TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — State lawmakers have reached a compromise on the controversial plan to preserve land in the state's Highlands region, officials said Saturday."We are on the verge of a major victory for clean drinking water in New Jersey," Micah Rasmussen, spokesman for Gov. James E. McGreevey, said Saturday.Environmentalists and builders have sparred for months over the plan, which would severely restrict building on thousands of acres in the region across the northwest part of the state.McGreevey has said the area must be protected because it provides drinking water for about half the state.The Senate Environment Committee, where the measure has been stalled, has scheduled a vote on the proposal for Monday, according to Richard McGrath, a spokesman for several south Jersey Democrats. Such a vote has been planned before, he added.McGrath said there was "enough of an agreement on the central issues to schedule a committee hearing for Monday."He said lawmakers who had been deadlocked over the Highlands proposals had reached "a partial breakthrough" late Friday.Sen. Steve Sweeney, D-Gloucester, has held up the legislation as he has sought assurances that those who live in and near the Pinelands preserve would get similar benefits to those in the Highlands.The senator has said he was seeking guarantees on tax stabilization, school funding and water issues for farmers in southern New Jersey before he could vote for the measure.The building restrictions would affect large sections of the nearly 1,000-square-mile area, but the toughest regulations would be on nearly 400,000 acres of land that surrounds reservoirs. About 160,000 acres of land that is suitable for development would be included in the protections.

Builders say the proposed restrictions on construction would drive them out of business and send housing prices soaring in the area that includes portions of Hunterdon, Somerset, Sussex, Warren, Morris, Passaic and Bergen counties.