LEONIA, N. J., Oct, 30 —Associate Justice William O. Douglas of the Supreme Court today urged the preservation of a 13‐acre, publicly owned wooded area threatened by residential development.
At the same time, the Atlantic Chapter of the Sierra Club, the national conservation organization, urged passage of referendum in Tuesday’s election to give the Leonia Nature Center a 10‐year lease on the tract.
The woodland, just west, of Highway 46 in the southeast corner of Leonia, is known as Highwood Hills. The Leonia Nature Center, a group of 500 residents, is seeking a lease from the town as a precondition for the creation of formal nature trails, camping areas and other facilities for conservation education.
Opponents of the lease have said that the property could be sold by the borough for $1‐million and that its residential development for town houses would add $2‐million in tax ratables for the community.
Justice Douglas and his wife hiked through Highwood Hills four years ago. In a letter to the nature center today he recalled that visit and said: “The destiny of that lovely 13‐acre tract is once more in the balance.”
Both he and his wife, he wrote, “hope it can be saved as a quiet alcove in an area that has already experienced many of the adversities that follow in the wake of a galloping population.”
The question of granting a lease to the nature center has become a major political issue in this borough of 8,000 people. Democratic candidates for Mayor and two Council seats have strongly urged passage of the referendum, while Republican candidates have indicated misgivings about a lease that would prevent the borough from permitting development of the tract for at least 10 years.
The borough acquired the land more than 30 years ago, following the construction of approach routes to the George Washington Bridge, which is about half a mile from Highwood Hills.