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Friday, February 8, 2008
Last Updated Friday February 8, 2008, EST 9:05 AM STAFF WRITER
 
A YMCA campground. A neighborhood along the rushing Pequannock River. A riverside slope already being preserved as open space. And a municipal-well field. Highlands environmentalists argue that those are unlikely places to funnel development in a Highlands mountain region that produces water for millions of state residents. But there they are, listed in the Highlands regional master plan being presented at public hearings. During a tour Thursday of the environmentally sensitive sites, several activists and public officials questioned what the Highlands Council was thinking when it drew its borders between areas to be strictly preserved from development and those where growth will be allowed. The YMCA camp and residential area near the Pequannock River are in West Milford, a township totally within the most severely restricted area in the plan. The riverside slope, in Butler, was purchased last year by an activist group seeking to keep it undeveloped, and the municipal well field area is in Jefferson. "This is the tip of the iceberg. There are hundreds more examples," said "So many things in this plan have taken Robin O'Hearn, executive director of Skylands CLEAN, based in Ringwood. away the rationale of the Highlands Act." In response, Highlands Council Executive Director Eileen Swan counseled a perspective that such proposals are merely the results of preliminary consultant work. She said such areas were included in computer mapping of areas where growth might be directed after further study. In North Jersey, these sites are largely in Mahwah and Oakland and in communities in the counties of Passaic and Morris -- from Ringwood to Parsippany -- that are near or within the Routes 23, 287 and 80 corridors. "We only wanted to show where you can look to start this process," Swan said. "All the different [environmental] constraints analysis must be done." She said sites will be evaluated in more detail when Highlands communities amend their master plans to conform to the regional plan, which the council aims to adopt this spring. At issue is the quality and quantity of water in streams across the mountain region from northern Bergen County to Hunterdon County. These streams supply water to millions of homes and businesses in North Jersey. The 2004 Highlands Act requires the council to both plan how to preserve key water-generating areas and identify lands where development should be encouraged. Last year, O'Hearn and others noted, the draft Highlands plan appeared to target lake communities in West Milford and Ringwood for additional development. Now, they said, it's the banks of the Pequannock River and its trout-spawning tributaries that have been mapped for potential high-density development. "I was shocked when I saw that," said Riverdale Mayor William Budesheim. "They have them [potential development zones] in our parks, over our wells, in the flood plain and other areas we're trying to protect." Budesheim was referring to a key part of the regional plan that's designed to create a "Transfer of Development Rights" program. That program is to compensate the owners of land where development will be banned. It will give such landholders development credits they can sell to developers in locations designated as able to support concentrated growth. The plan also is to offer financial incentives to towns that voluntarily accept higher density growth through TDR credits. Council staff mapped numerous potential TDR receiving areas, including the four sites toured on Thursday. "This one I can't image how it would qualify," Ross Kushner of the Pequannock River Coalition said, as he stood by a lake at the Montclair YMCA Camp in West Milford, which he said is on a TDR zone map. "This one is just off the charts." E-mail: barry@northjersey.com A YMCA campground. A neighborhood along the rushing Pequannock River. A riverside slope already being preserved as open space. And a municipal-well field. 
BETH BALBIERZ / THE RECORD
Robin O'Hearn, right, executive director
of Skylands CLEAN, commenting
on potential development zones in the Highlands master plan.
Highlands environmentalists argue that those are unlikely places to funnel development in a Highlands mountain region that produces water for millions of state residents. But there they are, listed in the Highlands regional master plan being presented at public hearings. During a tour Thursday of the environmentally sensitive sites, several activists and public officials questioned what the Highlands Council was thinking when it drew its borders between areas to be strictly preserved from development and those where growth will be allowed. The YMCA camp and residential area near the Pequannock River are in West Milford, a township totally within the most severely restricted area in the plan. The riverside slope, in Butler, was purchased last year by an activist group seeking to keep it undeveloped, and the municipal well field area is in Jefferson. "This is the tip of the iceberg. There are hundreds more examples," said Robin O'Hearn, executive director of Skylands CLEAN, based in Ringwood "So many things in this plan have taken away the rationale of the Highlands Act." In response, Highlands Council Executive Director Eileen Swan counseled a perspective that such proposals are merely the results of preliminary consultant work. She said such areas were included in computer mapping of areas where growth might be directed after further study. In North Jersey, these sites are largely in Mahwah and Oakland and in communities in the counties of Passaic and Morris -- from Ringwood to Parsippany -- that are near or within the Routes 23, 287 and 80 corridors. "We only wanted to show where you can look to start this process," Swan said. "All the different [environmental] constraints analysis must be done." She said sites will be evaluated in more detail when Highlands communities amend their master plans to conform to the regional plan, which the council aims to adopt this spring. At issue is the quality and quantity of water in streams across the mountain region from northern Bergen County to Hunterdon County. These streams supply water to millions of homes and businesses in North Jersey. The 2004 Highlands Act requires the council to both plan how to preserve key water-generating areas and identify lands where development should be encouraged. Last year, O'Hearn and others noted, the draft Highlands plan appeared to target lake communities in West Milford and Ringwood for additional development. Now, they said, it's the banks of the Pequannock River and its trout-spawning tributaries that have been mapped for potential high-density development. "I was shocked when I saw that," said Riverdale Mayor William Budesheim. "They have them [potential development zones] in our parks, over our wells, in the flood plain and other areas we're trying to protect." Budesheim was referring to a key part of the regional plan that's designed to create a "Transfer of Development Rights" program. That program is to compensate the owners of land where development will be banned. It will give such landholders development credits they can sell to developers in locations designated as able to support concentrated growth. The plan also is to offer financial incentives to towns that voluntarily accept higher density growth through TDR credits. Council staff mapped numerous potential TDR receiving areas, including the four sites toured on Thursday. "This one I can't image how it would qualify," Ross Kushner of the Pequannock River Coalition said, as he stood by a lake at the Montclair YMCA Camp in West Milford, which he said is on a TDR zone map. "This one is just off the charts." E-mail: barry@northjersey.com © 2008 Skylands CLEAN, Inc. • Background photo courtesy Dwight Hiscano, 908-273-5666 |
