University, Madison report progress in 53-acre Drew Forest preservation effort

By: William Westhoven, Morristown Daily Record

With millions of dollars in new federal and state funding on the way, officials from both Madison and Drew University hope to complete the long-awaited sale and preservation of the university's 53-acre Drew Forest before the end of the year.

Following three years of negotiations - which at one point landed both parties in court - Mayor Robert Conley said recent talks with Drew President Hilary Link have been productive, and a Madison-Drew delegation successfully lobbied New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy to add $2 million to the state budget to help bring the sides closer to a deal.

"We've been making excellent progress over the past couple of months," Conley said.

Those funds can be added to a $5 million grant awarded last year by the Morris County Open Space Trust Fund, and another $4 million community grant recently shepherded into the 2024 federal budget by Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-Montclair.

Both sides are eager to preserve the tract, which provides a wooded buffer between the southern border of the campus and a residential neighborhood, with the sprawling Giralda Farms campus just to the west. Residents and campus dwellers both revere it as an idyllic retreat, while science faculty and students use the biodiverse land as a living laboratory for botanical studies.

"New Jersey is the most densely populated state in America and areas that maintain native flora are rare and precious," Deborah Ellis of the Native Plant Society said. "The Drew Forest healthy native understory is unique in North Jersey. South Jersey has [1.16 million] of acres in the Pine Barrens. We have nothing like that in North Jersey."

The Drew Forest Preserve also provides critical recharge for the Buried Valley Aquifer, a major source of drinking water for 31 municipalities in Morris, Essex, Somerset and Union counties.

'Bipartisan' success

Conley said state Senate Minority Leader Anthony Bucco, who represents Madison in Trenton, led a delegation that convinced the governor to add a $2 million appropriation to the pending budget. Bucco, a Republican, was joined by Sherrill, Democratic U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, Democratic state Sen. John McKeon and the all-GOP Morris County Commissioner board in supporting the cause.

"It was a bipartisan group, which is wonderful and exciting," Link observed.

"We put an impressive group of elected officials together for a great cause," Bucco said. "This is something I have been passionate about. It would be a shame if we lost it."

His efforts included making a video with Conley and Sherrill as part of a presentation last year to the Open Space Trust Fund Committee, which awarded $5 million after considering an application for $10 million.

Conley appreciated the $5 million award, but noted the trustees limited the amount because there was no contract agreement in hand, and they wanted to be sure all other avenues of funding had been explored.

"Not only did we find new sources of revenue, but we were successful," Conley said. "We're coming up on another round of county funding and typically you apply when you have a contract purchase in hand. We didn't have that last year. I think it will be much stronger if we have that agreement in hand for the second round."

'Fair value' needed

Neither Conley nor Link would put a price tag on the property, Link saying that would be "premature." But both sides recognize that the accumulated funds to date are not enough to cover what Link refers to as "fair value" for land that would otherwise be coveted by developers.

"We are really pleased about the important progress we are making toward securing the bigger pot of funds we need to preserve the Drew Forest, but also at a level that meets the university's financial obligation," Link said. "The important piece to remember is that while we are making a lot of really good progress, the initial offer that Madison provided is not enough to meet Drew's needs and would not reflect the real value of the forest."

The university was upfront from the beginning about its financial deficits coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic and that selling the Drew Forest might help them balance the books. That led to negotiations with the borough about a purchase and eventually a lawsuit by the university claiming Madison had compromised the market value of the land by not identifying it as developable land in its negotiations with the state to determine the borough's state-mandated affordable housing obligations.

In September 2022, Judge Stephan Hansbury in Morristown ordered Madison to produce a "midpoint review" of its negotiated settlement with the Fair Share Housing Center in 2021 that addresses whether the Drew Forest should be considered land with "realistic development potential."

Conley hopes that continued progress could result in a purchase agreement that would make the court actions moot, and also strengthen their application to the Open Space Committee.

"We still have a lot of work to do to get there, but we are very hopeful that we are going to get to where we need to be," Link said. "I feel we are all rowing in the same direction."