Anti-open space ads "lies"

Homes safe from eminent domain

Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 10/19/07
BY MICHAEL RISPOLI
GANNETT STATE BUREAU

TRENTON - The coalition pushing voters to approve the borrowing of $200 million to preserve land in the state said Thursday that recent ads railing against the ballot question were "deliberate lies" and "vicious, false attacks."

The Keep it Green Campaign, composed of 90 pro-preservation organizations, looked to debunk claims made by Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan in recent ads and columns saying the program would take property from homeowners unwillingly, replace single-family home construction with high density housing and raise taxes.

While the funding would have the state add more debt, Jeff Tittel, director of the state chapter of the Sierra Club, said local towns looking to buy land to preserve rely on state money for reimbursement.

"Without the state match, local property taxes would have to go up higher to buy those pieces of open space those towns want to buy," Tittel said.

After learning of the coalition's statements, Lonegan responded, "To say that it won't raise taxes is an insult to the taxpayers of the state."

"The state's at a breaking point, we can't afford any of this nonsense anymore," said Lonegan, who lost a bid for the Republican nomination for governor in 2005 and now heads the state chapter of Americans for Prosperity. "When it comes to land use, we have to let the free market decide and not the government, not the planners of Trenton."

If approved, the measure would provide stopgap funding for one year of purchases, state fiscal year 2009, which begins next July. It would provide $109 million for open space, $73 million for farmland preservation, $12 million to buy flood-prone areas and $6 million for historic site preservation. The state, which the group says loses 40 acres per day to development, has about $170 million left to last until then. The Legislature is expected to look for a longer source of funding in the upcoming lame-duck session.

Dave Pringle, campaign director for the New Jersey Environmental Federation, said Lonegan's claims of the state using eminent domain to buy out flood-prone areas are "uninformed at best and knowingly false at worst."

"The legislation is very clear that they are voluntary buyouts," said Pringle.

Lonegan countered saying property values will crash once the state begins to acquire property in these flood-prone areas.

"People won't have a whole lot of choice once that choice is made, other than to be willing," he said, adding he'd be "happy to engage these guys anywhere, anytime."

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