From the Bridgeton News

Oct. 25, 2007

Open space cry heard

By MATT DUNN
mdunn@sjnewsco.com

UPPER DEERFIELD TWP. - The New Jersey Conservation Foundation held a press conference Wednesday, urging voters to vote yes on a public question allowing the state to issue $200 million in bonds for land preservation.

Public question No. 3 would allocate $109 million to the Green Acres program for open space preservation and park development, $73 million for farmland preservation, $12 million for the Blue Acres program and $6 million for historic preservation.

The bond act would provide temporary funding for the four programs while the state adopts a long-term funding source for the Garden State Preservation Trust, a financing authority that manages funds for land preservation.

The Garden State Preservation Trust was created in 1998 and allocated $1 billion in funding for 10 years.

"If (Question No. 3) gets voted down, there won't be any money (for the Garden State Preservation Trust)," Upper Pittsgrove Township Mayor Jack Cimprich said Wednesday. "After that ... preservation efforts come to a grinding halt, and that would be a catastrophe. New Jersey is the most densely populated state in the country. We're basically looking at having this be the first state to have complete and total buildout in the next 35 years."

Cimprich, along with Greenwich Township Mayor Ted Kiefer, attended Wednesday's press conference at Edgar Joyce Nursery, on Route 77, in Upper Deerfield Township.

Upper Pittsgrove, Greenwich and Hopewell Township have all passed resolutions supporting Question No. 3.

On the other side of the issue, signs along county state roads urge voters not to vote in favor of any public questions in order to curtail state spending.
Cimprich said that type of mentality is short-sighted.

"It costs less to preserve an acre of ground than to send one child to public school for one year. If you let (an acre of ground) get developed and a house goes up, that could mean a family with two kids," he said. "No developed area in New Jersey has seen their taxes get lower because of development."

Cimprich said, furthermore, it's important to support farmland preservation to sustain New Jersey's agricultural sector.

"Agricultural plays an important part in the state's economy, not just for the part that's directly involved in growing agricultural products. You've got trucking, cold storage, fertilizer and chemical places. An awful lot of businesses are tied into the agricultural enterprise," he said.

With rising oil prices, Cimprich added the need to have a local food source is critical.

"What's going to happen when you rely on food being shipped 1,500 from miles away?" he asked. "As the price of fuel triples, the cost of food's going to be affected."

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