County officials have approved funding for the preservation of two parcels in Millstone Township. The Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders agreed to provide a total of $460,613.20 to help preserve a 25-acre tract as part of the farmland preservation program, and a 7.5-acre property as open space that will house a cultural center within a historic home.

“The county has always been a very important partner in our preservation of farmland in Millstone,” Mayor Nancy Grbelja said.

The property slated for farmland preservation, located on Route 526, is owned by the township’s Perlman family and is known as Perl Acres North. The Perlman family received preliminary major subdivision approval for Perl Acres North to have 11 residential lots in 2003. Nine of the lots would have been located on a cul-de-sac with access to Route 526, while two of the lots would have had direct access to Route 526. The board gave the family final approval on April 11, 2007.

“We were very fortunate to get it preserved,” Grbelja said, adding that the property’s soil is of very high quality.

The preservation agreement includes a 1-acre exception for a private residence, because there is currently no home on the property.

The township’s preservation of the property has been long in the making, according to Pat Butch, Millstone Township Open Space and Farmland Preservation Council chair.

“It has been three years that we have been working on this,” she said.

According to Butch, the State Agricultural Development Committee had concerns, because the property is located adjacent to a tract of open space. Officials worried that pesticides sprayed on the farm property could overflow to the neighboring open space, or that the adjoining open space could encourage trespassing on the farmland property.

“However, farms have to be next to something,” Butch said.

With the state funding in the works to fund 60 percent of the $877,555 purchase cost and the county having approved its contribution of 24 percent, or $210,613.20, Millstone is left to cover the remaining 16 percent, or $140,408.80.

“It’s been a long process, but we’re very happy that we were able to accomplish this,” Butch said. “We’re hoping to close before Christmas.”

According to Butch, township officials are also hoping to preserve Perl Acres South, a 168-acre tract across from Perl Acres North.

The second property, slated for preservation as open space, is the historic Thomas Baird homestead at 24 Baird Road.

Dating back to the 1830s, the Baird farmhouse sits on 7.5 acres.

“It’s really historically impeccable,” Grbelja said .

The members of the Baird family were prominent early settlers in the township, and Thomas Baird was born on the property originally called theHomestead Farm, later building his own home nearby, according to township historian Joann Kelty.

The Monmouth County Historic Sites inventory lists the house as one of the best remaining examples of its type remaining in Millstone Township, with some original hickory plank floors and moldings, plaster and lath walls and a hearth in the kitchen with the original brick bake oven

“They have done such a good job of preserving this place,” Grbelja said. “What a gem.”

The township negotiated with the owner, Karl G. Wagner Jr., and executed an offer to purchase the property for $857,500. The Monmouth County open space grant for $250,000, provides the first portion of the funding, and the township has applied for additional grants to cover the remainder, including a $428,750 grant from the state Department of Environmental Protection’s Green Acres Program and a Monmouth Conservation Foundation grant ranging between $50,000 and $100,000. The township will provide the balance of funding through money acquired from its open space tax.

The township has big plans for the property.

“We’ve already received preliminary approval fromthe state to get it on the register of historic places,” Kelty said.

The house will become a museum and cultural and educational enter, and the property will also be home to antique farming equipment. According to Kelty, various groups within Millstone will work together to help bring to fruition a number of plans, including a possible community garden and a variety of seasonal demonstrations throughout the year, including storm water management and composting, among others.

Also in the farmhouse will be a historic research library, where the historic commission will house materials on family genealogies and township, county and state history, Kelty said.

Contact Jessica Smith at examiner@gmnews.com.