Mahwah December 4, 2013 THE VILLADOM TIMES IV • Page 5 Township issues tax credit on land acquired as gift by Frank J. McMahon On May 30, the Mahwah Council adopted an ordinance authorizing the acquisition of the gift of the property known as Block 96, Lots 14, 15 and 16 on Armour Road from E. Thomas Boyle and William M. Boyle. The council has now authorized the township’s tax collector to issue a credit against all taxes and interest that otherwise would be payable for the property from the date of the last payment received to the date of the closing of title confirming the township’s acquisition of the land. The property, which is now vacant, has an assessed value of $170,000. The township closed on the acquisition on Nov. 12. Based on information provided by the township, the last payment of taxes was received on Jan. 29, and the balance due for the second and third quarter tax installments is $1,437 plus interest. “In view of the township council’s final adoption of the ordinance accepting the gift on May 30, 2013, the town- ship council wishes to credit all unpaid taxes that otherwise would have been due, subject to the township’s acquisition of the property,” said Mahwah Township Administrator Brian Campion. This is the third gift of property to the township in recent memory. In June 2012, the Mahwah Council adopted an ordi- nance that authorized the township to acquire three lots on Ramapo Valley Road (Route 202) at the corner of Strysko Avenue as a gift from the estate of the property owner. The township council determined that there is a need for the acquisition of the properties for potential development for affordable housing. The lots include about 1.5 acres and are located on Ramapo Valley Road in the northwestern por- tion of the township across from the Mahwah Bar & Grill property. One lot had an abandoned house on it that has since been demolished. The owner of the property, Judith Webster, had died and her family made this philanthropic donation in her memory. There was no cost to the township for the acquisition and the township’s conceptual intent is to build special needs affordable housing on the site, similar to the complex on Franklin Turnpike in Allendale called Orchard Commons. The acquisition will include, but will not be limited to, the acquisition of all easements, rights of way leaseholds, and other estates in and to the property. In December 2012, the council adopted an ordinance that authorized the township’s attorney to execute all the documents necessary to complete the acquisition of a 0.7- acre piece of property that was recently subdivided from an 11.4-acre, two-lot property in the Ramapo Hunt and Polo Club Association residential zone on Halifax Road adjacent to the Ramapo River. The small piece of land was offered to the township as a gift at no cost to the township by the owners of the main portion of the property, in connection with a subdivision of their land, which consolidated two lots into one. That subdivision was approved by the planning board on Aug. 20, 2012. The planning board also recommended the acquisition of the small subdivided piece of land after reviewing the ordinance authorizing that acquisition. According to that ordinance, the property was being acquired by the township for the purpose of preserving open space for Mahwah residents and the taxes due to the township were to be adjusted as of the date of the transfer of title.