‘A betrayal of the Highlands’: Council approves massive warehouse project on protected farmland

The project threatens drinking water, farmland and the future of the Highlands region

The Highlands Council approved a 900,000-square-foot warehouse on the Pohatcong grasslands this week despite the fact that Governor Mikie Sherrill called for a moratorium on new warehouses. This is a shameful attack on the protection of the Highlands and the preservation of farmland. The Highlands is, by law, a state and nationally significant environmental region. The purpose of those protections is to safeguard the drinking water supply for more than six million New Jersey residents, as well as residents of New York and Pennsylvania.

The preservation of open space is a critical part of that mission, especially forests and environmentally sensitive farmland. Instead, the Highlands Council approved a dirty deal for politically connected developers — a betrayal of the Highlands Protection Act and a betrayal of our drinking water during a drought.This warehouse is be built on spec so we don’t know what going it could become an AI data center or even an  ICE detention facility.

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Twisting the Highlands Act

What makes this even worse is that the Council bent over backwards, twisted the law, and ignored the intent of the Highlands Act to make this project happen. It was like watching a game of Twister with environmental regulations. They took environmentally sensitive farmland on another lot, in another town, under another owner, separated by woods, and artificially combined it with a closed mall site in order to justify a much bigger development.

The law says redevelopment is supposed to focus on existing developed sites. The Highlands Act was written to preserve farmland and agricultural soils, not pave them over. Yet the developers are claiming they can “mitigate” the destruction of farmland by buying development rights on another existing farm somewhere else. That does not create new farmland. It does not restore destroyed soils. It simply allows developers to cash in while pretending they are protecting agriculture. The “saved” soil will probably end up sold in bags at Home Depot while productive farmland disappears forever under concrete and asphalt.

Threats to water and public health

The site also sits on karst limestone geology, making it highly vulnerable to sinkholes and groundwater contamination. Because of the limestone formations, stormwater cannot properly infiltrate and recharge groundwater supplies as required under DEP regulations. Without natural soil filtration, polluted runoff from the warehouses will move directly into groundwater and nearby waterways. This project will increase flooding, increase polluted stormwater runoff, and threaten drinking water supplies because the Highlands Council is effectively waiving meaningful stormwater protections.

The Environmental Protection Agency has also raised concerns about tremolite deposits — a dangerous asbestos-related mineral associated with karst geology. New Jersey has already seen serious problems related to these deposits, particularly in Sparta. Yet these risks were brushed aside as the Highlands Council staff acted like legal and environmental contortionists trying to invent ways around the Highlands Act and Highlands rules.

Ignoring public opposition

There was excellent testimony from residents, advocates, and experts opposing this project, but it did not seem to matter. The Council voted 10-3 in favor of the warehouse scheme, with only Council members Kibler, Morano, and Bassarian voting no.

This decision sets a terrible and dangerous precedent. It means developers can now extend redevelopment designations almost anywhere by piecing together different tracts of land with different owners in order to create massive development zones. They can combine environmentally sensitive open space, farmland, forests, and previously developed lots into one giant redevelopment designation to justify more intensive industrial sprawl. Gov Sherrill has the power to overturn this terrible development approval. She can veto the minutes of the council and she should put a moratorium on data centers.

A dangerous precedent for the Highlands

The Highlands Act requires redevelopment sites to already contain at least 70 percent impervious coverage because the purpose is to prevent new destruction of open space. Now the Highlands Council has effectively said developers can attach open land and farmland to a 95 percent impervious site and still qualify under redevelopment rules. It is a complete perversion of the law designed to allow even larger warehouse projects where they should never be permitted in the first place.

Warehouses should be banned in the Highlands, especially on farmland within the Highlands Conservation Zone. There is existing case law and Department of Community Affairs guidance that clearly states farmland is not blighted land, is not developed land, and does not meet the legal requirements for designation as an “area in need of redevelopment.”

Dumb growth masquerading as redevelopment

This isn’t smart growth — it’s dumb growth. It is a blatant shell game designed by developers to turn New Jersey’s protected Highlands into a playground for mega-warehouses. Using the paved footprint of a dead mall as an “environmental shield” to force an industrial footprint onto 40 acres of active farmland and sensitive watershed is an absolute scam. It completely bastardizes the original intent of the Highlands Act, which was passed to protect our drinking water and preserve our agricultural heritage — not to act as a regulatory loophole for developers looking to maximize warehouse square footage.

The Highlands Council is supposed to be the gatekeeper of our state’s most vulnerable natural resources. By approving a redevelopment waiver for this environmentally constrained parcel, the Council is rolling out the red carpet for more truck traffic, massive stormwater runoff into the Lopatcong Creek watershed, worse flooding and the permanent destruction of priority farmland soils. You cannot “mitigate” away a massive block of concrete with a few patchwork trees and artificial buffers. The developer is treating the Highlands Act like a rulebook to be gamed instead of a law designed to protect our future. This is a terrible deal for Warren County, a terrible deal for clean water, and a terrible deal for future generations.

Environmental gerrymandering for developers

This dirty deal violates the intent, spirit, and goals of the Highlands Act. Instead of limiting redevelopment to the footprint of the previous mall and parking lot, this proposal uses a bait-and-switch strategy to expand warehouse sprawl into environmentally sensitive farmland next to a Category One stream. Worse still, this site could later become a massive polluting data center or an AI facility, bringing even greater energy demands, truck traffic, water consumption, and environmental degradation. The warehouse could even become an ICE detention facility in the future.

This is not only a major mistake — it is environmental gerrymandering for developers. It sets a dangerous precedent for similar projects throughout the Highlands and will undermine protections across the entire region.

What the Highlands Act actually requires

The definition and purpose of redevelopment under the New Jersey Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act (N.J.S.A. 13:20-1 et seq.) does not include a massive expansion of impervious cover onto previously undeveloped farmland. Redevelopment is defined as the reuse, reconstruction, or conversion of previously developed, underutilized, or contaminated land parcels. The Act was intended to concentrate growth within already disturbed areas, not allow sprawling industrial development onto untouched natural landscapes.

Redevelopment is not an exemption from the Highlands Act. Any redevelopment proposal must still comply with the goals and protections established by the law. This project clearly violates those protections. The New Jersey Legislature specifically mandated that the Highlands Regional Master Plan protect and enhance water quality and water supply, preserve contiguous forests and natural lands, protect wetlands and steep slopes, preserve farmland and historic resources, encourage compatible agricultural uses, and promote true smart growth and brownfield redevelopment.

The real purpose of redevelopment

The purpose of redevelopment in the Highlands is to balance economic vitality with strict ecological preservation. Redevelopment was designed to:

• Protect drinking water supplies by confining development to already disturbed sites.
• Prevent suburban sprawl and preserve open space.
• Encourage cleanup and rehabilitation of contaminated properties.
• Revitalize abandoned commercial areas without sacrificing farmland or forests.

This proposal does exactly the opposite.

Massive increases in impervious surface

The approved 900,000-square-foot warehouse at the former mall site already represents about 300,000 additional square feet of impervious surface compared to the old mall complex. If the proposed additional 400,000-square-foot warehouse expansion onto the 40 acres of farmland is approved, the total increase in impervious surface would exceed 700,000 square feet beyond what previously existed on the property. There are no meaningful additional stormwater protections proposed to offset this enormous increase in runoff.

The Highlands Act also imposes strict environmental limitations on redevelopment projects. The rules require 300-foot protections around streams, wetlands, and open waters to preserve fragile aquatic ecosystems and prevent polluted runoff and flooding . This project would encroach upon and adversely impact protected buffers surrounding a Highlands Waters Category One trout production stream and its tributaries. Such impacts are prohibited under Department of Environmental Protection regulations and the Highlands Regional Master Plan.

Karst geology and groundwater risks

This project is also located on karst limestone geology, an area highly vulnerable to sinkholes and groundwater contamination. Because of the limestone geology, it is impossible to adequately recharge stormwater runoff onsite as required under Department of Environmental Protection regulations. Polluted runoff from massive warehouse roofs and parking lots would inevitably flow into nearby waterways and threaten downstream drinking water supplies.

The Highlands Council staff recommendation attempts to justify the project through so-called mitigation measures, including reforestation areas and a “Highlands Environmental Resource Zone.” These trade-offs are a myth. You cannot replace the natural groundwater recharge and ecological functions of undisturbed farmland and forests with engineered landscaping and scattered plantings. Once the land is paved over, those environmental functions are permanently lost.

The warehousing of rural New Jersey

This proposal also represents another chapter in the warehousing of rural New Jersey. Replacing productive farmland with massive distribution centers brings diesel pollution, traffic congestion, noise, and industrialization into communities that were never designed to absorb such impacts. It permanently destroys some of the state’s best agricultural soils while degrading the quality of life for surrounding residents.

The Highlands Act was created to stop exactly this kind of abuse. If the Highlands Council allows developers to piggyback environmentally sensitive farmland onto a previously developed commercial site in order to exploit redevelopment loopholes, then every warehouse developer in the state will attempt the same scheme. That would gut the Highlands Act from the inside out and destroy the integrity of the entire Regional Master Plan.

The Highlands are not a sacrifice zone

The Highlands region is not a sacrifice zone for warehouse sprawl, data centers, and speculative industrial development. It is the source of drinking water for millions of New Jersey residents and one of the last remaining landscapes protecting our forests, farms, streams, and rural communities.

If the Highlands Council fails to uphold the law and protect the region from this reckless overdevelopment, then it will prove that the Highlands Act is no longer being used as a shield for clean water and open space, but as a weapon for developers to exploit. Once these protections are weakened, the damage will spread far beyond Warren County. Future generations will inherit more flooding, more polluted water, more flooding, more truck traffic, fewer farms, and a Highlands region carved apart by industrial sprawl.

Don’t pave the Highlands

You cannot pave over the Highlands and pretend you are protecting it. The people of New Jersey deserve better than backroom loopholes, corporate giveaways, and environmental surrender masquerading as redevelopment. The Highlands Council must stand with the law, the environment, and the public interest, not warehouse speculators looking to cash in on the destruction of one of the state’s most important natural resources.

This vote will be remembered as one of the darkest betrayals of the Highlands Act since its passage. The Highlands Council was created to defend clean water, preserve farmland, and protect future generations from exactly this kind of reckless overdevelopment. Instead, they opened the door to more warehouse sprawl, more flooding, more pollution, and more destruction of the very region they were sworn to protect.

Once farmland is paved over, it is gone forever. Once forests are fragmented and streams are polluted, they cannot simply be restored with press releases, mitigation schemes, or political spin. The Highlands is not a bargaining chip for politically connected developers. It is a public trust that belongs to the people of New Jersey.

The fight to stop this project is far from over. The people of New Jersey must continue to stand up against this environmental surrender before the Highlands Protection Act is reduced to nothing more than a loophole for warehouse developers and corporate profiteers.

We must act and campaign for the governor to step and protect the Highlands .We must get Gov Sherrill to veto the minutes of the Highland Council and stop this terrible development and misuse of the Highlands Act -She Must sign an order for a moratorium on new warehouses and data centers.