New Jersey Is Running Out of Open Land It Can Build on

NY Times (non-fiction ed.) ^ | May 24, 2003 | LAURA MANSNERUS

[headsonpikes]

Those fiendish Jersey Devils chewed up a few Senators last night.

;^)

[Fury]

Yep, you see the same here in Western New York. Big houses (very nice), but small yards and no trees. They look like big warts.

[JimRed]

...land consumption is increasing faster than the population is growing.

It is a by product of upzoning requiring larger lots on which to build... got to keep those po' folks out, you know. A large portion of our township was rezoned from 3/4 and 1 1/2 acres per home to six acres. Only McMansions are economically viable when lot values are that high.

[Pete'sWife]

But the rate of consumption may have increased in the late 1990's...

I live in a big house on 1.3 acres. Most (well, about half) the property is wooded.

How have I "consumed" the land?

I think I'm preserving it.

Oh! I'm consuming it because I OWN it.

Hmmm... I guess some would be against that, prefering State ownership of all "non-consumable" land.

[JimRed]

JUST TURN LEFT!!

Wait a minute, we just got the country moving a little bit to the right, and YOU want to push us back to the LEFT?

;^)

But "seriesly", jughandles are a necessary evil when dealing with the kind of traffic volume we see in much of north Jersey. A dedicated center lane for left turns tends to back up traffic in the travel lanes; it's safer to have it backed up in the curb lane...

[Eala]

Riddle me this, Freepers: I live in northern NJ and there seems to be puh-LENTY of land around. What are these people talking about?

It's the land being taken out of the market. We have a similar situation developing in the Seattle area, where there is a boundary to the east beyond which they cannot build. When we were house-hunting 5 years ago we looked at places, and developments, right up to that boundary. Now they're backfilling further in, with very high-density housing.

[Eala]

Notice they managed to get an anti-SUV message in.

I saw that too. LOL, I have an SUV for our two snow days per winter. (Well, 0.5 for the past two years.) But it gets better mileage than the Honda Accord it replaced.

[Petronski]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not busting on you, I just get very cranky when I read pure propaganda listed as straight news....in other words, whenever I read the Old Grey Whore.

[metesky]

I had a parking lot argument with a flatlander last week on that very subject.

The dope insisted that the land was "gone" and had no good answer when I kept asking him where it went and if he'd gotten a post card from it.

[Pete'sWife]

Anytime I am confronted with a Chicken Little Anti-Sprawl Advocate I remind him/her that, in 1955, the population of the U.S. was about 150,000,000. Now, we're bumping up against DOUBLE that number, and folks have to live SOMEWHERE.

The tree-hugging nutjob invariably suggests moving back into the cities, living in townhouses, condos, etc., etc.

To which I reply, "OK. You first."

Then I walk away smiling.

[Pharmboy]

Excellent point. We have close to 2 acres and 3/4 of that is hardwood forest. We leave it alone and preserve its beauty.

[Twinkie]

Never to fear. They're all coming to the south now.

[Pharmboy]

Not at all...I took your comment in the most positive way.

You signed up about three weeks before I did, and I've seen you on these boards now for a while. We're on the same side, no doubt.

[Chewbacca]

Why don't they move New Jersey to North Dakota. Plenty of open land there.

[XRdsRev]

I was born & bred in New Jersey, am quite conservative but having worked both for developers and with land preservation organizations, I came to realize that, poor planning and unrestrained building in much of NJ is a disaster waiting to happen. The current level of development is not sustainable or desirable, almost everybody except the building industry agrees about that.

Agriculture which was one of NJ's (the Garden State) largest and most lucrative industries is being destroyed. Productive 200 year old farms are being replaced by office buildings, shopping malls and developments that have effective lifespans of 20-50 years, thats it. Central NJ is full of empty or half empty Corporate office space (less than 20 years old), yet they keep building more. That is not a good thing.

Tourism which was the state's 2nd largest industry is being threatened simply because many desirable tourist destinations are being destroyed or detrimentally encroached by development.

Housing developments bring in school age children into districts that are not prepared to handle them. The only answer is to build more and bigger schools, thus raising local property taxes and that's before we even consider the additional services needed because of new development (police, fire, rescue, sanitation, roadway & infrastructure improvements etc.). Developers come in and build but years later when the additional bills come due, that they helped accrue, they aren't around to help pick up the tab.

Regional planning is the only way that this great state will stay great. 200+ planning boards, thinking only about themselves and hopelessly outclassed by slick development marketing teams, make bad decision after bad decision, screwing not only themselves but their neighboring communities as well. Many local planners operate under the impression that it is their job to approve new projects whenever possible, regardless of the costs to local residents and the local economy. They often give very little thought to negative impacts of developments on adjacent communities (flooding, traffic etc.).

As for there being plenty of open land, it often looks that way but if you check property records, you would be very (and I mean very) surprised to see how many farms and forest areas are already owned by development corporations. They may not have submitted plans for those properties yet but it's only a matter of time before they do so.

[XRdsRev]

Actually it's quite the opposite. The influx of urban (read Democrat) voters into rural traditionally Republican areas, dilutes the already weakened Republican hold on those areas.

If your supposition was correct, Essex County would be turning Republican (it is not). Instead, formerly Republican areas like Monmouth and Somerset are becoming increasingly stronger for the Democrats. Abandonment of NJ's urban areas by people moving into suburban or rural areas, hurts Republicans not Democrats.

[XRdsRev]

So true. Bennies go home !

[XRdsRev]

Annandale used to be a nice little town. Why they allowed that horrible development to be built n/e of town is beyond me. It looks like blocks of army barracks or Soviet era housing. If you live there, I apologize for busting your chops but that definately is one of the ugliest new peojects in Hunterdon.

[daylate-dollarshort]

All I have to allow is that if any of you NJ freepers want to move to a home w/ plenty of land, I have a home for you. I'll give a healthy discount to any Freeper interested!

I know- shameless plug....but true! < /shame >

[The Jersey Devil]

OK Now tell me about the "Jersey devil". Doesn't he live in the woods?

I had a few trees around me once,but I chopped them down for firewood so I could cook all the livestock I stole.