Burlington County to raise $8M for open space, farmland

Brian Woods reports for The Burlington County Times:

MOUNT HOLLY — Burlington County will collect more than $18.5 million in open space and farmland preservation taxes, dedicating most of it to enhancing its park system over the next year. 
The Burlington County Board of Freeholders on Wednesday unanimously approved collecting 4 cents per $100 of assessed property value to fund its Open Space, Recreation and Farmland and Historic Preservation Fund. The levy represents the full amount sanctioned by voters, who approved the taxation in three referendums since 1996.
Officials will allocate 3 cents to park development and maintenance and 1 cent to overall discretionary funding.
In 1996, voters approved a 2-cent open space tax. A 1998 referendum authorized the collection of an additional 2 cents. In 2006, voters approved the collection of up to 4 cents until 2036. Each year, the freeholders must approve the annual levy to support the program.
The fund covers maintenance of land for recreational purposes, acquisition of open space and farmland, historic preservation, and payment of debt service associated with those costs.
The tax will raise about $18.57 million for the program in 2017, officials said.
The balance of the open space fund at the start of the fiscal year was about $21.83 million, according to budget reports. After appropriations, the county expects the balance to be about $16.56 million.
“We’re trying to end out each year with a balance of $15 to $20 million,” said Mary Pat Robbie, the county’s director of Resource Conservation.
Since the fund’s inception, the county has preserved 29,332 acres of farmland, and for many years much of the allocation was dedicated to acquiring that land.
Officials said the county doesn’t need to allocate any of the tax levy for farmland preservation this year because only two farms, totaling 260 acres, applied for the program. 
Also, the money spent on 2016’s round, which included 804 acres of farmland, is expected to be refunded by the Department of Defense because of the land’s proximity to Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst. The two that applied this year are also in the joint base buffer zone and eligible for defense funding.
“Our farmland preservation program is voluntary. We can’t compel farms to participate,” county spokesman Eric Arpert said. “And for the two farms, most of that we’ll get reimbursed, so we didn’t need a large allocation.”
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NYC wants to turn parking lots into solar-power plants

The Parks Department is negotiating a deal for a pilot program to expand green infrastructure

Whole Foods Gowanus
Whole Foods employed a similar design for the parking lot of its Gowanus location. Stefan Engquist photo 
Joe Anuta reports for Crain’s:

The de Blasio administration wants to turn city-owned parking lots into miniature solar-power plants, officials said this week.

The Department of Parks and Recreation owns or operates 333 parking
lots and has identified 40 that could host canopies topped with solar
panels, along with charging stations for electric vehicles, self-powered streetlights and underground reservoirs to catch rainwater that would otherwise flow into the overburdened sewer system.

Parks, which held a public hearing on the matter Thursday, is currently negotiating a contract with the New York office of Florida engineering
and consulting firm NV5. The firm is leading a team that would be tasked
with coming up with designs for five lots and drawing up a full construction plan for one of them as a pilot program.

“The project aims to transform these parking lots into places that
generate renewable energy, provide vehicle shading, protect water
resources and buffer communities against severe storms and sea
level rise,” the city wrote in a request for proposals.

Read the full story here

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Christie vetoes oil train info bill, calling it a security risk

Cars dangle over Schuylkill River in January 2014 oil-train derailment in Philadelphia


Scott Fallon reports for The Record:

Gov. Chris Christie refused to sign a bill Thursday that would provide local emergency responders with more information on the scores of trains hauling volatile crude oil through New Jersey, saying it could become a security threat.

The measure, which was supported by firefighters, labor groups and environmentalists, required rail companies hauling hazardous materials to provide emergency response and cleanup plans with the state Office of Emergency Management. The state would then have to share those plans with county and municipal emergency personnel along rail routes like the 11 Bergen County towns where millions of gallons of oil pass through every week.

The bill would also require rail companies to provide on a publicly accessible website the routes and volumes of cargoes updated on a monthly basis, an analysis of the consequences of maximum discharges and a copy of the most current discharge response, cleanup and contingency plan.

In his conditional veto, Christie said the public should not have access to route and volume information because the trains are potential terrorist targets. “Providing this information in a public forum is irresponsible and reckless,” he wrote.

Likewise, Christie said providing first responders with all of the information received by the state presents a similar security risk.

Christie’s conditional veto of the bill, S806, sends the measure back to the Senate with 20 changes that supporters say severely weakens the bill.



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Nearly $3M in NJ historic preservation projects get funding

http://www.senatenj.com/uploads/reeves-reed-arboretum-520.jpg

The Reeves-Reed Arboretum in Summit is among 25 historic New Jersey locations that will receive a preservation grant under legislation signed into law today by Gov. Chris Christie (Reeves-Reed Arboretum)

Legislation that will fund nearly $3 million in grants awarded by the New Jersey Historic Trust for capital preservation projects signed into law today by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.

The law appropriates $2,988,859 from the “2009 Historic Preservation Fund” and constitutionally dedicated corporation business tax revenues for 25 historic preservation projects that have been approved by the New Jersey Historic Trust and the Garden State Preservation Trust.

Capital preservation grants fund the restoration, preservation, repair, and rehabilitation of historic sites for new or continued use by nonprofit organizations or county and municipal governments. The properties must be listed or eligible for listing in the State or National Register of Historical Places to qualify.


The approved projects, listed by county, are:

Red Dragon Canoe Club, Edgewater Park, Burlington County, $125,875.00 
St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, Burlington City, Burlington County, $150,000.00 
White Hill Mansion, Fieldsboro, Burlington County, $45,000.00 
Goshen School, Middle Township, Cape May County, $150,000.00
Joseph Falkenburge House, Dennis Township, Cape May County, $150,000.00 
Bloomfield Cemetery: Receiving Vault, Bloomfield, Essex County $66,000.00 
Hoboken City Hall, Hoboken, Hudson County, $150,000.00 
The Dr. Barrow Mansion, Jersey City, Hudson County, $150,000.00 
Case-Dvoor Farmstead, Raritan Township, Hunterdon County, $150,000.00 
St. Michael’s Episcopal Church,Trenton, Mercer County, $45,000.00 
All Saints’ Memorial Church Complex, Navesink, Middletown, Monmouth County $150,000.00 
Carlton Theatre (Count Basie Theatre), Red Bank, Monmouth County, $147,900.00 
Major John Burrowes Mansion, Matawan, Monmouth County, $149,358.00 
The Towers (Strauss Mansion), Atlantic Highlands, Monmouth County, $133,448.00 
Craftsman Farms: White Cottage, Parsippany-Troy Hills, Morris County, $150,000.00 
First Presbyterian Church of New Vernon, New Vernon, Morris County, $150,000.00 
Hartley Dodge Memorial, Madison, Morris County, $150,000.00 
Landing Railroad Station, Roxbury Township, Morris County, $150,000.00 
Nathan Cooper Grist Mill, Chester Township, Morris County, $13,200.00 
Cedar Bridge Tavern, Barnegat Township, Ocean County, $150,000.00 
Daniel Robert House (Somerville Borough Hall), Somerville, Somerset County, $46,360.00 
Christ Episcopal Church, Newton, Sussex County $131,400.00 
Evergreen Cemetery, Hillside, Union County, $150,000.00 
George A. Strong Residence, Plainfield, Union County, $114,318.00 
The Clearing (Reeves-Reed Arboretum), Summit, Union County, $21,000.00

The legislation, S-2991/A-4583, was sponsored by Senators Shirley Turner (D-15), Thomas H. Kane, Jr. (R-21), Anthony Bucco (R-25), Steven Oroho (R-24). Primary sponsors in the Assembly were: Andrew Zwicker (D-15),  Herb Conaway (D-7), Bruce Land (D-1), Joann Downey (D-11) and Eric Houghtailing (D-11).     


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NJ enviros underwhelmed by NJDEP’s tardy water plan


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“This plan is a disgrace,’’ David Pringle, campaign director of Clean Water Action of New Jersey told agency staffers yesterday at the first of four public hearings on the NJDEP’s long-overdue water master plan. “It is such a weak plan, to release it now is a disservice to the state.’’


Others also were critical, although many not as stridently so.


Briana Vannozzi has the story for NJTV News in the video above.


You’ll find Tom Johnson’s report for NJ Spotlight here.


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Key Bridgegate plotter, Wildstein, escapes jail sentence

David Wildstein – Photo Credit: Andrew Kelly, Reuters

** Updated to include NJTV video report**

Nick Corasaniti reports for The New York Times:

NEWARK — David Wildstein, the professed mastermind of the so-called Bridgegate scandal, was spared a prison term during his sentencing on Wednesday for his role in the closing of lanes near the George Washington Bridge as political revenge against a New Jersey mayor, ending one of the final chapters in a bizarre political scandal that grounded the national political ambitions of Gov. Chris Christie.

Mr. Wildstein received his reduced sentence in Federal District Court in Newark because of the central role he played for the prosecution. While he admitted concocting the scheme, his confession was part of a guilty pleathat included eight days of testimony that led to the convictions of Bridget Anne Kelly, a top aide to Mr. Christie, and Bill Baroni, the former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the bridge.

In their memo to Judge Susan D. Wigenton recommending a probationary sentence for Mr. Wildstein, federal prosecutors argued that “were it not for Wildstein’s decision to cooperate and disclose the true nature of the lane reductions, there likely would have been no prosecutions related to the Bridge Scheme.”

Judge Wigenton sided with prosecutors and sentenced Mr. Wildstein to three years probation and 500 hours of community service.

As the star witness for the prosecutors — Mr. Wildstein was the recipient of Ms. Kelly’s now infamous message, “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee” — few moments in the weeks-long trial last year were as polarizing as Mr. Wildstein’s eight days of testimony.



Related news stories: 

Bridgegate mastermind sentenced to three years probation (NJTV News video above)
Wildstein says he talked to the feds about more than just Bridgegate  (NJ.com) 

Bridgegate Mastermind David Wildstein Avoids Prison (CBS NY)


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