Governor approves open
space funds for Marlboro
MARLBORO — Gov. James E. McGreevey recently signed legislation appropriating $400,000 to Marlboro in open space acquisition funding and a $750,000 Planning Incentive Grant to Monmouth County.
According to Susan Levine of the Marlboro Office of Public Information, the appropriation is the spring 2002 Green Acres funding that Marlboro officials had been told to expect.
The legislation signed by the governor releases the state money which will now be placed in the town’s general fund for open space purposes.
Levine said Marlboro has applied in the spring 2003 round of Green Acres funding applications.
In sum, according to a press release, McGreevey has signed a package of six bills that will provide more than $110 million to open space and park improvement projects all over New Jersey.
"The legislation we have signed brings us one step closer to achieving our goal of making sure that we have open space where all New Jersey residents can enjoy it," said McGreevey. "This new law will allow us to invest $400,000 from the Green Acres Trust Fund to save open space and improve parks in Marlboro."
According to the press release, the advantage of the planning incentive grants is that once Green Acres approves the plan, the local government can acquire those identified sites without having to file separate, site-specific applications.
Funding may be increased as the local government makes significant progress in its acquisition efforts.
All the projects authorized are funded through the state Department of Environmental Protection’s Green Acres program from the constitutionally dedicated open space funds approved by New Jersey voters in November 1998.
The Green Acres program was created in 1961 to meet New Jerseys recreational and conservation needs.
To date, Green Acres has protected 517,571 acres of open space and developed hundreds of public parks, bringing the statewide system of preserved open space to more than 1.2 million acres of open space and farmland, according to the press release.