Subrban Sprawl transcript

Eugene Sonn talks with the group Sprawl Busters about a proposed sewer line extension in New Jersey and with an architect who sees sprawl as the way we now build "the new cities". [Listen]

NJ Sprawl For 8/4 am E. Sonn

New Jersey is the most densely populated state in the country. So there's tremendous pressure to keep development from spreading too far. But there's also pressure to move new development out into rural areas to avoid increasing congestion and traffic in the city. Now that Garden State voters approved spending 98 million dollars a year for 10 years to preserve woods and farmland, many are more hopeful that more open space will be protected.
A plan to build a sewer line connecting Trenton and rural Hopewell Township caused a great stir and galvanized the pro-development and anti-sprawl camps. The line would serve a new major office park for Merrill Lynch. In the end, the plan was scrapped. 91 FM's Eugene Sonn reports on the repercussions of that failed project.

Leslie Kramer lives in Hopewell Township. Kramer was against the sewer line project for several reasons. She did not think it would be economically feasible to build the line if the Merrill Lynch was the only development connected to it. Kramer was worried this would open the door to many new housing developments. She and several other residents started organizing against the plan.

Kramer 2 Q.....etc. :24

Eventually, by filing a lawsuit and tying up state funds needed for the sewer line, Kramer and others were able to block the project, but the Merrill Lynch facility is still proceeding. Town officials are finding another way to provide sewer service for the office park.
Kramer says she learned a lot from the fight......such as strategy and the legal issues in play. In response, she and some friends decided to form the group "sprawl busters." The group will provide advice to community groups trying to block other development projects. Sprawl Busters also will raise money to bankroll legal challenges.
Kramer says it may not have taken so long to defeat the Hopewell sewer project if a group like Sprawl Busters had been around then.

Kramer 3 Q......gone to court :18

Merrill Lynch chose not to grant an interview for this story. A spokeswoman says the company is moving ahead with its building project and does not really care that a new sewer plan will have to be worked out.
Trenton Mayor Doug Palmer says he wished the project had gone through. It would have meant money for his city that has excess sewer capacity. Palmer says he did not support the project just because of the money. He's convinced that Merrill Lynch would not consider building in Trenton.

Palmer 1 Q......dollars for us :15

But Palmer feels cities do need to team up with surrounding area to direct development.

Palmer 2 Q......already is :14

As much as Mayor Palmer or Leslie Kramer may want to direct development, Susan Snyder says they may be looking at it the wrong way. Snyder is an architect and teaches at the University of Pennsylvania. Snyder says sprawl development is not the city spreading out too far or the suburbs expanding endlessly. People live in one area, work in another, and shop in others. She sees the suburban development as a new type of city.

Snyder 2 Q.....grow in the future :28 [shorter]

Snyder says the only places where she thinks urban, densely populated areas will continue to be built are in areas where geography dictates that they cannot expand any more.......such as the island of Manhattan. She says sprawl is the quintessential American form of growth.

Snyder 1 Q.....we have here :12

If that is so, Leslie Kramer is worried. Not far from Hopewell is Route 1. The divided highway connects Trenton and New Brunswick and is lined with strip malls, auto dealerships, a huge stores such as WalMart. The traffic on Route 1 is bumper to bumper each weekday morning and night. She's concerned that Hopewell has not planned how it wants to grow. Kramer worries that without a formal plan, her hometown will end up like Route 1.

Kramer 1 Q....live on route 1 :17

Kramer says the biggest lesson she learned from the fight over the proposed sewer line, that many towns have not even discussed how they want to grow. She says figuring that out beforehand is phenomenally easier than when you're under the deadline pressure of approving or rejecting one project.

I'm Eugene Sonn 91 FM news.

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