New Otken appraisal reaches $11 million
Commissioners tour
105-acre site to
determine value
By jennifer kohlhepp
Staff Writer

NORTH BRUNSWICK — A new Otken family appraisal estimates the town owes them more than $11 million for their condemned property.

"We just completed another appraisal of our land, that we expect to submit to the commissioners," Ed Otken, spokesman for the Otken family, said.

Otken said the $11 million does not include the cost of relocating the family’s auto repair business that is currently situated on the 105-acre property off Route 130.

"We still have to put in front of the commissioners how much it’s going to cost to move my father’s business," Otken said.

An unanimous appellate court ruling on March 11 upheld a Superior Court judge’s decision to allow the township to condemn the family’s farm to meet the growing population’s needs for active and passive recreational space.

The township moved to condemn the land in 2001 for open space. The family objected and took the township to court.

Otken said the family had a $10 million contract on the property with Freehold developers US Homes Inc.

That contract would have been for a senior housing development on the property.

Otken said representatives from the family and the township will meet with the commissioners in three hearings: Aug. 22, and Sept. 8 and 9.

Otken expects the commissioners to render a decision on the value of the land sometime in September.

In order to familiarize the commissioners with the property, township officials and representatives from the Otken family took the commissioners on a walk-through of the property on July 28.

Otken said the commissioners’ decision, however, will not be binding.

"If either side doesn’t like the commissioners’ ruling either side can appeal the ruling and go to trial by jury," Otken said.

The township’s current appraisal estimates the land is worth about $6.3 million.

During a hearing held in the Middlesex County Courthouse in New Brunswick on June 20, Superior Court Judge James Hurley denied North Brunswick Township the right to hold $550,000, in escrow of the $6.3 million set aside to purchase the Otken farm, for possible environmental hazards and back rent.

The township hired Parlin-based CME Engineering for $12,000 in May, to complete a Phase II environmental evaluation to address the concerns of an underground storage tank for oil and storage piles on the property, and lead paint presumed to be on the home.

Hurley ruled the township should have completed a complete environmental assessment before condemning the property.