Barclay farms go to auction

[news]

Property will be preserved and maintained in agricultural production

The township has set a date to auction off the Barclay North and South farms after a long dispute that was resolved by a state Superior Court ruling made in Cranbury's favor.

On June 16, the 190 acres of farmland west of North Main Street will go up for auction again. Cranbury resident and farmer Arthur Danser challenged the legality of an October 2004 auction of the property and lost.

"The good news is the property will be preserved and maintained in agricultural production," Mayor David Stout said Wednesday. "The unfortunate part is that in the process, from the purchase to the sale, there's been a lot of bumps in the road."

Mr. Danser, who lived on the property from 1929 until 2005, was the highest bidder at the land's 2004 auction, bidding $1.9 million for the property. But he refused to enter into a contract for the property because he was challenging the auction, which he said was illegal because the township extended the deadline to submit bids, forcing him to increase his original bid from $1.2 million to $1.9 million.
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