Regional Planning

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.

Hunterdon County is considering moving to a single, county-wide school district. This would not only save overhead and administrative costs, it would have significant land-use benefits, including the possibility of cheaper and more diverse housing.

A new book offers effective regional approaches to sustainable growth and resource conservation.

Gov. Chris Christie today released a new State Strategic Plan, a blueprint for state investment in sustainable economic growth. The governor also announced Executive Order No. 78, authorizing a cabinet-level steering committee to drive implementation. The State Strategic Plan is intended to meet both the spirit and the statutory requirements of the State Planning Act.

Activists are encouraging Gov. Christie to keep New Jersey in the multi-state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, and New York is taking the initiative a step further with its Climate-Smart Communities program.

Recognizing the need for better land-use decisions, and the limitations of effective municipal governance, the New Jersey Legislature has passed an impressive succession of laws to promote regional planning.

November 14, 2011 — Brendan T. Byrne — whose governorship was marked by landmark measures that protected the Pinelands, enhanced mass transit and promoted urban revitalization — will be honored by New Jersey Future at a reception at the Morven Museum & Gardens on Nov. 20 from 4 to 6 p.m.

Hunterdon County leaders are looking into the idea of consolidating the county’s more than two dozen school districts into a single, countywide district.

Geographic patterns in building permit activity offer insights into macroeconomic forces that influence people’s residential location decisions. They provide a preview into what types of places will be gaining population in the future. This report compares the 10 years’ worth of building permit data through 2009 with that of the previous decade. December 2010.

To the NJ Department of Transportation and Commissioner Jack Lettiere 
for a significant shift in transportation decision-making toward the use of modern, community-friendly and environmentally friendly solutions to New Jersey’s transportation problems.