Madison meeting with conservation group to build Drew Forest funding application
By Alex Parker-Magyar, Managing Editor | Madison Eagle
MADISON - Borough officials are meeting with a major land conservation agency as they seek funding help to preserve the threatened Drew University Forest Preserve.
Madison representatives were to meet Tuesday, March 14, with officials from the Land Conservancy of New Jersey to begin the process of writing a grant application to the Morris County Open Space Trust Fund, according to Mayor Robert Conley.
“We will be doing everything within our control to submit a strong application,” Conley said at a Borough Council meeting Monday. “We are also looking for additional funding sources to ensure that we have the financial resources to save this valuable natural resource.”
A host of regional environmental groups, other municipalities, local residents and Drew students have lent their voices to Madison’s effort to preserve the land.
Conley reiterated Monday that Madison needs a sale agreement or contract purchase agreement with the university before the county can consider its funding request.
“To expedite the process to reach the sale agreement with Drew, I have requested a direct meeting with the Drew University Board of Trustees,” the mayor said. “A sale agreement would have to be approved by them, so by meeting directly we hope to have that agreement in place before the application goes to the county open space committee on June 9.”
The borough did not submit an application last year as talks between the two sides fell apart after Madison refused to consider rezoning parts of the land for housing.
The university then sued Madison last June, claiming the town intentionally concealed 63 acres of Drew land from court officials when it negotiated its third-round affordable housing settlement in 2020. A state Superior Court judge ruled in September that Madison would have to revise its affordable housing obligation to reflect the amount of available land at the university, but would not necessarily have to rezone any of the university land for housing.
Student Speaks Out
A number of Drew students were in the audience at Monday night’s council meeting, including a small contingent observing the meeting as part of a journalism course.
One student, however, Rockaway native Mike George, was there to speak on behalf of the forest.
George told the council the future of the preserve is critical to the future of the university itself.
He said he knew nothing about Drew nor Madison when he first came to the school, “but when I stepped in and fully immersed myself into the forest, I really understood what it meant to be a part of a community.”
Praising the borough for creating a safe environment for students around the campus, he said “there wouldn’t be any students to protect in the end if there wasn’t any reason to come to Drew.”
George said he believes Drew enrollment would “dwindle away” if the forest is developed, and lamented what it would mean for professors who rely on the preserve as a living laboratory.
“If the forest really does get sold, I can only think about the students that will never truly come to Drew, about the students that will never really get to experience what Madison has to offer and the opportunities that they are given here in the area,” he said.
George’s comments at the end of the meeting continued a nearly two-year streak, as Drew Forest advocates have spoken at every council meeting since the university’s development plans came to light.
Conley greeted several of the journalism students shortly after bringing the meeting to a close.
“Hopefully we’ll give you some good material to work with tonight,” he said when opening the session.
Please check back later for additional meeting coverage.
