Rural communities shouldn’t be the home to industrial warehouses, fast food restaurants, McMansions and overdevelopment. Thanks to the visionary proposals put forth by Gov. James McGreevey to combat sprawl and overdevelopment, maybe rural communities throughout New Jersey will be able to protect their unique farmland, environmentally sensitive features and historical roots.
On Jan. 14, Gov. McGreevey took the first important step in outlining his comprehensive plan to protect New Jersey’s quality of life, water quality and environment. As a member of a rural environmental commission who has dedicated the last year to fighting what I perceive to be unethical behavior by public officials in my town and advocating against sprawl and inappropriate development, I applaud the governor’s leadership. It takes real courage to call for a one-year moratorium on development.
I hope the bipartisan leaders in the state Senate and Assembly will join the governor and environmentalists in using the next year to engage in sensible planning discussions. Certainly, I would go one step further and argue that any rural municipality that violates the spirit of the State Development and Redevelopment Plan should be denied wetlands permits through the Department of Environmental Protection, and any state/municipal aid, permits, approvals and other services through the departments of Community Affairs, Treasury, Department of Law and Public Safety (state police), and other agencies responsible for economic development and growth, community policing, and land development and preservation.
Furthermore, I would also deny the installation of sewers and municipal water plants in rural communities. I agree with the Jan. 23 editorial in the Examiner, "Sprawl and Drought Intimately Connected." Certainly, increased development drains our water, and taints the water quality on our area’s watersheds and waterways.
There will be those in Upper Freehold who will not support the governor’s reforms, and I hope the Examiner and the residents will hold them accountable.
Other issues raised by McGreevey include making developers pay "impact fees," which is a good idea. The majority of developers in Western Monmouth pretend to be affordable-housing advocates. As someone who spent part of her childhood homeless, I find it distasteful and disingenuous for farmer-developers and large development firms to wave the flag of affordability when they are building homes at a minimum of $419,000 per lot. How many McMansions are necessary, especially when the water doesn’t exist in many rural communities to support development? Do we really think poor people are going to live there?
Because municipal planning boards often become the mouthpiece of the local elected officials, I welcome giving county planning boards more power. The Monmouth County Board of Freeholders has been a statewide leader in the preservation of open space, farmland and the creation of innovative planning board programs to promote appropriate growth. Rural communities need help, especially when local elected officials stack the appointed boards such as planning, zoning and environmental commissions with political hacks who are advocates of development.
Should we mindlessly stand by as precious open space is gobbled up because we need to keep the construction industry working? Should we permit the destruction of natural habitat, waterscapes, scenic roads and wetlands so we can bring strip malls and overdevelopment to farming communities?
So much of development is driven by greed, and when it comes to protecting our natural resources, we can’t let the same greed that has helped destroy our pensions and the national economy destroy our rural communities and our way of life. Once homes creep into a rural community, infrastructure will be needed to service the homes. And, before you know it, what was once a farming community emerges as a suburb. Someone has to speak up for the environment, and in the tradition of other governors, McGreevey is seeking to take critical steps to prevent the overall destruction of the Garden State.
Often, the debate over fighting sprawl centers on a property rights theme. As a taxpayer and a property owner, my rights don’t seem to be as valuable as those of the men and women who dole out campaign donations and take politicians out to dinner on expense accounts. My final message to the builders is in the form of a challenge. Get on board with Gov. McGreevey’s anti-sprawl plan. The more you attack it, especially in the name of affordable housing, the more hypocritical you look. Let’s make sure that rural communities are not sacrificed to greed, and that a watchdog process is in place to protect the unique features that represent a rural way of life.
Sue Kozel is a resident of Upper Freehold and member of the Township Environmental Commission.