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 October 31, 2000

Open Space Initiatives

To Halt Sprawl

In New Jersey Highlands

West Milford, New Jersey//Thursday November 2//Local environmental awareness and education groups, West Milford 2000, CPR (Citizens for Planning Responsibly), Pequannock River Coalition, Skylands CLEAN, New Jersey Conservation Foundation, the Highlands Coalition, residents and municipal officials hope to bring attention to two Passaic County Municipalities that are asking their voters to consider using tax dollars to set aside open space for preservation.

The governing bodies of West Milford Township and Bloomingdale Borough placed the initiatives on the ballot after a public outcry that large-scale housing projects in the predominantly wooded Watershed areas, home to much of North Jersey’s water supply, were threatened with contamination from rampant unchecked over-development.

Other municipalities with open space initiatives on the ballot that are outside of Passaic County but within New Jersey’s ecologically significant Highlands region include Lebanon and Harmony Townships, Hamburg in Sussex County and the County of Sussex.

In West Milford, the open space tax would raise $140,000 a year, and in Bloomingdale the tax would raise about $130,000 annually. The funds raised by the municipalities would be used in conjunction with matching funds from the State Green Acres Program or can be mixed with grant monies made available through a number of nonprofit environmental organizations. Once purchased, the open space lands can be preserved in perpetuity. As such, these open space acquisitions and the tax dollars dedicated to pay for them allow a community and a region to deal pro-actively with the ever-growing threat of development in the Newark-owned Pequannock Watershed.

It is a proven fact that Open-Space protects aquifers, floodplains, wetlands, and wild animal habitat. It also prevents traffic on our roadways, keeps taxes low due to minimal need for municipal services such as police and fire fighters. It also keeps ever booming school populations stable, while increasing and encouraging tourism.

Currently West Milford is ground zero for the battle between developers and residents and environmentalists who fear their open spaces will soon all disappear beneath the blades of developers’ bulldozers. West Milford residents fear for the "Quality of Life" that they so much enjoy — settling here after having left places like Newark and Paterson years ago. West Milford has recently come under heavy assault by developers on a number of fronts. This week, residents lost a battle with the DEP to drain a small pond that is home to threatened and endangered bog turtles, while a developer sits on the sidelines awaiting his chance to put over 200 homes on the site of the pond and it’s accompanying wetlands. At the same time, another developer is plowing roads through the tract known as Random Woods in hope of finding a suitable spot for a sewage treatment plant that is necessary to serve his proposed 200 plus homes. At the other end of town, the City of Newark leased 400 acres of pristine woodlands and Watershed that is slated for an outdoor rock concert amphitheater twice the size of the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel

Bloomingdale is also under similar attack. Two hundred and twenty five years after the Revolutionary War ended, the battle for Federal Hill wages on, but currently it is pitting the municipality, residents and environmentalist against a developer who has plans for 360 condominiums for the historic Revolutionary War site.

These types of projects will destroy one of the most important regions in the Highlands. This area is responsible for supplying up to 4 million residents of North Jersey with their drinking water and has the potential for destroying a "Quality of Life" that is second to none in the State of New Jersey.

On Thursday, November 2nd local residents, Township officials, representatives of West Milford 2000, Citizens for Planning Responsibly, Pequannock River Coalition, Skylands CLEAN, New Jersey Conservation Foundation, and the Highlands Coalition, will hold a press conference at one of the most scenic areas in the Highlands. The rest area on Route 23 North in West Milford sits in what is known as the Macopin Gorge and overlooks the Charlottesburg Reservoir, and is adjacent to the 400 acres leased by the City of Newark for a rock concert amphitheater. All members of the media are encouraged to attend the 11 a.m. outdoor press conference.

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Directions to the Charlottesburg Rest Area: From points south take GSP North to Route 3 West to Route 46 West to Route 23 North, pass Echo Lake Road, rest area is half a mile on the right in Newfoundland. From I-287 and I-80 take exit for Route 23 North, Butler/Sussex, and follow directions above. From points North, take Route 23 South to Echo Lake Road exit, cross southbound lanes, take Route 23 North approximately half a mile on right.