Pike brainstorming for Santos Farm deal

MILFORD - Pike County officials want to save one of the last and best pieces of undeveloped riverfront land in the Milford area. Pike Commissioners’ Chair Harry Forbes has called the principal players together to find a way to finance the purchase of the Santos Farm. The question is how to come up with $7 million, the price that the Delaware Valley School District had agreed to pay for the land. A $1 million state Growing Greener grant could go toward the purchase. The problem, Forbes said Wednesday, is local and federal money. Fresh from Washington meetings with congressional and National Park Service officials, he said no one has the kind of discretionary money needed. “We’re still talking with (Rep.) Chris Carney’s office.” The Trust for Public Lands is very much interested and could be another source, he added, but local money will also be needed from conservatively budgeted Milford Township and Milford Borough. “That’s what we’ll be brainstorming,” he said. The meeting is set for 1 p.m. on April 16 at the county administration building, and will be open to the public.