FAMILY FARM SAVED: The 175-year-old family farm on South River Road farm in Cranbury Township has been saved, thanks to an agreement by the parties involved. It had been earmarked as a site for state-mandated affordable housing by the Cranbury Township Committee, eliciting a groundswell of support to keep the farm in the family of owners Andy and Christopher Henry. Pictured is the house in 1880. (Photo courtesy of Andy Henry)
By Wendy Greenberg
A Cranbury Township family farm will remain in the family and not be taken by eminent domain, after a settlement last week that would allow the farm to be removed from the township’s affordable housing plan.
As township officials scout another site for affordable housing to meet their state obligation, Andy Henry, who owns the farm at 1234 South River Road with his brother Christopher, is relieved.
The 150-year-old farm was the brothers’ childhood home, built by their great-grandfather. Although the brothers live out of town, they return often to the working farm.
Andy Henry said that he and his brother “were delighted” after Gov. Phil Murphy announced the agreement on October 23. “Our family has endured many challenges since 1850, with the farmhouse burning down in 1879, the death of a daughter at a young age by tuberculosis in 1890, the Great Depression, and our grandfather’s early death in 1936 in the middle of the depression,” Henry said. “The attempt to take the property by eminent domain was the latest challenge to us, an entirely man-made situation.”
“New Jersey’s family farms are an essential and deeply cherished part of our state’s story,“ said Gov. Murphy’s statement. “For 175 years, the Henry Family Farm has stood on South River Road in Cranbury as a proud symbol of that agricultural tradition. For that reason, I am proud that — with the help of our administration — the Henry family, Cranbury Township, and Fair Share Housing have reached an agreement that will ensure the farm remains under the family’s ownership, while local leaders look elsewhere to meet the town’s affordable housing obligations.
“While every town in New Jersey must do its part to resolve our state’s affordable housing crisis, these efforts must be pursued thoughtfully and collaboratively.”
The agreement “hinges on an impending revision of a rule proposed by the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency (HMFA) that we anticipate will be finalized by the end of the year,” according to Murphy’s statement, “permitting responsible development that will make housing more accessible and more affordable for families in Cranbury and across our state.”
Henry’s attorney Tim Duggan of Stark and Stark PC, confirmed that “the Henrys are relieved to learn we now have a path forward to have their farm removed from Cranbury’s affordable housing plan.”
“While the Henry family has filed lawsuits to protect the farm, they also worked with various federal and state officials to help find other suitable locations for Cranbury to build affordable housing,” said Duggan. “One issue the stakeholders had to address was a proposed NJ Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency (HMFA) rule which, if adopted, would prohibit new affordable housing to be built within 250 feet of the property line of the nearest warehouse facility. The “250-foot rule” would disqualify certain properties in many towns, including one very good site in Cranbury. By tweaking the proposed rule to allow some flexibility to get relief from the 250-foot rule, the parties believe the Henry farm can be removed from Cranbury’s Affordable Housing Plan and replaced with another site. We expect the proposed rule to be modified to meet our goal of saving the Henry Farm. This is a wonderful example of how federal, state, and local officials can work together, across party lines, to reach a great result.”
Cranbury officials had a June 30 deadline to submit a plan to comply with the state’s Round 4 affordable housing laws. The township, under the law, would provide 265 affordable housing units in the next decade. Contending their choices were limited, the township would have zoned 11.58 acres of the 21-acre Henry farm for affordable units.
Henry filed a challenge seeking to eliminate the farm from the Township’s Housing Element and Fair Share Plan, as did Cranbury Housing Associates, a nonprofit that has helped Cranbury meet its affordable housing obligations; and The Fair Share Housing Center (FSHC) in Mount Laurel, a nonprofit advocacy organization.
Cranbury Mayor Lisa Knierim issued a statement in which she said that she is “pleased” to share the news, that after speaking with the Governor’s Office, “I can confirm that HMFA will relax the language of its 250-foot warehouse buffer rule, with adoption anticipated before year’s end.
“This outcome is the direct result of sustained advocacy: public comments from our Township Committee, Fair Share Housing, the Department of Community Affairs, Cranbury residents across our community, and partner municipalities that stood with us. In Cranbury’s case, this adjustment is meaningful. This adjustment creates a meaningful opportunity for Cranbury to evaluate alternative sites to the Henry Farm, while continuing to meet our state-mandated affordable housing obligations with transparency and fiscal responsibility.”
She thanked residents who voiced their opinions, crediting them with helping to “secure a path that better protects taxpayers and preserves our planning flexibility.”
Henry is grateful for the outpouring of support. “We could not have succeeded without help from numerous citizens in our hometown of Cranbury, who devoted their time to help, attended Town Council meetings to oppose the taking, and when their objections went unheard, began a publicity campaign,” he said. “They bought lawn signs at their own expense, promoted our cause with a float in the Memorial Day parade, and contacted news organizations to get the story out. We got incredible support from the State Agriculture Development Committee, the N.J. Farm Bureau, numerous online influencers and musicians, and donors to our GoFundMe. USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) Secretary [Brooke] Rollins was very committed to helping us, and declared that a war against one farm is a war against all farms. It became evident that our country is losing an incredible 2,000-5,000 acres of farmland every day.”
And the farm’s future? “Now that we again have control of our farm, we are working to put it into farmland preservation to head off future attempts to take it.,” said Henry. “We expect to keep cows and sheep grazing on the property for the foreseeable future, and are glad that their presence continues to delight passersby with a visual of something besides warehouses, chemically-treated lawns, and concrete. There is no other place like it near exit 8A of the New Jersey Turnpike.”