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CNN Live Saturday

New Jersey Faces Urban Sprawl

Aired May 05, 2001 - 16:13   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: In New Jersey, residents are concerned about growth, not slowdown. The state's recent prosperity drove new construction into undeveloped areas, creating the dreaded problem of suburban sprawl.

CNN's Brian Palmer reports on the push for more development and the fight to stop it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN PALMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Just a few months ago, this stretch of land in Bridgewater, New Jersey was undeveloped. Today, it's the site of a bustling mega supermarket and the future home of a Home Depot.

Construction of new homes and businesses has radically altered the landscape of the Garden State.

JEFF TITTEL, SIERRA CLUB: New Jersey is being paved over, you know, at a rate faster than any time in its history. Farms and forests are being cut down to the point where New Jersey is really leading the country in sprawl.

PALMER: Builders say they are only providing what home buyers want.

MARK HODGES, K. HOVNANIAN ENTERPRISES: Lots of people want to live on farmland, outside of the cities. And if the land is zoned to be built for that, and if we follow the municipal rules, and follow the codes explicitly of the zoning, then we feel that we are following the rules and meeting demand at the same time.

PALMER: The state has tried to balance these competing demands, between new construction and preservation of green spaces, as well as others, such as providing affordable housing.

DR. ROBERT BURCHELL, DIRECTOR, RUTGERS UNIVERSITY URBAN POLICY RESEARCH: Land is being depleted, housing costs are rising. We have the highest income and the highest housing costs in the nation. You have to do something, so affordable housing is part of the sprawl solution.

PALMER: The state's development plan focuses on rebuilding declining cities and suburbs, what it calls "smart growth." But the plan is only a guide for the state's 566 municipalities, which control to a great degree how they use their land.

TITTEL: New Jersey really is a home-rule state, so any town is zoned any way it wants, and so there's no regional planning, and just boom, it's there.

PALMER: Such big ticket development, not low-cost housing brings cash into a community and broadens the tax base, hard for officials in cities and towns to resist in a state that is already one of the most heavily taxed.

But state studies show New Jersey will have no more open space in 40 to 50 years, if development continues at this rate. So if local officials and New Jersey residents decide to continue business as usual, they will have to live with the consequences. A Garden State minus the garden.

Brian Palmer, CNN, Bridgewater, New Jersey.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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