August 25, 2025, Planning Board Special Meeting Transcript - WEHI

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 94 So New Jersey's the Garden State, I'm not going to go into all this, but the premise of the report is that everyone needs nature. It's a key piece of land. It's a scarce, not a renewable resource. It's not -- vacant land is a complete misnomer. Every piece of land in New Jersey that is not developed is providing services. I am not going to go through all this because I am going to focus on the property. But I do think this is important, five million acres in New Jersey, about 33, 34 percent is preserved, 38 percent is developed. About 1.4 million left. That means 1.4 million acres of which this 120 acres is part of that is providing ecosystems services for New Jersey. The report calls for preserving 50 percent of the remaining lands, about 5,000 acres of which this 120 acres would be part of. MR. AFRAN: Ms. Byers, use the microphone because we're missing some of it. THE WITNESS: Okay. I'm going to go to the slide because we are trying to focus, and I will extrapolate these two features. If one is looking at this property, what would you think this 120 acres is right now? You're right, it's private ownership. But I have to tell you