Lisa Plevin is trying to sway leaders of more than 20 municipalities to sign on to the effort to preserve the environmentally sensitive hill country
Lisa Plevin
Jon Hurdle reports
for NJ Spotlight:
for NJ Spotlight:
Lisa Plevin is hitting the reset button on the Highlands Council‘s relationship with municipalities and counties in the region, a protected area that supplies drinking water to more than two-thirds of New Jersey’s population.
For the past eight years, the council has faced opposition from key constituencies. Some local governments oppose the council because they do not want to have it curtail development. The council has also been accused by environmental advocates of doing little to advance its goals of controlling development and protecting water supplies.
As the council’s new executive director, Plevin has been reaching out to the people who can help her overcome those challenges. She is making a fresh attempt to win the backing of more than 20 municipalities that previously had no plans to conform to the Highlands Regional Master Plan (RMP), which implements the Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act of 2004, but now may be reconsidering that position.
Sixty-one of the region’s 88 municipalities and five of its seven counties already intend to conform with the plan, which requires local governments in the “preservation” area to align their local master plans and development regulations with the RMP. Counties and municipalities in the region’s larger “planning” area are also urged to conform to the master plan but their participation is voluntary.
No new municipalities have signed on since Plevin’s outreach campaign began four months ago. But she is optimistic that more will join when they get beyond what she calls “misconceptions” about the council — a state agency — and recognize that conforming with the plan is in their own best interests.
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