Open Space Funding

June 25, 2009 - 10:11pm

PRESS RELEASE

Smith-Sweeney Bill To Authorize Open Space Bonding Approved In Senate

SMITH-SWEENEY BILL TO AUTHORIZE OPEN SPACE BONDING APPROVED IN SENATE

TRENTON – A bill sponsored by Senate Environment Committee Chairman, Senator Bob Smith, and Senate Majority Leader Steve Sweeney which would give voters in November the option to approve up to $400 million in open space borrowing was approved by the Senate today by a vote of 26-7, receiving final legislative approval.

“Open space preservation is at the very core of maintaining our quality of life in the Garden State,” said Senator Bob Smith, D-Middlesex and Somerset. “Well-maintained parks, pristine forests, protected farms and untainted watershed are a necessary alternative to overdevelopment and suburban sprawl. We owe it to future generations of New Jersey residents to protect at-risk open space, and ensure that the garden stays in the Garden State for many years to come.”

Smith-Haines Measure To Call For Stop-Gap Open Space Bonding Introduced

By Jason Butkowski

SMITH-HAINES MEASURE TO CALL FOR STOP-GAP OPEN SPACE BONDING INTRODUCED

TRENTON – A bipartisan bill sponsored by Senators Bob Smith and Philip E. Haines which would ask voters to approve $300 million in stop-gap open space funding for the next two years was introduced and referred to the Senate Environment Committee today.

“As we continue discussions on a permanent funding mechanism for open space acquisition in New Jersey, we need to be constantly aware that the clock’s running out on the current pot of open space funding,” said Senator Smith, D-Middlesex and Somerset, and the Chairman of the Environment Committee. “If we allow funding to lapse, Green Acres, farmland and historic preservation are going to come to a screeching halt, and we’ll be forced to start from scratch in protecting open space from overdevelopment and suburban sprawl. Voters have consistently supported open space bonding at the ballot box, and we need to ask for their support again, to ensure that the progress we’ve made over the last four decades in protecting open space is not undone.”