GUEST OPINION
By Swep Davis:
Last month, the board of trustees of the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association voted unanimously to oppose Hopewell Township Ballot Question 1, which would cut the township’s open space fund. As the Watershed’s board chairman and a resident of Hopewell Township for more than a decade, I urge the township’s residents to vote down this shortsighted measure.
We are fortunate to live in an area that has maintained so much of its rural character despite its location amidst the rampant sprawl of New Jersey. Forest, fields, and farmland are still in abundance here and our streams are still relatively clean as a result.
But unless we act wisely, sprawl is coming our way and with it inevitably comes traffic congestion, threats to drinking water, polluted streams, noise, and loss of wildlife and scenic vistas.
I am as concerned about our high property taxes as anyone my own taxes went up this year more than I care for but cutting the open space tax is not the solution. In fact Ballot Question 1 could end up leading to higher property taxes down the road. More development of our farms and forests would eventually require more school construction, roads, fire and police, and other expensive services.
In contrast, purchasing undeveloped land to protect open space and preserve farms is often the most cost effective action that towns can take to keep property taxes from spiraling even further out of control.
Earlier this year, Hopewell Township commissioned a study by an economist from the University of Pennsylvania to look into the fiscal impacts of high-density residential housing developments that had been proposed by Beazer Homes and Berwind Properties. The study concluded that these new developments would cost the Township more in additional services than they would generate in additional tax revenue.
Some have predicted that by 2020, every last tract of land in New Jersey will either be preserved or turned into subdivisions, shopping malls, warehouses, or other developments. With Hopewell Township and other towns in our state literally in a race for open space, now is not the time to cut our open space fund.
With land prices rising and natural areas disappearing, we must act now to protect our remaining landscapes for our children and grandchildren. The cost of protecting open space has gone up so it doesn’t make any sense to cut the open space fund now.
Let’s not go backwards. Oppose Hopewell Township Ballot Question 1.
Swep Davis is chairman of the board of trustees of the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association and a resident of Hopewell Township.

