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Brendan Gilfillan
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GOVERNOR CORZINE SIGNS LEGISLATION APPROPRIATING
$80 MILLION FOR OPEN SPACE ACQUISITION AND PRESERVATION

HACKETTSTOWN – Governor Jon S. Corzine today held a ceremonial bill signing for legislation appropriating $80 million from the Garden State Green Acres Preservation Trust Fund to the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) for the acquisition or development of lands for recreation and conservation.

“In New Jersey, land preservation is outpacing development by a ratio of three-to-one, and today’s announcement continues that impressive record,” said Governor Corzine. “This is just the beginning of my administration’s efforts to acquire and preserve more open space. This fall, we will continue to press this important priority by asking Garden state voters to approve a steady funding source to provide for long overdue maintenance and capital improvements to state parks. Together, we will create and conserve land and open space for our children to enjoy for decades to come.”

Today’s ceremonial bill signing was held at the Hackettstown Fish Hatchery.  Governor Corzine signed the legislation on Aug. 2.

Of the $80 million appropriation, $77 million will be allocated for the acquisition by the state of open space for recreation and conservation purposes in 10 project categories.  The remaining $3 million will be used for the acquisition or development of lands for urban parks.  All projects have been reviewed and approved by both the Garden State Preservation Trust and the DEP.

The first set of projects is grouped into 10 geographic and thematic categories:

The second set of projects consists of 40 urban park initiatives which total $3 million. The projects are located in Bergen, Camden, Essex, Hudson, Mercer, Middlesex, Passaic and Union counties.

Finally, the legislation allows the DEP to redistribute unused funds to previously approved and funded state projects, subject to the approval of the Joint Budget Oversight Committee. 

The Garden State Preservation Trust Fund was established in 1999 pursuant to a 1998 voter approved constitutional amendment. The amendment dedicated $98 million per year though 2029 for the purposes of environmental, farmland, recreational and historic preservation. The monies are collected from sales and use taxes. This annual revenue stream has produced a total fund of approximately $2 billion in bond proceeds and direct allocations to property acquisition. 

Sponsors of the legislation (A-3346/S2052) in the Assembly were Nelson T. Albano, Herb Conaway, Linda Greenstein, Paul D. Moriarty, and Michael J. Panter, and Ellen Karcher and Leonard Lance in the Senate.