| DEP Holds
Workshops on Funding Open Space Acquisitions
(03/126) TRENTON - The New Jersey
Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Green Acres
Program and the Environmental Infrastructure Financing Program
are holding a series of workshops in the coming weeks to
guide local government officials and nonprofit groups through
the process of applying for state open-space funds.
During the workshops, DEP will encourage
municipal and county government applicants who have a project
with a water quality benefit to apply to the Environmental
Infrastructure Financing Program (EIFP) for acquisition
funds.
The EIFP is a partnership between the DEP
and the NJ Environmental Infrastructure Trust. The EIFP
provides low-cost financing to local governments and water
purveyors for the construction of wastewater, drinking water
and stormwater management projects, including open-space
purchases that benefit water quality.
Financing through EIFP provides a rate
equal to one-quarter of the current market rate, resulting
in a loan structure that reduces annual debt service significantly
when compared to local financing options. The EIFP has no
limit on the amount of money that a borrower can finance
to acquire land and the funds can be used as a local match
for land acquisition projects funded through Green Acres.
The workshops will be from 9 a.m. to 3
p.m. as follows:
- Sept. 15 at Pequest Trout Hatchery in Oxford, Warren
County;
- Sept. 24 at Long Beach Township Municipal Building,
Ocean County;
- Oct. 2 at DeHart Community Center, Maplewood, Essex
County.
Pre-registration is required for all workshops.
There is a nominal fee, which covers breakfast, lunch and
handouts, of $25 per person and $20 for each additional
member from the same municipality or organization. To register,
contact Nancee May, Green Acres workshop coordinator, at
(609) 984-0570.
For more information, visit the Green Acres
section of the DEP website at www.nj.gov/dep/greenacres.
The Green Acres program protects environmentally
sensitive open space, water resources and other significant
natural and historic resources and provides parks for New
Jersey residents and visitors to enjoy. Green Acres partners
with, and provides grants and low interest loans to, qualifying
county and municipal government agencies and nonprofit land
conservancies who work to further these same goals.
Since Green Acres was established in 1961,
the program has protected more than 522,000 acres of open
space and developed hundreds of recreation facilities. More
than 1.2 million acres of open space and farmland have been
preserved statewide.
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