I am writing in response to Kenneth Collins of Newton, NJ letter to the Editor in the March 5-11, 2026 edition. First of all I found Mr. Collins letter confusing and disjointed and even wondered which county attorney he was saying should be replaced. In his letter, he discusses a Green Acres purchase in Phillipsburg of 33 acres as well as the purchase of a 566 acre farm in White Township, both of which are in Warren County. Whereas, the law firm he is asking to be replaced works for Sussex County.
Next, I would like to address some of the inaccuracies Mr.Collins relies upon to claim serious conflicts of interest as well as potentially immoral or unethical behavior by Michael Perrucci and Doug Steinhardt. First, I would like to address the purchase of the 566 acres of farmland in White Township, NJ by the NJ State Agriculture Development Committee (SADC). Although normally farmland preservation funds are only used to purchase the value of the development rights and leaves the farmland to remain for agricultural purposes, in this case the $27.2 million purchase price included the entire ownership of the 566 acre farm. This allows the SADC to auction the preserved land back to the agricultural community at a later date.
In mentioning the total $27.2 million purchase price, Mr. Collins states that the more than $48,000 per acre is a very generous price to pay for farmland. However, it is clear that Mr. Collins does not understand how the preservation of farmland process works. The purchase price was not just for the purchase of the farmland but included the development rights to the property. Mr. Jaindl had purchased the 566 acre farm in 2019 for $11 million and had wanted to develop a 2.8 million-square-foot warehouse. Although, the purchase price was one of the most expensive purchases in the history of the farmland preservation program, it prevented the building of the warehouse in a town which could not have supported heavy industrial traffic. A more detailed explanation can come from the New Jersey law, signed by Gov. Murphy on Jan. 8, 2024, which allows development rights to be anywhere from 50% to 90% of the total value of the land. Assuming a 70% value in this instance means that the development rights are worth $19 million or $34,275 per acre and the farmland is worth the balance of $8.2 million or almost $14,500 per acre. From this purchase, the 566-acre farm is guaranteed to remain for agricultural purposes and will not be disappearing as Mr. Collins claims in his letter (a cost of the imaginary corruption). Furthermore, is the $34,275 per acre price for the development rights worth it to the townspeople of White Township—I would say definitely yes.
Another successful example of the Green Acres and Farmland Preservation programs, can be found in the 534 acre Muchshaw farm in Andover and Fredon Township, which was transferred to the Foodshed Alliance in 2021. As a result, the Muckshaw Farm is guaranteed to be permanently preserved as a sustainable farm in Sussex County. The Foodshed Alliance, located in Hope, N.J., was created to help strengthen sustainable and regenerative farming, increase access to local, healthy food and safeguard the environment.
One final example of the use of Green Acres funds can be found in the 268 acres preserved as open space in Frankford Township known as the Culver Brook Preserve. It is important to mention that not only taxpayer funding was used, which Mr. Collins states is ours, but also funding came from The Greater Culver Lake Watershed Conservation Foundation (GCLWCF), The New Jersey Conservation Foundation and The Delaware River Watershed Protection Fund. Furthermore, grants were obtained from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Delaware Conservation Fund, the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Office of Nature Resource Restoration to implement natural resource conservation practices. This is a clear example of how multiple organizations can come together to preserve open space in New Jersey.
Robert Muir, III
Stanhope
