Open Space Funding

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

Release Date: May 19 2008

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.”

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