>For three decades, Andy Henry has declined $20-30 million offers for his 21-acre, 175-year-old farm. Ironically, local government is using his perseverance to take the entire property via eminent domain and replace pasture with affordable housing.
>On South River Road, in Middlesex County, N.J., warehouses and industrial buildings have replaced the once abundant farms of yesteryear—except a lone holdout.
>“My family sacrificed on this land for 175 years,” Henry adds. “All the other farms disappeared. We did not. >We will not.”
>On April 24, 2025, Henry’s mailbox clinked with an official letter of notice from the Committee, tagging his farm as an affordable housing site. “It was incredibly stunning,” he says. “The letter said if I didn’t agree on a price—they’d take my land by eminent domain.”
>On May 12, the Committee officially approved a plan to take the Henry family farm. Timothy Duggan, an eminent domain specialist and attorney representing Henry, says the Committee’s intentions are “misguided and rushed.”
>What is the public’s reaction to the Committee’s eminent domain grab? >“I can’t find anyone who supports the township’s action, on two levels,” Duggan notes. “One, everyone loves the Henry farm and appreciates it so much. Two, there are other places to build, and you don’t put up house complexes beside industrial complexes.”
>Per New Jersey law, Cranbury must build 265 affordable housing units over the next decade. “We support affordable housing,” Duggan says, “but not dropped in the middle of a bunch of warehouses. The whole thing lacks common sense.”
https://www.agweb.com/news/business/farmland/city-gov-seize-175-year-old-farm-eminent-domain-replace-affordable-housing