October 11, 2011
Poll finds support for statewide planning in New Jersey (Kitchenman, NJ BIZ) Statewide
“New Jersey residents support statewide planning to guide growth and development and to protect farms and open space, according to a poll released Tuesday.”
DCA commissioner pledges changes to affordable-housing system (Burd, NJ BIZ) Statewide
“Less than a month after the Department of Community Affairs took full control over the functions of the Council on Affordable Housing, the agency’s head told many of the state’s builders Friday that changes to the system are under way.”
State’s high court to decide if statutes not adhered to in HIllsdale, judicial reviews of development proposal (Firschein, The Record) Hillsdale, Bergen County
“A lawsuit against the Borough’s Planning Board is headed to the New Jersey Supreme Court, challenging what it claimed were derivations from state statutes by the board and lower-court judges in considering a developer’s application.”
An Unofficial Transit Village (Martin, The New York Times) West Windsor, Mercer County
“It took nearly five years to get all aboard, but this township is to have its own ‘transit village’; 800 housing units and a retail center beside its Princeton Junction train station.”
Proposed uptown development causes a stir (Smith, The Hudson Reporter) Hoboken, Hudson County
“A new uptown residential development proposal has neighbors and open space activists up in arms, and the City Council even opposed the plan at Wednesday’s meeting by unanimously passing a nonbinding resolution.”
September 28, 2011
$9.1M to be spent to protect bay (Larsen, The Asbury Park Press) Toms River, Ocean County
“The Ocean County Board of Freeholders is expected to approve $9.1 million next week to refurbish eight stormwater detention basins in an effort to eliminate nitrogen that seeps into Barnegat Bay.”
Smart Growth Policies Face Overhaul (Johnson, NJ Spotlight) Statewide
“The state is thinking about revamping its policies dealing with what projects receive financial incentives to reduce energy use in buildings, a change smart growth advocates fear will lead to further sprawl and loss of open space.”
Robbinsville: Redevelopment area eyed for Route 130 businesses (Degnan, The Messenger-Press) Robbinsville, Mercer County
“The Township Council has asked the Planning Board to investigate whether a group of parcels on Route 130 North and Robbinsville-Allentown Road can be declared an “area in need of redevelopment.”
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
NJ Transit derailment renews calls for second tunnel under Hudson River to Manhattan (Frassinelli, The Star-Ledger) Statewide
“The area between New York Penn Station and the Hudson River train tunnel resembles a big bowl of spaghetti, with wires and tracks and trains veering in every direction.”
New Jersey’s ‘Live Where You Work’ home loan program comes to Camden (Hester Sr., New Jersey Newsroom) Camden, Camden County
“Camden on Tuesday became the 38th New Jersey city or town to join the state’s Line Where York Work program, which provides low-interest, fixed rate mortgage loans to first-time homebuyers who purchase homes in a municipality where they work.”
Developer, Bordentown Township reach financial agreement on waterfront community (O’Sullivan, phillyburbs.com) Bordentown, Burlington County
“A preliminary financial agreement for a planned $300 million waterfront development requires the township to authorize up to $22 million in bonds for infrastructure improvements throughout the multiphase project.”
Jersey City Planning Board forwards McGinley Square redevelopment plan to City Council (McDonald, The Jersey Journal) Jersey City, Hudson County
“The Jersey City Planning Board tonight approved a recommendation that the City Council adopt the controversial McGinley Square Redevelopment Plan.”
Developer Moving Forward With His Efforts to Open Outpatient Detox Facility in Lawrence Twp. Building (Tredrea, Lawrenceville Patch) Lawrence, Mercer County
“Real estate developer John Simone is employing a dual strategy in his continuing effort to install a drug and alcohol detoxification facility in a vacant building he owns on Federal City Road in Lawrence Township.”
Monday, August 1, 2011
NEWS
Can’t agree on development (Smith, Hudson Reporter) Hoboken, Hudson County
“New Jersey Transit and city officials have failed again to come to an agreement on plans for development near the downtown transit terminal. Now, the city has instructed a planner to draw up designs for the 52-acre site on the south end of Hoboken, which should be unveiled in the fall, according to Mayor Dawn Zimmer.”
Court Approves Construction of 360 Residential Units on Birchwood Avenue (Antonelli, Cranford Patch) Cranford, Union County
“Cranford officials plan to appeal a decision made Friday by a Superior Court judge that will allow a developer to construct 360 residential units at the quiet corner of 215 Birchwood Ave., a street that’s prone to flooding.”
Plainfield seeks rejuvenation strategies (Staff, mycentraljersey.com) Plainfield, Union County
“Representatives from Plainfield joined leaders from 11 other New Jersey cities at a two-day seminar in Trenton last week to explore best practices for tackling vacant property challenges and restoring neighborhoods.”
OPINION
How state zoning rules foster sprawl, hike costs (Evans, for northjersey.com) Statewide
“On a regular basis we hear how sprawl development continues to eat up the last remaining open space across New Jersey, and residents continue to express confusion about how this keeps happening.”
Friday, December 17, 2010 (Morning)
NEWS
High Tension Surrounds Jersey City High Line (Klayko, The Architect’s Newspaper) Jersey City, Hudson County
“A battle over Jersey City’s 6th Street railway embankment — a half-mile long, stone-walled city landmark that some are calling Jersey’s answer to the High Line — has pitted preservationists against smart-growth advocates in a complex row over development rights that has landed in the U.S. Court of Appeals.”
How to Save Main Street (Tracy, Newsweek) Vineland, Cumberland County
“After the housing bubble burst in 2007, the Wells Fargo mortgage office became yet another dead-weight property along the main drag in Vineland, N.J.”
‘Mary and Joseph’ seek affordable housing at N.J. Statehouse (Hester, Sr., newjerseynewsroom.com) Trenton, Mercer County
Mary and Joseph, joined by leaders of New Jersey religious communities, made their annual visit to the Statehouse Thursday to call upon elected officials to make room at the inn for thousands of struggling New Jersey families.”
COURTS
Loori Bus Company v. Township of Middletown (Appellate Division) Monmouth County
Appellate Division upholds Law Division’s ruling overturning Zoning Board of Adjustment’s denial of a use variance for a bus storage lot. Agrees with Law Division’s finding that the Applicant’s successfully demonstrated that bus operations are an inherently beneficial use.
Monday, November 1, 2010 (Morning)
New York Reaches for N.J. Tunnel Funds (Barrett, The Wall Street Journal) New York
“New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie cancelled a massive project to build a new train tunnel from his state to New Jersey, but the billions of federal dollars once set aside for the project may still be crossing the Hudson River.”
Experts Say End of NJ Tunnel Project Hurts Region (Hawley/Mulvihill, Associated Press) Statewide
“When he killed the construction of a new rail line to New York under the Hudson River, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie saved his state’s taxpayers at least $3 billion.”
Barnegat Township expected to bear burden of growth as Ocean County population continues to boom, officials say (Spahr, The Press of Atlantic City) Barnegat, Ocean County
“Experts project Ocean County’s population will grow at nearly triple the rate of the rest of the state through 2016.”
State-of-the-art green development gets go-ahead in Jersey City (Clark, The Jersey Journal) Jersey City, Hudson County
“A pioneering environmentally-friendly development in Downtown Jersey City is one step closer to fruition after the Jersey City Planning Board approved the final site plan on Tuesday.”
Zoning board makes final decision on Jenks North (Sheldon, The Ocean Star) Point Pleasant Beach, Ocean County
“After nearly two years of hearings on the matter, the zoning board of adjustment, here, has finally made a decision on an application for retroactive site plan approval and use variances for Jenkinson’s North Pavilion — and it was Jenkinson’s that walked away happy on Thursday night.”
Monday, July 19, 2010 (Morning)
NEWS
North Jersey towns consider easing curbs on commercial signs (Yellin, The Record) North Jersey
“Some towns may ease sign restrictions in an effort to boost business for merchants who lament they are losing sales because the laws hamper their ability to lure customers.”
Charters Derailed in Areas of New Jersey (Resmovits, The Wall Street Journal) Statewide
“New Jersey is preparing to announce the confirmation of at least six new charter schools this week, but proposed charters in Princeton, Teaneck and Flemington won’t be on the list, dealing a blow to a movement to widen school choice to affluent districts.”
Essex House Proposal Pulled from Planning Board Agenda (Wilwohl, West Orange Patch) West Orange, Essex County
“The controversial Essex House proposal appeared to hit a snag Tuesday as the West Orange planning/zoning board pulled the project from its Thursday night meeting agenda, Patch has learned.”
Area governments defying New Jersey Highlands Act considering their positions (Novak, The Express-Times) Highlands
“The refusal of the nation’s highest court to hear area landowners’ legal arguments against the constitutionality of the 2004 Highlands Act ended that group’s battle last month.”
OPINION
Planning wisely is the key (Riggs, for The Courier Post) Statewide
“Like most homebuilders, K. Hovnanian Homes embraces open space as a benefit to our quality of life. But, like so many good things in life, open space has to fit into a balanced plan.”
Looking for “justness” in the Highlands (Post, for The Daily Record) Highlands
“Your recent editorial, ‘Status Quo in the Highlands,’ opines that there may be easy answers on paper to the Highlands central problem of fairly compensating landowners who lost considerable equity in their property, but not in reality.”
Programs That Need Fixing (Part II) (Kennedy, nj.com) Statewide
“Last week, I summarized several New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control(DNREC) water quality programs that, for a variety of reasons, are not fully protecting our water resources. This week the discussion continues by focusing on some of the problems inherent in our existing land use and coastal programs, and, more specifically, on issues related to wetlands protection.”
RFP
Planning Board Attorney (City of Passaic)
Thursday, July 8, 2010 (Afternoon)
Zoning Board Keeps Custody of Stop & Shop Application (Schweber, The Westfield Patch) Westfield, Union County
“The Zoning Board of Adjustment voted unanimously to send Stop and Shop back before them another time to ask for variances the supermarket will need to expand its store in downtown Westfield.”
Union Twp. Planning Board will discuss Pilot Travel Center, off Route 78 (Sanabria, The Hunterdon County Democrat) Union, Hunterdon County
“Pilot Travel Center, the truck stop at the intersection of Route 173 West and Perryville road, will be the topic at a Planning Board workshop tonight at 7 p.m. The meeting will be held at the Municipal Building located at 140 Perryville Rd.”
Bloomingdale sanctions new housing plan (Walsh, Suburban Trends) Bloomingdale, Morris County
“Even though the borough is under the dictates of a court edict rather than the confines of the state Council on Affordable Housing (COAH), the Borough Council and Planning Board sanctioned a new Housing Element and Fair Share Plan.”
Solar power postponed in Fairfield (Adomaitis, The News) Fairfield, Cumberland County
“After two hours of presentation and nearly another hour of questions from the community, the proposed solar energy facility in Fairfield Township came no closer to completion Tuesday night.”
U.S. Supreme Court declines to hear case against NJ’s Highlands Act (O’Dea, The Daily Record) Highlands
“New Jersey’s Highlands law has passed its final legal hurdle, as the U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear landowners’ contentions that the 2004 law is unconstitutional.”
Somerville earns state Transit Village status (Staff, The Messenger-Gazette) Somerville, Somerset County
“The New Jersey Department of Transportation today announced that Somerville has been designated an official Transit Village community in recognition of its ongoing efforts to create walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods near public transportation centers.”
