A threat to the Highlands Act 

The NJ Highlands Coalition has partnered with the Eastern Environmental Law Center as we arrange to intervene in the complaint, filed by West Milford with the Council on Local Mandates (CLM), claiming that the Highlands Act is an unfunded mandate. The CLM was created in response to a 1996 Constitutional amendment, whereby local governments and school boards argued they were increasingly burdened by legislation and regulations adopted by the state which were costly to local governments to enforce or comply with, and there was no funding provided by the state to cover these new costs except by raising property taxes. The CLM is an independent commission. If it finds, as a result of a complaint that a regulation is an unfunded mandate, the regulation immediately expires and there is no provision

for appeal. Of the 21 complaints filed with the CLM since its inception, resulted in the expiration of the subject regulation. The Highlands Act is by far the most complex case brought to the CLM and, consequently, the impacts of how the CLM rules on the W. Milford complaint may be the most far-ranging. More information can be found at the CLM website.

Highlands Council Nominations: Round 2

Governor Murphy has re-nominated Dr. Dan Van Abs, Bill Kibler, and Wynnie-Fred Victor Hinds to the Highlands Council for the new legislative session. We are working with the Governor’s Appointments Office and appropriate Senators to help the nominations move forward through senatorial advice and consent. 

Warehousing in the age of Amazon, Walmart and Federal Express et al. is a boon to financially troubled or “underdeveloped” municipalities across New Jersey. The benefits are increased tax revenue, high paying jobs, clean efficient use of formerly worthless real estate and new and generous business neighbors who require almost no local services.  Sounds almost too good to be true. In many cases, not all, warehousing businesses are just that, too good to be true.

The principle benefit for those who build them has generally very little to do with jobs, neighborliness and least of all tax revenue. The real benefit for the developer is the magic ability of warehousing to turn low valued property into prime real estate. Low valued property in New Jersey is primarily tainted or formerly tainted brownfield, or farmland in out-of-the way places. Obtaining zoning changes on such properties can increase their value many times over. For the developer looking to buy low and sell high, this process is a modern day Midas Touch! Warehouse or not, the mere action of a small town planning board can make a savvy speculator millions overnight. Further profits can be created by downplaying possible costs associated with municipal services like police, fire and first aid needs for 

the warehousing zone. Best and most profitable of all is the prospect of tax abatements. Properties with town approvals and abatements can be dramatically marked up on the real estate market well before any jobs are created.

Warehousing, properly located, with an available workforce base, and adjacent to interstate and state highways, can prove to be a valuable addition to a depressed or challenged community. Without such resources, warehousing, particularly in a storage space and distribution center bubble like the one we are experiencing now, can be a drag on a small town’s economy and have a depressing effect on local property values. Such is the case in what is proposed in White Township, Warren County. That case is all profit for the speculator and all trouble for the town. There, and in similar poorly situated communities, the dreams of tax bonanzas and numerous high paying jobs in the end will prove to be merely illusions spun by "buy low - sell high" speculators who seduce the town fathers, dump the property, and then leave the town holding a bag full of broken promises and imaginary dreams of growth and prosperity.