New Jersey Future Blog
Planning for Sea-Level Rise III: Restricting Development
February 8th, 2017 by New Jersey Future staff
This series of articles was written by New Jersey Future intern Connor Montferrat.
How rolling easements move to protect changing shorelines.
This is the third of a series of posts that will examine strategies being used in states throughout the country to reshape development patterns in response to risks posed by rising sea levels and a changing climate. The objective of the series is to present practical and tested adaptation and mitigation approaches that New Jersey communities might use to help respond to the growing threat presented by our subsiding and eroding coastlines, increasingly frequent and severe storms, and mounting flood risks.
This article considers methods to reduce repetitive loss and respond to changing shoreline characteristics as sea levels rise. Read the rest of this entry »
Remembering Caren Franzini
January 26th, 2017 by New Jersey Future staff
The New Jersey Future board of trustees, staff and community are all deeply saddened by the passing of New Jersey Future trustee Caren Franzini.
Caren became a trustee in 2014, two years after she had launched her own economic-development consulting firm. For almost 20 years prior to that, she led the state’s Economic Development Authority. Under her leadership the authority focused on ways to make New Jersey more competitive for emerging technology and biotech companies, and it worked to provide greater assistance to small businesses. In her capacity at EDA she served seven governors across four administrations. Read the rest of this entry »
Developers Convention To Address ‘Why Green Infrastructure?’
January 24th, 2017 by Kandyce Perry
Attendees of the 2017 Atlantic Builders Convention can attend free Green Infrastructure Speed Consulting sessions to receive advice from experts on how to include green infrastructure in development protects.
New Jersey Future, in partnership with the New Jersey Builders Association, will debut a suite of new green infrastructure resources and tools at the Atlantic Builders Convention that are intended to answer developers’ common questions:
- What is green infrastructure?
- Why do some developers want their projects to include green stormwater infrastructure?
- What are the costs, impacts on the bottom line, and benefits of GI that could affect developer decision-making? Read the rest of this entry »
New Jersey Future Staff To Speak at Planning Conference
January 19th, 2017 by Elaine Clisham
Three members of the New Jersey Future staff will be on the dais at the New Jersey Chapter of the American Planning Association’s annual New Jersey Planning Conference, Jan. 26 and 27 in New Brunswick. Read the rest of this entry »
Planning for Sea-Level Rise II: Redirecting Development
January 10th, 2017 by New Jersey Future staff
This series of articles was written by New Jersey Future intern Connor Montferrat.
Rendering of Woolwich Township TDR
This is the second of a series of posts that will examine strategies being used in states throughout the country to reshape development patterns in response to risks posed by rising sea levels and a changing climate. The objective of the series is to present practical and tested adaptation and mitigation approaches that New Jersey communities might use to help respond to the growing threat presented by our subsiding and eroding coastlines, increasingly frequent and severe storms, and mounting flood risks.
This article considers four methods to redirect development out of areas at risk that involve compensating property owners. The first two tools involve private transactions to finance the acquisitions, while the second two depend upon public funding. Read the rest of this entry »
Planning for Sea-Level Rise I: Accounting for Damage
January 10th, 2017 by New Jersey Future staff
This series of articles was written by New Jersey Future intern Connor Montferrat.
Introduction
For the past four years, New Jersey Future has assisted several coastal communities with recovery and resiliency planning following Hurricane Sandy. This work is difficult in large part because communities, even with support and coaching, are not yet prepared to address coastal (including riverine) vulnerability. We’ve yet to come to grips with the fact that eroding coastlines, increasingly frequent and severe storms, and growing flood risks associated with sea-level rise in many cases render rebuilding in place unsafe and untenable in the long term.
Eventually, when nuisance flooding begins to occur more regularly and willingness to accommodate this inundation is exhausted, reshaping development patterns to shift growth away from high-risk areas will become necessary. The questions are: How can municipalities in New Jersey best prepare for such changes; and when and where should they occur? Read the rest of this entry »
Remembering Al Koeppe
December 6th, 2016 by New Jersey Future staff
All of us in the New Jersey Future community are saddened by the passing of our friend and advocate Al Koeppe.
“New Jersey had no greater champion for its cities than Al,” said New Jersey Future Executive Director Peter Kasabach. “Whether in the private sector at Bell Atlantic and PSE&G or in public service as chairman of the Economic Development Authority and as founder and later leader of the Newark Alliance, he was a voice of insight and integrity, ever the facilitator of wise investments and collaborative action. The many institutions he served are the richer for his tenure with them.” Read the rest of this entry »
New Jersey Future Hosts National Gathering
November 16th, 2016 by Peter Kasabach
Representatives from more than a dozen state and regional smart growth organizations from around the country gathered in Newark, N.J., for their annual meeting, which was hosted by New Jersey Future. Their group, known as Smart Growth America’s State and Regional Caucus (formerly the Growth Management Leadership Alliance), is a peer-to-peer network of organizations focused on community problem-solving through the lens of land use. New Jersey Future Executive Director Peter Kasabach and Greenbelt Alliance Executive Director Jeremy Madsen co-chair the caucus and also serve on the board of Smart Growth America. Read the rest of this entry »
Art in the Capital City
November 14th, 2016 by Peter Kasabach
On Saturday, Nov. 12, New Jersey Future’s West Lafayette Street office was transformed into a pop-up gallery for Art All Day Trenton. Visitors to the capital city toured dozens of artist studio spaces and other temporary art galleries throughout the city. There were trolley tours and a guided bike tour of sites. At the New Jersey Future office, five artists from the Creative Collective exhibited their paintings and sculptures, and visitors were able to learn more about the work of New Jersey Future. Art All Day is organized by Artworks, Trenton’s downtown visual art center. Artworks also organizes Art All Night, a must-attend event in mid-June that attracts more than 25,000 people to Trenton. New Jersey Future is proud to be able to use its new downtown home to support the arts and Trenton’s growth and redevelopment.
New Reports Assess State’s Exposure to Sea-Level Rise
November 8th, 2016 by David Kutner
Photos from a 2013 king tide, from Manasquan, N.J., Washington, D.C., and Alexandria, Va. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (Click for larger image)
Last month, the New Jersey Climate Adaptation Alliance at Rutgers University announced the release of two significant reports about the state’s vulnerability in the face of projected sea-level rise:
- Assessing New Jersey’s Exposure to Sea-Level Rise and Coastal Storms: Report of the New Jersey Climate Adaptation Alliance Science and Technical Advisory Panel
- Assessing New Jersey’s Exposure to Sea-Level Rise and Coastal Storms: A Companion Report to the New Jersey Climate Adaptation Alliance Science and Technical Advisory Panel Report
These reports identify and evaluate the most current science on sea level rise projections and changing coastal storms, consider the implications for the practices and policies of local and regional stakeholders, and provide practical ways stakeholders can incorporate science into risk-based decision processes. Read the rest of this entry »