PRO counters Warren County growth plan

Friday, August 19, 2005

By WAYNE THORPE

The Warren Reporter

Managing Editor

HARMONY TWP. -- Phillipsburg Riverview Organization Chairman Mike King recently met with the press and public last week at the Warren County Farmer's Fair to address his organization's ongoing battle with development in Warren County, and specifically the county's Strategic Growth Plan.

King identified the Pohatcong Grasslands as an area of concern, a water recharge area and bird habitat targeted for development by EAI, currently at an impasse, with the township and council members facing a $110 million suit from the developers.

The county Planning Department, author of the Strategic Growth Plan, supports development in the Grasslands, calling the area an "infill expansion of an existing center," meaning open area suitable for development because it falls between existing areas of development. As directed by the state growth plan, Warren County has spent the last several years designing a plan that directs growth in existing or targeted areas, and designates other areas for preservation.

King says the Plan is in conflict with itself.

One of the county goals, he notes, is preserving both water recharge and water quality, yet allowing development in the Grasslands would inhibit water recharge and damage environmentally sensitive lands. "The plan has this wonderful language about preservation, and then they zone it to be built on," he said.

Meanwhile, King says, allowing growth in rural areas keeps growth from revitalizing the existing urban areas. "Our downtowns need the economic stimulation that the Warren County Planning Department envisions on open land outside the town centers," he said.

The Strategic Growth Plan was designed to reflect the state plan, and in the last year has also had to incorporate the Highlands designations of what are growth and preserved areas. Municipalities had input throughout the process, and some objected to proposed town center designations. King points to inconsistencies in the state plan, which he calls "toothless." Preservationists have noted, among other inconsistencies, that the valued Musconetcong River watershed is overlapped by areas designated by the state as growth areas along Route 57.

King calls for a "paradigm shift" in thinking that would accentuate growth in existing urban areas and maintain open space in existing rural areas. "Then we could achieve the goals that we all share: preserving our natural resources, saving open space and revitalizing the cities," said King. He recommends the use of Transfer Development Rights to redirect development away from open space and towards the cities.

And King says that open space needn't be unused land, stating that niche farming remains both economically viable and an economic strength in Warren County.

One short-term outcome that pleases King is Washington Borough's recent decision to not accept a compromise on the Baker development, which PRO has indicated is a parcel they would like to purchase and preserve, using a recent $500,000 grant from the state. The Baker site, on the southwest corner of the borough, is deemed by PRO as environmentally sensitive and worthy of preservation. King recommends transferring the property's development rights to an existing block in the borough.

"Hopefully, we can do these kinds of things while there's still land left," he said. "The land does run out eventually, and then you have to do things differently."