Parks, Open Spaces, Wild Places News

 

Paramus, NJ – As the Garden State Preservation Trust (GSPT) fund begins to dry up, Bergen County communities are losing critical state open space and farmland preservation money.  Gathered at the Paramus Wetlands, one of Bergen County’s largest unprotected open spaces, leaders of local community groups, local residents, state and local public officials and members of the statewide Keep It Green Campaign gathered to call on the state Assembly and Senate leaders to ensure legislation to renew the Trust Fund is acted on this week, and to highlight open spaces that would likely be lost if it is not.

“We are almost at total build-out in Bergen County, and land is extraordinarily expensive. As one of the state’s most developed counties, we need to preserve what precious open space we have left. Without matching funds from the GSPT, there’s little hope that places like the Paramus Wetlands and the Poplar Road watershed lands in River Vale will be preserved for the benefit of future generations,” Lori Charkey, Co-Director, Bergen SWAN.

The window for the Legislature to renew the open space trust fund this year is rapidly closing. If the Senate Budget or the Assembly Appropriations Committees fail to hear the open space legislation by this Thursday (the 7th), the full Legislature will not be able to vote on the issue before they adjourn for the summer (because of timing rules on Constitutional amendments).  This would deny voters the opportunity to decide on the ballot this fall whether to renew the funding, making a gap in the program’s funding imminent.  

The groups urged Sen. Coniglio and Assemblywoman Joan Voss and Assemblyman Bob Gordon to call on their legislative leaders, Senate President Dick Codey and Speaker Joe Roberts to post renewal legislation in the Senate Budget and Assembly Appropriations Committees this Thursday.

“The GSPT is the most successful preservation program in the nation.  We should not sit by and watch this program run out of money because of closed-door political deals. The voters deserve the opportunity to renew the Trust this year and Senator Coniglio, and Assembly members Gordon and Voss must make sure that opportunity is made a reality,” said Dena Mottola Jaborska, Executive Director of Environment New Jersey.  

Governor Corzine, working with Senate President Codey and Assembly Speaker Roberts behind closed doors, has so far prevented legislation to renew the GSPT (ACR 10 and SCR 136) from reaching the floor of the Assembly and Senate, where they are sure to pass with overwhelming legislative support.  ACR 10 is currently co-sponsored by 44 out of 80 members of the Assembly.

“Senator Coniglio, Assemblyman Bob Gordon and Assemblywoman Joan Voss must act now to renew the Garden State Preservation Trust.  With nearly half a billion dollars of queued projects, the Trust should not be used as a tool of political bargaining. There’s too much at stake, here in Bergen County, and across the state,” said Edward Trawinski, Fair Lawn Town Council and Open Space Committee member.

“Preserving what little open space is left here in Fair Lawn is essential to maintaining our communities as desirable places in which to live and work. Preserving open space is therefore not just an environmental issue, it’s an economic one as well,” stated Michael Roney, Communications Director of Concerned Citizens Reclaiming Fair Lawn.  “It’s critical that the Governor and legislature give this open space funding referendum the highest priority.”

Bergen County continues to lose open space at a high rate, more quickly than the state’s three other highly urbanized counties of Essex, Hudson, and Union. While these counties lost less than 100 acres annually from 1995 – 2002 according to Rutgers University, Bergen County lost 258 acres of open space, primarily forestland, a year.

As the groups and local residents gathered pointed out, several valuable open spaces are currently threatened, including:

• *   The Paramus Wetlands: 35+ acres of environmentally sensitive land that is currently threatened by JDME Acquisition’s proposal to build 144 units, an over-sized high-density project dubbed Enchantment at Paramus. The land is home to Soldier Hill Brook, a Category One stream as well as other waterways that drain into the Musquapsink Brook which directly feeds the Oradell Reservoir, a source of drinking water for over 750,000 people.   The land is also located in the 100 year flood plain. Development there would require the removal of trees 6 inches or greater in diameter, which would introduce changes in the quality and/or quantity of present storm-water runoff, and could lead to flooding.  The area is completely wooded with “Palustrine” forested wetlands dominating the site.  It contains a number of trees and vegetation and is considered suitable habitat for a diversity of bird species and other wildlife, which would likely be displaced by development.  

• *   Daly Field in Fair Lawn: Daly Field in Fair Lawn: One of the few remaining parcels of open space left in Fair Lawn has been targeted for a high-density townhouse development. The site could form a key component of a precious central park in a town that is 97% developed, if it can be saved from the bulldozers. Rallying thousands of residents throughout the community, the local grassroots group CCRF in 2005 successfully campaigned for a local open space tax to help preserve Daly Field and two adjacent properties. Thanks to this initiative, Fair Lawn received an initial grant from Green Acres, but the would-be developer of Daly Field has gone to court to try to force a zoning change that would allow townhouses. Additional state funding could greatly help Fair Lawn to acquire the necessary acreage or usage rights to make the dream of a central park become a reality.

• *   Poplar Road Watershed Lands, River Vale:  26 acres comprised of three parcels, immediately buffering and adjacent to Lake Tappan Reservoir, the Hackensack River, and the Cherry Brook.  The parcels are imminently threatened with high density townhouse and single family home development.  Lake Tappan serves as an auxiliary reservoir to the Oradell, from which it is only two miles to the north.  Much of the threatened acreage is opposite the recently preserved, 18-acre Poplar Sanctuary.  The land is undulated and heavily wooded with mature trees and supports a variety of songbirds, raptors, water fowl, and other wildlife, including several threatened species.

“Places like the Paramus Wetlands must be protected and maintained as open space for future generations to enjoy.  To ensure that all possible steps are taken to preserve this special place, our local legislators must work for the renewal and adequate funding for the Garden State Preservation Trust, as we continue to work together on a local, county, and state level,” said Mark Distler of Save the Paramus Wetlands.

The Garden State Preservation Trust provides the main funding mechanism for the Green Acres and Farmland Preservation program and the New Jersey Historic Trust as well as grants for urban park acquisition and improvement projects.  Initiated in the late 1990s, the Trust has successfully preserved 432,000 acres of open space; however, New Jersey continues to lose open space at a rapid rate.

The open space trust fund provides matching grants for the over 226 municipalities and all 21 counties that collect local open taxes. Funding open space balances development pressure and allows for the stabilization of property values as well provides recreational opportunities for New Jersey residents. It ensures these opportunities will be available for our children, effectively preserving New Jersey’s natural and cultural heritage.

Recognizing the importance of the program to their communities, 148 municipalities and 11 counties as well as the New Jersey Association of Counties have passed resolutions in support of renewing GSPT this year.

“We are at the point now in New Jersey where we have to decide just what kind of state we want to live in. Do we want to preserve the quality of life we have, or will we allow development on every square inch and increase noise, traffic and pollution?  The fate of the open space trust fund will be decided in the next forty-eight hours. It is critical that Sen. Coniglio and Assembly members Voss and Gordon publicly call on their leaders to post this legislation this Thursday for a vote,” said Fair Lawn resident Kathy Moore.

Fair Lawn Open Space Committee member Heather Blecher concluded, “The public is clearly supportive of renewing the Trust in 2007.  The Governor and Legislative leaders should not stand in opposition to letting the voters decide to fund open space this fall.”