Land Preservation
New Jersey ranks as a national leader in land conservation, through popular state and local programs to preserve farmland and open space. In round numbers, more than one-fourth of our state is publicly owned or deed-restricted parkland or farmland. Yet suburbanization spreads further into the open countryside every day, threatening water supplies, fragmenting woodlands and wildlife habitats and “checker-boarding” farming areas. Some analysts have estimated “build out” of New Jersey’s remaining buildable land in 30-50 years. And, as cities, older suburbs and some small towns have deteriorated, so have their parks.
Our state’s land conservation programs can be made more efficient and effective by integrating the purchase of land with land-use planning and regulation, infrastructure investments and tax policy. Transfer of development rights (TDR) and clustering, in particular, have the potential to preserve significant amounts of land at little or no public cost, provided they are made easier to use, as recommended by the TDR Statewide Policy Task Force. Only by coordinating all of our tools can we achieve an interconnected, regional web of open and healthy recreational areas, ecosystems, wildlife habitats, water supplies and agriculture, along with easy access to healthy neighborhood parks.
N.J. Lt. Gov. Guadagno will deliver the opening remarks at Redevelopment Forum 2012, focusing on how the state is streamlining its incentives to foster growth while preserving critical resources.
The newly released the Priority Growth Criteria will determine where state development and preservation incentives will be directed. They need to be refined and tested to ensure they support the State Planning Act and work in accordance with smart-growth principles.
New Jersey could gain another million residents in the next 30 years. Based on the population trend in New Jersey’s urban areas, more than half of them could be accommodated in our cities without having to disturb a single acre of new land.
A bill to extend some development permit deadlines also threatens open space, and runs counter to the principles in Gov. Christie’s new State Strategic Plan.
In addition to winning a New Jersey Future Smart Growth Award, Byram Township has also won a national technical-assistance grant for its planned Village Center.
Some frequently-asked questions about how smart growth would affect New Jersey’s future development, including how it affects traffic, taxes, and land preservation.
Trransfer of development rights (TDR) and clustering are tools that municipalities in New Jersey can use to direct growth and preserve open space.
Oct. 11, 2011 — A new statewide poll commissioned in part by New Jersey Future shows that New Jersey residents think the way the state has developed over the last 20 years has made it less affordable and more difficult to travel. They support more compact communities with greater transportation choices, protection of critical resources like drinking water, and regional coordination of land-use planning efforts.
January 20, 2012 — Press coverage of S3156, the recently signed law to change New Jersey’s water quality rule, has been dominated by two opposing positions. The building community has insisted that the existing rule be scaled back and delayed to allow more opportunities for development projects on open lands in order to create jobs and jump-start the economy. Environmentalists, meanwhile, have focused on the bill’s adverse impact on the state’s drinking water supplies.
Chesterfield is poised to become the state’s first municipality outside of the Pinelands to add significantly to its already impressive farmland preserve, using a Transfer-of-Development-Rights program.
See all Future Facts and Articles in this category »
Reports, Presentations and Testimony
- Route 1 Planning Through Partnerships
- Cluster Presentation - NJ Farm Bureau 1-4-2012
- 12/14/2011: Joint Statement on A4422-S3165 Permit Extension Act
- Executive Order-78
- 10/18/2011: Comments: Proposed Amendments to BPU Main Extension Rules
- 01/05/2012: Testimony A4226 Assembly Telecom & Utilities Committee
- Presentation: Affordable Land Preservation Tools 6-1-11
- Notes on Affordable Land Preservation Tools 6-1-11
- 05/06/2011: Statement: Proposed Waiver of Department Rules Should be Narrowed
- Presentation: Land Preservation Using Off-site Clustering 03-19-11
- 12/15/2010: Highlands letter to Governor
- Presentation: The Status of Transfer of Development Rights in New Jersey 12-10
- Transfer of Development Rights Task Force Report 08-11-10
- Case Studies in Transfer of Development Rights 8-10 (Intern report)
- Planning Ahead 11-09
- 04-03-2009 Letter to DEP re Global Warming Solutions Fund Rules
- Getting to Work 11-08
- Climate Change and Land Use 10-08
- APA-NJ Non-Contiguous Clustering 3-08
- Success in the Highlands 05-05
- Historic Preservation 03-05
- Race to the Middle: The Homogenization of New Jersey's Population Density
- Transfer of Development Rights (Updated) 05-04
- A New Vision for the Highlands 02-04
- Impact Fees 01-04
- Smart Conservation: The "Green" Side of Smart Growth
- Municipal Resource Conservation Assessment 06-01
- Rethinking Farmland Preservation in New Jersey 05-01
- Achieving Genuine Prosperity 04-01
- Case Study Hopewell Township 08-00
