At a recent scientific symposium on the wetlands held at the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission Environmental Center in Lyndhurst, Rep. Steve Rothman (D-9th Dist.) outlined his plans for an 8,400 acre Meadowlands Environmental Park.
“I am a lifelong resident of Bergen County, New Jersey, but up until six years ago I had no idea what existed within the 8,400 undeveloped acres of the Hackensack Meadowlands,” Rothman said. “And as that lifelong resident of this area and as a former mayor of Englewood, Bergen County Surrogate, and now a fourth-term congressman, I don’t take pride in the fact that Northeastern New Jersey is wrongly considered by some to be nothing more than an overcrowded urban and suburban landscape across from New York City, pockmarked with toxic Superfund sites and garbage landfills. But now something big is happening, and it is happening in a place where many least expected it. Within the next five to 10 years, the Hackensack Meadowlands will go from being written off as swampy wasteland and garbage dump site to a nationally and even internationally renowned environmental park that will be a model for other undeveloped wetlands.”
Rothman told the audience of scientists, public officials, environmentalists and business leaders that three years ago, he and environmentalists like Hackensack Riverkeeper Bill Sheehan, along with other public officials and members of the NJMC, drafted a map of those areas needed to be preserved.
“[We] drafted a map and drew a line around 8,400 undeveloped acres and said we were going to stop anybody from developing these acres,” Rothman said. “There have been several critical junctures on this journey toward an environmental park. One of the most critical moments was when I got the U.S. Congress to authorize a three-year, $5.2 million federal/state study of how to go about saving these precious acres of open space. Once Congress approved the study in 2001, everyone realized that there was no turning back. Our park would become reality.”
He added, “And as the study continues, so does the process of securing the land that will comprise the park. So far, I have been able to use my position on the House Appropriations Committee to secure $4.2 million in federal funds for land acquisition, which is being matched by the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission for a total of $8.4 million. This will occur in the midst of the most densely crowded region of the most densely populated state.”
Rothman said, “What is remarkable about the soon-to-be Meadowlands Environmental Park – which will be 10 times the size of New York City’s Central Park – is that just a few years ago virtually everyone believed it was destined to be paved over as the site of yet another mega-mall. Now, the governing body responsible for the region has changed its name from the Hackensack Meadowlands Development Commission to the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission, is hosting conservation symposiums like this one, and has become our invaluable partner in working with Congress and making this Meadowlands park a reality. Our great friends at the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission have even gone so far as to redraft its master plan and zoned these 8,400 acres non-developable open space in perpetuity.”
Rothman said that people on the various sides concerning development in the Meadowlands have come to recognize that the formation of this environmental park is inevitable.
One of the more significant changes, Rothman noted, came via the Mills Corporation, which has rights to a key part of the Meadowlands Environmental Park area – the precious 592 acre Empire Tract. It was recently awarded the rights to redevelop the Continental Airlines Arena site.
“As a result, Mills not only agreed to hand over the Empire Tract for conservation, but also has agreed to provide up to $25 million for the remediation and restoration of those 592 acres,” Rothman said. “Both the new multi-use entertainment and retail center about to be constructed at the arena site, and the natural oasis of the Meadowlands Environmental Park, will create a much-need economic shot-in-the-arm for our region, and will improve our area’s quality of life. By the end of this year, it is expected that more than 90 percent of the 8,400 acres will be in public hands, with the remainder in place by the end of 2004. Once the land is acquired, remediation will begin and the park should be completed within five to 10 years.”