ENDANGERED FARMLAND: The farm at 1234 South River Road in Cranbury, as well as a property at 1274, has been earmarked as a site for state-mandated affordable housing by the Cranbury Township Committee. Some residents are against the plan. The Township says its options are limited to stay within state law. Pictured is the house in 1880. (Photo courtesy of Andy Henry)
By Wendy Greenberg
The house and farm at 1234 South River Road is Cranbury Township’s choice as a location for state-mandated affordable housing.
But to property owner Andy Henry, 1234 South River Road is more than an address in a township document: it is the childhood home his great-grandfather built, a home that saw laughter and love, and a playful and protective family dog — one of many over the years, he said, along with a collection of stray cats who found their way to a free “food bank.” It is a place to which he and his brother regularly return, and they are not ready to see it demolished.
As the June 30 deadline to comply with the state’s affordable housing laws nears, many Cranbury residents oppose the plan to take the farm by eminent domain, and have voiced concerns at meetings, online, and in a GoFundMe campaign. The township, for its part, has explained why its choices are limited.
Under the Mount Laurel Doctrine, which was decided in a state Supreme Court case 50 years ago, all New Jersey government entities must provide their “fair share” of affordable housing. Based on complex criteria, Cranbury’s share is 265 over the next 10 years. By the year 2035, New Jersey towns must add or renovate over 146,000 affordable housing units, based on state calculations.
The criteria for where to locate the housing include available sewer and water, accessibility to transit, a 250-foot buffer zone from a warehouse, and more.
Farm Memories
While there are warehouses nearby today, growing up, said Henry, “we were surrounded by soybeans and winter wheat.” The New Jersey Turnpike was built an eighth of a mile behind the farmhouse in 1951, and exit 8A, which opened in 1972 only a half mile away, brought more traffic into Cranbury. But the farm was considered “our own little place,” he said.
On the 20 acres, an earlier house built by his great-grandparents in 1850 had burned down, and in 1879, Henry’s grandfather built the current white structure. Modifications were made in the 1950s, such as indoor bathrooms, and replacing the use of a hand-powered water well, which Henry recalled pumping three times as the charm until the water began spouting out. The traditional farmhouse has three bedrooms, a parlor, and living room, and a wood stove that is still there.
As they grew up in the home, the Henry brothers, Andy and Chris, attended Cranbury Elementary School — third, fourth, and fifth grade where the town hall is today — and went to a new Hightstown High School, which was the former sending/receiving arrangement, as Princeton High School is now. He graduated in 1970.
In 1936, his grandfather died and left Henry’s mother and grandmother to run the farm. His mom was an avid gardener, and from the fruits of the garden made rhubarb pie and blackberry pie, and fresh asparagus, he recalled.
Many of his memories involve the family dog, “a little mutt named Gypsy.” In the fall of 1962 there was barking for a couple of nights, but the family did not see anything outside until they found that their car, a 1952, four-door black Dodge sedan, was gone. (It was eventually found in Newark, he said.) Around 1972, the National Guard camped overnight in the harvested fields. With strangers on the property, the dog (this one a Great Dane) would not interact with them, but did like to intervene during playful wrestling matches between the brothers and their father.
In 1970, Henry left for Grove City College in western Pennsylvania. The sons of two World War II veterans, he and his brother joined the Air Force after college. Their father died in 2016; their mother had died a few years earlier. They didn’t live to see the ambiguity regarding the future of their family home
Today the farm raises beef cattle, with 39 Galloway cattle, 15 sheep, and assorted goats and chickens. It is a working farm, and the Henrys are there “regularly.”
“I didn’t expect this gut punch,” he said of the township’s plan. “We’ve been fighting developers for 30 years.” The farm is still, he said, “a little oasis surrounded by warehouses, or by land about to become warehouses.”
“Unusual” location
Henry’s attorney, Timothy P. Duggan, chair of Stark & Stark’s Condemnation, Redevelopment, and Eminent Domain Group, said that what makes the Cranbury case unusual is the land planning and location to build the affordable housing. “There are warehouses out by the turnpike and it is far from everything else. We believe there are alternatives, and the farm can be preserved,” he said.
Duggan said that taking a farm for affordable housing in a warehouse district is inconsistent with the township’s master plan, which involves farmland preservation.
Duggan said he would file a complaint. After the Township files its plan with the state by June 30, about 60 days are allowed to challenge it.
The quest to comply with New Jersey’s affordable housing regulations has been a lengthy process. The ordinance outlining the plans was discussed in April, and at the May 12 municipal meeting the Township Committee approved an ordinance to acquire the Henry property, as well as a lot at 1274 South River Road, for affordable housing.
According to the township website, a regular Township Committee meeting is scheduled for Monday, June 23 at 7 p.m., and on Tuesday June 24 at 7 p.m. there will be a special Planning Board meeting on the affordable housing plan. This meeting will be held at the public library. A meeting on Thursday June 26 will be the final step prior to state plan submission with a special meeting at 7 p.m., also at the library.
“We do think there are alternative sites,” Duggan said. “More suitable sites. We do believe (selecting Andy’s Farm) is arbitrary and capricious.” He said he and his client support affordable housing but believe there are better locations.
Best for Cranbury
Cranbury Mayor Lisa Knierim has addressed residents’ concerns in her regular updates, which are public on the township website, found at cranburytownship.org/home/news/mayors-update-june-11-2025.
In the June 11 update — the most recent, she said the township would continue “open negotiations with the property owners at 1234 and 1274 S. River Road. I will also remind our community that these negotiations remain confidential. Any speculation or announcement that a monetary offer has been made to any property owner by the Township of Cranbury is yet another lie in this false social media narrative that continues.” She urged dialogue on the issue.
After noting that the decision was not an easy one, she adds that “it was done with an extraordinary amount of diligence which is what all of Cranbury deserves.”
She explains that she voted for the plan to “protect our town from irresponsible planning and property options that will be denied by the state thus opening ourselves to builder’s remedy,” which, she notes, would “destroy our infrastructure, cripple our emergency services and overload our schools.” Builder’s remedy would allow developers to bypass local zoning restriction.
Additionally, she writes, “I voted yes to avoid catastrophic municipality property tax increases for Cranbury residents.” For properties to qualify for federal tax credits, she explains, they need high scores which are based on requirements such as sewer, transportation, water, etc. Multiple smaller properties that don’t score well, will not be eligible for full federal tax credits to cover construction costs.
Lastly, she writes, “I know we exhausted all our options before presenting our final plan to the residents and now to the State. I know that our decision was fact-based. That is this job whether people like it or not. No one is in favor of eminent domain, no one wants to see a farm disappear. The utopian society that is being painted on social media is inaccurate to say the least. Stating that all our current residents have the luxury to walk and mail a letter, get an ice cream cone or wave at the library books is completely inaccurate. We have children who are bussed to Cranbury School, who can’t walk to town, nor can they ride their bikes, whose parent(s) get in the car and drive to Main Street to participate in our ‘community activities,’ to enjoy our paths and parks every day.”
A GoFundMe — titled Save Andy’s Family Farm – A 150-Year Legacy at Risk, set up by resident Karen Herr DeRosa, on May 9 had raised more than $50,000 from 898 donations, as of Monday, June 16.
It states, “If you’ve ever taken South River Road on your way to the NJ Turnpike, you’ve passed it—that beautiful, peaceful stretch of farmland where cows graze and sheep roam under open skies. That’s Andy’s farm. Generations of Cranbury families recognize it instantly. To the children in town, it’s the magical ‘cow and sheep farm.’ To the rest of us, it’s a quiet reminder that not everything good has to be paved over.”