Welcome to Save Hamilton Open Space

• Klockner Woods: Four Years and Counting  (2/15/07)
  
  

  After nearly four years the Klockner Woods issue is still unsettled and prospects for a quick end seem slim.
  
  In her Feb 1, 2007, 80-page opinion, Judge Linda Feinberg, NJ Superior Court, ruled that her earlier consent judgement would be upheld. (News Story)  The effort by the Hamilton Council to overturn the town’s deal with owner/developer Fieldstone Associates was denied. The $355,333.29 in interest payments would not be credited toward the $4.1 million purchase price, and she gave the town one month to pay up. Further, the judge said the interest payments would continue, but that the payments from Sept. 2006 to March 2007 would be waived if the town pays for the property by March 1, 2007. There’s every indication the Council will appeal that decision. News Story
  
  Point of View
  
  Just what is the right price and why hasn’t anyone figured it out yet?
  Read POV

• Rolling Acres Neighborhood Opposes Development (2/15/07)
  Residents of Rolling Acres are concerned over two planned developments on five acres of woods along Rt. 33 between Crest Ave and the Nitti Subaru dealership. Neighbors waged a successful battle against a Super Wawa planned for the site. Now the 100 year old woods, the last remnant of eastern hardwood forest along Route 33, is threatened by two strip malls and a bank.
  (click on photo to the left to enlarge)
  
  
  Point of view
  
  Tacky tactics by developer’s lawyer. Read POV
  
  
  
• SHOS joins effort to preserve NJ's first railroad (updated 2/17/07)
  View map of the proposed recreational "rail trail"
  The Camden and Amboy Railroad was the first in NJ and the third in the U.S. The nation’s first steam engine, the John Bull, now in the Smithsonian, operated on the line that runs from Camden to South Amboy, NJ. Conrail, the current owner, is seeking to sell 5.7 miles of right of way they no longer use. Part of it goes through Hamilton. SHOS favors preservation of the right of way as a bike-hike “rail trail” and as a possible passenger or freight line should the need ever arise in the future. The current Trenton to Camden River Line uses part of the original line.
  
  The clock is ticking to preserve this historic right of way. The federal Surface Transportation Board that controls railroad abandonments ruled that there are 111 days from Feb 14 left on the 180 "public use" clock. The 180 days will expire June 5, 2007. This means that if no one buys the entire 5.7 mile right of way for a public use such as a recreational trail, then it can be sold off piece meal. That would break up the parcel, and the right of way would be lost forever. Details
  
  

We are a local, not-for-profit 501 (c)(3), non-partisan organization dedicated to preserving open space in Hamilton Township, Mercer County, New Jersey. We believe that there should be a balance between natural habitat, parks, farms and developed land. With approximately 85% of Hamilton's land already developed, we have far exceeded that balance, and should preserve what land remains.

What We Do

Education - We educate people about the extent, location and inherent value of open space in Hamilton, along with strategies and tactics that can be used to save it.

Preservation - We work directly with citizen groups and government to save all or parts of specific parcels of land in Hamilton Township.

Advocacy - We support laws, ordinances and actions by government that help save land, recycle existing development, and give communities a greater voice in land use decisions.