JACKSON – A church dating back to well over a century ago is looking to expand, and representatives of the church wanted to make sure that their plans are fine with the town’s.
Mike Pushko, representing Cornerstone Presbyterian Church of Jackson, 569 Harmony Rd. questioned the governing body in reference to the property it leases from the township. Parishioners there have been renovating the historic church.
“We lease the property from the township and we are now ready to build a fellowship hall on the property. The lease we have expires in 2029 and we want to make sure that we are on the property long enough to reap the benefit,” Pushko said. The church has two 10-year option periods and they were hoping to extend those option periods now and if possible to get two more 10-year option periods added on to it.
Council President Barry Calogero directed Pushko to speak with Township Business Administrator Terrence Wall who was present at the session. “He will help you out and you two can take a look at the situation.”
“You have done an excellent job out there so far and to put this kind of investment into it, I think it shows what you want to do,” Councilman Ken Bressi said.
“It was a dilapidated building, no running water, it hadn’t been used for 25 to 30 years so it took a while and a lot of time, effort and money to get it to where it is now,” Pushko said.
After more than 15 years of worshiping in Jackson schools, Cornerstone entered into a lease agreement in August 2014 to use the historic church building, according to the church’s history. Renovation work started that year and was completed in 2018. The church’s first official worship service in its new home was on October 21, 2018. A grand opening celebration was held on the weekend of November 3-4, 2018.
The historic church was built in 1844. The congregation first met in the barn of Gordon Matthews, a local farmer, in the early 1840s and in 1844. Silas Newman and John Clayton deeded land to the church trustees for a church building and a cemetery. The original church, a log cabin, was built on the 5.8-acre tract of land but that was not on its current site. It burned down and was replaced in 1865 at its current location at the front of the property bordering Harmony Road.
The church features three stain glass windows on each side of the sanctuary that were donated by members of its parish. They have remained in amazingly good condition for the past 150 years. The original window that was located behind the altar was found, and it was restored in August 2015 and returned to its original location as part of the ongoing restoration project.
The church discussion was one of the few items of note during the Township Council meeting.
During the half hour meeting, council members introduced an ordinance to amend and supplement chapter 139 of the township code, entitled “Building Standards, Commercial” and approved a number of resolutions including the appointment of Louis Wildman as a regular member of the Jackson Municipal Utilities Authority.
Also approved was a resolution not to exceed $14,958 in general obligation bonds and a contract agreement for annual support maintenance services between the township and Edmunds Associates in the amount of $20,785.
The council also authorized a contract award to Ocean First Bank for banking services for the township for a one-year period commencing Feb. 1, 2020 through Jan. 31, 2021. Another resolution called for first aid emergency response dispatching be provided by the Ocean County Sheriff’s Department as well as the continuation of an annual lease agreement with American Tower for space on communication tower in the amount of $76,029.28
Approved as part of the consent agenda was the continuation of a shared services/mutual aid agreement between Jackson and Millstone Township pertaining to conflict of interest and emergency coverage for construction and code enforcement services.
Also approved was the appointment of members to the Recreation Advisory Board, Commission for the Disabled, Private Residential Communities Advisory Board and bid authorization, preparation, advertisement and acceptance for handicapped accessibility improvements at the Senior Center and Municipal buildings through the community development block grant program were approved.
A shared services agreement was also authorized between Jackson and the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office for a drug recognition expert callout program.
