When the sponsors of a sweeping Highlands protection bill met stiff resistance at public hearings in recent weeks, they began huddling with mayors, farmers and businessmen.

The result was a ream of amendments aimed at clarifying the bill and deflating many opposition arguments, spelling out in detail that the act wasn't aimed at small landowners, residents, farmers, quarry owners and others who raised a ruckus.

If a well-attended hearing in Trenton yesterday was any indication, the work paid off.

While the hearing attracted hundreds of builders and environmentalists, testimony was pretty much limited to their polarized views on the subject.

Bill supporters set the tone by taking testimony first from Agriculture Secretary Charles Kuperus, who explained how careful amendments had pretty much allayed the concerns of the farm community.

William Layton, executive director of the New Jersey Concrete and Aggregate Association, testified that the bill was about "providing clean water to the state" not hurting quarry owners.

Another key bone to mayors within core preservation areas - where development will be sharply curtailed - would expand from five to 10 years the amount of time those towns could receive aid to help offset losses in property taxes.

There were even critics yesterday, such as Assemblywoman Connie Myers (R-Hunterdon), who said the bill didn't go far enough. She argued that by excluding much of the Highlands' farm acreage from stark new protections, the state might encourage more sprawl outside the core watershed lands.

To be sure, there were plenty of angry builders on hand, many wearing shirts that read, "Where will the families live?" Builders have long been a formidable lobbying force, and state records show their political action committee has roughly $1 million to spend.

But supporters of the bill said the amendments had clearly had an impact.

"I think they've stolen a little of their thunder," said Tom Gilbert, director of the Highlands Coalition and a member of Gov. James E. McGreevey's Highlands Task Force. "The amendments clarified some of the misinformation. When you take away their ability to stir up mass hysteria, their arguments are pretty flimsy."

Gilbert pointed specifically to a full-page advertisement that ran Wednesday in The Star-Ledger and other newspapers paid for by Metland Properties Group, an affiliate of Weichert Realty. It warned Highlands residents that the bill could prevent them from adding a deck, pool or garden shed if they lived in the preservation zone.

Although bill sponsors argued that had never been the intention, one of the new amendments specifically exempts small landowners who want to build a house and residents who want to build an "addition, shed, driveway, porch, deck, patio, swimming pool or septic system."

Some builders seemed to concede in their testimony that the bill's sponsors had been effective.

"These amendments address the farming needs and the residential needs," said Lloyd Tubman, a member of the board of trustees of the state chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties. "But we need employment in New Jersey as well."

Builders argued that the bill, which threatens to close down development on 145,000 acres of privately owned watershed lands in the core, would throw small builders out of work and have a ripple effect that would damage the economy.

"These guys out here are going to lose their jobs," said John Ament, who builds about five houses a year in the Highlands. "They pay taxes. And it's going to have a devastating impact on the economy."

Others argued, however, that the water supply for half the state was being threatened by overdevelopment.

"For all the concern about rushing, the time is now," said Michelle Byers of the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, noting that the vital role the Highlands plays in the water supply has been studied and documented for 15 years.

While yesterday's hearing marked the end of public debate, arguments over the bill will rage on in Trenton.

Environment Committee chairmen Sen. Bob Smith (D-Middlesex) and Assemblyman John McKeon (D-Essex) have scheduled a vote for May 10, when, if the bill passes, the full Legislature would take it up.

McGreevey, whose task force started the legislative initiative, predicted this week that the bill would pass by July 1.

But he's not taking any chances. On Friday, he enlisted the aid of his mentor, John Lynch, a former Democratic senator from Middlesex County. The former Senate president, renowned for his ability to make the wheels of the Legislature work, huddled with the governor and members of his Cabinet to talk strategy.

"Senator Lynch was one of the architect's of the state's wetlands act, and his suggestions on legislative strategy only demonstrate how important passage of the Highlands bill is for this administration," said McGreevey spokesman Micah Rasmussen.

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Staff writers Josh Margolin and Joe Donohue contributed to this story.

Steve Chambers covers land-use issues. He can be reached at schambers@starledger.com or (973) 392-1674.

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