True growth management success in the Highlands depends upon establishment of a regional planning group of state and local interests, with authority to create opportunities for new housing and economic development by steering development from environmentally sensitive areas to clearly designated areas where growth makes sense.
Planning and Governance
Growth and the Highlands
Friday, February 13th, 2004Seeking Smart Growth Momentum
Monday, January 19th, 2004New Jersey has historically been a leader in the land use reform, however, the last major piece of planning legislation passed in 1985 (State Planning Act).
Gas Tax Too Expensive
Wednesday, November 26th, 2003A proposal to raise the gas tax by 12.5 cents per gallon would have a minimal impact on the drivers of fuel-efficient vehicles, and a large payoff for all drivers if the funds are used as proposed for the repair of today’s aging infrastructure and projects to alleviate heavy traffic.
New Way to Pay for Schools
Friday, November 14th, 2003Without links to better planning, impact fees will simply subsidize sprawl. If impact fees are allowed only in communities with solid land use planning, they could be an incentive for smarter growth.
Big Map Bows to State Plan
Friday, October 24th, 2003For more than a decade, municipal and county planners and citizens have offered their guidance on this critical question to the State Planning Commission. The consensus about where growth should go, and land should be preserved, in the interests of the state as a whole, is reflected in the State Plan.
Saving New Jersey’s Heritage
Sunday, July 20th, 2003Transfer of Development Rights, or TDR, gives local governments a tool to stop sprawl at little or no cost by shifting development from farms and forests into desired growth areas.
Impact Fees and Sprawl
Friday, March 21st, 2003To promote smarter growth, impact fees should be used to impede growth where it is not desired, consistent with the state’s blueprint for smart growth, the State Development and Redevelopment Plan.
State Budgets and Spending For Development
Friday, January 31st, 2003Smart growth – and smart budgeting – means encouraging development where infrastructure already exists or can be easily extended, to maximize the investments we’ve already made in our communities and homes, and to spare our open lands.
Cyanamid Site and Tax-Sharing
Friday, December 13th, 2002Tax sharing means communities share the tax benefits of new development with their neighbors just as they already share the negative spillover effects of development, including increased traffic, pollution and loss of open land.
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.