Highlands News
No end in sight for water battle. By Walter O'Brien, 03/17/08. Published by Courier News
BRIDGEWATER -- The Highlands Act has been nothing but controversial since its development.
The Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act was signed into law Aug. 10, 2004. Among other things, the act called for the creation of the Highlands Council, made up of municipal and county officials from within the Highlands region, charged with the development of a Regional Master Plan.
The council released a draft version of the plan, followed by an initial series of public hearings around the region. Recently, the council released a new, final draft of the plan and then held more public hearings on it.
The hearings made it clear that there are many sides to this story and many interpretations of a complicated act. There seems to be much to be done before legislators, officials, environmentalists, farmers, landowners and other stakeholders come to a satisfactory solution.
"Our comments run 104 pages on our Web site, but we do have major issues of concern," Julia M. Somers, executive director of the New Jersey Highlands Coalition, recently told the Courier News editorial board.
Somers was joined by Wilma E. Frey, Highlands project manager for the New Jersey Conservation Foundation; Bill Kibler, executive director of the South Branch Watershed Association; and David Pringle, campaign director for the N.J. Environmental Federation.
Environmentalists Fear for Highlands. By Trish Graber, 03/29/07. Published by Express-Times
TRENTON--Environmental groups Wednesday called on Gov. Jon Corzine to place a moratorium on major development in the Highlands area, saying that infighting within the Highlands Council has stalled a plan that would protect the environmentally sensitive area.
"We're not any closer to seeing a Highlands Act implemented ... than we were two and a half years ago when it was signed into law," said David Pringle of the New Jersey Environmental Federation.
The Highlands Council recently extended the public comment period on the draft regional master plan by five weeks and is also looking for a new executive director.
Environmental groups called the split vote and the resignation of the former executive director a sign of inner turmoil that is further delaying the plan's implementation.
The public importance of potable water By Kerry Doyle, Field Manager, NJEF, 02/20/08. Published by Montclair Times
I, like other Montclair residents who drink water, obtain much of my drinking water supply from the NJ Highlands (the Monksville and Wanaque reservoirs). Unfortunately, as a Montclair resident, I do not have an elected official representing my interests on the Highlands Council.
The council recently released a draft of the Highlands Regional Master Plan (RMP) for preservation of the areas resources, but this draft still allows new development in areas without adequate water supplies and still permits development too close to key waterways that supply the drinking water for over half the state’s residents.
As consumers of Highlands water, Montclair residents have a stake in how the final draft of the RMP looks, so I urge my fellow residents to write to Gov. Jon Corzine. Tell him to fix the Highlands Master Plan and to issue an Executive Order in the meantime, ensuring no adverse impacts to our drinking water.
Environmental groups: Too much growth in draft Highlands plan, By Rebecca Santana, 11/16/2007.
Originally published by the Associated Press
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Environmental groups that once lined up in support of state law designed to protect the water supply for about half of New Jersey are worried a draft of a Regional Master Plan to be released Monday allows too much development in the region.
"It's really a step backward in overall Highlands protection," said Jeff Tittel, executive director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. "This was supposed to be about water, not just about growth in the Highlands."
The Highlands region supplies drinking water for 5.4 million people.
Signed by former Gov. James McGreevey in 2004, the Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act curbs development on about 1,250 square miles in seven northern New Jersey counties: Bergen, Hunterdon, Morris, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex and Warren.
The environmental groups — Sierra Club, NJ Highlands Coalition, the NJ Environmental Federation and the New Jersey Audubon Society — said they were basing their concerns about the plan on parts of it that have already been released publicly on the Internet.
Specifically, the environmental groups Friday said the plan would remove about 87,000 acres from the most protected areas, make it easy to rejigger the guidelines in the future for what is protected and what is not, and fails to adequately protect rare wildlife.
No truce likely in battle over development, By Jan Barry, 11/18/2007.
Originally published by the Bergen Record
The long-awaited Highlands regional master plan, balancing watershed protection with development in North Jersey's mountains, will be unveiled on Monday.
But it's likely to be as hotly controversial as the 2004 Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act that mandated a regional plan. With a flurry of lawsuits and vows to fight any regional plan, builders and many landowners in the seven-county region have made it clear that they don't want additional restrictions on development. Environmentalists, on the other hand, want tighter restrictions than the latest draft plan proposes and claim it undermines its own mission by allowing too much development.
Many supporters of the state's effort to preserve the water-supply core of the Highlands are upset by the latest draft.
"What should be a cause of celebration is for us a cause of concern," Jeff Tittel, a leader of the activist NJ Highlands Coalition, said at a State House press conference Friday. "The Highlands Act was supposed to be about protecting water. It is now more about where can we have growth and development in the Highlands."
For instance, Tittel said, some 87,000 acres previously included in maps outlining preservation areas are now targeted to be moved into proposed growth zones.
David Pringle of the NJ Environmental Federation said the latest draft plan "encourages development in the Highlands in the wrong places," such as already developed lake communities. The proposal, he said, also promotes "additional development in areas that are already in a water supply deficit," meaning the local water supply is overdrawn by existing users.
Many supporters of the state's effort to preserve the water-supply core of the Highlands are upset by the latest draft.
Environmental groups blast Highlands report. Regional planning study due out on Monday won't solve problems, they say, by Tom Baldwin, 11/17/2007
Originally published by the Daily Record
TRENTON -- Environmental groups Friday harshly criticized what they knew of a report due for release Monday that will help define the fate of the Highlands in northwestern New Jersey, saying the study's recommendations would harm the region.
"It'll mean more pollution and more problems," said Jeff Tittel, the executive director of the New Jersey chapter of the Sierra Club. He said the so-called Regional Master Plan for Northwest New Jersey will show the author -- the Highlands Council -- has lost its way.
The council and Gov. Jon S. Corzine's spokeswoman denied that.
"The Highlands Act was supposed to be about protecting water," Tittel said. "Now it's about where to build."
"The plan makes a mockery of protection standards," said Eric Stiles of the state chapter of the Audubon Society.
"We have had two years of weakening under the Corzine administration. ... It's moving backward, not forward," said David Pringle, political director of the New Jersey Environmental Federation.
But Corzine's office disagreed.
"As we move into the final planning stages for the region," said his spokeswoman, Lilo Stainton, "the process will allow for an open dialogue and public input on the draft master plan so that any concerns can be voiced and updates can be considered."
Highlands building chill in air, Phil Garber, Mt. Olive Chronicle, 04/04/07
Housing development could be temporarily frozen in tens of thousands of acres around Morris County if a consortium of environmentalists get their way.
The environmentalists said the moratorium is necessary to stop a stampede of developers trying to build before the state enacts a Highlands regional development plan.
The request is being considered by Gov. Jon Corzine but was quickly berated by the vice chair of the N.J. Highlands Council, who said it would be tantamount to barring development throughout all of the New Jersey Highlands.
David Pringle of the N.J. Environmental Federation and co-chair of the N.J. Highlands Coalition policy committee, said two and a half years have passed since the Highlands Act was approved and that development has continued.
“Critical Highlands’ treasures continue to be devoured by development two and half years after passage of the Highlands Act as the very council charged with its implementation continues to dither”, said Pringle in a statement.
