Green Jersey

Highlands Master Plan vote today

The Highlands Council is to vote this morning on the controversial Regional Master Plan.

From the Record:

A furious week of last-minute lobbying has pitted environmentalists looking to tighten environmental restrictions against pro-development forces looking to weaken it. That lobbying effort has produced 12 amendments now on the table, dealing with a range of technical issues involving both water quality and the Highland Council’s powers to enforce the master plan.

Most of the state’s environmental groups say the plan isn’t tough enough to protect the water supply in the mountain region and have urged the council to vote against it. On the other side of the aisle, pro-development forces were keeping quiet on Tuesday.

Environmentalists fear that the 400-page plan contains too many loopholes that would encourage overdevelopment in the 859,000-acre Highlands region, which covers seven counties and 88 municipalities from Mahwah in Bergen County down into Hunterdon’s farmlands.

Environmentalists are urging the council to strengthen the master plan or vote it down, according to the Sierra Club, which has offered additional comments and changes to the amendments proposed last week.

The amendments are available in this section of the Highlands Council’s website. An amendment will be adopted if at least 8 of 14 council members vote yes.

The meeting, which is to include public comment and will probably last well into the afternoon, is scheduled for 10 a.m. at the Frelinghuysen Arboretum, Morris Township.

More: Blueprint for N.J. Highlands region nears approval (Star-Ledger)