MSM Urges Support for Open Space Ballot Questions
This year, voters in New Jersey have the opportunity to support the Governor's open space initiative by voting "yes" on Question One on this year's ballot. If this referendum is passed, it will provide $98 million a year for 10 years to purchase 1 million acres of farmland and public open space.
In many municipalities, voters will also have the opportunity to support local initiatives on this topic. Voting "yes" to local initiatives will provide municipalities with the resources they need to save much more of their local landscape. In addition, municipalities that have local funding sources will have an advantage in receiving State preservation dollars.
The importance of passing these initiatives cannot be underestimated. We should see saving our open spaces as necessary as providing other types of infrastructure. We talk about infrastructure as those systems we need to support our communities. The roads, water pipes, utility lines, and buildings that support our human habitat. But this view of infrastructure looks at only a few of the systems that we need. It is only our "gray" infrastructure. A more complete view of the infrastructure we need to support our communities includes "green" infrastructure.
Green infrastructure includes the rivers and streams, forests and fields, street trees and parks that complete our community ecosystem. Up until recently, we considered open spaces only for their aesthetic value, rather than for the critical importance they serve to support our community. This has been true even though most places derive some, if not most, of their value and character from green infrastructure -- a riverfront, a canopy of trees, or adjacent beaches, mountains, forests or farmland. As these resources degrade or improve, so does the value of that community.
Green infrastructure, in the form of undeveloped land, improves water quality by filtering pollutants, controls stormwater runoff and flooding by absorbing rain, reduces temperatures in urban areas by providing shade, provides habitat for a multitude of plant and animal species and improves air quality by filtering air born pollutants.
The consequences of losing green infrastructure can sometimes be felt instantaneously. Flooding may appear as soon as a parking lot is paved. In other instances, the impact of lost habitat may take years to recognize. The significant reduction of migrating song birds has only recently been documented as their habitat has disappeared over time.
Well planned green infrastructure maintains a community's quality of life just as much as a well planned transportation or wastewater treatment system.
Just as public dollars are used to purchase and maintain gray infrastructure, public investment must also be made to acquire and maintain green infrastructure. On November 3rd, voters have an opportunity to provide the resources we need to preserve open space and preserve the quality of life for ourselves and our children. MSM urges everyone to vote in support of stable sources of funding for preserving open space and investing in New Jersey's green infrastructure.
MSM Regional Council is a civic action group established in 1968 and committed to improving the quality of community life through fostering regional cooperation in central New Jersey. Working in the public interest, we pursue this mission by: building coalitions of public and private interests for sound regional planning; educating regional leaders on effective programs to protect the natural environment and to improve the built environment; advocating common-sense land use policies for the region and the state as a whole; and conducting research to support civic action on regional development issues. MSM is an independent voice for sound land use decision-making in central New Jersey and we have a long-standing history of support for public policies that seek to balance economic development and conservation.