BERKELEY TOWNSHIP – Noting the importance of mitigating coastal flooding and saving the shoreline, the Ocean County Board of Commissioners has approved the preservation of another property located in Good Luck Point, here.

"The Ocean County Natural Lands Trust Fund Advisory Council recommended this acquisition as part of our efforts to protect the coastal marsh in that area," said Ocean County Commissioner Virginia E. Haines, liaison to the Ocean County Natural Lands Trust program. "We will be adding this property to the 22 others that have already been preserved.

"This is an area of Ocean County that was devastated when Superstorm Sandy came ashore in October 2012," Haines said. "It's important to continue to protect this area so future storms will not have the same effect."

The Board of Commissioners approved the purchase following a public hearing at its June 19 meeting.

The property is nearly three-fourths of an acre, and is located off Dorrance Drive, which is adjacent to approximately 10 acres of existing open space in the Good Luck Point area. The property owner accepted a negotiated offer of $247,000 for the land.

"The funding for this purchase is coming directly from the Ocean County Natural Lands Trust Fund," said Haines. "Throughout the history of preserving Good Luck Point properties, there have been some purchases made with other funding sources including Blue Acres funds along with other partnerships that we have developed."

Blue Acres is a funding source through the New Jersey Department of Environment Protection. Since its inception in 1995, the program has worked to protect public safety and the environment by relocating New Jersey families whose homes are subject to repeated flooding and acquiring property for use as natural flood storage, parks and community open space.

"This area has been a priority for land preservation under the Ocean County Natural Lands Trust Fund program," Haines said. "The purchase of these lands preserve the coastal marsh which mitigates coastal flooding and also maintains the unique marsh habitat."

When the Ocean County Natural Lands Trust Fund was approved in 1998, local officials realized the importance of protecting the shorelines due to things such as tidal flooding. Over the years, the Ocean County Natural Lands Trust Fund has expended $9,029,900 for the approximate 724 acres of acquired land in the Good Luck Point area.

"Good Luck Point has always been a location that we have looked to preserve, especially after it suffered catastrophic damage during Superstorm Sandy," said Haines. "We continue to work with partners and our open space preservation program to help with hazard mitigation in the future should there ever be another major storm."

"As we preserve more land in the Good Luck Point area, we continue to protect our shoreline which will buffer the coastal marsh from development and help reduce the risk and impact of routine coastal flooding," said the Director of the Ocean County Board of Commissioners Barbara Jo Crea. "Prioritizing these parcels of land continues with the Ocean County Natural Lands Trust Fund's founding goals, which has helped us preserve almost 30,000 acres of open space throughout the County."