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NORTH JERSEY - Grants allocated for growth studies
(by Teresa Edmond - Staff Writer - September 03, 2008)
NORTH JERSEY - This year, three area municipalities reaped an estimated $15,000 each from the Highlands Council to help them shape their plans for growth or development in accordance with the Highlands Regional Master Plan.
Most recently, the Highlands Council, an entity responsible for overseeing preservation of the Highlands Region, adopted a resolution to give Wanaque funding for this crucial planning through an Initial Assessment Grant. Ringwood and West Milford had previously been granted the same monies through the Highlands Council’s resolution adoptions last June. The Aug. 21 addition of Wanaque and four other towns makes a total of 18 municipalities awarded the grant under a new financial program the Highlands Council started up this year.
The Initial Assessment Grant is one of the several grants the Highlands Council has made available to the 88 municipalities in the Highlands Region and enables Highlands municipalities and counties to draft a study to comply with the Highlands Regional Master Plan. The Master Plan is a course of action designed to protect the Highlands’ resources that supply water to more than two million residents statewide. The Highlands Plan was adopted on July 17.
“They can use the grant to determine what they need to do to perform the Regional Master Plan, like research, mapping, any determination of how your regulations and zoning regulations might change,” said Craig Garretson, Highlands Council spokesperson.
Anticipating getting the Initial Assessment Grant, municipalities have already prepared themselves by finding consultants best suited for drawing up the study. Wanaque hired a consultant earlier this year, according to Mayor Daniel Mahler, and West Milford decided on hiring the township planner for the job, township Mayor Bettina Bieri said.
“At some point we may authorize him (Wanaque’s consultant) to go ahead (with the study),” Mahler said.
The Highlands Council has $21 million available for a variety of future grants to Highlands Region municipalities, according to Tom Borden, the Highlands Council deputy director. These future grants include furthering the Highlands Regional Master Plan, building affordable housing and sustaining agriculture.
The Highlands Region municipalities are broken into two designations: Planning Area and Preservation Area. Towns in the Preservation Area must conform to the Highlands Council Master Plan, whereas those in the Planning Area could decide whether to conform. Some municipalities have sections located in both areas.
The Highlands Council allocated $1.5 million in 2008 for its Initial Assessment Grant program, and so far has awarded around $275,000 to more than 20 percent of the 88 Highlands municipalities. Sixteen of the 18 grants approved for these lands comprise more than 40 percent of the lands in the Preservation Area.
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