Protecting open space is another benefit
By:Michele S. Byers
Somehow it’s fitting that good sewer rules can prevent New Jersey’s natural heritage from going down the drain. It’s true unplanned approval of sewer permits fuels sprawl; on the other hand, good sewer rules will protect open space, and help revitalize our communities.
The reason is simple. You can’t build new strip malls, office parks and housing developments without drinking water, and without a way to get rid of wastewater. If we’re smart about our sewer and septic permits, we’ll be smart about growth as well.
Population growth, at less than 1 percent a year, is not New Jersey’s problem. The problem is how and where we choose to build. Now, people are leaving the older cities and suburbs, building anew on top of forest, farmland and countryside, and leaving our older communities in sad shape. Traditional communities are losing population while rural and wilderness areas are gaining it. That’s the very definition of sprawl.
Studies have shown that twice New Jersey’s current population could be easily contained within existing communities, without paving additional open space. That’s the smart way to grow.
Preserving our open space while redeveloping our cities and towns makes strong economic sense. Now, dwindling populations in older, established communities struggle to maintain existing sewer systems, roads and housing. At the same time, we’re using tax dollars to build new sewers, roads and buildings. We’re living and working farther apart, driving more, obliterating our precious open space, and paying double for infrastructure!
The Department of Environmental Protection soon will announce new regulations governing sewers. Gov. Whitman has proposed that these new wastewater rules incorporate smart growth concepts into the permit process, as our nationally recognized State Plan recommends. The governor stated that sewer rules should "take into account the full impact of development. Not just what it will do to the 200 acres of land where the buildings will go, but what will it do to the entire watershed in that area? What will it do to traffic? How will it affect the water supply?"
These are exactly the questions the public needs to ask of the DEP’s proposal once it’s released. The effect of the proposed sewer rules must be to focus New Jersey’s development toward our established communities, where infrastructure already exists, and where such investment is so sorely needed. The rules must also result in sewer and septic decisions which do not continue pushing growth into farmland and natural, environmentally sensitive areas.
Fortunately, the governor doesn’t have to reinvent the wheel. Smart growth and sewer regulations can be found here in New Jersey we’ve seen successful growth management in the Pinelands, and in certain progressive townships, such as Chesterfield, in Burlington County.
Chesterfield Township submitted a cutting-edge growth proposal to the State Planning Commission that would accommodate growth within a new, planned mixed-use village, while preserving the character of the existing villages and hamlets. A voluntary "Transfer of Development Credits" program would preserve agriculture by selling the development potential for farmland and applying the potential to the planned village.
Communities don’t become great places to live by accident, and existing great places to live don’t stay that way without good planning. The Chesterfield proposal was based on an innovative 1997 master plan study.
The governor has proposed that sewer rules should encourage smart developments such as Chesterfield’s, while discouraging sprawling, natural resource-gobbling developments that destroy our quality of life. But the devil will be in the details: the DEP needs to produce strong, clear, sprawl-stopping rules.
The governor needs to hear from her constituents to see that she has support to pursue this goal. Let her know your thoughts. She can be reached at: Gov. Christie Whitman, 125 W. State St., P.O. Box 001, Trenton, N.J. 08625-0001, phone (609) 292-6000, fax (609) 292-3454. You also can contact her at the Web site: http://www.state.nj.us/governor/contact.htm.
For more information on preserving New Jersey’s land and natural resources, contact me at New Jersey Conservation Foundation, 1-888-LAND-SAVE, www.njconservation.org.
Michele S. Byers is executive director of the New Jersey Conservation Foundation.