New Jersey broke its promise to the Highlands

A region vital to drinking water, open space, and local communities still awaits the full protections and funding promised under the Highlands Act

The Highlands region is one of the true gems of New Jersey, a landscape of beautiful mountains, deep forests, pristine streams, and clear lakes. The people who live there know how special their homes are. It is a place where you can hike, swim, boat, fish, hunt, ski, bird-watch, or simply enjoy nature. The region contains countless state parks, forests, wildlife management areas, county parks, and preserved open spaces. In many ways, the Highlands are New Jersey’s Yellowstone and Yosemite, a natural treasure that belongs to all of us. In fact, the Highlands receive more visitors each year than those two parks combined.

The New Jersey Highlands are more than a beautiful place to visit. They are the source of life-sustaining drinking water for nearly 6 million people. A North Jersey Water Supply Commission study in 2004 warned that continued overdevelopment in the Highlands could cost ratepayers as much as $50 billion in additional water treatment and infrastructure upgrades. The forests, wetlands, and streams of the region naturally filter and store water that supplies homes, farms, and major industries across the state. Protecting the Highlands is not just an environmental issue; it is a public health, economic, and quality-of-life issue for millions of residents.

As Dean Noll, chief engineer of the North Jersey District Water Supply Commission, explained at the time:

“It’s cheaper and easier to have clean, safe drinking water if the water going into the treatment plant is cleaner in the first place.”

That is why the Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act was one of the most important environmental laws ever adopted in New Jersey. The act was designed to protect drinking water, preserve forests and farms, prevent sprawl, and guide development to appropriate locations. It recognized that the 800,000-acre Highlands region serves the entire state, and that protecting this region was essential to our future.

Just as important, the law was built on a promise, a promise to the people and municipalities of the Highlands. The state pledged that it would provide the funding, planning assistance, and economic support needed to protect the region without unfairly burdening the towns that live there. The act was meant to balance environmental protection with fairness for local governments, landowners, and businesses.

Unfortunately, that promise has never been fully kept.

Because of repeated budget cuts and the failure of successive administrations and legislatures to provide the resources that were guaranteed, the Highlands Act has never been fully implemented as intended. The Highlands Council has been underfunded, municipalities have not received the support they were promised, and economic and tax-relief programs essential to gaining local support have been reduced, frozen, or eliminated. Money for parks, recreation, and open-space acquisition has also been delayed or held back.

In the early 2000s, there was a grassroots revolution for open space and against overdevelopment. That movement led many municipalities to support the Highlands Act because they were tired of uncontrolled sprawl, traffic, and the rising costs of development. They understood that the resources in the Highlands serve all the people of New Jersey, not just the towns where those resources are located.

The Senate president at the time, Steve Sweeney, blocked the legislation for months to push for amendments weakening it.

More than half the municipalities in the region passed resolutions supporting the act. Hundreds of residents came to hearings in support of protecting the Highlands, and more than 50,000 letters were submitted in favor of the bill.

The legislation passed overwhelmingly, 31-5 in the Senate and 52-18-4 in the Assembly. At the time, 6 out of 7 Republican state senators representing Highlands districts voted for the bill, and Sen. Bob Martin of Morris County was a prime co-sponsor.

Those votes were based on clear commitments. Highlands communities were told the state would provide funding for planning and implementation, tax relief to compensate for lost ratables, support for open-space preservation, assistance for compatible economic development, and investments in recreation, tourism, historic preservation, and environmental programs. Those commitments were essential to building trust and gaining local support.

That trust began to unravel during the Christie administration, when funding was cut, diverted, or frozen. (Some South Jersey Democrats voted for the cuts.) Unfortunately, the failure to restore those commitments has continued under the Murphy administration and the legislature. The result has been long-term damage not only to the Highlands region itself, but also to the communities that agreed to help protect it.

Budget cuts to park management, capital improvements, and maintenance have reduced recreational opportunities and weakened tourism. Funding for historic, cultural, ecological, and arts programs has not kept pace with need, limiting the economic potential of Highlands communities. Reductions in payments in lieu of taxes for preserved lands have placed additional strain on local budgets, especially in towns where large portions of land are protected for the benefit of the entire state.

The importance of the Highlands cannot be overstated. The region provides water not only for residents, but also for major industries that depend on a reliable supply of clean water. As I said when the act was adopted in 2004:

“Highlands water runs New Jersey’s economic engine. The region provides water for our three largest economic sectors: pharmaceuticals, food processing, and tourism. Highlands water makes everything from Tylenol to M&M’s, from Goya beans to Budweiser.”

The Highlands are also recognized nationally for their importance. The U.S. Forest Service designated the region as an area of national significance, which led to the federal Highlands Conservation Act. That designation recognizes the region’s water, forests, farms, and wildlife as resources of national value and helped form the basis for the New Jersey Highlands Act. The Highlands are part of a 3.4-million-acre landscape stretching from Connecticut through New York and New Jersey into Pennsylvania, and 1 in 9 Americans lives within a two-hour drive of the region.

The act also recognized recreation as a core goal. More than 300,000 acres of public land in the region support millions of visitor days each year, more than some national parks. Hiking, fishing, hunting, birding, paddling, and other outdoor activities are not only part of the Highlands’ character — they are a major part of the local economy and an important source of public health and quality of life.

The act created a balanced system by dividing the region into a Preservation Area (about 400,000 acres), where the most sensitive resources receive strong protection, and a Planning Area (about 402,000 acres), where appropriate and compatible development is encouraged. That balance was supposed to ensure both environmental protection and economic stability. Without funding and support, however, that balance cannot work.

The Highlands Act was a promise, a promise to protect the drinking water, forests, farms, and open space that millions of New Jersey residents depend on, and a promise to treat Highlands communities fairly for carrying that responsibility. It was also a commitment to finish the job by preserving open space, stopping inappropriate development, and fully implementing the Highlands Regional Master Plan.

That promise has been broken.

If the state expects the Highlands to continue protecting resources that serve all of New Jersey, then the state must finally live up to its commitments. The Highlands Council must be fully funded. Municipalities must receive the aid and tax relief they were promised. Payments in lieu of taxes must be restored. Economic development, tourism, and recreation programs must be strengthened.

Action items: time to finish the job

This budget season, the governor and Legislature must take real action:

• Fully restore funding for the Highlands Council so it can carry out and implement the law
• Provide planning and conformance grants to Highlands municipalities
• Restore the Highlands Tax Stabilization Fund and watershed aid
• Reinstate full PILOT payments for preserved open space and watershed lands
• Release stalled open-space, park, and recreation funding
• Provide EDA and tourism funding for compatible economic development
• Protect farmland and forests from warehouses, data centers, and sprawl projects
• Stop inappropriate high-density development in environmentally sensitive areas
• Restart the grassroots campaign to protect the Highlands and support local communities

For the first time in years, we have strong legislative leadership from the Highlands region, including Assemblywoman Marisa Sweeney of Morris County, who understands both the need to protect the Highlands and the need to support the towns that live there. With her leadership, we have the best chance in a long time to restore funding and keep the state’s promises.

We built a grassroots movement to pass the Highlands Act.

We need that movement again to defend it.

Until the promises are restored, the job of protecting the Highlands and protecting the communities that protect the Highlands for the rest of New Jersey is not finished.

Addendum

When Republican politicians complain about property taxes in the Highlands, remember these broken commitments. Also, Gov. Murphy and Democrats didn’t restore cuts.

Cuts to the Highlands Council and environmental funds

• Highlands Council funding diversion (2010): about $18 million diverted, including funds from the Susquehanna-Roseland agreement
• Highlands Protection Fund freeze: more than $18.5 million frozen for 88 municipalities and 7 counties
• Staffing cut to about 23 employees
• Budget reduced from about $4.2 million to about $2.3 million
• About $18 million in municipal planning grants were eliminated

Cuts to municipal aid and tax relief

• $13.2 million diverted from the Highlands Tax Stabilization Fund
• General municipal aid was cut by about 17%

Cuts to economic development and smart growth

• Loss of staff reduced economic planning assistance
• Smart-growth and TDR programs stalled
• Urban Enterprise Zone funding cuts hurt Highlands towns

Cuts to PILOT and watershed aid

• PILOT payments cut by about one-third in FY2011
• Watershed aid frozen for years
• PILOT funded from the General Fund, making it vulnerable to cuts
• Highlands towns continue to carry the cost of protecting resources used by the entire state