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Recognizing the public's desire for better land use governance, and the limits to effective municipal governance as described above, the New Jersey Legislature passed - between 1969 and 1989 - an impressive succession of laws intended to retrieve powers it had earlier delegated to the municipalities under the Municipal Land Use Law and other statutes. New Jersey's land use policy initiatives during this period reflected a national movement that has been called "The Quiet Revolution in Land Use". Over these twenty years, the Legislature showed its willingness to transform land use governance in New Jersey when public pressure grew to strong to ignore.
Some milestones in this series are: the Hackensack Meadowlands Development Act (1969,) the Coastal Wetlands Act (1970,) the Water Quality Planning Act (1977), the Pinelands Protection Act (1979,) Agriculture Retention and Development Act and Right to Farm Acts (1983,) The Fair Housing Act (1985,) The State Planning Act (1985,) The Freshwater Wetlands Protection Act (1988,) and the State Highway Access Management Act (1989.)
Following adoption of the State Development and Redevelopment Plan in March 2001, the stage has been set for a second wave of structural reforms. We know this because of the rising tide of public alarm about issues New Jerseyans care about: traffic, the loss of open space, the creeping deterioration of older suburbs and cities. Opinion surveys conducted by the Star-Ledger/Eagleton-Rutgers and New Jersey Future show that New Jerseyans are committed to the war on sprawling growth, and support the conservation and redevelopment goals of the newly-adopted state plan. While most voters polled by New Jersey Future believe the best decisions on land use are made by local government, fully 77 percent wisely understand and believe that state government should be active in coordinating andmanaging growth across the counties and towns of New Jersey.
Assessment of Municipal Performance
Watershed Planning
The Pinelands
The Hackensack Meadowlands
Transportation Planning
Multi-Municipal Planning
Assessment of Municipal Performance
During the year 2000, New Jersey Future surveyed in depth municipal performance in resource conservation in forty-four towns with some of New Jersey's most valued and sensitive natural resources and landscapes, in five regions of New Jersey. The findings of this analysis are illuminating, particularly because they highlight the need for regional planning (these are excerpts):
- Zoning, throughout virtually all of New Jersey, specifies growth. The stated policy of New Jersey municipalities - as expressed in zoning and related local land use regulations - is full "build out," typically at real estate market densities. Under the land use policy that affects growth most directly - zoning - virtually all privately-held land is slated for construction.
- There is a disconnect between environmental conservation goals and municipal policy. Municipal land use regulations and practices are for the most part sharply at odds with regional environmental conservation imperatives; even with local conservation goals as expressed in master plans. This constitutes a massive contradiction in public policy.
- There is a municipal checkerboard of environmental commitment. There is a sharply drawn checkerboard of commitment to environmental conservation: activist towns bordering uncommitted towns. One town's initiatives may swiftly be undermined by development approvals or other conservation lapses by its neighbors.
- Provide better support for municipalities, namely, natural resource data and technical assistance. There is much that municipalities can do under current law. Sound data is the indispensable basis for defensible land use regulation. Data regarding natural resource preservation is available now from state agencies, educational institutions, and non-profit sources, but it needs to be more accessible. Second, state agencies and non-profits must step up their efforts to provide "best practices, " technical assistance, and information exchange on smart-growth measures to municipalities.
- Enact stronger tools for municipalities. The Municipal Land Use Law should be amended to clarify and to strengthen the existing provisions regarding the powers of towns to adopt resource conservation measures: stronger master plan elements, cluster development, capital facilities planning and management, and transfer of development rights. A conservation plan element should be the required prerequisite for Green Acres funding; a farmland element for the state farmland preservation program.
- Defend municipal actions consistent with the state plan. The State of New Jersey should defend all municipalities that adopt master plans and enact zoning ordinances consistent with and serving to implement the State Development and Redevelopment Plan. This defense could take the form of legal support from the State Attorney General's Office, or full financial indemnification by the State against landowner or builder lawsuits.
- Streamline the administrative process for endorsement of municipal plans by the State Planning Commission. Adopt a straightforward, effective administrative process for State Planning Commission (SPC) endorsement of municipal plans on issues of larger than local concern; an essential step towards effective environmental conservation.
- Strengthen the role of counties in regional land use governance. The County Planning Enabling statute should be updated and strengthened. Many planning and regulatory responsibilities presently handled by the state could be decentralized and given to county government. State agencies would continue to set standards, as they do now, and would provide the counties with strict timetables for action and oversight.
- Consider differing regimes of land use governance for differing regions. There may also be greater political feasibility to adopting differing models of land use governance appropriate to differing regions of the state, than to imposing "one size fits all." What may be feasible for The Highlands or the Barnegat Bayshore, may not be feasible elsewhere
- Integrate watershed and wastewater planning with growth management at both the state and local levels. Watershed and wastewater treatment planning and management should be coordinated by NJDEP rule with the State Development and Redevelopment Plan. Through amendments to the Municipal Land Use Law, the County Planning Enabling Act, and related statutes, watershed and wastewater planning and management should also be integrated with the institutional structure of land use decision-making at these levels.
- Make State Land Acquisition Funds an Inducement for Local Land Preservation Initiatives. There are not enough government dollars to meet the public's expectations for open space conservation. While the numbers of acres being saved may sound impressive, preserved areas are not effective if they are simply isolated fragments in the larger mosaic of urbanization. We need land regulations that will secure the necessary "critical mass" of a region's farmland, forest ecosystem, or critical watershed. Municipalities should be rewarded for plans and regulations that protect the larger areas. Sewerage should be restricted to areas where growth is planned - proscribed where it is not.
New Jersey's watershed planning initiative is a good example of regional planning. A watershed is an area of land that drains to a common receiving water body, such as a river, lake, or ocean. The watershed approach to regional planning plans in terms of the watershed boundaries, rather than political boundaries. The central goal of watershed planning seeks to preserve clean water for municipalities, agriculture, industry, and plants and animals. This is done by controlling both point source pollution (pollution attributable to specific locations such as discharge pipes from waste facilities) and non-point source pollution (pollution from many different locations, including contaminated stormwater runoff from impervious surfaces, lawns, farms, and automobiles). The issue of non-point source pollution in particular is one that transcends municipal boundaries. In recognition of this, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection divided the state into 20 watershed management areas and is compiling management plans for each.
Watershed Planning Links
- Stony Brook Millstone Watershed Association
thewatershed.org/index.html
Their online library, at thewatershed.org/WSM/library.html, provides some excellent resources on watershed planning in New Jersey, including the relevant laws, documents about incorporating watershed management techniques in municipal planning, and examples of communities that have worked to protect their own watersheds. - The Watershed Institute
www.thewatershedinstitute.org/
The Watershed Institute seeks to enhance a vibrant network of citizen-based watershed organizations throughout New Jersey that are engaged in protecting precious water resources and natural lands. The Institute provides tailored advice, workshops and lectures to watershed organizations, and acts as a clearinghouse for information on New Jersey watershed organizations. Institute staff is available to provide personal assistance to groups on a variety of issues. Click on "planning tools" for some good model ordinances and other documents to help you better plan in your watershed. - The Center for Watershed Protection
www.cwp.org/ - NJDEP Watershed Management
www.state.nj.us/dep/watershedmgt - Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officials (NEMO)
www.nemo.uconn.edu/
The Pinelands National Reserve includes portions of seven southern New Jersey counties, and encompasses over one million acres of farms, forests and wetlands. It contains 56 communities, from hamlets to suburbs, with over 700,000 permanent residents. In 1978, Congress established it as the country's first National Reserve, which is an area of nationally significant resources that are protected through a program of local land use management supported by federal financial and technical assistance.
The Pinelands Comprehensive Management Plan, adopted in 1981 to direct growth to designated areas in the Pinelands, is considered one of the most advanced regional plans in the country. The CMP protects thousands of acres of the ecologically-significant Pinelands through a combination of regional land use regulations and innovative tools like a regional transferable development rights (TDR) program that rewards landowners for protecting their land from sprawl.
The Pinelands Commission is charged with the development and implementation of the Comprehensive Management Plan. It plays significant roles in monitoring the level and types of development that occur within the Pinelands, acquisition of land, planning, research, and education. The Commission, which consists of 15 members (seven appointed by the Governor, and seven appointed by each of the seven counties within the Pinelands), works with all levels of government to implement the Pinelands Comprehensive Management Plan.
Pinelands Links
- New Jersey Pinelands Commission
www.state.nj.us/pinelands/ - New Jersey Pinelands Comprehensive Management Plan
www.state.nj.us/pinelands/cmp.htm - Pinelands Preservation Alliance
www.pinelandsalliance.org/
The Hackensack Meadowlands
The Hackensack Meadowlands, in North Jersey, covers almost 20,000 acres and is composed of 10 communities in Bergen County and 4 communities in Hudson County. More than 8,400 acres of the District have been set aside for open space, waterways, and wetlands.
The New Jersey Legislature created a regional body, the Hackensack Meadowlands Commission, in 1968. The Commission has three mandates: environmental protection, economic development, and solid waste management. It acts as a zoning board for the region, in charge of development and conservation decisions within the Meadowlands. The Commission also apportions property tax revenue among the fourteen municipalities. This tax-sharing program is aimed at ensuring that the Meadowlands containing valuable tidal wetlands do not suffer financially because they cannot develop their land for business or industrial purposes. Each town's tax base as of 1970 is unaffected by the arrangement and all the revenues from that tax base continue to go to the individual towns. Forty percent of the increase in the tax base over the 1970 valuation is subject to the tax-sharing program. Redistribution is based on the number of school children and the proportion of property the town has in the Meadowlands District. All new tax revenues are distributed among the fourteen towns, with no diversion of tax revenue to the regional commission.
The legal basis for the Intermunicipal Tax Sharing Account is contained in Chapter 9 of the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission and Redevelopment Act as amended by Chapter 103, Public Law, 1972. A New Jersey Supreme Court decision was handed down in May, 1972, upholding the constitutionality of the tax sharing section of the Act.
Meadowlands Links
- Meadowlands Commission
www.meadowlands.state.nj.us/
Transportation Planning
Metropolitan Planning Organizations
In New Jersey, there are three Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs), which are federally-sanctioned regional transportation planning agencies that serve as forums for cooperative decision-making among locally-elected officials, state agency representatives, public transit providers, and the public on transportation issues. MPOs also develop regional plans, look at transportation issues from a regional perspective, and assist member agencies to obtain the requisite funding for their planning programs. The actual authority for carrying out their planning proposals rests with the governing bodies of the State, the counties, and the cities the MPOs represent. New Jersey's MPOs are:
- The North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority (NJTPA), covering Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Hunterdon, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex, Union, and Warren counties. (njtpa.njit.edu/)
- The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC), covering Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, and Mercer counties. (www.dvrpc.org/)
- The South Jersey Transportation Planning Organization (SJTPO), covering Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland, and Salem counties. (www.sjtpo.org/)
The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey
Another interesting case of regional transportation planning, the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey (www.panynj.gov/) works to identify and meet the transportation needs of the New York-New Jersey metropolitan region. The Port Authority, founded in 1921, was established as the first of its kind in the Western Hemisphere and the first interstate agency created under a clause of the U.S. Constitution permitting compacts between states. The Port Authority constructed bridges, tunnels, airports, transportation terminals, and managed the shared port.
Multi-Municipal Planning
- Regional Planning Board of Princeton
www.princetontwp.org/planmain.html
The Regional Planning Board of Princeton is the only regional planning board in the state of New Jersey. The jurisdiction of the Regional Planning Board covers both Princeton Borough and Princeton Township, and the Board's members are appointed by the governing bodies. The Regional Planning Board's primary responsibilities include: development and adoption of the Princeton Community's Master Plan, review of land use applications in accordance with state and local regulations, and recommendations of revisions to land use ordinances to the governing bodies. - Ocean County
In February 2003, seven Ocean County towns received a regional planning grant to help them study and align regional planning with the State Plan. Over the next 18 months, Ocean County planners will work together to address transportation, stormwater management, open space preservation, protection of critical environmental areas and the provision of municipal services. Ocean County will is the first in the State to participate in New Jersey's "Smart Future" initiative, which is funded through the Department of Community Affairs' Office of Smart Growth (www.nj.gov/dca/osg/).