MEADOWLANDS COMMISSION DECLARES SAMP DEAD
By Hugh M. Carola
After thirteen years of rancor, history was made on January 23, 2002 when the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission (NJMC) formally withdrew its support from the long-proposed Special Area Management Plan (SAMP). By a unanimous vote, the six Commissioners put an end to the Plan, first proposed in 1989 as a federal-state-local answer to unresolved development issues in the 32-square mile Meadowlands District. Without a local sponsor, SAMP withered and died.
"Today a great victory was won for the Meadowlands and for the people of New Jersey," declared Capt. Bill Sheehan, who attended the Commission meeting with Baykeeper Andy Willner. "It took thirteen years and a lot of hard work by many people but the SAMP Wars are over and we won!"
In its first iteration, the SAMP proposed the loss of over 1,500 acres of wetlands for a series of development projects. After intense environmental opposition led by Hackensack Riverkeeper and NY/NJ Baykeeper, planned wetland fill was reduced to 840 acres in the Plan's 1995 Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS). Continuing opposition through 1999 resulted in the then-HMDC proposing a 435-acre SAMP. "Throughout each and every iteration, Andy and I kept asking the Commission, 'What is it about zero wetlands loss that you don't understand?'" said Capt. Bill.
"It was obvious that the state and federal governments were trying to effect a compromise at the time," said Andy Willner. "The problem was that they failed to acknowledge that two-thirds of the Meadowlands were already gone and that the time for compromise was over."
Although most opposition had come from the conservation community, SAMP also had many detractors from among developers (who felt it didn't go far enough to encourage development) and from municipal officials (who felt it would benefit some towns to the detriment of others). After the DEIS was released in 1995, the HMDC held a series of public information sessions supportive of SAMP in the fourteen Meadowlands municipalities. At one such meeting in Secaucus, then-HMDC Executive Director Anthony Scardino tried (and failed) to win converts by declaring, "We know what's good for you people here in Secaucus."
But that was a long time ago.
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SAMP (Special Area Management Plan) is an outgrowth of the federal Coastal Zone Management Act. As such, a SAMP can be written to protect sensitive coastal habitats and allow for development in coastal areas. Despite sections allegedly devoted to wetlands protection, the Meadowlands SAMP was created as a way to expedite local wetland fill permits by speeding up the federal permit process. Bringing together federal (EPA, Army Corps, etc.), state (DEP, etc.) and local (HMDC) regulatory agencies, the Meadowlands SAMP would have allowed for an unacceptable amount of wetlands loss. When the Plan was drawn, central to it was its Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the entire 7,000 acres of remaining wetlands in the Meadowlands. Had that document been finalized, SAMP would have: 1) Eliminated the need for review at the federal level of large-scale development projects (e.g. Mills); and 2) Allowed for General Permits which would require no public review at all for wetlands fills of fifteen acres or less. Attached to the SAMP was an illegal scheme — the Environmental Improvement Program (EIP), which was designed to look like an environmental initiative. The idea of the EIP was to tax developers who filled wetlands and use the money to (allegedly) remediate past environmental abuses and insulate the potentially responsible parties from prosecution. For instance, landfills might be remediated by using EIP money BUT the polluters that created the landfills would be let off the hook. SAMP was also based on a flawed needs analysis; really more of a "wish list" from the development community rather than a legitimate assessment of regional needs. In addition, because of the Commission's 32-square mile geographic restriction, the HMDC would not consider any "out of district" alternatives for development. Bottom line: the Meadowlands SAMP would have torn the heart and soul out of the Clean Water Act. We're better off for its demise. |
By Hugh M. Carola
On January 24, 2002, the Mills Corporation abruptly postponed a public hearing scheduled for January 29 on the Virginia-based developer's plan to build a 2.1 million square foot shopping mall in Carlstadt. "Despite their application having been deemed complete in July 2001, this is the third time the applicant has postponed the hearing," according to an official at the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission. "They have essentially stopped the clock."
The postponement came in the wake of Mills' disastrous showing at a January 14 variation hearing held before the Commission. At that hearing, Mills' attorney Michael Luchkiw, argued that his client should be exempt from the existing zoning regulations that would require the company to build as many as 1,700 units of housing adjacent to their mall.* He appealed to an "unofficial agreement" made in 1997 between Mills, Empire Limited, Carlstadt Mayor William Roseman and then-HMDC Chairperson Harriet Derman to remove the housing requirement from the 592-acre "Empire Tract." Such discussions were done privately and were never subject to public commentary.
Under a blistering cross examination by Hackensack Riverkeeper's attorney Susan Kraham, the impropriety of that "agreement" was made abundantly clear to the Commission. Ms. Kraham and Edward Lloyd, director of the Columbia University Environmental Law Clinic, also argued that the extent of the exemption requested by Mills required a full public hearing. It would appear that our attorneys bested theirs.
"I believe that had Mills not 'stopped the clock,' the company would have faced an outright denial of their variation application," said Capt. Bill Sheehan. "As it is however, they have simply postponed the inevitable. There's no way we're going to lose those wetlands."
*Often overlooked are the zoning maps and regulations established by the NJ Meadowlands Commission during its HMDC days. Virtually every inch of wetlands was zoned for some sort of developed use and the zoning remains on the books. According to current regulations, housing is required on 25 to 35% of land on the "Empire Tract." Carlstadt has always opposed any residential development; it was only the 1997 "agreement" that put the borough firmly in the Mills camp.