Morris County 2022 Open Space Grant Applications Now Available

The Morris County Office of Planning and Preservation has announced that the 2022 grant application for funding of open space projects under the Morris County Preservation Trust Fund are now available online on the Open Space Preservation website.

“Any of Morris County’s 39 municipalities and qualified charitable conservancies are eligible to apply for grant funding,” said Barbara Murray, the Morris County open space program coordinator.

The deadline for submitting open space applications and appraisals for 2022 funding is Thursday, June 9, 2022.

Last year, the Morris County Board of County Commissioners approved recommendations by the county’s Open Space Trust Fund Committee to award $1.3 million in preservation grants for four open space projects, totaling 43 acres located in four Morris County towns.

The Open Space Trust Fund, which is part of the county’s Preservation Trust Fund, has helped to preserve 17,682 acres throughout the county since 1994, using $293,220,418 generated by a preservation tax Morris County voters approved in November 1992.

In addition to open space projects, the county’s Preservation Trust Fund also helps finance farmland and historic preservation, county parkland acquisition, recreational trails project, and the purchase of residential properties prone to flooding.

“The story goes back nearly three decades ago when the then-Freeholders recognized that sound planning requires a balance of economic growth and the protection of natural resources. Our efforts to preserve open space in Morris County has always been supported by the taxpayers and goes to the heart of why people love to live and raise their families here, and why major corporations make Morris County their home,” said Morris County Commissioner Stephen Shaw, who is the county governing board’s liaison to the Department of Planning and Preservation.

“With an established park system that is second-to-none in New Jersey and our continued expansion of a network of county hiking trails, we have preserved much more than just our surroundings. We have improved upon an already high quality of life here that includes one of the lowest county taxes in the state, well maintained public infrastructure, top-rated schools, and safe neighborhoods, and we will continue to nurture it,” he added.

The review process for grant applications is handled by the Open Space Trust Fund Committee, which visits the proposed sites and makes final recommendations to the Board of County Commissioners by fall.

Additional information maybe be obtained by contacting the Office of Planning and Preservation at 973-829-8120.