Highlights 2011

The year 2011 has been a critical one for both our state and New Jersey Future. The Garden State appears to be at a significant turning point in its development, and recent actions of the Christie administration are destined to have a great impact on future growth patterns. This makes our policy and research work more important than ever.

Your contributions make this essential work possible, and we have ambitious plans for 2012. We will continue to advocate for policies that allow New Jersey to grow and prosper in ways that enhance quality of life and equity of opportunity, while at the same time preserving natural resources and open spaces. With your help, we can build upon our growing list of accomplishments, some of which are highlighted below, and we can help make New Jersey an even better place to live and work. Please consider making a contribution to support our efforts.

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Poll shows New Jersey residents support state planning: A Monmouth University poll commissioned by New Jersey Future and partners found that residents feel the way the state has grown and developed over the past two decades has made it both less affordable and more difficult to travel. The poll found that nearly 70 percent of New Jersey residents support a coordinated, statewide plan to steer growth and development to existing population centers in order to preserve farming communities and open spaces. (Photo: Alex Justino)

Regional planning advances in The Highlands: The Highlands Council continues to receive and approve local petitions for plan conformance, a key vehicle for implementing the Highlands Regional Master Plan through changes to local master plans and associated ordinances. The latest plan approvals were granted to Alpha and Wharton boroughs, Oxford and Pohatcong townships and the town of Hackettstown. The council also approved a Transfer of DevelopmentRights feasibility grant for Hackettstown. Shown: Byram Village Center Concept Drawing

Complete Streets programs show steady progress, greater potential: Since adopting its Complete Streets policy, the state Department of Transportation has revised its project review process to give bicycle and pedestrian design considerations greater priority. It has also amended its Local Aid program to give priority to municipalities that have adopted their own Complete Streets policies. A recently published NJF analysis finds, however, that the quality of local policies varies widely, in part because there are no uniform standards for what these policies should contain. Photo by Peter W. Casellini

New Jersey Future releases A Citizen's Guide to Transit-Oriented Development: In March, New Jersey Future released At the Heart of Your Community: A Citizen’s Guide to Transit Oriented Development. This easy‐to‐understand piece describes how a train station can provide increased mobility to and from a town and increase the number of people who can access goods, services and employment opportunities; how an active train station can be the core of a vibrant, walkable downtown; and how train stations are realestate assets paid for regionally that can be used to increase the values, services and amenities within a town.

Former Pittsburgh mayor headlines New Jersey Future Redevelopment Forum: During his three terms as mayor of Pittsburgh, Tom Murphy (left) presided over the economic resurrection of a city that had been crippled by the loss of nearly half its population since 1950, and more than 100,000 jobs in steel and related manufacturing industries in the 1980s alone. At New Jersey Future’s 2011 Redevelopment Forum, he explained that turning around the fortunes of Pennsylvania’s second‐largest city required nine components:leadership; vision; clear public benefits, goals and values; institutional capacity; a transparent public process; financing; land control; design excellence; and trust and confidence.

Smart Growth Awards honor exemplary plans and projects: In June, New Jersey Future presented its Smart Growth Awards to seven outstanding projects and plans in Trenton, Hoboken, Woodbridge, Hillsborough, Madison Borough (pictured), Byram and Pilesgrove Township/Woodstown Borough. James G. Gilbert, the first chairman of the State Planning Commission and a driving force behind the initial adoption of the State Development and Redevelopment Plan in 1992, received New Jersey Future's Cary Edwards Leadership Award.

New Jersey Future's first senior fellow inquiry focuses on county planning: Ingrid Reed (seen here with U.S. Rep. Rush Holt), New Jersey Future’s inaugural senior fellow and retired director of the New Jersey Program at Rutgers University’s Eagleton Institute of Politics, is spearheading a study of county planning in New Jersey. The first part of the study, undertaken with the assistance of two NJF interns, focuses on statutory requirements for county planning. The second part will survey current county planning practice.

Special event honors former Gov. Brendan Byrne: In November, New Jersey Future honored former Gov. Brendan Byrne, whose administration was marked by a series of landmark measures that have left an indelible impression on the state’s landscape, including adoption of a long‐term program for protecting the Pinelands; establishment of NJ Transit, the first statewide public transit agency in the nation; and restoration of the Hudson waterfront. Photo: Gov. Byrne with Larry and Feather Houstoun.

New Jersey Future releases report on tax benefits of higher-density development: A New Jersey Future intern project examined tax revenue per acre in two high-density, mixed-use downtowns and in two nearby lower-density townships, and found that the mid-rise mixed-use areas generated significantly more revenue per acre than did the lower-density areas.