Open space and environment

State lands in Skillman

The township is pursuing about 395 acres of state Department of Corrections land in Skillman: 188 acres around the high school and 207 acres on Burnt Hill Road. A 1988 law already limits the parts farmed then to farm, conservation or recreation use. No appraisal, price or vote is public.

Checked against the primary record on . Every figure on this page is sourced at the foot of the article.

Pursuing; no price or vote Last moved

What happens next

No public step is scheduled. Watch Township Committee agendas for a purchase resolution and State House Commission agendas for a Montgomery item; neither had appeared as of October 23, 2026.

The township wants to acquire two tracts owned by the New Jersey Department of Corrections: Block 25001 Lot 27, about 188 acres that wrap around Montgomery High School, and Block 27001 Lot 7.01, about 207 acres on Burnt Hill Road. The township press release calls them the former Brookview Farm and the former Skillman Dairy Farm. It plans to ask the state Green Acres program to pay half, and the State House Commission must approve any sale.

A 1988 state law already restricts the parts of both tracts that were farmed on October 5, 1988 to “agricultural or horticultural use or conservation or recreation purposes.” In 2000 the state needed a second law to release 77 acres of Lot 27, the former McCorkle facility, for sale; the school access easement in that law lasts only while the parcel is used as a public school. In March 2026 the township sketched about 73 acres of the Burnt Hill Road tract for possible non-park uses. How those uses fit the 1988 law has not been explained in public.

The school district asked in September 2026 for the parcel next to the high school stadium. It said that was not a commitment to buy. In July the SAVE animal shelter said it was interested in adjacent land “only if adjacent properties become available.” The township has discussed the land in closed session several times. Any purchase must be approved in a public session.

Residents can speak at Township Committee and Board of Education meetings, follow State House Commission agendas, and request the Green Acres paperwork from the Township Clerk.

The state lands in Skillman, explained

Timeline

Each dated event on this issue, oldest first, linked to the full sourced entry.

  1. Milestone State law restricts farmed state land in Skillman to farm, conservation or recreation useP.L.1988, c.135 restricted any part of three state-owned tracts in Montgomery that was farmed on October 5, 1988 to agricultural, horticultural, conservation or recreation use "in perpetuity." Two of those tracts, Block 25001 Lot 27 and Block 27001 Lot 7, are the state lands the township is pursuing today.
  2. Milestone New law releases 77 acres of Lot 27, the former McCorkle facility, from the 1988 restrictionP.L.2000, c.135 let the state sell the 77-acre former McCorkle Correctional Facility parcel on Route 601, part of Block 25001 Lot 27, and declared it outside the 1988 use restriction because it was not farmed in 1988. The restriction stays on the rest of Lot 27. It also granted the Board of Education an access easement to Route 602.
  3. Pending Administrator reports the state is starting a sale of the dairy farm land to the townshipThe Township Administrator told the Township Committee that "the State is initiating the sale" of the former dairy farm at Burnt Hill and Orchard roads "and some land by the high school" to the township. It is the first public step on the record in the current effort.
  4. Pending Township presents plan to acquire about 395 acres of state Corrections land in SkillmanThe Open Space and Stewardship Director briefed the Township Committee on acquiring two New Jersey Department of Corrections parcels, 188 and 207 acres, describing it as the largest acquisition of property by the township. Green Acres would be the funding partner. Residents supported preservation but questioned proposed non-open-space uses.
  5. Pending Somerset County awards $125,000 toward the Forbes/Rader open-space purchaseThe Township Committee authorized a grant agreement with Somerset County, which awarded $125,000 from its Open Space Preservation Grant Program toward the township's purchase of the Forbes/Rader property, Block 13001 Lot 21, at 690 Route 601. At the same meeting the Committee added a Green Acres deed restriction to another open-space lot.
  6. Pending School district asks for a share of the state land the township is pursuingThe school superintendent and the Board of Education vice president told the Township Committee that the district is formally interested in the parcel next to the high school athletic stadium. It is part of the Department of Corrections land the township is considering acquiring.

Explainers

  • The State Lands in Skillman, Explained

    Montgomery is pursuing about 395 acres of New Jersey Department of Corrections land in Skillman: 188 acres around the high school and 207 acres on Burnt Hill Road. A 1988 state law already limits the parts that were farmed then to farm, conservation or recreation use. The township has held closed sessions and started the Green Acres paperwork, and the school district and the SAVE animal shelter have asked for pieces. No appraisal, price, vote or state approval is public.

Meetings

  • Township Committee — September 17, 2026

    The Township Committee directed the Planning Board to study whether Block 14001, Lot 2 at 199 Grandview Road meets the statutory criteria for a non-condemnation redevelopment area, and authorised an escrow agreement under which E. Kahn Development pays for the study. Both passed 4-0 with Committeeman Martin absent, over roughly 40 minutes of public comment that ran heavily against them. The township attorney also said on the record that the widely reported "$300 million" damages figure in the data-center lawsuit is false.

  • Township Committee — March 5, 2026

    The Township Committee adopted every implementing piece of the amended Fourth Round housing framework — the rewritten Chapter 15 ordinance, the amended spending plan, the administrative agent and the affirmative marketing plan — all 5-0. The township attorney reported that Program Judge Miller had found no consensus among the objectors and had recommended a fairness hearing before any order issues, and that the Planning Board hearing on the plan itself, snowed out in February, was reset to March 9.

Sources for this overview

  1. P.L.1988, c.135, approved October 5, 1988 (Acts of the Legislature, 1988, NJ State Library)
  2. P.L.2000, c.135 (S1480), approved October 31, 2000
  3. Township Committee minutes, May 15, 2025 (Resolution #25-5-186 names the two lots)
  4. Township Committee minutes, March 5, 2026 (Update: Department of Corrections State Lands)
  5. Township Committee minutes, July 16, 2026 (SAVE, A Friend to Homeless Animals)
  6. Township Committee minutes, September 17, 2026 (State Lands: Montgomery Township School District)
  7. NJ Treasury: State House Commission agendas
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