Editing Montgomery Township, New Jersey (section)

==Parks and recreation==

===Skillman Village===
In 2007, the Township of Montgomery purchased a {{convert|256|acre|km2|adj=on}} parcel of land once known as the [[North Princeton Developmental Center]] from the State of New Jersey, located in Montgomery adjoining Skillman Road and Burnt Hill Road. In addition, the Township acquired from the State the adjacent wastewater treatment facility on {{convert|7|acre|m2}}, behind the State-owned Skillman Dairy Farm. The NPDC property, originally established in 1898 as the "[[New Jersey State Village for Epileptics]]," operated as a self-contained community that consisted of hospitals, housing, maintenance areas, schools, a power plant, a wastewater treatment facility and an on-site landfill. Later, it became the New Jersey Neuropsychiatric Institute. Most recently, and until 1998, the property was the New Jersey Department of Human Services' psychiatric care facility "North Princeton Developmental Center".

For years there were over 100 buildings on the Property, mostly in substandard, unsafe, unsanitary, dilapidated and/or obsolescent condition. Ninety-two of these buildings were abated and demolished summer 2007. The remaining handful of buildings have been boarded up in anticipation of possible reuse as part of redevelopment. Efforts are ongoing to remediate environmental conditions at the site and repair or demolish the dam and restore the lake. The property's environmental contamination must be remediated and brought into compliance with applicable laws and regulations.

The original plan for the land was development. The Township prepared a redevelopment plan and solicited redevelopment proposals for a "Town Square" concept which would have created hundreds of new residential and commercial units. However, no developers submitted bids.

Throughout the rest of 2008 and all of the next few years, the debate over Skillman Village changed. The local Republican team led by Kacey Dyer and Mark Caliguire proposed selling all of the land to Somerset County to create a passive-use park.

In October 2010, Somerset County agreed to purchase the land for a passive-use park for $14.1 million.

===Skillman Park===
{{further|Skillman Park}}
[[File:Skilman park.jpg|thumb|right|Residents walking in Skillman Park]]
Skillman Park covers {{convert|247|acres}} of open space in the Skillman section of Montgomery Township that is owned by Somerset County and maintained by the Somerset County Parks Department. In April 2015 a ribbon cutting ceremony was held by County officials to celebrate the park's opening.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.twp.montgomery.nj.us/departments/recreation/parks-pathways-maps/skillman-park/ |title=For more information see |access-date=April 30, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170427072250/http://www.twp.montgomery.nj.us/departments/recreation/parks-pathways-maps/skillman-park/ |archive-date=April 27, 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref>