Highlands Rural Economic Proposal – Raises Lots of Questions & Concerns

Today, U.S. Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5), New Jersey State Senate President Steve Sweeney (LD-3), and New Jersey State Senator Steve Oroho (LD-24) will announce a new plan for regional economic development to support New Jersey’s Pinelands and Greater Highlands regions and to boost local economic growth.

“Today’s announcement on creating rural economic zones in the Highlands could be good but it also raises a lot of red flags. We have to make sure development coming in is compatible with the Highlands Protection Act and will protect the water supply for 6.5 million people. We don’t want to see this program promote sprawl and over development in environmentally sensitive areas of the Highlands. In order to provide economic growth in this area, we need to prevent harmful development that would undercut the environment and tourism,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.  “This proposal raises more questions than answers. We are very cautious about this plan and need to see more details to make sure that it promotes development that sustains the Highlands.”

The three main areas of their plan include creating a rural enterprise zone in Sussex, Warren County, and communities in Passaic County currently in the Highlands Protection Area. It calls for a collaborative platform so that people can coordinate for business or employment opportunities, and lastly, it calls for more investment on a federal and state level.

“We believe New Jersey should encourage recreational, agricultural, and historical tourism for this area instead of promoting warehouses or sprawl. We would like to see towns utilize the National Park’s Gateway Community Program which helps promote appropriate development in areas to support tourism and recreation within the Highlands region. Towns themselves should be the gateway community to these natural and recreational resources. They need to promote tourism so they can mirror places like Berkshire and the White Mountains. These communities can provide services and support for tourism. Shops, food, resorts, music venues, camping facilities are amenities that can help promote tourism for the Highlands and for the towns to grow. From apple orchards to wineries to arts and crafts to kayaking and biking, the Highlands provides a wealth of economic potential,” said Tittel.

The Highlands is home to a wealth of natural resources, including waterbodies that supply drinking water to 70 percent of the state’s population. Development within the Highlands Preservation Area is governed by, among other things, septic density standards that restrict the amount of development by limiting the number of septic systems permitted in a given land area. These standards were weakened by the Christie Administration in 2017, paving the way for more development that could threaten precious natural resources.

“Our concern however is that some New Jersey leaders could use this plan to undermine the Highlands Act, promote sprawl and promote overdevelopment. Senate President Sweeney and Senator Oroho have not had the best record when it comes to the Highlands. Leaders in the state may not have the best interest of the Highlands Act and would rather promote sprawl that would threaten critical drinking water for millions of people. Governor Christie stopped work in the Highlands Council by blocking money for tourism grants.  Legislators like Senate President Sweeney do not have the best interest for maintaining the natural beauty of the Highlands. In 2004 Sweeney fought to weaken the Highlands Act. He is also holding up nominees to the Highlands Council that can implement important economic tourism opportunities,” said Tittel.  “We need more answers regarding the zoning because it can be used to widen highways, expand sewers, or other kinds of urban infrastructure. It can also be used to promote fossil fuel power plants or developments like the 330 unit Haderman project in Hampton, or a giant warehouse development like in White House.”

Despite new nominees to the Highlands Council, the Murphy Administration have a long way to go when it comes to protecting the Highlands. The Murphy Administration is allowing logging in Sparta Mountain, Brook Wildlife Management Area, and other critical areas of the Highlands.  Instead of protecting the Highlands drinking water, DEP gave water pollution permits for Bellemead’s sewer plant that will impact high-quality streams and allow for the overdevelopment.

“There are places in the Highlands that are doing well like Morristown however are promoting sprawl.  There are other places in the regions such as Vernon that are not doing well and have many foreclosures. The Highlands is also under threat from destructive development projects. The Warren Glen power plant, a warehouse proposal, a truck stop in Bloomsberg next to the Musconetcong, and more.  DEP is still allowing for a sewer plant to be built in the Highlands, logging in Sparta Mountain, and compromising on a cleanup plan at the Ringwood Superfund site that will contaminate areas at Ringwood State Park,” said Tittel. “Given the conditions happening to our lakes in the Highlands like Greenwood Lake and Lake Hopatcong because of warmer weather and climate change, we need to clean up our lakes because all of this pollution hurts the economy and communities nearby.”

At today’s press conference, Senate President Sweeney supported the plan. He said he would not change the environmental side of the Highlands or its Council but promise to reimburse counties for lost revenues.

“If Senator Sweeney and Governor Murphy are committed to protecting the Highlands, they need to bring back the Highlands Equalization Formula. This will give towns near the Highlands rateables and economic growth and funds towards financial studies and planning. This will help provide towns money for things like cleaning up lakes in the Highlands region like impacted by harmful algae blooms,” said Tittel.  “There are other funding opportunities such as a small water fee that we have supported that would help fund environmental programs, protect the water supply, and prevent harmful development.”

According to the Fish & Wildlife Service, the Highlands is part of a rugged corridor of ridges and valleys spanning four states and contain the oldest rocks in New Jersey, 1.3 billion years old. It supplies drinking water for over half of the State’s population from only 13 percent of its land are. The Highlands includes over 110,000 acres of productive farmland. It also provides outdoor recreation at over 150 square miles of State land and two National Wildlife Refuges.

“In order to provide economic growth to the Highlands, we need to protect its innate beauty and precious resources. The Highlands water is the fuel that runs New Jersey’s economic engine. The water from the Highlands will help drive New Jersey’s three largest businesses, pharmaceuticals, chemical, and food processing and tourism. Its water makes everything from M&M’s to Tylenol, from Budweiser to cutting edge medicines. The Highlands is our Yellowstone where more people come to recreate every year than in Yosemite which is why we need to protect it,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.  “We need to make sure that we protect the Highlands and move forward on a compatible economic growth plan for this beautiful region of our state. We will fight any attempts to weaken Highlands Act or standards. We won’t allow any developments that would jeopardize the drinking water for over 6 million people.”