Supporting Expanding Supawna

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Freeholders support preservation acquisition

The county has pledged its support to help Supawna Meadows National Wildlife Refuge acquire a 78-acre tract of land here once slated for development into a Super Walmart. The total asking price: $4.4 million.

By a narrow 4-3 vote, freeholders allocated $350,000 toward the effort to bring that highly-sought parcel off of Route 49 into the refuge's preservation area.

The money will be utilized from a $1 million grant which Salem County received through the state's Green Acres program last month. It is the county's first-ever appropriation from its open space program, officials said.

The county's contribution is only part of the full $4.4 million needed to purchase the land along Route 49 and Lighthouse Road.

Today is the deadline for various environmental groups spearheading this initiative to reach the asking price posed by landowner Andrew Sinnickson of Maryland.

Officials said the Sinnicksons, whose family dates back some 300 years in Salem County, would walk away and seek other offers if they didn't get their agreed-upon sum, which comes out to just over $56,000 an acre for the farmland-assessed ground.

In comparison, the three farmland sales in Salem County within the past 12 months averaged $12,917 per acre, according to David Wright, a directing member of the Gloucester/Salem Counties Board of Realtors.

Freeholders Julie Acton, Bruce Bobbitt, David Lindenmuth and Deputy Director Beth Timberman supported the resolution passed at the freeholder meeting April 15, while freeholders Dale Cross, Jeffrey Hogan and Director Lee Ware voted against the measure.

"The preservation of this tract will add more acreage to the beauty of Supawna Meadows," Timberman said. "Salem County has wonderful natural resources which we hope to share with the region."

Leaders in Pennsville have opposed preserving the land, calling it an ideal location to expand commercially. Mayor Richard Barnhart said this deal would forever eliminate the possibility to create businesses there and build upon the tax base.

The township planning board had, after all, given the green light for building subdivision at the site in 2006, in effect rolling out the red carpet for Walmart to construct a 280,000-square-foot super center there, about a mile down the road from its existing store.

A citizen's lawsuit was filed challenging the site plan approval, and the state Department of Environmental Protection refused to allow sewerage be extended to the site.

Last July developers let the project die, opening the door for preservation and signifying a tremendous success for environmental groups.

If the preservation deal is completed, the tract would become tax-exempt property of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which manages the current 3,000-acre refuge.

Yet Supawna Meadows has faced a complete loss of its annual budget, going unstaffed and unfunded for about three years. There are concerns the Sinnickson property could face severe overgrowth if it is incorporated into the refuge, according to Barnhart.

He added the land alone would go from providing an estimated $30,000 in local property taxes during the bid for development, to $8,800 after the Walmart project failed and Sinnickson put the ground into farm assessment, to zero if it is federally owned.

"Our side of the county is supposed to be a growth area instead of a conservation area," Barnhart said. "At this point now, we are going to lose that property for future development ... it probably would have brought a good tax ratable."

Ware said by voting against funds for the Sinnickson Tract preservation, he was reacting to how he thought the majority of the township felt.

"I've been very consistent with my preservation efforts. I've been consistent on home rule, too," Ware said. "This county and country was built on home rule."

Environmentalists have offered outspoken approval of the plan to expand the refuge, though the deal has been extremely complicated, taken numerous state and federal funding partners and is still not finalized.

According to Ross Pilling, a land specialist putting together the acquisition deal for The Conservation Fund, there was only one outstanding funding request as of Tuesday afternoon for $375,000.

He would not divulge the organization through which the funding is still being sought because of the delicate nature of these deals.

"Each deal is a proverbial snowflake," Pilling said. "There are so many different agencies with their own rules and regulations and lawyers."

Earlier this year Congress approved $1.5 million in federal funds to go toward the land's purchase.

According to Matt Blake, a Delaware Bay project manager with the American Littoral Society, the preservation of this land is critical because it protects the feeding area for the largest wading bird rookery north of Florida.

The Sinnickson Tract is currently designated as a bald eagle foraging area, as well.

"Our refuges represent all Americans - symbols of greatness measured not by what we destroy, but by what we preserve," Blake said. "The Sinnickson family has decided to leave an incredible wildlife legacy that will protect irreplaceable wildlife resources of national importance."

Sinnickson made a personal appearance at the freeholder meeting a week ago, uttering a brief public comment that if the freeholders supported the preservation, "no question about it, it would be a tremendous boon for the area in my mind."

As a real estate professional, Wright said he was blown away with the high cost of this preservation, despite recognizing its inherent benefits.

"I can't imagine spending that kind of money in this market," Wright said. "I would think it could have sold for half that."

For those who battled suburban sprawl in what they considered the worst of places, they whole-heartedly support the high cost of victory.