The Friends of Pitney Farm presented our 86-page Business Plan  to the Mendham Township Committee on 12/14/2015.  As a result of this presentation, the Mendham Twp Committee voted on 12/22/2015 to form a sub-committee to negotiate a lease of the Pitney Farm property to the Friends of Pitney Farm.  Members of the sub-committee are Mendham Twp Committee members Diana Orban Brown and Chris Baumann, and Mendham Twp counsel John Mills, Esq.

Here is the slide presentation made on 12/14/2015 at the Mendham Twp Committee meeting:

 

December 14, 2015 was an inspiring night for the supporters of Pitney Farm’s preservation.  In a town hall packed with residents in favor of saving this remnant of our community’s last 3 centuries of history, the Mendham Twp Committee voted down proposed Ordinance 6-2015 which would have re-zoned the 5 remaining acres of Pitney Farm into as many as 6 small residential lots.  In an earlier meeting, the Mendham Twp Planning Board had unanimously voted against the proposed ordinance because it was inconsistent with the township’s Master Plan.

Following the failure of this re-zoning effort, the Mendham Township Committee received the presentation of the Business Plan developed by the Friends of Pitney Farm  for preserving and repurposing all 12 acres of Pitney Farm.  The presentation was made by professionals in the fields of architecture, engineering, public works project management, municipal planning, and finance.  All of the presenters are residents of Mendham Twp.  The presenters were:  Omie Ryan, President of the Friends of Pitney Farm, David Wisotsky from Bohler Engineering, Marc Parette from Parette Somjen Architects, Rick Blood who is Director of Public Works in Roxbury, and Teresa Finlay, Vice President of the Friends of Pitney Farm.