GARDEN STATE ENVIRONEWS 990501
Phil Reynolds
GARDEN STATE ENVIRONEWS
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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<*> CROSS-ACCEPTANCE ALERT - MAY 12
<*> FUNDING SOURCES FOR OPEN SPACE - MAY 24
<*> MOTHERS FOR THE MARSH - RALLY - MAY 8
<*> WATER AND POLITICS
<*> SUVS MAY FACE TOUGHER TAILPIPE RULES
<*> CARVING & WILDLIFE ART SHOW - MAY 8-9
<*> FRIENDS OF THE RAMAPO RIVER GREENWAY
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CROSS-ACCEPTANCE ALERT - MAY 12
Date: 990501
From: 973-829-8120
To: Municipal Mayors, Cross-Acceptance Representatives and
Interested Parties
From: Christine Marion, Assistant Director
Morris County Planning Board
Date: April 28,1999
Re: May 12th Meeting Agenda
Below is the preliminary agenda for the Plan Development Committee
meeting on May 12th at The Lodge at Schooley's Mountain Park. Please
note that the meeting is scheduled to begin promptly at 8:30 a.m.
Mapping changes and deferred issues for Morris County are scheduled
for discussion at 8:45 a.m. I have been told by Office of State
Planning staff that the first item for review for Morris County will
be the proposal by the Highlands Coalition to change the planning area
of the Highlands at Morris development in Rockaway Township. The total
time allotted to Morris County to discuss all issues and mapping
changes is two hours.
Another item on the agenda that may be of interest to you is a
discussion of proposed policies for the Highlands region of the State.
We have not received a copy of these policies since they are still
being reviewed by Office of State Planning staff. The policies are
proposed by the Highlands Coalition which would like to see this
geographic area delineated as an area of critical state concern. This
review is scheduled for 1:15p.m.
We recommend that you confirm the meeting time by calling the Office
of State Planning meeting hotline number at 1-800-522-0129 the day
before the meeting.
If you have any questions, please contact me at (973) 829-8120.
-=*=-
PLAN DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE MEETING
May 12, 1999
8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Schooley's Mountain Park
Washington Twp., NJ
AGENDA
8:30 Old Business from April 28, 1999 Meeting
8:45 Review of Deferred Issues with Morris County
10:45 Review of Deferred Issues with Somerset County
12:15 Review of Proposed Policies for Highlands
1:15 Review of Deferred Issues with Sussex County
3:00 Review of Deferred Issues with Warren County
4:15 Review of Deferred Issues with Hunterdon County
5:30 Adjournment
Chairman will entertain Public Comment during the meeting usually
with each agenda item.
Please be aware that the times noted are approximates to guide the
Chairman in accomplishing all of the Committees work. It should also
be noted that the Committee may add, delete or rearrange items as it
sees necessary.
With no eating establishments within the vicinity and the PDC working
through lunch it is recommended that those attending bring their
lunch.
-=*=-
Morris County Planning Board
POB 900, 30 Schuyler Place
Morristown NJ
07963-0900
Tel: 973-829-8120
Fax: 973-326-9025
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FUNDING SOURCES FOR OPEN SPACE - MAY 24
Date: 990501
From: m...@gti.net
Morris Land Conservancy Presents
2nd Annual Open Space Workshop Series
FUNDING SOURCES FOR OPEN SPACE
Monday, May 24th, 1999, 7:15pm
Rockaway Township Municipal Building
65 Mount Hope Road, Rockaway Township
-=*=-
Speakers:
Tom Wells
Director - New Jersey Green Acres Program
"New Jersey's stable source of funding for Green Acres"
Walter P. Krich, Jr.
Director - Morris County Department of Planning and Development
"Morris County Open Space and Farmland Preservation Trust"
Frank Pinto
Director - Morris County Agricultural Development Board
"Changes in state funding for the Farmland Preservation Program"
Thomas A. Gilbert
Mid-Atlantic Outreach Organizer - Americans for our Heritage and
Recreation
"The Federal Land and Water Conservation Fund"
John Inglesino
Mayor - Rockaway Township
"Funding Open Space - the Local Connection"
-=*=-
For questions or information on future workshops call:
Morris Land Conservancy 973-541-1010
This workshop is a project of Morris Land Conservancy's
PARTNERS FOR GREENER COMMUNITIES program, supported by the Geraldine
R. Dodge Foundation.
Participation in this workshop series qualifies for CEU credits - NJ
Recreation and Park Association
-=*=-
Morris Land Conservancy
510 Main Street
Boonton NJ 07005
Tel: 973-541-1010
Fax: 973-541-1131
Email: m...@gti.net
Web: http://www.gti.net/mplc
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MOTHERS FOR THE MARSH - RALLY - MAY 8
Date: 1 May 1999
From: Bets...@aol.com
Join us on Saturday, May 8 at Laurel Hill County Park in Secaucus
from 9:30 AM to Noon for a rally "MOTHERS FOR THE MARSH" to protest
the assault of the revised Special Area Management Plan (SAMP) on the
Meadowlands.
Your government officials are poised to give away your children's and
your grandchildren's wetlands legacy to out-of-state development
interests. This irretrievable loss of wetlands for MALLS and TRUCK
PARKING LOTS will result in MORE SPRAWL and TRAFFIC CONGESTION, and
irreversible damage to our Urban Ecosystem.
Boat rides, guest speakers, Q & A. Bring the children!
Contact:
Hackensack Riverkeeper Captain Bill Sheehan 201-692-8440 for details.
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WATER AND POLITICS
Date: 990501
From: Star-Ledger, 990501
Opinion - Readers Forum
By Ellen Gulbinsky, Mercerville
Your April 7 editorial, "She can clean up," implied that leveraging
Gov. Christie Whitman's political future would help ensure water
quality in New Jersey. Up to now, the process of protecting water
quality has worked best when those involved checked their politics at
the door and engaged in open dialogue. Betraying that process will not
help produce meaningful standards for protecting watersheds.
We support the goal of achieving comprehensive water quality
standards that are scientifically based and yield measurable results
that will tell us whether the public expense is justified. We believe
that effective water quality regulations will lead to strong watershed
management. Over the years, sewerage authorities in New Jersey have
spent tens of millions of dollars to modernize facilities. Most will
operate well within limits set by the Department of Environmental
Protection. But wastewater managers cannot clean up storm runoff that
pours into lakes, rivers and streams. Unfortunately, the state is
doing little to combat such pollution, which water purveyors must
treat at great cost.
We will continue to work to ensure clean and adequate water supplies.
That remains our goal - not exerting political leverage.
-=*=-
The writer is executive director of the Association of Environmental
Authorities.
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SUVS MAY FACE TOUGHER TAILPIPE RULES
Date: 990501
From: Star-Ledger, 990501
EPA wants utility vehicles to meet car limits and wants refiners to
make gas cleaner, too
By H. Josef Hebert
Associated Press
Washington - Popular sport-utility vehicles will have to meet the
same tough emission standards as cars under ambitious pollution rules
to be proposed by the Clinton administration. Refiners will have to
make cleaner gasoline, too.
The Environmental Protection Agency proposal is aimed at assuring
that progress to improve air quality is not reversed by expected
growth in travel and the fast-selling SUVs, some of which now emit
more than twice as much pollution as cars.
The White House signed off on the proposal this week and an
announcement was expected today, said administration and other sources
familiar with the plan. A final rule is not expected to be issued
until the end of the year, and many of the requirements would not
begin to be phased in until 2004.
The so-called Tier II auto emission controls have prompted intense
lobbying by both automakers and the oil companies, powerful industries
that will be most affected by the new requirements. The new standards
under the 1990 Clean Air Act will mirror nationwide California's tough
air pollution rules.
While some details may still change, the proposal's key elements, say
government and private sources, include:
* A requirement for low-sulfur gasoline nationwide. Refiners would
have to cut the content of sulfur which interferes with auto
pollution control equipment - from an average of 340 parts per
million to 30 parts per million beginning in 2004.
* An 80 percent reduction in the amount of smog-causing chemicals
emitted from the tailpipe, to be phased in over several years
beginning in 2004. Other pollutants also would be reduced.
* A requirement for automakers for the first time to include SUVS,
pickup trucks and minivans in the mix of vehicles to determine
fleet-wide tailpipe emission reductions. Some large SUVs may be
given longer to comply.
The SUVs and pickup trucks, which last year accounted for nearly half
of all new vehicles sold, currently are allowed to pollute two and
three times as much as automobiles, although some manufacturers have
made them significantly cleaner in recent years.
The EPA has argued that as people drive more, increasingly in truck-
like vehicles, future air quality cannot be improved without
addressing pollution from such vehicles, or without imposing tough new
requirements not only on automakers, but also on gasoline refiners to
cleanup the fuel.
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CARVING & WILDLIFE ART SHOW - MAY 8-9
Date: 990501
From: 908-766-2489
THE NINETEENTH ANNUAL ART SHOW AND SALE
May 8th and 9th
Open from 10:00am through 5:30pm
* Free Admission
* Meet 50 artists
* Carving and painting demonstrations
* Wildlife carvings, paintings, etchings and photography available
for sale
Preview: March 22 to May 4
Works of over 20 artists on display
Open everyday 9 to 5
-=*=-
Somerset County Park Commission
Environmental Education Center
190 Lord Stirling Road
Basking Ridge NJ 07920
Tel: 908-766-2489
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FRIENDS OF THE RAMAPO RIVER GREENWAY
Date: 990501
From: 914-753-5634
A VISION FOR THE FUTURE
WHAT IS A GREENWAY?
A greenway is a linear open space established along either a natural
corridor, such as a riverfront, stream valley, ridgeline, or overland
along a railroad right-of-way converted to recreational use, a canal,
scenic road, or other route. It is any natural or landscaped course
for pedestrian or bicycle passage. An open space-connector linking
parks, nature reserves, cultural features, or historic sites with each
other and with populated areas. Locally, certain strips or linear
parks designated as parkway or greenbelt.
The Ramapo River Greenway would be a recreational use greenway,
featuring a path along the Ramapo River corridor from Suffern/Mahwah
to Harriman, N.Y. Its primary use would be for the following:
WHAT ARE ITS USES?
* WALKING
* JOGGING
* CYCLING
* CROSS COUNTRY SKIING
* IN-LINE SKATING
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF A GREENWAY?
Greenways provide many different types of benefits, such as:
Recreational use, environmental protection, educational value,
historical preservation, community linkage, economic revitalization,
and increased property value are among just a few of the benefits
derived.
WHAT ARE THE ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF A GREENWAY?
Many studies demonstrate that greenways increase nearby property
values. They also offer tourist attractions which help local
businesses and can create new recreation-oriented services. Greenways
are often cited as important contributors to quality of life and
desirability to live in a community.
While the Ramapo River Greenway can have many economic benefits, it
is important to remember the intrinsic environmental and recreation
value of preserving the Ramapo River and its corridor.
WHAT IS THE HISTORY OF THE RAMAPO CORRIDOR?
The Ramapo River corridor was home to Ancient Indian tribes for
thousands of years. It was settled by Europeans in the 1700's and
played a key role in the Revolutionary War and helped aid migration to
upstate New York. In the 1800's industry came to the area, powered by
the rich mineral deposits, and many related industries such as forges
and mills became key employers. Historical sites along the river still
remain intact and can be seen today. Many quaint villages line the
river corridor and provide for easy access to Sterling Forest and
Harriman State Park. The area is also scenic and provides for a more
rural country setting just 35 miles from New York City.
Since 1992 the Ramapo River has a protective river designation under
New York's Wild, Scenic and Recreational River Act. A 3.3 mile stretch
of the 38 mile river is protected from the Rockland/Orange county line
and running the length of Sloatsburg into the Hamlet of Ramapo. The
Ramapo River itself is also a major supplier of drinking water to much
of Rockland and North Jersey and boasts a class "A" river designation.
The river is also canoeable and provides access for sport fishing and
bird waiching and supports a rich wildlife population.
WHY ESTABLISH A GREENWAY?
With the continued assault of suburban sprawl and commercial and
industrial development of the area, a greenway is needed to protect
the rivers open space. A Greenway will provide also for a method of
alternative transportation, when mechanized vehicles are becoming more
and more prevalent and pedestrians and cyclists alike are having to
deal with the dangers associated with their increased use and
expanding parameters.
WHO ENDORSES THE RAMAPO RIVER GREENWAY?
* The Ramapo River comittee
* The Ramapo River Watershed Council
* Hudson River Valley Greenway
* United Water
HOW WILL THE GREENWAY BE FUNDED
Greenways are being funded throughout the United States through many
different entities and can usually be obtained through federal, state,
county, local and private grants and contributions.
HOW CAN I SUPPORT THE GREENWAY EFFORT?
Help to support the Ramapo River Greenway by calling your local
officials and voice your opinion. Lets make our community better for
future generations by leaving behind recreational and environmental
outlets for all to enjoy and preserve.
-=*=-
Friends Of The Ramapo River Greenway
Email: kgol...@nac.net
Email: pread...@aol.com
Geoff Welch, Ramapo River Committee
Tel: 914-753-5634
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