Open Space Trust Fund Ordinance Change Approved

The much-debated is now law. 

By unanimous vote, the gave final approval after the measure's second reading during its Tuesday night business meeting.

The and and replaces it with a new Municipal Open Space, Recreation, Floodplain Protection and Farmland and Historic Preservation Trust Fund. The new law is intended to expand the mayor's powers over open space fund dollars, whose uses previously were limited to the purchase and preservation of natural spaces, acquisition of historic properties and improvement of certain municipal recreation assets.

The new law will allow the money to go toward a wide array of new uses, including . It would also permit the town administration to use open space monies to pay debt service on large capital expenditures involving land acquisition for allowed purposes. 

The ordinance change went through despite the and to look toward putting letting voters decide whether to install athletic improvements at and high schools. The move essentially put an end to the so-called Fields of Dreams proposal championed by Mayor James Barberio.

Township Attorney John Inglesino has said since February that the ordinance change, though perhaps motivated by the turf fields issue, was necessary to protect the town and to "codify past practices by previous administrations," such as using open space to cover debt service payments for recreational properties.

"It's important for the council to ratify those acts, because we don't want to be in a position where somebody could say that the town has been improperly using Open Space Trust Fund money and expose the town to that liability," the attorney explained.

During public comment on the matter, resident Julia Peterson stated her concern over changing the ordinance.

"I am specifically concerned about about ... where the ordinance states 'in the event that the governing body determines, from time to time, that funds are not required for 1) acquisition or 2) for development of lands required, that the funds shall be allocated, in amounts determined by the governing body, for the 3) maintenance.' This clause gives the governing body free rein in spending funds which are specifically earmarked for certain purposes," she said.

"The Open Space Fund should not become a catch-all." 

Resident Mary Purzycki also took issue with the fund being used for maintenance of properties. Bringing up the 2006 open space referendum, she insisted that voters did not intend for trust fund dollars to go toward maintenance.

Purzycki waved off Attorney Inglesino and called on Council President Brian Stanton and the other members to offer their thoughts on the matter.

"I voted for you to represent me and I want you to have the understanding of what every ordinance means when you vote on it," she said. "Maintenance  cannot be included in debt service."

She also shared the view of resident Pat Petaccia, who could not attend the meeting, that the council should take the time to understand it fully before voting on it.

The council members did not comment.

Resident Jonathan Nelson asked the attorney whether open space monies can be used to pay for the maintenance of properties that were not purchased with  open space funds.

"Going forward, legally, we would probably not use trust fund monies for maintenance of properties in which we just have a lease interest," Inglesino said, clarifying that the town would have to own the open space acquisitions outright.

"Does changing the ordinance now make past practices legal?" asked resident Rick McNulty.

"Nobody said that past practice was illegal," Inglesino responded. 

Councilman Michael dePierro spoke up.

"Our intention was always to bond," he said. "Most capital expenditures are bonded. Did you expect us to tack on $5 million on top of the budget [for an open space land acquisition and creat] a spike in your taxes? We bond and spread out the expense. That's a common way of doing business. ... Whether spelled out or not, whether the referendum or the ordinance was written poorly or not is a different thing. Our intent was always, always to bond for any purchases that we made."