Green Space

New Jersey is the most densely populated state in America.  Twenty thousand people are squeezed into Summit’s six square miles.  A good rule-of-thumb is to have 10 acres of open space per every 1,000 population.  By this standard we should have 200 acres of prime parkland.

I recently compiled an inventory for our Environmental Commission showing 21% or 822 acres of Summit can be considered Green Space of one kind or another.  Problem is that it’s not all ours.  Municipal parks account for 109 acres, and public schools contain another 59 acres.

The rest belongs to Union County (384 acres), private schools (38 acres), or is non-recreational (24 acres), private non-taxable (73 acres), or private taxable (136 acres).  When the county returns 53 acres at our Dump back to Summit, we’ll effectively meet our planning goal.

I will then give attention to creating a Land Conservation Trust for voluntary donations by homeowners of their unused development rights.  With raw land worth $1 million an acre in Summit, the economic pressure to subdivide and overbuild is immense.  Presently the only thing stopping it are tough zoning regulations and strict construction codes.  Other towns soak up buildable space by giving landowners the option of making permanent conservation easements.

Tom's Current Agenda

Smaller Government
Recycling
Public Art
No Freight Trains
Downtown Economy
Municipal Budget
Taxes
Traffic