,194,000 being paid in cash.

The bonding ordinance pays for about 41.7 acres of the  property.

The second ordinance appropriates $3,896,000 for the remaining acreage, which will be funded through bonding.

The township had to split the funding that way because it intends to sell some of the property, and any property purchased with Open Space funds must remain open space.

The township school district is interested in transferring its administrative offices and other functions from Amwell Road to part of the Consolata property, and the Somerset County YMCA is looking at some land on the site to build a large YMCA.

Public hearings and final votes on both ordinances will be held in November.

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