“Smart Conservation” is the “green” side of smart growth, focused on coordinating land acquisition with planning and regulations to protect important open lands and ensure conservation purchases are cost-efficient and effective
Environment and Agriculture
The Conservation Challenge
Friday, April 18th, 2003Finding Room for 1 Million New Residents
Friday, February 28th, 2003There is no denying redevelopment’s enormous potential for accommodating new residents and businesses without taking away open lands.
Vacant Housing Tells Sprawl Story, Too
Friday, January 17th, 2003High home vacancies, failing schools and neglected infrastructure in many older communities are all testament to the consequences of sprawling development, which pulls needed investment, jobs and residents from existing communities, speeding their decline; and making sprawling development seem the only logical choice.
Buying Land Not Only Way to Protect It
Thursday, November 14th, 2002New Jersey’s land use law expressly empowers municipalities to zone land for agriculture, and to restrict its development in ecologically sensitive areas.
Protecting the Highlands
Thursday, November 14th, 2002New Jersey’s Highlands region is recognized as a landscape of national significance by the federal government and as special resource areaî by the New Jersey State Plan.
Summit Touches Key Causes of Sprawl
Thursday, October 31st, 2002This over-dependence on property taxes forces New Jersey municipalities to chase new development or “ratables,” and make their land use choices on unbalanced fiscal reasoning, spurring sprawl.
Sprawl and Drought
Wednesday, September 25th, 2002Sprawl threatens water quality as rain runoff from roads and parking lots carries pollutants into streams, rivers and the ocean. Sprawl also reduces our water supplies. As roads, parking lots, driveways and roofs replace meadows and forests, rain water can no longer seep into the ground and replenish our aquifers. Instead, it is swept away by gutters and sewer systems.
Affordable Housing and Sprawl
Friday, August 2nd, 2002Towns can indeed protect themselves from builders remedy suits. But it will take municipal, Administrative and Legislative leadership to stop sprawl and build affordable housing.
NJ Housing Even Less Affordable
Friday, May 17th, 2002Finding housing that’s priced within your means is tough for all New Jerseyans. For low- and moderate-income workers in New Jersey, it can be impossible.
Lake Tahoe Ripples Reach New Jersey
Tuesday, April 30th, 2002charges of “taking” surface commonly when New Jersey communities attempt to “downzone” land for conservation by reducing the number of units that can be built on a parcel, thus affecting the land’s market value. The Supreme Court refused to label categories of regulatory action as takings, and said such cases must be decided case by case.