Brick Transfers Land Parcel to Breton Woods Fire Company After 30-Year Paperwork Error

A parcel of land behind the Breton Woods firehouse (green roof) off Mantoloking Road. (Credit: Google Maps)

Brick Township officials voted unanimously to introduce an ordinance that would transfer a parcel of land near the Breton Woods firehouse to the ownership of the fire company on a permanent basis.

The land in question is a small portion of the property at 658 Windsor Road, which is located behind the Breton Woods fire company property on Mantoloking Road. The transfer will not actually change any day-to-day activities, but will correct what has essentially been a paperwork error on the books since 1995 that was just discovered.

“The township has been studying its vacant land, as needed, for the affordable housing analysis,” explained Mayor Lisa Crate. “This property showed up as township-owned, however the fire company has been using it for many years under the assumption that they owned the land.”

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According to the text of the ordinance spelling out the transfer, the fire company and commercial land owners Berkol Corporation and PSD Corporation entered into a court-approved agreement in 1995 that exchanged two small, triangular-shaped parcels of land between the parties. Known as being part of a community called “White Oak Estates,” the agreement set out to determine a new boundary line for the lot – which measures .22 acres – and convey a portion of it to the fire company. The company also owns and maintains two other neighboring lots, all of which are contiguous to the firehouse.

The county court-authorized agreement, however, was never recorded in township records, and the land was foreclosed-upon by the township in 2002 after White Oak Estates failed to pay property taxes on the land. That land, however, was already supposed to have been in possession of the fire company, but for the last three decades has technically been owned by the township itself following the foreclosure. With the paperwork error unknown, members of the fire company have nevertheless maintained the parcel for the last three decades.

“They have been maintaining the parcel and using it for recreation at the firehouse,” said Crate. “The township has opted to formalize the transfer to the fire company.”

The ordinance conveys the land to the fire company for a token payment of $1 as long as the property is continued to be used by Breton Woods.