Over the objections of environmentalists and defenders of Liberty State Park, Gov. Christopher Christie signed legislation on Feb. 5 that merges the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority with the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission, a move advocates fear will open Liberty State Park to commercial development.
The bill, sponsored Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto (D – 32nd Dist.) and state Sen. Paul Sarlo (D – 36 th Dist.), reestablishes the Hackensack Meadowlands Transportation Planning District and replaces the property tax sharing program in the New Jersey Meadowlands region that officials in the Hudson and Bergen county towns in their districts have long resented.
Most controversial, however, is an amendment to the bill added at the request of Gov. Christie late in December, placing development and operations of Liberty State Park under the oversight of the newly-formed Meadowlands Region Commission. The agency’s power to raise funds by issuing bonds is seen by opponents as the key factor that could lead to development of a park they want to preserve in its natural state.
(A late-breaking story on Friday revealed the state Department of Environmental Protection, which used to oversee the park’s operations, paid a consulting firm $120,000 to study potential revenue-producing development at the park. See sidebar.
Environmentalists and advocates for Liberty State Park along with Jersey City municipal officials and the Hudson County freeholder board tried and failed to get Christie to remove the change of oversight in the bill.
In a joint statement, Prieto and Sarlo said they will introduce new legislation to address concerns about the future of Liberty State Park and clarify protections for it.
“Gov. Christie should have conditionally vetoed A3969 and totally removed the LSP language. – Sam Pesin
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Tax relief for towns like Secaucus
The law is desirable to towns in Hudson and Bergen counties in the Meadowland region because it replaces a 40-year tax burden with revenue generated by events at the Meadowlands Sports Complex.
Decades ago, the Meadowlands Commission was formed to regulate development of the Hackensack River wetlands. Some towns like Secaucus allowed to continue development built a large property tax revenue base, while other towns like Kearny – which hosted regional trash dumps – lost large tracts of land from their tax rolls.
The towns allowed to develop have been forced to pay millions in property tax revenues into a tax sharing pool to compensate towns not allowed to develop. Under the new commission, that formula would be scrapped and revenue to help towns like Kearny would come from money generated by sports and other programs.
The legislation also returns control over zoning and planning to 14 towns currently overseen by the Meadowlands Commission, seven in Hudson County, seven in Bergen County. In these areas, the commission will no longer have the final word over development.
“This was the right thing to do for these communities in the Meadowlands region,” Prieto said. “We also understand the concerns about the future of Liberty State Park. Liberty State Park and what it means to our heritage holds a special place, and – as has always been the case – we stand ready to protect the park.
“To that end, we will be introducing legislation to clarify that the Meadowlands Regional Commission may only review plans for Liberty State Park at the request of the Department of Environmental Protection, and that nothing in state law shall be construed to transfer ownership of any Liberty State Park property to the commission or anyone else. In the end, we will have brought tax relief and more efficient government to the Meadowlands region, while ensuring safeguards for any plan to further preserve and improve Liberty State Park.”
In a statement, Christie said the legislation is imperfect in its current form, but thought it was important to move ahead with the law to protect taxpayers.
The park’s operations have been overseen by a division of the state Department of Environmental Protection. The language granting the newly established Meadowlands Regional Commission that authority was added shortly before final passage and did not go through the usual legislative committee process.
LSP should be left alone
Sam Pesin, president of the Friends of Liberty State Park, was among the most outspoken critics of the legislation, believing that it could lead to the privatization of the park. The park includes historic Ellis Island and views of the Statue of Liberty and the New York Skyline.
“Gov. Christie should have conditionally vetoed A3969 and totally removed the LSP language,” Pesin said in a release. “The public’s voice in the last few weeks and the broad public consensus throughout park history has been for a free non-privatized/non-commercialized park behind Lady Liberty as a legacy to future generations. The Friends of LSP and all the people who called the governor’s office and the coalition of 57 local, regional and statewide groups organized by the Jersey City Parks Coalition had urged him to totally remove the LSP language.”
Secaucus Mayor Michael Gonnelli – whose town benefited by elimination of the tax sharing pool – said the DEP would have a member on the newly established Meadowlands Regional Commission.
A majority of the new commission’s members will be appointed by the governor. The commissioner of the Department of Community Affairs will be chairperson, with commission members to include a DEP representative, one appointed by each speaker of both houses of the legislature, two mayors from towns in the Meadowlands District, plus an executive director.
Pesin, however, said the Meadowlands development commission (MRC) should have nothing at all to do with LSP, and its involvement will facilitate the park being threatened by privatization plans.
“The Friends of LSP are pleased that the bill’s sponsors, Prieto and Sarlo, called LSP a special part of our American heritage and pledged to introduce new legislations that will clarify that the DEP still owns the park and that the commission can only review LSP plans,” Pesin said. “The public should have the opportunity to express themselves on the language in the new bill before it is finalized. We are also pleased that the governor acknowledged signing an ‘imperfect bill.’
Persin urges future vigilance
He said, “The Friends of Liberty State Park and all park supporters will need to be vigilant every step of the way to fight against every ill-conceived privatization plan which the DEP and Commission will be reviewing and the DEP should reject any plan for LSP which doesn’t have a broad public consensus after public hearings and a public comment period.”
The organization is urging the bill’s sponsors to adopt new language for the bill that would give the DEP authority to approve or implement any plan or plans or special events for Liberty State Park, and require a public meeting at LSP for proposals affecting the park.
The group wants public hearings held if there is proposed bonding, or if the commission seeks bonding assistance from the state Economic Development Authority as it has done before.
The group also wants reconvene the LSP Public Advisory Committee to meet regularly as a forum for LSP stakeholders, to evaluate plans and provide advice to the DEP before public hearings and public comment periods for plans.
“LSP is an American landmark, legacy, and symbol with 39 years of the broad public consensus for a free open space accessible park behind Lady Liberty and Ellis Island. LSP is a park for the people behind Lady Liberty and not private property to exploit,” Pesin said.
Al Sullivan may be reached at asullivan@hudsonreporter.com.
SIDE BAR
DEP spent $120K for study on potential development of LSP
The state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) – which oversees Liberty State Park – gave $120,000 to a planning organization to study potential revenue producing development and at the park. The contract with New Jersey Future was to look into the “potential attractiveness of the park to revenue-producing developers, contractors and concessionaires,” according to a report in a prominent daily newspaper.
The revelation of the contract comes at a time when Gov. Christopher Christie has signed a controversial bill that appears to shift responsibility for oversight of development at the park from the DEP to a newly established Meadowlands Commission.
Park advocates and environmentalist objected to this change and have so far sought unsuccessfully for Christie to leave LSP under the jurisdiction of the DEP.
Ironically, New Jersey Future, the firm hired to look into development potential, also signed a petition to keep the DEP in charge.
“We wrote the letter urging the governor to veto the bill,” said Peter Kasabach, executive director of New Jersey Future. “What the bill tries to do may be good, [but] the bill itself is confusing and contradictory. We offered to rewrite the bill. But no one took us up on it.”
According to its website, New Jersey Future is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that brings together concerned citizens and leaders to promote responsible land-use policies.
“We do not want a public park like Liberty State Park to be turned over for economic development,” Kasabach said. “We have been working with the DEP over the last nine months to see what can be done to allow the park to be used more by the public and how to increase programming and generate sponsorships for more programming.”
To this end, New Jersey Future brought in Biederman Redevelopment Ventures, a firm that helped recreate Bryant Park in New York City and Military Park in Newark.
“The concept is to make parks look better and draw more people,” he said. “This would be an incentive to add additional programming and get more sponsorship.”
He said it is a good idea to look at the park and but not to give it away for development.
“We were ahead of the curve,” he said. “We are encouraging the DEP to release the full report so people can see what we did.” – Al Sullivan