Cranbury, New Jersey.The Cranbury Township Council has received a formal warning from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, asking officials to postpone taking action on a plan to seize and rehabilitate a 21-acre plot of land that has been used for farming consistently for more than 175 years.
The property, which is now held by local Andy Henry and his family, has prime farmland soils and is protected by the Farmland Protection Policy Act, according to a letter written by USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins on Wednesday. The land’s designation as federally protected agricultural soil has been confirmed by an evaluation conducted by USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).
In the letter to the township council, Rollins made it clear that moving forward with this project without adhering to federal farmland protection laws might put your township and any financial partners in violation of federal law.
USDA is presently looking into whether federal funds, such as those managed by the State of New Jersey on behalf of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), are involved in the redevelopment endeavor. Before beginning any work on the project, the township must submit a completed Farmland Conversion Impact Rating Form (AD-1006) to the NRCS if federal funds is involved. According to USDA, no such paperwork has been filed as of yet.
Rollins underlined that noncompliance with the FPPA may lead to enforcement actions, such as possible federal money freezing or revocation and diseligibility for further federal aid.
Soil designation activates federal protections.
A day before Rollins made a public social media post reiterating her department’s stance and referring to the area as 100% prime farming, the USDA letter arrived. “This project and seizure plan is not in compliance with the law if federal funds are involved,” she continued.
According to the letter’s citation of the FPPA, federally sponsored projects must, if feasible, refrain from converting prime farmland. Certain soil designations, such as the one USDA gave the Henry land, set off the law. Before any action can be taken in response to such a designation, the local government must show that there is no practical way to take protected farmland.
The letter expresses worries that any financial partners in the project may also suffer financial and legal repercussions if the township takes action before finishing the required federal procedures.
The Henry family has owned the 21-acre property for many generations, and it is situated in a region of Middlesex County that has a long history of agriculture. The construction of high-density affordable homes on the property has been the specific goal of the proposed rehabilitation.
USDA requests a postponement until compliance
The letter ended by pleading with you to hold off on taking any action until USDA had finished reviewing its funding sources and full FPPA compliance had been recorded.
As of Friday morning, the Cranbury Township Council has not publicly responded to the USDA’s warning.
