It’s a pretty simple equation, explained Kerry Miller after the Morristown planning board meeting Thursday night.
If you want state Green Acres money to preserve town land, “they need to know you’ve thought it through.”
That means having an up-to-date Open Space and Recreation Plan.
Which requires a current Environmental Resource Inventory. After all, “you don’t know what you want to save until you know what you have.”
Both documents are a bit dusty. Kerry’s organization, the Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions, has given Morristown $6,000 to fix that. The town is chipping in a like amount to pay the Land Conservancy of New Jersey to take stock of open space within the three-square-mile municipality and update the open space plan.
Barbara Heskins Davis and David Rosa of the Conservancy told the planning board they intend to present a draft plan to the board and the town environmental commission around February.
From the audience, Carolle Huber of Grow It Green Morristown asked if there are any benchmarks for ascertaining the optimal amount of open space for a town this size. Barbara said she considers each town’s situation as unique.
Carolle applauded the Conservancy for including soil types in the inventory, noting there are waiting lists for plots in her community garden on Early Street.
Longtime resident Margret Brady said the neighborhood near town hall is Morristown’s most densely populated and has the least green space; she asked the Conservancy to incorporate a park proposal for the town hall parking lot into the open space plan.
The inventory last was updated in 2003, and the open space plan followed a year later, according to Barbara. She noted Morristown has applied for Green Acres funds to complete the purchase of a two-acre property at 20 Hillcrest Drive.
