How the State of New GRABBED CONTROL
OF over 400,000 acres of privately owned LAND

September 19, 2003
Governor McGreevey, via executive order, established the 19 member Highlands Task Force citing that since 1984, 65,000 acres had been lost to development in the highlands of Hunterdon, Sussex, Morris and Warren Counties.

October 27, 2003
The Highlands Task force met for the first time.

December 5, 2003
The Highlands task force held it's first public meeting in the Morris County Cultural Center. About 300 officials, environmentalists and builders attended. Few residents of the Highlands attended since the meeting was advertised mainly with environmental groups.

March 13, 2004
In Wanaque, NJ, Governor McGreevy unveiled the Highlands Task force proposal to save the Highlands after 3 months work. The Task Force sought public input by soliciting comments from the web site, conducting a Save the Highlands public opinion survey and taking comments at hearings in Morristown and Mahwah from the general public and planning representatives from Highlands counties and municipalities. So, by now, municipal officials are aware of the effort, but very few landowners were since, once again, the outreach was targeted mainly to environmentalists.

March 17, 2004
Senator Bob Smith and Assemblyman John F. McKeon announced that the legislature had boldly moved ahead in preserving the Highlands and the Highlands Water Protection Act draft would be ready for public review on March 22, 2004
This means that a maximum of 10 days was spent drafting the legislation.4 Public Comments meetings were scheduled. By now, the Farm Bureau knew what was happening and rallied farmers to protest on very short notice.

March 30, 2004
Public Hearing in Skylands Manor, Ringwood, NJ. Hundreds were turned away.

April 12, 2004
Public Hearing in Frelinghuysen Arboretum, Morristown, NJ. Again, hundreds of protesters were turned away.

April 15, 2004
Public Hearing in Voorhees High School Lebanon, NJ. Farmers brought their tractors to protest, but, again hundreds were turned away despite the fact that hundred of environmentalists were allowed in, including school children who read scripts provided to them by Jeff Tittel, lobbyist for the Sierra Club.

April 22, 2004
Public Hearing in Statehouse Annex, Trenton, NJ. 80 pages of major Amendments were introduced just before the hearing began in an effort to diffuse the fury of the crowd. Busloads of builders, landowners and farmers came down but few were allowed into the Statehouse and most were trotted off to an auditorium to watch the hearings on video. So, when our names were called to testify, we could not get to the floor of the hearing.

May 10, 2004
More Amendments introduced. Many of the boundaries between the preservation area and the planning area were moved based on the political clout of the owners. Many agricultural activities were now exempt and heirs were no longer forced to offer their loved ones' houses for sale to the State of New Jersey before they inherited them. It still remains illegal to subdivide property amongst heirs unless there is more than 88 acres per person if it has woods, or 25 acres if it is open fields. Township officials still have no say over zoning in the preservation area, although they will get a five year abatement for property taxes lost due to property devaluations.

May 17
Highlands Bill was released from joint committee. The large builders were now noticeably absent from the meetings. We would soon find out why.

June 10,2004
Highlands Bill passes both houses of the NJ legislature.

June 17, 2004
Smart Growth bill passed 4 days after introduction. Smart Growth means 5 or more houses per acre. To win support from Republicans, Assembly Democrats went so far as to promise a new copy machine, additional staff and the posting of certain bills. Municipalities who sign onto Smart Growth get $250,000 per development and $25,000 per unit.

August 10, 2004
Governor McGreevey signed the 151 page Highlands Act into law, and any construction that was not fully approved was halted, retroactive to March, leaving builders with millions invested in DEP studies with a total loss and causing real estate contracts for sales not yet closed to fall apart. One year later, property values in the preservation area fell by 80-90%.

April 5, 2005
Hundreds of people gathered at Grow Rite Greenhouses to hear presentations and discuss the adverse impacts of the law. Some attendees of this meeting went on to meet regularly thereafter and formed a non-profit company called Highlands Conservation Association to get back the rights and the billions of dollars of equity lost as a result of the legislation.

May 9, 2005 The DEP issued 241 pages of regulations for property owners in the Highlands Preservations Area. Permits to improve or build on a property now require studies for wetlands, woodlands, potential endangered species habitat, soils, scenic value and potential historic value. These studies cost an average of $60,000 - $80,000 for just one house and the permit will still most likely be denied.

December 15, 2005
The DEP issued another 367 pages for public comment for permanent regulations that will go into effect in May 2006.
They are more stringent than the prior regulations and include such things as putting your property up for sale at 90% of its old value before obtaining approval to put in a driveway that comes within 300 feet of any kind of water, even seasonal streams and puddles. Fines were increased to a maximum of $25,000 per day for violations. Violations still include such things as cutting firewood or removing plant matter without proper approvals. Permits are required to put up things like bluebird nesting boxes.