Council says rules ensure that discussions on updated regional plan take place in public
Jon Hurdle reports for NJ Spotlight:
Environmental groups are challenging proposals to update a blueprint for the state’s management of the Highlands region, saying that even the process by which updates are made doesn’t allow for enough public participation. They argue that the process will allow the state to make decisions “behind closed doors,” something vehemently denied by the Highlands Council itself.
Objections by groups including the New Jersey Highlands Coalition, Raritan Headwaters Association, and New Jersey Sierra Club come as the Highlands Council moves ahead with plans to amend the Regional Master Plan (RMP), a guiding document, for the first time since it was adopted in 2008.
On October 19, the council will consider a raft of proposals for the updated plan that have been produced by staff at the state agency, as well as by the public. And it will look at a proposed framework for the process of amending the RMP, which implements the Highlands Act of 2004.
On the map
The amendment process allows the public to comment on proposed updates for 30 days after the plans are published, and sets five public meetings around the state, plus one in Trenton, to allow public discussion on the plans.
But critics say the process doesn’t give the public enough opportunity to comment on a huge and complicated plan that has profound long-term consequences for environmental quality in the 850,000-acre Highlands region of northwest New Jersey and the many areas downstream that depend on it for drinking water.
According to the critics, the council is split between pro-development interests and those who support greater public input. With one of the council’s 15 seats now vacant, critics hope the remaining members will deadlock on the public participation proposals, leaving the issue to be decided by a new council that will be appointed when a fresh administration takes over in Trenton in early 2018.
The New Jersey Highlands Coalition, a nonprofit that represents local and regional groups that want to protect water quality, is calling for the public-comment period to be reopened for an additional 60 days, and for the council to hold another public meeting for residents of cities that depend on Highlands water.
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