Implementation cross jersey trail and greenway

Andropogon Associates, Ltd. Eco logical

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COMMON GROUND Implementation of a Critical Piece of the CROSS JERSEY TRAIL and GREENWAY Carol Franklin, Andropogon Associat es Ltd" February 10, 1990 Rails to Trails Conference Frelin gheuysen Arboretum, Morristown, New Jersey

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We have heard today about a number of fruitful partnerships between state agencies and groups of concerned citizens who wish to develop abandoned RR ROWs into public trails. I would like to introduce you today to a partnership between private industry and the public, which has resulted not only in a major planning effort for a trail and greenway across north central New Jersey but also in the realization of a significant 15 mile portion of this trail with the aquisition the Old High Bridge Line

by Columbia Gas Transmission corporation and their donation of the surface rights of this property to the Hunterdon and Morris County parks Commissions.

The History of this Project.

The idea of a trail crossing north central New Jersey, linking the Delaware River to Newark Bay, was an effort initiated many years ago by many concerned individuals and has been a long term goal of local, state and county agencies. Slowly but surely many significant portions of this trail have been realized, particularly in Morris and Essex Counties. However, both planning for the complete trail and realization of major trail portions received a major push forward when, in 1987 Columbia Gas Transmission Company planned 52.2 miles of natural gas pipeline across north central New Jersey. This pipeline is to run from the Delaware River south of Carpentersville in Warren County, north and east to join the Algonguin Gas Transmission Corporation's pipeline to New England just west of the boundary of the Troy Meadows Natural Area at the border of Morris County.

As you know, under the New Jersey Green Acres program any party seeking to divert parkland must provide additional property acceptable to the state for conservation and recreational use. The proposed pipeline will cross a number of state, county, and municipal parks. Columbia Gas was fully aware of the state-wide committment to a cross Jersey trail and proposed to aquire approximately 15 miles of the abandoned High Bridge Railroad line for use as a part of its pipeline corridor and to donate the surface rights of this property in compensation for Green Acres land taken for pipeline construction. This abandoned RR ROW extends from the town of High Bridge in Hunterdon County to Washington Township in Morris County and when in place as a greenway will form a pivotal central portion of the proposed cross Jersey trail.

In concert with existing portions of Patriots Path in Morris County and the Lenape Trail in Essex County, the 15 miles of the High Bridge Line will mean that almost 40 miles of trail, out of a proposed 70 miles, will be in place in 1991. Furthermore, as an additional part of the compensation package and to insure the reality of this greenway in the near future, Columbia Gas Transmission Corporation also agreed to provide an installed path, ready for public use. Improvements will be undertaken to bring the old RR bed up to safe standards and will include bridge repairs, new path surfaces, gates and stiles at road crossingss and path signage.

Page 2. Rails to Trails.

Acknowledgements The body of this talk should be acknowledgements of the people who have made the Cross Jersey Trail Report -- a major planning effort -- and much of the trail itself possible. So much of this trail has been already put in place largely as the result of efforts of dedicated individuals like Al Kent of the Morris County Parks Commission, who also contributed to major portions of the trail report. The Two county park commissions inparticular Quentin Schlieder, Director Secretary of the Morris County Parks Commission, and Tom Rosol Secretary Director of the Hunterdon County Parks Commission who throughout the length of this project maintained clear, but realistic ideas of what they wanted. And a lion's share of the credit should go to an unexpected partner - a utility Company - Columbia Gas Transmisssion Corporation who gave this trail a major push forward by sponsoring the report, by donating the land and by financing the trail improvements. I would particularly like to remind everyone here that Columbia's good will and cooperative participation are not the rule and that the company amply demonstrated their committment to being a good neighbor in New Jersey. I would particularly like to single out the pivitol roles taken by people in that company -Fred Solomon, project manager of the NJET and Providence Line who crafted the compensation package and understood that the results of the participatory planning process create a win-win situation for all parties concerned, and Don Gartman who is here today and who runs the Departmentment of Environmental Affairs at Columbia. Don, read about Andropogon's work with the Algonquin Gas Transmission Company at Loantaka Brook Reservation in Morristown, New Jersey and thought our firm would be the right people to orchestrate the compensation package and to design the trail, and who with Bob Yurecka, Columbia's chief Environmental Supervisor worked closely with us on the detailed protection and restoration measures.

The Shared ROW One of the important aspects of this project is the idea of the shared ROW -common ground. What has traditionally been considered incompatible uses -industrial and recreational-- are brought together in the Old High Bridge Line Greenway, in a mutually beneficial arrangement. Many of the same qualities that make abandoned RR ROW's desirable to cross country utility transmission systems, also make them ideal hiking, biking and horseback riding trails. An abandoned RR ROW is a long, thin, corridor -- providing just the right amount of land, and is often held by a only one or two owners so that negotitation for purchase is not complicated by multiple small landowners and land can be aquired with minimal effort and minimal public outcry. An abandoned RR ROW is also easily accessible even when traveling through difficult terrain, this corridor maintains easy grades, provides existing bridges, and a flat surface of 15 feet or more.

Page 3. Rails to Trails As an added benefit for trail use these corridors often travel through scenic places that remain largely rural or natural, making an attractive journey, and of benefit to both utlities and trail users -- the route is often a direct connection from one populated place to another. Lastly, for Utility Companies these corridors provide another important benefit - FERC, the Federal Energy and Regulatory Commission responsible for approving the routing for interstate facilities, has a policy of encouraging Utility Companies to locate in pre-existing corridors in order to minimize environmental impact.

Cohabitation and Mongrelization, the Direction of the Future.

There are important lessons in these emerging partnerships for both business and for public interest groups. America is one of the only countries in the world with a tradition of exclusive, preemptive, use of private land. This exclusive use is a luxury which can only occur either in the ancient world, in an aristocratic society, where special pieces of land are preempted for use by the monarch alone, or in societies like our own, where there large stretches of land are perceived to be available.

Cohabitation and mongrelization has to be the way we do things in the future.

In the 1990's we won't be able to afford to preempt land in the industrialized Northeast for just a single use. Although, presently not widely accepted, as time goes on, and the availablity of existing corridors diminishes, more and more utility companies are going to be willing to consider the desirability of multiple usage.

The problem with multiple use of common ground has frequently been that several different groups want to utilize the same resource, but use by the first group precludes its use by others. Depending on conditions, this is not the case with abandoned RR ROWs which can not only accomodate the operation of several different utlities such as gas pipelines, fiber optic cables, sewer pipes, water lines,etc., but can also accomodate as many as three or four utility systems simultaneouslty, operating within the same corridor, and still accomodate a trail, For example, with the Old High Bridge Line, we will see two natural gas pipelines coexisting within the same corridor. Most importantly, use of these corridors by industry and use by the public is compatible because dispite apparent interest in the same piece of property, the utility company will primarily use this land below ground, while the public will use the surface.

Page 4. Rails to Trails How might citizens groups, local, county and state agencies come more profitably to the bargaining table to create and enhance new partnerships.

Because New Jersey is strategically located it is a lucrative market and many Gas Transmission Companies, for example, are eager to deliver natural gas here and through New Jersey to the profitable North Eastern market.

On the other hand stringent environmental laws have developed here as a response to past abuse and because this state is so densely populated. This climate of environmental concern shapes utility company behavior. Environmentalists need to realize that they can offer a real quid prop quo to utility companies -- speed in moving through the regulatory process -- from federal approval by FERC to approval by local townships and municipalities. Controversy equals delay, if the public pisses and moans the agencies will look for ways to hold up or deny permits.

However, in order to offer smooth passage through regulatory hurdles and offer active participation in reasonable negotiations rather than simply angry reaction, public interest groups and agencies acting on the public behalf must adopt several more effective strategies.

1. Above all, the concerned public and public agencies must work together, subordinating individual demands to larger goals and presenting a unified front.

When state agencies, municipal governments, county park systems, citizens groups, separate into individual fiefdoms, each with their petty, individual demands and conflicting requirements, they weaken their power and cannot achieve goals larger than a new firetruck or new ball field.

2. Planning must be consensual and participatory The philosophy that must inform all negotiations is the requirement of bringing people together. When everyone is asked to participate in the solution and the perspective of all concerned parties -- industry included -- is respected, each party has an investment in the resulting consensus.

3. Recognize that the process is a negotiation. Public interest groups have traditionally held a weak position versus the business community because don't present themselves as diplomats willing to trade. Too often, when public interest advocates come to the bargaining table they come either with pathetically low standands or impossibly high ones. Where public interest groups and public agencies standards are to low, business is not even asked to fulfill the intent of regulations which are often weak and inadequate. Where standards are too high, the position is taken that if industry is not forced into fulfilling all demands and expectations, the public interest advocates have sold out.

Page 5. Rails to Trails 4.Work out a broadly focused positionwith a specific bottom line. Again, public interest groups have traditionally held a weak position versus the business community because they are often come to the bargaining table without a fully worked out position or with a position that is narrow and rigid because it derives from a single focus. Public interest advocates are unequal partners because up they are up against adversaries who have a clear position even if that position is to get as much as possible and give as little as possible. To determine what is critical to maintain and what can be traded away it is necessary both to stringently define a bottom line and also to view the entire system from a focus which is inclusive and broadly based.

5. Reward the Good Guys. Companies wanting permits have to have to see that if working openly with the public, they make genuine efforts to satisfy public concerns, that they will be rewarded. These companies should be rewarded by moving swiftly and painlessly through the regulatory hurdles. Secondly, these companies should be given public recognition for their good deeds, recognition that creates a good public image. Remember, if business doesn't get a result, they won't be encouraged to behave well. In our society business generally doesn't have a philosophy which includes ethics and there is nothing within the corporate structure which says you have to be responsible to anything but shareholders. The best that can be done is for public interest advocates to encourage business to come to the bargaining table and to reward them for ethical behavior once they are there.

6. Punish the Bad Guys. Don't give them no permits! Don't let other competing companies slither through the regs. with shoddy compliance, while the good guys pay a heavy price because they have agreed to a generous compensation and to provide protection and restoration measures that go beyond regulatory requirements. Good companies must not find that instead of the hoped for reward, more is demanded of them at every turn, while other competitors have not been asked to bear the same burden. Make it difficult for companies with a reputation for resistance or minimal compliance to move through the regulatory process.

7. Look for Unexpected partners. Take an active rather than a reactive role in the process of route selection. You know where you want trails. There is currently a great deal of information generated by the many groups represented at this conference which indicate what abandoned ROWs are most critical to aquire for trails. The Cross Jersey Trail Report, for example, provides a master plan for north central Jersey and highlights critical RR ROWs for aquistion to complete this proposed trail.

With information highlighting where RR ROWs with the greatest trail potential are located, and masterplans to show that these pieces will form critical links in a larger whole, public interest advocates should take the initiative themselves to solicit utility companies. Make coordinated, positive contacts, before route selection is set in concrete and companies become fearful of public opposition and secretive about their plans. After a route is surveyed and properties purchased it will be more difficult to intervene in the determination of an appropriate corridor.

Page 6. Rails to Trails In return for the purchase and donation of an appropriate corridor, offer cross country ultity transmission companies a public interest coalition representing all concerned public interest groups including representatives from federal, state and local agencies to work with the industry to help smooth property purchases and passage through regulatory requirements.

Although Columbia Gas Transmission Corporation is the first company in new Jersey to pioneer this unusual partnership, it has been our experience over the past few years in working with a number of these companies that they are becoming increasingly aware of their image in the eyes of the public and as a result, these companies are far more willing to consider -- even to seek out -- positive relationships with the communities through which they pass.

Slide Presentation Now, Marita Roos, who managed this project in our office, will introduce you to the overall Cross Jersey Trail and Greenway Plan, and demonstrate the importance of the Old High Bridge Line link, and call your attention to the fact that the most critical missing pieces for realization of the remainder of the trail can be supplied by two other abandoned and semi-abandoned RR lines.