All of the historic structures on Pitney Farm, dating back to pre-Revolutionary days, are in danger of being lost in developers’ pursuit of residential redevelopment, increasing Mendham’s housing density at the expense of our heritage.  The Mendham Township Committee is disregarding the recommendations of its own Historic Preservation Committee.

Please make your voice heard.  Write a Letter to the Editor, e-mail each one of the Mendham Township Committee members.  Go to the “Get Involved” section of this web site and tell the Mendham Township Committee that they cannot ignore the overwhelming public sentiment to preserve historic Pitney Farm.  The Mendham Township Committee may be focused on the money, but they were elected to carry out the will of the people — and that is to save and re-purpose Pitney Farm for the benefit of the community.

On February 24, 2015, Ray Nadaskay, Chair of Mendham Township Historic Preservation Committee, presented his committee’s plea to the Mendham Township Committee.  He urged them to be good stewards of the Pitney Farm property currently owned by the township, and to “retain, preserve, and re-purpose Pitney Farm for the benefit of present and future citizens of the Township of Mendham.”

The Mendham Township Historic Preservation Committee is composed of recognized professionals including architects, historians, preservationists and other concerned citizens who were directed by the township to define and preserve the historic elements of Mendham Township that contribute to the desirable character of our community.  The Historic Preservation Committee has found that Pitney Farm holds impressive local, state, and federal historical information that is unique to the community and deem that Pitney Farm indisputably meets several of the 4 criteria considered for listing on the New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places.

On April 13, 2015, the Mendham Township Committee disregarded their own Historic Preservation Committee, as well as the township’s 2002 Master Plan, the Certificate of Eligibility for Historic Registry listing awarded to Pitney Farm by the NJ Historic Preservation Office on 2/24/15, the designation of Pitney Farm by the Morris County Heritage Commission as an historic site in 1986/1987, and the historic assessments of several noted historic preservation experts regarding the irreplaceable historic value of Pitney Farm.  Disregarding as well, the overwhelming community support for saving and re-purposing Pitney Farm, the Mendham Township Committee directed Township Attorney John Mills to pursue the sale of Pitney Farm at public auction.  The probable result — with developers bidding against the public’s efforts to save Pitney Farm — would be the loss of every historic structure and intensive development of the site, thus increasing housing density in Mendham.  This isn’t why most residents decided to move to Mendham.