Newton - Despite recalling the failures of earlier state efforts, Sussex County's senior legislator said Tuesday he is trying to shape the Highlands water bill into one that can pass in Trenton.

State Sen. Robert Littell, R-Sussex, said active negotiations behind the scenes have addressed many of the concerns that he has brought to the governor and Democratic sponsors of the Highlands Water Protection and Planning Bill.

"Almost everything we asked, they agreed to," Littell said. "It's important to note, because the state has been meddling in our affairs for two to three years."

Littell, his Chief of Staff Jeff Spatola and Deputy County Administrator John Eskilson met with New Jersey Herald editors Tuesday to explain details of the bill and its potential impact on Sussex County. The bill seeks to preserve land - by restricting development - in Vernon, Hardyston, Franklin, Ogdensburg, Sparta, Hopatcong, Byram, Green and Stanhope.

Littell said problems with the Pinelands land preservation of the 1970s are still "festering" and that land owners "had equity taken from them." That law, created to preserve pine forests in southern New Jersey, mandated that specific areas had to accept development.

However, Littell said he would support the new Highlands bill if guaranteed funding - probably through a bond issue - were included for payments to landowners and to municipalities for lost taxes, or "property tax stabilization." He added that other suggestions for paying for the Highlands bill include an additional 40-cents-per-pack tax on cigarettes.

Littell, Eskilson and Spatola reasoned that pushing for amendments is the most effective way to secure tax relief funding for municipalities and some building rights for private property owners.

"I think those that are trying to kill the proposal outright are ignoring the political reality," Spatola said, citing the state's Democratic governor and Legislature majority. "We decided to take the proactive approach."

Spatola said the administration of Gov. James E. McGreevey was open to the amendments - which includes honoring municipal land-use law and exempting existing single-family homes from the regulations - because they are seeking bipartisan support for the bill.

Requests were met to remove Andover Borough, Andover Township and Lafayette from the Highlands region, and portions of Ogdensburg, Stanhope and Vernon were removed from the core preservation area.

Other amendments Littell and Eskilson pushed for included recognizing the rights of hunters and fishermen and reaffirming the Right to Farm Act.

Littell said he has not discussed the possibility of state funding for sewer and water projects in Sussex County or the Highlands as part of the effort to protect water sources.

The state is seeking to restrict development in about 395,000 acres of the 800,000-acre Highlands region, which stretches across much of northwest New Jersey. Local planning decisions in the core preservation area would be subject to the mandatory review of a state- appointed council.

A May 10 vote is scheduled for the bill in the state Senate and Assembly environmental committees. McGreevey has said he wants the bill enacted by July 1, the same day the state budget has to be approved.

Eskilson provided details about how much land - and of what kind - is proposed to be preserved in Sussex County. About 73,000 acres are within the core preservation area, of which about 33,500 are unpreserved lands. County officials have determined that some 11,627 acres of the unpreserved land is fit for development. About 22,000 acres of land in the core are already developed, Eskilson said. Eskilson reasoned that while "11,000-plus acres is a great amount of land," it is a small part of the core preservation area in the county. There is only a small amount of land zoned for commercial development in the core area in the county, he added.

The current legislation would essentially freeze equity of farmland at its Jan. 1, 2004, value, confirmed Eskilson.

"I think we've made some pretty good strides, but there are more things we have to look over," Littell said. "We keep asking the questions and the one we haven't heard the answer to is where the money is coming from."

Spatola said the bill will not pass the state Legislature without a guaranteed funding source.

Assemblyman Guy Gregg, R-Sussex, said in a later telephone interview Tuesday that he supports many of the amendments added to the Highlands bill, but they are doing little to sway any overall support from him.

Gregg said he could not support the bill without a guaranteed funding source, or if it did not protect the building and selling rights of private property owners. Land designated within the core is virtually valueless, he said.

He said he also believes the bill can be stopped despite the Legislature's Democratic majority. Gregg said some Democrats in the Pinelands region said they will not support the bill if they do not get more funding for their state-preserved region.

"They don't have the votes in the Senate. I don't think there's a southern Democrat supporting it," Gregg said.

Gregg said potential gubernatorial candidates - of which he named Assemblyman Louis Greenwald and state Sen. John Adler, both D-Camden - are wary of supporting the bill.

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