If you read the last post I made about the demand for rail sites, just look at this story following right behind it! Rail depot, master plan collide Development brings far more for tract than conservation Monday, March 15, 2004 BY ANA M. ALAYA Star-Ledger Staff In the first major challenge to the state's new plan to preserve open space in the Meadowlands, a railroad company is seeking to build a loading facility on nearly 100 acres of wetlands near the Lincoln Tunnel. Under the NYS&W Railway Corp.'s plans, the marshy North Bergen property near Route 3 in Hudson County would be turned into a train loading area that could accommodate as many as 2,300 tractor-trailers. The battle over the tract underscores the tug-of-war being waged between the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission and dozens of property owners across Bergen and Hudson counties. The parcel eyed by the NYS&W is part of 8,400 acres of environmentally sensitive wetlands the commission wants to preserve, according to a master plan it approved late last year. Gov. James E. McGreevey said the plan is a model for smart growth. Environmentalists supported the zoning changes, including a development ban on a 93-acre parcel owned by Democrat Frank Guarini, a former Hudson County congressman. Environmentalists say the land provides a valuable oasis for wildlife. "This is one of the most congested spots in New Jersey," said Hackensack riverkeeper Bill Sheehan. "The idea that this open space has to be developed as an intermodal center is how people thought of the Meadowlands in the past." But an attorney for Guarini, a multimillionaire investor once dubbed New Jersey's richest congressman, says the preservation designation essentially amounts to an unfair property "taking." "It's hard to conceive why they would want to preserve this property," said Guarini's attorney, Kevin Coakley. "There's lots of wetlands left in the Meadowlands, but not too many 100-acre parcels a stone's throw of Manhattan." Coakley said the tract, which Guarini bought in 1969 and which he is under contract to sell to the NYS&W, is surrounded by highways. The marsh grasses are degraded and the area is less than pristine, he said. He declined to disclose how much NYS&W is paying for the tract. Guarini, who left office in 1993 after 14 years in Congress, did not respond to phone messages left at his office. Nathan Fenno, a railway vice president, said the NYS&W is exempt from the commission's zoning regulations. He said the Guarini tract is an ideal location for a truck and rail loading and unloading facility. "This area of New Jersey is essentially a distribution area, and you look around and there's warehouses and railroad yards, truck terminals, and we have a huge facility about a mile away," Fenno said. Furthermore, Fenno said, the railway's proposed $6 million loading facility could benefit the environment by putting cargo carried on trucks onto trains. The lot would have 2,300 parking spaces, although he said it is unlikely that volume of trucks would use the facility at one time. Chris Gale, a spokesman for the commission, disagrees. He said the Guarini tract, known as the Penhorn Preserve after the small creek that forms one of its boundaries, has been identified as a wood duck molting ground and provides habitat for small herons, muskrats, ducks and other species. "The wetlands also filter pollutants and provide protection from flooding," Gale said. In the past few years, the commission has been buying or acquiring control of wetlands in its 14-town district. It now has control of 2,135 acres of the 8,400 acres of remaining open wetlands. Among the tracts it bought this year are 94 acres of Metromedia property in Carlstadt for $1 million and 90 acres of land owned by Hartz Mountain Industries in Ridgefield for $900,000. The wetlands cost, respectively, $10,600 per acre and $10,200 per acre in those purchases. In January, the commission sent letters to 23 property owners, including Guarini, offering $10,200 per acre of wetland, a price the agency has determined to be the fair market value. Most of those property owners are currently in negotiations. In the case of the Guarini tract, because the commission has no zoning authority, its only recourse is to oppose a wetlands fill permit -- which would be required from the Army Corps of Engineers -- or condemn the property. Guarini's lawyers seem to be gearing up for the possibility of condemnation. Coakley has rejected the commission's offer of $10,200 per acre, noting that Guarini has already spent more than $3 million in taxes on the property since the 1970s. "It is worth many, many times that amount of money," Coakley said. "It's going to be a very expensive day for the state of New Jersey to acquire that property." Ana M. Alaya covers Bergen County. She may be reached at aalaya@starledger.com or (201) 646-3421. Copyright 2004 NJ.com. All Rights Reserved.
looks to be a tight one. I can sympathize with both sides on this one. That part of New Jersey isn't exactly a wildlife haven. Still, one parcel out of so many. I doubt the duck and muskrat populations will be significantly affected.
