HILLSBOROUGH: Council hopes towns will unite in effort to save Sourlands area

By Audrey Levine, Staff Writer
   As the Sourland Planning Council continues to work to preserve the Sourland Mountains, the biggest goal currently is to create a municipal alliance among the seven towns – in three counties – that can claim some piece of the preserve.
   Besides Hillsborough, these municipalities include East Amwell, Hopewell, Montgomery and West Amwell townships, as well as Hopewell Borough and Lambertville City.
   Members of the planning council – and Banisch Associates, which was hired as a planning consultant in 2004 – gave a detailed presentation in front of the Township Committee March 23 to discuss the current Comprehensive Management Plan.
   According to Angela Clerico, of Banisch Associates, the plan has been presented to planning boards and the governing bodies of all seven municipalities, and now is ready for final approval from the council before moving ahead with the implementation of the plan designed to protect the Sourland Mountain region.
   ”Next, we will finalize the plan and present it to the governing bodies,” she said in a separate interview. “But we are all on the same page with wanting to protect the resources (in the Sourland Mountains).”
   The council, Ms. Clerico said, is looking to create a Sourland Municipal Alliance, which was determined to be an effective way of managing the area as it would allow all affected municipalities to work cooperatively to protect the region.
   ”This would be a grassroots organization under home rule,” said Sourland Planning Council President Andrea Bonette, in a separate interview. “We would be working toward a shared goal.”
   The next step in working toward the alliance, Ms. Clerico said, is for the planning council to develop model ordinances for preserving the resources of the mountain. Once they are complete, she said, the municipalities will be able to compare their own ordinances and determine if they would like to make any changes to their policies.
   ”They can tailor their ordinances to the models to move forward,” she said.
   Frank Banisch, of Banisch Associates, said at the meeting that this approach will be most beneficial to preserving the land.
   ”We learned that the municipal approach is the best way,” he said. “I think you will find it important and that this is in line with your master plan.”
   Still, Ms. Bonette stressed that the council is just a grassroots organization and is not going to be telling municipalities what they should do.
   ”All regulations would come from the townships themselves,” she said.
   This project, Ms. Clerico said, began with a data gathering phase in 2004 as the council, with Banisch Associates, completed a plan for open space and a Natural Resources Inventory, among other objectives.
   In putting together the data, Ms. Clerico said at the committee meeting, the council found that it should be looking into the preservation and protection of steep slopes, forests, grasslands, groundwater and the habitats for endangered species, among other goals. She said the council would be looking into best practices for long-term sustainability of these resources.
   For phase two of the project, which is almost complete, Ms. Clerico said Banisch Associates has used funds from the New Jersey Office of Smart Growth to create a plan to protect the region. This plan is what she presented to the committee.
   The current draft of the plan, which is being reviewed by the affected municipalities, discusses effective land management tools, management of the fragile environment of the mountain region, protection of the area’s water supply and a need for collaborative efforts by all towns.
   Recommendations in the plan, Ms. Clerico said, include water resource protection, linking preserves among the different municipalities to provide walking trails and protecting the cultural history of the region.
   ”There is strong support for protecting our natural resources,” she said. “(Our goal is) to balance protection of resources with property ownership.”
   For more information on the Sourland Planning Council, visit the Web site at sourland.org.