Trenton, NJ - Emphasizing the urgency with which State
Legislators needed to act to renew the widely popular and exceptionally
successful but nearly bankrupt Garden State Preservation Trust (GSPT), the Keep
It Green campaign publicized today that lawmakers have missed an
important deadline to pass ACR10/SCR136 before they take their summer
vacation. The coalition announced that it is initiating a campaign to urge
Legislators to convene a special summer session to put this constitutional
amendment before the voters this November before it is too late.
“All we are asking for is committee action in June and legislators
to spend one hour of one day this summer in Trenton for the people’s business. Is
that too much to ask especially when they won’t be back again until
November?” queried David Pringle,
Campaign Director of the New Jersey
Environmental Federation. “With an overwhelming majority of
the public and legislature wanting to let the people decide if the state’s
open space program should go bust or be renewed this year, all the Governor and
legislative leaders need to do is lead or get out of the way.”
After spreading the message of the continued loss of open space,
farmland and historic sites through press events, radio ads, and a plane banner
reading “open space at risk” flying over the Garden State’s
beaches this last Memorial Day weekend, coalition members now worry that GSPT
will be mothballed in light of legislative inaction.
"By not moving
forward with renewing the GSPT this year, the Governor and Legislature
are
missing an opportunity to provide real, lasting property tax relief for
many communities who depend on State open space funding to help curb
the
sprawling development that drives local taxes up,” explained Alison
Mitchell, Policy Director of New Jersey Conservation Foundation.
In response, the coalition launched a new campaign calling on
Legislators to convene during the summer to take action to renew the Trust in
2007. The Keep It Green campaign, a coalition of over 90 organizations working
to renew the Trust, warned Legislators that time was running out. The Legislature
will have to vote on the bill over the summer in order to give voters the
opportunity in November to renew this popular program, which funds valuable
local and statewide projects.
The Garden State Preservation Trust is one of the most successful programs
of its kind, working to preserve open spaces for ecological and recreational
purposes, protecting and restoring New Jersey’s historical treasures,
maintaining and enhancing the State’s agricultural heritage, and
expanding urban parks and recreational opportunities.
"According to a recent NJDEP report, components of New Jersey's natural
environment provide $20 billion in annual benefits to the people of our State
making them worth $680 billion as an asset of the State. We cannot
afford to let this enormous asset be damaged by interrupting our successful
land preservation efforts for a year or two, while we debate a funding source,"
stated Tom Wells, Director of Government
Relations for the Nature Conservancy in New
Jersey
The future of this program and preservation efforts across the state
are in question due to a behind closed door deal struck between Governor
Corzine, Senate President Codey, and Assembly Speaker Roberts who have actively
worked to stop legislation to renew the GSPT (ACR 10 and SCR 136) from reaching
the floor of the Assembly and Senate, where they would surely have passed with
overwhelming legislative support. In the last few months, 58 members of the
Assembly and 21 Senators expressed their support for getting this done this
year by either cosponsoring legislation or signing onto a letter to the
Governor or Speaker Roberts asking for the bills to be posted.
“We are running out of time and we are running out of open space.
The Trust has already appropriated much of its remaining funds and will run
completely out of money in the next year, leaving 30,000 acres of otherwise
preserved land in the hands of developers,” remarked Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.
This will mean fewer and fewer parks and recreational opportunities for
our children and their children, as well as increased property taxes in
communities across the state.
“Renewal of GSPT is in the best interests and wishes of New Jersey’s
residents and the 174 municipalities, counties, and environmental and planning
commissions that have passed resolutions in support of its renewal. The Legislature
must return over the summer to save this vital program,” stated Joanna Wolaver, Conservation Project Coordinator of
the New Jersey
Audubon Society.
With overwhelming bipartisan and bicameral support for ACR 10 and SCR
136, it is unfortunate that the political pressure and influence of party
leadership will force Legislators to convene over the summer in order to save New Jersey’s
successful Garden State Preservation Trust. Returning during the summer is all
that can be done to save this program.
“With the funding gap in the GSPT program on the near horizon,
developers will have their pick of some of the state’s most highly valued
open space yet to be protected. Assembly Speaker Roberts and Senate President
Codey can ensure our vulnerable open spaces are saved by calling a special
session to renew funding for the GSPT this summer,” remarked Dena Mottola, Executive Director of Environment New Jersey.
The New Jersey – Keep It Green
Campaign is a coalition of over 90 environmental
organizations, land trusts, sportsmen’s groups, faith-based groups,
watershed associations, and historic preservation, affordable housing and urban
park advocates from across the state that are calling on the Governor and the
State Legislature to renew the Garden State Preservation Trust this year.
