Bucks County votes to preserve 115 acre Bedminster farm

Bucks County's open space piggy bank is officially empty, at least when it comes to money for farmland.

That means the preservation of a 115 acre farm in Bedminister Township that was approved Wednesday by the County Commissioners will have to wait until the county borrows money to finance it.

County voters overwhemingly approved a new $87 million open space preservation program in November, and finance director Brian Hessenthaler said the county will soon float municipal bonds to raise the first chunk of the money.

'It is our plan to hopefully go out soon to market,' Hessenthaler said.

The county convened an open space committee to develop a new preservation plan to succeed the 10-year-old, $59 million initiative ratified by voters in 1997.

The new plan includes

$25 million for farmland preservation, with the balance going to municipal open space grants, county parks and preservation of natural areas, the Delaware riverfront and historic properties.

The Thomas Brubaker farm at 1298 Slotter Road will be the 22nd preserved by the county and state in Bedminister Township and is adjacent to nine other preserved farms.

The farm features 4,000 feet of road frontage, said Farmland Preservation coordinator Rich Harvey.

Once protected, it will bring the total number of county farms preserved to 115, and the number of acres of farmland saved from development to 10,317, Harvey said.

Harvey said the Brubaker farm grows corn and hay.