Sprawl Halted in New Jersey

"The end of the decades-long land-use trend that helped scatter the population of New Jersey from Hoboken to Hardwick is noted in a 2008 Development Activity Report from the Morris County Planning Board, which states: "Table VI notes no new residential subdivisions of 20 or more lots were received in 2008. This signals the end of large-tract developments in the New Jersey Highlands area of Morris County."

The change is significant, the report said, because the 12 municipalities in the Highlands preservation area had contributed the largest number of approved residential units over the previous 10 years.

"This might be the end of sprawl but not the end of all development," said Freeholder Jack Schrier, who is vice chairman of the New Jersey Highlands Council, the group that oversees the implementation of the state law. "The Highlands Act did not set out to end sprawl, but that is the unintended result.""