Highlands

The Borough of Highlands is 1.3 square miles and located just to the south and west of Sandy Hook. The Highlands bluff is  home to the historic Twin Lights, the first lighthouse to use kerosene, electricity, and the French Fresnel lens in 1862. This gave the lighthouse the ability to illuminate 22 miles into the ocean. It is one of the highest points of land along the Eastern Seaboard. Low lying lands at the base of the bluff is where a majority of the borough’s commercial development and marina is located. The Borough has a longstanding fishing, clamming, and boating industry, and breathtaking views of New York City. Sources:  www.highlandsborough.org ;  Bayshore Regional Strategic Plan (2006) 

Since Superstorm Sandy hit the coast in 2012, Highlands has focused its planning strategies on rebuilding as a resilient community. FEMA prepared the  Highlands Community Recovery Plan (2013) , which highlights key recovery issues, summarizes recovery projects, and outlines a community strategy for moving forward post-Sandy. In 2013, the Borough adopted an ordinance amending zoning and land use regulations to assist residents in their efforts to rebuild homes damaged by Sandy. In 2018, Highlands comprehensively updated its floodplain ordinance and adopted FEMA’s updated Flood Insurance Rate Maps  (FIRM ). The Borough was included in the study areas for two regional flood resilience projects;  NJ FRAMES  (Fostering Regional Adaptation through Municipal Economic Scenarios) and the NWSE JLUS (Naval Weapons Station Earle Joint Land Use Study). In 2015, a streetscape project was completed along Bay Avenue and in 2017 the Bayshore Trail, a popular waterfront section of the Henry Hudson Trail, was repaired and upgraded with a new drainage system making it more resilient for future storms. Highlands continues to work on street and drainage improvement projects throughout the Borough. The Borough purchased a property on Navesink Avenue from the Our Lady of Perpetual Help parish to  serve as the future site of the Highlands Municipal Complex, replacing municipal structures that were damaged or  destroyed by Superstorm Sandy. In 2018, the Monmouth County Parks System announced it will purchase 14 acres of property adjacent to Hartshorne Woods from the Henry Hudson Regional Board of Education. The land was used to build a trail connecting Battery Lewis to the Twin Lights. The Borough was granted funding from the  NJDEP Green Acres  program and Monmouth County to improve the skate park adjacent to Snug Harbor Park, and construction began early 2023. In 2020, Highlands was awarded a $179,605 Community Development Block Grant for its Marine Place Walkway project, which involves constructing an elevated pedestrian walkway with amenities at Marine Place West's bulkhead, one of the last unimproved public waterfront locations in the Borough. Highlands has put in an application to FEMA’s BRIC program that would grant funding for the Highlands and Monmouth Hills Flood Mitigation Project. In addition to other actions, Kavookjian Field would be turned into a stormwater retention center and a pump station would be developed at the corner of Snug Harbor and Bay avenues , in order the combat the high frequency of flooding in the area. The Borough adopted a Central Business District Redevelopment Plan in May of 2022. The Plan outlines the borough’s ongoing efforts to improve its Bay Avenue corridor and adjacent areas in order to attract additional public and private investment in the redevelopment area. The plan considered public input from community meetings and a survey, as well as input from Borough staff and officials. In 2023, the borough was awarded a Safe Streets for All Action Planning Grant as part of a consolidated application with the County Division of Planning. The Action Plan will develop a prioritized list of safety projects and a plan to move them towards implementation and make the borough eligible for infrastructure funding under the Safe Streets for All Program.

• Average Residential Taxes: $7,393
• Median Home Value: $343,454
• Net Valuation: $889,700,212

Source:  New Jersey Department of Community Affairs - Property Tax Tables 

• Residential: 186.2 acres (49%)
• Commercial: 46.8 acres (12.3%)
• Industrial: 0.0 acres (0.0%)
• Farmland: 0.0 acres (0.0%)
• Vacant / Undeveloped: 21.7 acres (5.7%)
• Other*: 125.0 acres (32.9%)

*Other contains the following property classes: Unknown, Public Schools, Other School Property, Public Property, Church & Charity, Cemeteries, Other Exempt, Railroad Class I, Railroad Class II

Residential contains the following property classes: Residential, Apartments

Source:  Monmouth County Tax Board ; Compiled by the  Monmouth County Division of Planning 

• Sustainable Jersey Participation Status: Bronze

Source:  Sustainable Jersey