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Look you can argue all you want about "Constitutional Rights" and while I normally would agree with you, this situation is quite a bit different.

What we are talking about here is a plan that would stop large developments in the Highlands Region. Small developments in properly zoned areas would still be allowed.

In regards to the assertion that your situation is different, I note in the following quote from the text many similarities to what has been implimented in our area (They are in bold print)

The council will have dramatic impact in the long run, but the bill also calls for immediate action in the form of sweeping new regulatory powers by the state Department of Environmental Protection.

DEP would be given the right of first refusal on all property sales in the core, and all development on more than one acre would require a special Highlands permit.

The permitting process would ban development on steep slopes, within 300 feet of all streams and upland forests. It would tighten restrictions on water withdrawals, septic tank installations and "impervious" cover.

You bring up some very good points XRdsRev, but I agree with hedgetrimmer, massive government intervention is an awfully dangerous way to address these issues.

FWIW, these comments are only meant as a warning. Here is a related thread discussing the same issues for others who did not catch it: Interior Department Seeks Legislation for Establishing a National Heritage Area Program

I don't disagree with you and as I inferred in an earlier post, I don't view regionalization as the optimum solution but lassaiz faire has not worked in the past and would lead to disaster in the near future.

It has become a situation where government and big developers have been battling head to head with the taxpayer in the middle. I don't know how familiar you are with New Jersey and the problems that overdevelopment have caused. I guess you really have to live here to understand. I hate to say this but sometimes Constitutional arguments are wonderful theory but crummy reality.

We can debate all day about the absolute right of private property but lets be realistic, that has never really existed. Even in the first years of our nation, there were regulatory policies regarding private property. From taxation, to fence laws, to dam restrictions, to bans on producing alcohol, owning selling or transporting slaves, building mills furnaces or saloons, gambling, etc. etc. Private property has in many cases never really been private in the US.

Development is a very sensitive issue since it directly and indirectly affects many people who have no overt stake in the development itself. In the Highlands especially, there is a major concern about drinking water supplies and resivoirs which serve millions of people in and out of the region itself.

Big developers have made an art form of blackmailing and extorting small communities into granting development rights for "bad" projects. No big developer proposes a 50 unit development here anymore, everything is 300-400-600-1200 units. These developers have been speculating on land in the Highlands for years and lobbying Trenton to complete taxpayer funded transporation improvements to raise their development prospects. Everyone knows that once Rts. like 15 are fully completed, the developers are ready to start submitting building plans like crazy.

The only real mechanism for stopping this insanity is for the state to step in. I don't relish the idea but I also know that doing nothing is even worse.

P.S. most building on steep slopes is already difficult if impossible to get approved and it is very hard to get septic permits in many areas around the Highlands already (high water tables, clay soil, poor drainage).

P.S.S. just so you know, I have business interests in the construction & real estate trades so I definately do believe in and benefit from reasonable, smart development. Unfortunately much of the big development going on here now is not reasonable or smart.