Hackettstown - Several Republican lawmakers spoke out against the state's Highlands protection plan on Tuesday, telling their constituents - mostly Highlands residents - that the plan is a "land grab" that would have disastrous effects on farmers and property owners.

Several hundred people, many of them forced to stand, filled the gymnasium at Centenary College for the public forum, which was hastily arranged by three state legislators as an alternative to the hearings being hosted by the architects of the Highlands plan that they oppose.

The forum differed from the hearings in that testimony was limited to farming officials and mayors and other elected officers from towns that would be affected by the bill; lobbyists from both environmental and builders' organizations were not allowed to speak.

Still, Tuesday's rhetoric - mostly against the Highlands plan - was some of the most forceful yet on the topic.

"It's a land grab," Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCrose (R-Morris) told a largely appreciative audience. "The fact of the matter is, this governor is going to tell you how to run this show, when he can't run his own show in Trenton!"

"This is centralized government, ladies and gentlemen," said Warren County Freeholder Director Richard Gardner, gesturing to a copy of the bill. "If you want a Marxist manifesto, right here it is!"

The bill, S-1 / A-2635 - formally known as the Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act - seeks to create a 15-member council with veto power over planning decisions in a core "preservation area" in the seven-county, 800,000-acre Highlands. The council would draft a regional master plan, with which towns inside the core area would be forced to conform. Towns in the outer "planning area" would be offered incentives to conform voluntarily.

The preservation area - a much-anticipated map of which is supposed to be made public this week, and incorporated into the bill - is around 350,000 acres. Most of it, though, is either already preserved or already developed, leaving between 100,000 and 150,000 privately- owned acres where building would be halted.

While many officials at Tuesday's forum said they agree with the bill's goal of protecting watersheds and curbing suburban sprawl, the prospect of losing "home rule" has galvanized many in the chiefly Republican area against the legislation.

Even Deborah Pasquarelli, a councilwoman from Greenwich Township in Warren County - which she called "the poster child for urban sprawl in New Jersey" - said she would prefer that the state government not involve itself in the township's preservation efforts.

Sussex County officials were few and far between. Freeholder Susan Zellman listed her "concerns" with the legislation - that "fair and just compensation" is made to the affected landowners, for instance, and that there is a sustained source of revenue to reimburse Highlands towns for the property tax revenue they will lose because of the bill. Also speaking was Andrew Borisuk, a Vernon farmer and member of the county planning board, who called the bill "onerous."

Although environmental organizations were not invited to the forum, they did not stay silent. The New Jersey Environmental Federation, the Sierra Club and the Highlands Coalition sent out a joint press release during the day Tuesday, blasting the "sprawl lobby" that wants to delay or halt the bill.

The release calls S-1 "the most significant environmental legislation in the state's history."

One of the few public supporters of the legislation on Tuesday was Reggie Regrut, a "private citizen" from Phillipsburg, who stood off to the side of the room holding a sign stating that "You Can't Drink Houses," and drawing the occasional angry comment from those speaking out against the bill.

Regrut said he was there to compensate for the lack of environmental group representatives, and said local governments weren't doing enough to combat development.

Although against the bill, one legislator - Assemblyman Rick Merkt (R-Morris) - made a statement strikingly similar to the one in the environmentalists' press release.

He called S-1 "the most important bill that I've seen in seven years as a legislator."

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