In what may be the state's most ambitious environmental move since the protection of the Pinelands, Gov. James E. McGreevey is seeking the creation of a regional council with veto power over all large- scale development on 350,000 acres of watershed lands in the northern Highlands.

McGreevey also will ask the Legislature for environmental enforcement powers in the region, enabling the state to squash most major development on the forested ridges that provide drinking water to half the state's residents.

Environmentalists are assembling, at McGreevey's urging, a hit list of projects already in the pipeline that could jeopardize the resource and should be stopped.

"The time for debate is over," McGreevey said in an interview Friday. "Failure is not an option. Uncontrolled, ill-planned development is having a direct impact on the quality of our water supply."

Top Democrats from the Senate and Assembly have pledged immediate action and are scheduled to hold a news conference tomorrow in Trenton to announce a timetable for bills ranging from the creation of the council to a short-term building ban within the conservation areas McGreevey refers to as the "core."

Unlike the Pinelands, the 750,000-acre, hilly region that cuts across northwestern New Jersey is under severe development pressures. The most environmentally sensitive lands are scattered across a seven- county region. Its center is a vast forested region north of Route 80 in Morris, Sussex and Passaic counties that includes the Wanaque Reservoir and other vital sources of drinking water.

In gatherings last week with environmentalists, McGreevey predicted a fierce fight with building interests both in the Legislature and the courts. He urged aggressive participation by his supporters in the debate.

Some local and county officials said they were worried that a new regional entity would usurp their powers, but there has been surprising consensus about protecting the "core." Even some builders support protection, but say they are disappointed that council powers outside the core will be limited, with no mandatory growth areas established as in the Pinelands.

McGreevey has criticized aspects of the million-acre Pinelands protection effort in South Jersey, particularly the failure by the state to prepare or assist towns designated for growth. But builders say the war on sprawl being waged by state and local politicians is driving up housing prices and shutting people out of the market.

Joe Riggs, regional president of K. Hovnanian Companies, the state's largest residential builder, said that without setting up mandatory growth areas and specifying densities, the recommendations will lead to preserved areas surrounded by wall-to-wall sprawl.

"It is appropriate to designate preservation areas in the Highlands," Riggs said. "It is appropriate to designate growth areas in the Highlands."

He said he objects, however, to making preservation mandatory and growth voluntary.

CLOSED-DOOR MEETING

McGreevey's plan was unveiled yesterday in the form of recommendations from the Highlands Task Force that he assembled six months ago. The group, which included key environmentalists, government officials, Riggs and other interested parties, approved its recommendations in a closed-door meeting at the governor's mansion on Friday.

The vote by the 19-member task force was 18 to 1, with only Riggs casting a no vote, according to him and several other people in attendance.

The task force included five cabinet members, including Bradley Campbell, commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection. Members of McGreevey's staff worked closely with the group to ensure the governor could act immediately.

Morris County Freeholder Director Jack Schrier, a Republican, said task force members initially eyed one another cautiously but quickly pulled together for a common cause.

"We all had something in common," Schrier said, adding that the unifying goal seemed to be protection of the region's water supply. "We all agreed we wanted to save the Highlands. That was a good starting point."

By focusing on the core, McGreevey has attempted to build a coalition of environmentalists, as well as local officials and residents angry about overdevelopment and willing to go along with a plan that doesn't rope off the entire Highlands.

About half the Highlands is being left outside the mandatory jurisdiction of the regional council. Within the core, roughly 45 percent of the land has already been preserved and another 20 percent is developed.

That leaves roughly 120,000 acres of prime, privately owned land where the governor would like to halt development.

The 15-member council - a majority of whose members will be elected local and county officials - will have 18 months to draft a regional plan for the entire Highlands, with towns within the core required to change their master plans to conform. It has not yet been decided who will appoint the council members.

The state aims to preserve much of the undeveloped core lands, buying some of it and using tough environmental regulations and the council's veto power to shut down the kind of large-scale developments on hillsides that increasingly dot the region.

The environmental regulations - including limitations on steep-slope development, septic tank installations, wastewater treatment extensions and building in forested areas - will be enacted in an emergency fashion, eliminating a public comment period. And McGreevey has asked lawmakers to order a freeze on the issuance of all state development approvals until those regulations are in force.

BUYING LAND

The state also will focus on buying land in the core, using vast resources raised by a 1998 open-space bond issue and an extra $50 million approved by voters in November. Pending federal legislation could add another $100 million to the land-acquisition effort.

A pending bill (S196) sponsored by state Sen. Bob Smith (D-Middlesex) also would allow state open-space monies to be used to take watershed properties through eminent domain.

Campbell said the state would use condemnation as a last resort, telling a gathering of environmentalists Wednesday night in Morris Township that officials didn't want to use the "M-word," for moratorium.

"I don't want to leave anyone with the wrong impression," McGreevey, who participated in the meeting on a speaker phone, quickly added. "This is about preservation, and we want to do the right thing. We don't need to be apologetic about it."

Towns outside the core that decide to change their master plans will be offered priority funding for state infrastructure spending. Within the core, the governor will recommend that towns with vast preserved land receive special aid, so-called payments in lieu of taxes that McGreevey had axed in an effort to balance the budget the past two years. Those towns within the core also will be able to amend their affordable housing plans. Such a move would eliminate a common complaint by local officials that state guidelines on housing for the poor sometimes force them to approve large-scale development.

A map of the core has yet to be completed, but the governor and task force officials said it would include still-wooded areas that buffer and protect streams feeding important reservoirs and aquifers. It also will stress properties that provide links between parks, state forests and other preserved lands.

The detailed outline of the core will be revealed when bills creating the council are introduced, possibly later this month, according to Curtis Fisher, a policy official in McGreevey's office who served as liaison to the task force.

Jeff Tittel of the state Sierra Club chapter, a close ally but sometime-critic of the administration, praised both the breadth of the recommendations and the political strategy being employed. He predicted victory after a monumental battle, and others agreed that the legislative fight would not be easy.

"On one hand, this is a real watershed moment, but on the other hand these recommendations don't amount to a hill of beans unless they are implemented quickly and fully," said Tom Gilbert, an environmentalist who served on the task force.

* * * Copyright 2004 The Star-Ledger.