Radically different perspectives on preserving and developing North Jersey's mountain watersheds again dominated a public hearing Monday on the final draft Highlands regional master plan.

In a second round of hearings on the plan, speakers at Passaic County Community College in Paterson offered a wide range of criticism and praise for the plan, which the overseeing Highlands Council aims to adopt this spring. The audience of about 50 reflected a spectrum of environmental, business and development interests.

The state is moving to preserve the core of a region producing water for millions of residents, including most communities in the counties of Bergen and Passaic.

The master plan would tightly curb development in a preservation area stretching from the Ramapo Mountains in Mahwah and Oakland in Bergen County through 86 other communities in the counties of Passaic, Morris, Sussex, Somerset, Warren and Hunterdon. But it also would funnel growth into less-critical parts of that area.

How much land should be preserved has been a contentious issue since the 2004 Highlands Act went into effect.

The plan shows, for instance, where thousands of acres in residential, commercial and former industrial areas could be developed, depending on environmental factors. Also, nearly 10,000 housing lots in the preservation area could be developed under single-family home exemptions to the Highlands Act. Other exemptions allow development for 16 other reasons, including hardship.

The Highlands Council maintains it is not mandating growth and is seeking comments on what residents and officials want to happen in their communities.

Highlands Council Chairman John Weingart said before the hearing that "Public comment has already helped the council improve the draft Master Plan from an earlier version, and we look forward to refining it further based on the additional input we are receiving this month."

The next public hearing on the master plan is set for Wednesday at Voorhees High School, 256 Route 513, Lebanon Township, at 6:30 p.m.

E-mail: barry@northjersey.com

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WHAT'S THE PLAN

The Highlands regional master plan to preserve water-generating lands proposes protection and development zones across a region stretching from Bergen County to Hunterdon County. The plan proposes setting growth limits on communities in the preservation area based on water availability. It also would require the communities to have:

* Water management plans to ensure sufficient water.

* Water conservation and recycling actions.

* Monitoring programs to track water use.

* Coordination with the state Department of Environmental Protection on water allocation permits.

* No new land uses that would be "detrimental to the water quality" of area streams and wells.

Comments on the Highlands draft regional master plan can be registered through Feb. 28 by e-mail or letter to: RMPComments@highlands.state.nj.us or New Jersey Highlands Council, 100 North Road, Chester, NJ 07930

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WHAT THEY'RE SAYING

"After hundreds of hours of testimony, you publish a plan that continues to be unfunded towards the taking of private property. The Highlands Council must define areas that are not environmentally constrained and plan for the needed infrastructure so that the areas can 'accommodate local and regional economic growth and regional development' " as called for in the Highlands Act. -- Howard Wolfe, with the Community Builders Association of New Jersey and speaking for both that group and the New Jersey Builders Association

"It's not a taking [of land]. It's a matter of addressing a farm as a farm, not a condominium development." -- Richard Malizia, a resident of Hawthorne

"Sixty-three of the 70 municipalities in Bergen County depend on water from the Highlands because they are in a water deficit. The plan is not protective enough of the water supply." -- Mike Hershon of Oradell, a member of the environmental activist Sierra Club

"I oppose development in the Highlands area, mainly because of the negative effect on our water supply." -- Priscilla Lainez of Paterson, who is a teacher in Newark

"These farms are the farmers' pension, their 401(k), as it were ... We feel it is extremely important to have a cluster development proponent" in the Highlands plan. -- Bill Griffin, New Jersey Board of Agriculture

"I have a concern that young farmers will not be able to afford to do a [required] conservation plan." -- George Cluff, owner of Eden Farms, a greenhouse operation in West Milford