New Jersey town to seize 175-year-old family farm to create affordable housing

Andy Henry’s 21-acre farm, located in Cranbury, NJ has been in his family for 175 years, per AgWeb. The property was bought by Henry’s maternal great-grandfather, Joseph McGill, in 1850. "They survived hardship after hardship. In 1936, my grandfather died, leaving my grandmother and mother to run the farm. It was struggle after struggle, but they held on to the land, and again survived, leaving something for the next generation," Henry said.

Henry and his brother, Christopher, grew up on the farm and saw how the area changed when the New Jersey Turnpike was built near their property in 1952, and an exit ramp went up in 1972. After that, farmland surrounding the property was sold, and warehouses and distribution centers went up in their place.

The land remained as a working farm, and Henry and his brother inherited the property in 2012. They have put $200,000 into the farm for upkeep, and have been approached with buyout offers reaching $20-$30 million.

Henry told the outlet, "Didn’t matter how much money we were offered. We saved the farm no matter what. We turned down all the offers to preserve the legacy for our family, city, and even state."

"Our farm is now leased for raising cattle and sheep. The town loves driving by and seeing something besides warehouses. Keeping this legacy intact and passing it to the next generation has been, and is always, our plan."

Henry received an official letter of notice from the Cranbury Township Committee on April 24 listing his farm as an affordable housing site. Henry said, "It was incredibly stunning. The letter said if I didn’t agree on a price—they’d take my land by eminent domain." The Committee officially approved a plan to take the farm on May 12.

Eminent domain specialist Timothy Duggan, who is representing Henry, said that the town’s intentions are "misguided and rushed."

"Government behavior should be the opposite—preserve instead of destroy. This is not a proper, reasonable use of eminent domain. No way," Duggan said. "Andy Henry could sell out for tens of millions of dollars to developers and walk away. It’s mind-boggling in this day and age to think you have someone genuinely standing on principle, but that’s who Andy Henry is, and that’s how much he wants his 175-year-old farm protected. He’s preserving history at no cost to the public."

He continued, "We live in a heavily populated state with family farms lost at a fast and steady rate, and now someone wants to remove another, even though this special one still produces livestock and hay, with 21 acres and a historic home." The home on the farm was rebuilt in 1880 after the prior residence burned down.

"Literally, there is an architect from upstate New York scheduled to visit the house and look at the porch because he wants to be accurate in one of his rebuilds." That speaks to the amazing historic condition of Andy’s place, and to think the city government chooses to erase it defies common sense.

Duggan said that he couldn’t find "anyone who supports the township’s action, on two levels: One, everyone loves the Henry farm and appreciates it so much. Two, there are other places to build, and you don’t put up house complexes beside industrial complexes."

Under New Jersey law, Cranbury has an obligation to build 265 afforable houses. Duggan said, "We support affordable housing, but not dropped in the middle of a bunch of warehouses. The whole thing lacks common sense."

Henry said that the "whole town has gotten behind me. We have a long history here in Cranbury and love this place and the people." He is set to file a complaint to challenge the township in court. Duggan said that Henry will challenge the eminent domain at every step.

"There are other places to build. Why take a 175-year-old farm?"