We, the residents of   Hunterdon County, are really pleased with the efforts of the DEP, the letter from Judy Jengo,dated September 20th 1999, the correspondence from Jennifer DiLorenzo (Bureau Chief Raritan Bureau-NJWSA) dated 12/14/99 and the correspondence from Herbert Simmens on January 20th, 2000, citing the townships' responsibilities as to local planning and land use. Of particular importance was the correspondence from Jennifer DiLorenzo dated March 30th ,2000 that indicated that the Division of Water Quality was going to obligate the developer to do an anti-degradation analysis on the Milligan Farm project in Union Township, Hunterdon County. All of these responses have been quite helpful and heartening to the residents of the community.

Governor, others and I have become quite involved in the process of working with the Highlands Coalition, Sierra Club, State Legislators, and have even gone as far as Washington D.C. to get support at the federal level. But you and the state agencies have been our best allies in this struggle against sprawl. Our local governments seem to be overwhelmed by the power of the development establishment and are prone to cave in at most turns. For this reason, we have just recently formed the Hunterdon Coalition, made up of   local officials and activists from the entire county who recognize the need to give an avenue to residents who are frustrated and don’t know how to start to battle against sprawl. This format will be an avenue for contacts and information for all of those, and there are many, who want to stop sprawl.

Governor, I know you are well aware of the value of the Highlands region of our dear state and are actively helping to stop sprawl in this area.  The Rt. 78 and Rt. 22 corridor is the Achilles heel of the entire Highlands of New Jersey, and overdevelopment there will ring the death knell to the entire western portion of the state. Some of us have become aware of a series of events there that are very disturbing; we have connected the dots and the picture isn't pretty. The same developers and engineering companies are active in each of the major developments along that corridor, and they are coordinating with the same water conglomerate.  It really seems that the developers have entered into a scheme with the large water utility to form a much larger plan that might ruin the entire region with overdevelopment. This plan works in direct opposition to the efforts of the State, the Highlands Coalition and the wishes of the public.

We were first made aware of this scheme at a planning board meeting in Union Township ( February 7th , 2000) when an expert from Elizabethtown Water admitted under oath that, in the interest of expansion, they were giving the water supply system to K. Hovnanian (the developer for the Milligan Farm Project) for free. The subsequent purchase of Elizabethtown Water by Thames Water out of England, who in turn has been bought by a German company, REW, is a very bad idea for our citizens. We decry the cost of oil when a foreign cartel raises prices, yet we can live for months without oil.  We can live for only four days without water.  Water seems a low priority to most, but you and I know that rising water costs effects the prices of everything.  REW's interests are only in expansion, not about whether New Jersey retains open space, or the welfare of Hunterdon County residents.  To REW and the developers involved, sprawl means profit. As soon as they can get their plan in place by getting the Rt. 78 & Rt. 22 corridor mapped out with these huge developments and overcapacity water supply systems, they will have circumvented the executive order not to develop where there's no water and sewer infrastructure.

We have connected the dots, Governor, and  being familiar with the area you can readily see this scheme in action with the huge development in Bridgewater Twsp, North Branch section by Milltown Rd. and RT 28, Orchard Meadows, then the next one in Readington Twsp , Cushetunk in Whitehouse Sta., then the proposed Windy Acres Project in Clinton Twsp along Rt. 22, then the Milligan Farm Project in Union Twsp along Rt.78 and the possible purchases in Bethlehem Twsp by the same developer along Rt.78. These developments are all using the same engineering companies, (both local, and related to the developers) the same legal firms, and the same water utility. If all of these developments are completed they will affect the entire state to the point of no return. Even though what the developers are doing is within legal boundaries, the resulting scenario will affect tens of thousands of the state’s residents with regard to quality of life and financial loss . In the case of the Milligan Farm project the cost of the water supply to the new residents will be 91% higher than if the developer would have gone with the local water supply authority (Clinton Water Supply) and this is documented.  For some curious reason the developer cut off negotiations in 1998 to go with Elizabethtown Water (now owned by Thames, the fouth largest water supplier in the world) and it comes to light that the water company is giving the system to the developer for free.  The BPU has just approved the purchase of E-Town by Thames on 10/13/00 and Thames has just been acquired by RWE out of Germany and now the conglomerate is the third largest water supplier in the world.

The same water company is involved with each of the projects and as citizens, we don’t feel that it's right that a foreign entity controls the water under our ground. Water is the most important commodity in this century, and if we don’t watch out we will have huge problems.

Governor, we need some one at the highest level to look into what is going on here. What the development establishment is doing here flies in the face of Executive order #109, the State Master Plan, the desires of the people, the economics of the state, and only benefits a few large developers, local engineers, planners and a huge water conglomerate. Governor, we need help and need it very quickly, before the shovels go into the ground.