Kinnelon to Apply for Environmental Resource Inventory Grant

Even council members who originally opposed pursuing an Environmental Resource Inventory (ERI) of the borough agreed for the borough to apply for grant funding that would help pay for the $10,000 cost of the document, should the council decide to move forward.

If the borough did receive the grant, the borough's cost would be about $5,000.

Councilman Stephen Cobell, liaison to the Open Space Committee, reported back to the council at the March 15 meeting after listening to committee members discuss the inventory and how it would benefit the borough.

"The committee recommended approving it unanimously," he said.

The ERI would document all of the borough's natural resources, wetlands and more. But Councilmen Jim Freda and Dan O'Dougherty said they feared having a comprehensive document with all of the resources listed could affect future development in the borough. The councilmen also did not approve of the cost to have the inventory completed by the Land Conservancy Group, which also does open space advisory work for the borough. But Barbara Heskins Davis, a representative of the organization, said she would be doing all she could to help the borough receive grants for the project, including the grant that the council considered on March 15.

Cobell said the grant funding, if received, would help lower the cost to the borough and that the committee felt that the document could actually help in terms of development because borough planners could look to the ERI to see if the space they are considering would likely receive approval from the state Department of Environmental Protection for development, depending on what is there.

"It was felt that it would be a valuable tool, a resource, they can go right to that," Cobell said.

The last time the borough undertook an ERI was in 1972 and completed by Lucy Meyer, Cobell said. He also noted that there would be value in comparing the resources the borough had then to the resources it has now.

Mayor Bob Collins has been in support of the ERI and thinks, in the long run, it can actually help the borough receive funding.

"There are a number of grants that would be supported by the ERI," he said.

Cobell said there is money available to pay for the ERI in the borough's Open Space Trust Fund and that if the council did decide to move forward, there would be no effect on the taxpayers this year.

"It won't affect our budget this year in terms of appropriations or how much we have to raise in taxes," he said.

Cobell also noted that the council would be able to apply for the grant and then make a decision on whether to pursue the inventory after learning whether the borough received the funding.

"If we don't get the grant, then we don't have to move forward with it," he said.

Councilman Ron Mondello said he saw the value in the ERI, even if the borough has to spend $5,000.

"For $5,000, somebody may use it to apply for one or two or three grants and then it pays for itself," he said.

The council unanimously voted to apply for the grant.