Green Acres

During a work session following the Voorhees Township Committee meeting Tuesday night, the committee met with Stephen Samost, a principal in DevCorp, which plans to develop a 125-acre tract off Gibbsboro-Kresson Road. They met because the committee had learned earlier this month that its application for $866,150 in Green Acres funds to purchase a 94-acre tract in the area has been approved by the state Department of Environmental Protection. The land the township hopes to purchase with the state money is a part of the plot Devcorp plans to develop.

The second-largest state forest in New Jersey will grow by another 2,345 acres, thanks to a state Green Acres grant. Officials from the township, Burlington County, the state Department of Environmental Protection, and the Pinelands Commission announced the purchase of Pine Barrens land, for the purpose of adding it to Lebanon State Forest, at a news conference held at the Whitesbog Village General Store. Lebanon is second only to Wharton State Forest in acreage. State officials described the new Lebanon acreage, purchased from American Home Products, as significant, although there have been larger open-space sites purchased through Green Acres funds.

The West Deptford Township Committee is expected to vote tomorrow to apply to the state for Green Acres money to purchase about 50 acres of the 1,150- acre Tenneco Inc. tract for use as recreation space. Also, an official with Green Acres said the state would be considering purchasing an additional piece of the tract for use as a state park. A report on the feasibility of such a purchase could be available by next summer, said Jeanne Donlon, chief of the Bureau of State Land Acquisition.

ESTELL MANOR, N.J. - Standing in a nearly 5,000-acre former game preserve owned for generations by 13 families, his own among them, Stewart Keener was finding it difficult to part Thursday with its nesting bald eagles, meandering streams, and a quiet so pronounced it's almost deafening. "It's hard for us to let go, Keener, 47, of Philadelphia, said. "This is so unique here. " Minutes earlier, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection had formally announced acquisition of the parcel and a smaller adjacent one through its Green Acres land-preservation program.

Gov. Christie is not known as a connoisseur of fine art, but days before leaving for the GOP convention, his office quietly intervened to stop the state environmental agency from carrying out the controversial demolition of a groundbreaking work of public art. The action ensures that Athena Tacha's 1985 spiraling, place-specific sculpture, Green Acres, will remain a focal point of the plaza at the Department of Environmental Protection headquarters...

Counties and towns throughout the state became a little bit greener yesterday as Gov. Whitman called for $85.9 million in aid to create parks and preserve historic lands through the Green Acres program. The awards must be appropriated by the state legislature, where approval is virtually certain, officials said. The awards would deplete the funds remaining from a $345 million Green Acres bond issue in 1992. A new bond issue, totaling $310 million, is expected to be presented to voters on the November ballot.

After putting its plans to expand the Dingletown sports complex on hold for three years, Shamong is set to add 60 acres to the park. The 46-square-mile township, which lies entirely in the Pine Barrens, will receive a $150,000 loan from the state Green Acres fund to lease 60 acres of the Wharton State Forest tract, part of which abuts the complex on Forked Neck Road, formerly Dingletown Road. "Available land is very scarce here in Shamong because we're in the Pine Barrens, which precludes development of much of our land," Township Committeeman David Matchett said.

As a member of the borough's environmental commission, Wayne Tarus is always looking to protect open green space. "We don't have a park in this town other than the ball field. We have nothing for passive recreation - fishing, hiking, camping - stuff like that," Tarus said. But that may soon change. As Tarus sees it, the Camden County Parks Department's proposal to buy a Boy Scout camp with state Green Acres funding for use as a county park would kill two birds with one stone: It would bail out the financially strapped Boy Scouts and preserve some open space in an area where green pastures are being increasingly eaten up by tracts of new houses.

The council's controversial agreement with a land-development firm to relocate Deptford's four Little League baseball fields violates state regulations, a state environmental official said yesterday. "I'm certain that (the agreement is) going to change," said David K. Smith, the Green Acres compliance supervisor who met with township officials yesterday. The agreement is not an exchange of land worth equal amounts - a Green Acres requirement. As a result, Smith said, an expected $400,000 profit for Deptford and the entire deal are probably out of the question.

It's rare for anyone to say something nice about a government bureaucracy, never mind devote a work of art to its accomplishments. That alone makes Athena Tacha's Green Acres sculpture at the Trenton headquarters of New Jersey's Department of Environmental Protection something special. Tacha designed the piece for the DEP's outdoor courtyard after winning a state-run competition in 1985 and named it after the well-regarded Green Acres land conservation program. Part sculpture, part plaza, it provides a quiet spot where employees can sit and escape the daily grind of enforcing regulations that protect the state's air, water, and land.

ESTELL MANOR, N.J. - Standing in a nearly 5,000-acre former game preserve owned for generations by 13 families, his own among them, Stewart Keener was finding it difficult to part Thursday with its nesting bald eagles, meandering streams, and a quiet so pronounced it's almost deafening. "It's hard for us to let go, Keener, 47, of Philadelphia, said. "This is so unique here. " Minutes earlier, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection had formally announced acquisition of the parcel and a smaller adjacent one through its Green Acres land-preservation program.

Living in a state that's so heavily developed, New Jerseyans time and again have shown themselves savvy enough to embrace the need to invest millions of dollars in preserving open space, farmland, and historic sites. Under the umbrella of the Garden State Preservation Trust, the state for more than a decade has earmarked an average of $200 million a year to help keep New Jersey greener. Statewide ballot measures to generate funding have an unbroken record of voter approval going back a number of years.

* LACROIX at the Rittenhouse (210 W. Rittenhouse Square, 215-790-2530)is celebrating its 10th anniversary Sept. 24 with a collaborative 10-course tasting menu (with wine pairings) by local chefs Jason Cichonski, Michael Fiorello, Matthew Levin, Matt Ridgway, Peter Scarola, Brinn Sinnott, Lee Styer and Townsend Wentz. Namesake chef Jean-Marie Lacroix is guest host. The price is steep - $350 a person - but there's a noble cause involved: raising funds for the new Lacroix at the Rittenhouse Scholarship to be given to a local student by the James Beard Foundation.

Gov. Christie is not known as a connoisseur of fine art, but days before leaving for the GOP convention, his office quietly intervened to stop the state environmental agency from carrying out the controversial demolition of a groundbreaking work of public art. The action ensures that Athena Tacha's 1985 spiraling, place-specific sculpture, Green Acres, will remain a focal point of the plaza at the Department of Environmental Protection headquarters...

It's rare for anyone to say something nice about a government bureaucracy, never mind devote a work of art to its accomplishments. That alone makes Athena Tacha's Green Acres sculpture at the Trenton headquarters of New Jersey's Department of Environmental Protection something special. Tacha designed the piece for the DEP's outdoor courtyard after winning a state-run competition in 1985 and named it after the well-regarded Green Acres land conservation program. Part sculpture, part plaza, it provides a quiet spot where employees can sit and escape the daily grind of enforcing regulations that protect the state's air, water, and land.

New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine ( D.) State Senate Sixth District James Beach (D.) Ballot Question "Green Acres" open-space bond issue: Yes. Pennsylvania Supreme Court Joan Orie Melvin (R.) Superior Court Robert J. Colville (D.) Anne E. Lazarus (D.) Judith F. Olson (R.) Teresa Sarmina (D.) Commonwealth Court Kevin Brobson (R.) Linda Judson (D.) Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams (D.)

Gloucester County's most populous town may soon purchase its first property with revenue from an open-space-preservation tax that voters overwhelmingly approved in November. Last night, the Township Council introduced an ordinance to buy 13 acres near Haines Drive and Duncan Road in the Heritage Valley development. The property surrounds a township-owned pond. Owner Charles Miller had offered to sell the ground for $310,500, but officials negotiated the price to $147,000, the value given by an independent appraiser.

A controversial parcel of land approved for development may be available for purchase with Green Acres funding after all. The township's Municipal Utilities Authority unanimously rescinded its water and sewer waiver for a subdivision on Salina Road on Tuesday night because, officials said, developer Gerald DeMarco's $1,050 check to the authority bounced and he failed to cover the amount. Without approval from the utilities authority, development cannot proceed. DeMarco, however, can reapply to the authority.

Councilman Raymond J. Rapposelli Jr., saying he was improperly denied the right to vote on Gerald E. DeMarco's residential plan last month, sued the planning board and the developer in Gloucester County Superior Court yesterday. The suit also says that the township, as contract owner of the property, was to receive state Green Acres money for its purchase and that, instead, DeMarco received preliminary approval - in a 5-4 vote - to build homes on 41 acres along Salina Road. Had Rapposelli not been removed, the suit contends, DeMarco's application would have been denied.

Farmland earmarked for open-space preservation and approved for state Green Acres funding may soon be developed into single-family homes. The township Planning Board is to consider an application tonight from Hillcrest Land Group to build 39 houses on 41 acres along Salina Road. Owner John Cawthra of Edgecomb, Maine, has signed a contract to sell the property to Hillcrest should the board approve the development, said Hillcrest's attorney, Joseph Abate. Township officials, who have wanted to buy 17 acres of Cawthra's land for hiking trails and campgrounds since 1997, learned in December that they would receive $331,500 from the Green Acres program for its purchase.