Please Don't Mall the Meadowlands

Date: June 27, 1999
From: Star-Ledger

Whatever the plan for Newark, please don't mall the Meadowlands

By Benjamin Longstreth,
Policy Coordinator, NY NJ Baykeeper

Everyone seems to agree that New Jersey needs to put a stop to sprawling development - everyone except the Hackensack Meadowlands Development Commission.

Just two weeks ago, Gov. Whitman signed an executive order directing all state agencies to follow the sustainable development guidelines proposed in "Living with the Future in Mind" a report developed by the Governor and the state planning group New Jersey Future. The report outlines 11 social, environmental and economic goals for the state and 41 indicators of New Jersey's quality of life. Whitman also directed each state agency to report their progress in meeting the 11 goals on June 1, 2000.

The Hackensack Meadowlands Development Commission and Jane Kenny, commissioner of the state Department of Community Affairs should read this report carefully. If they move ahead with their proposed SAMP (Special Area Management Plan) for the Meadowlands, they will have a lot of explaining to do next June when sprawling developments start filling our wetlands, congesting our roadways and undermining our existing downtowns.

This wetland development plan directly contradicts the Governor's new goals. The good news is that, if they take the Governor's order to heart (and some inspiration from the New Jersey Nets), there are still opportunities to make the SAMP work.

The current Meadowlands plan, which is due to be finalized in July, encourages sprawling developments that would destroy an incredible 465 acres of wetlands. This would he the largest permitted wetland fill in the Meadowlands for decades. In addition to the direct wetland losses, the proposed malls, truck parking lots, offices and residences would irreparably fragment the largest remaining open space in New Jersey's urban core. Clearly, this plan won't help achieve the Governor's goals for protecting "open space," "natural and ecological integrity" or "natural resources."

But the plan won't help achieve the Governor's goals for health, transportation or the economy either. Consider the plan's largest project: a proposal to build New Jersey's largest mall. Because it is proposed for a wetland with no existing mass-transit options, the mall will generate an enormous amount of new traffic congestion. Along with increased traffic comes air pollution. Because of existing auto exhaust, New Jersey's air already fails national health standards. As the Governor's sustainable development report describes, the best route to cleaner air is to reduce the amount we drive by concentrating development in existing centers that people can reach on foot or mass transit.

The mali will also devastate the health of the downtowns that form the centers of our communities. The mall's Virginia-based developers claim that it will generate hundreds of jobs, but in reality it will simply shift them from the shops in your local downtown to their mega-mall.

The solution to this problem lies in the redevelopment of older urban centers. Development should follow the path that the Nets will soon blaze from the sprawling Meadowlands Sports Complex back to New Jersey's urban centers. If we redirect the projects proposed for the Meadowlands to redevelopment sites in urban areas, we can achieve all the Governor's goals: natural resource protection, efficient transportation, urban revitalization and greater economic efficiency.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is currently working on an analysis of the potential to accommodate the development proposed for the Meadowlands on redevelopment sites. Clearly, there are plenty of redevelopment sites. According to the federal Environmental Protection Agency, Newark alone has over 700 acres of redevelopment sites. But the EPA can't make this happen on its own. Whitman needs to intervene to get developers out of our wetlands and back into our cities. If the Governor would provide the leadership, this could be easily accomplished. The Clean Water Act and state laws give the Governor and federal agencies the authority (and duty) to protect wetlands from developments, like malls, that could be built elsewhere. These basic environmental standards provide considerable leverage to push developers toward urban redevelopment sites. In addition, developers can be lured with the millions of dollars targeted for redevelopment in urban areas.

The Meadowlands SAMP is an important test of Whitman's true commitment to open space protection and sound land-use planning. I can think of no better opportunity to live up to her open space and sustainable development goals than to send wetland-developers to our urban centers and protect our vital natural wetlands.

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Benjamin Longstreth is policy coordinator for the New York/New Jersey Baykeeper, a private, nonprofit group that monitors water conditions in the metropolitan area.