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 27, 2011
Transit Village ‘A Perfect Fit’ for Summit (Bentey, Summit Patch) Summit, Union County
“A community planning and development consulting firm called the concept of a Transit Village a perfect fit for the city of Summit before the Planning Board at Municipal Hall on Monday night.”
Court upholds billboard ban in Mount Laurel (Coppock, Phillyburbs.com) Mount Laurel, Burlington County
“A lawsuit challenging the township’s billboard ordinance has been dismissed.”
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Affordable-housing advocates back Princeton Junction transit village (Costa, The Times of Trenton) West Windsor, Mercer County
“As the long-debated InterCap transit village at Princeton Junction nears final approval by West Windsor officials, groups that advocate for more affordable housing in the state have joined supporting the 800-unit project.”
Jersey City Planning Board to have public hearing on redevelopment of McGinley Square (Staff, The Jersey Journal) Jersey City, Hudson County
“The Jersey City Planning Board will meet tonight to hear public comments on the controversial McGinley Square Redevelopment Plan, The Jersey Journal reports.”
High marks for Pier Village (Williams, The Asbury Park Press) Long Branch, Monmouth County
“Crack houses, a rat-infested water slide and boarded up arcades. This was the setting where the Pier Village retail and residential complex was built in a city that had endured decades of decline.”
Affordable Housing Proposal Inches Further (Lee, Bloomfield Patch) Bloomfield, Essex County
“In an unanimous vote with all seven members approving, the Bloomfield Township Council approved creating a pilot program Monday night for a proposed affordable housing complex for senior citizens and people with disabilities.”
Lower Township tells woman, 79, to get rid of six chickens she is raising for eggs (Degener, Press of Atlantic City) Lower Township, Cape May County
“When Claire Nagel heard about a national movement toward locally grown foods, she planted a big garden and got some chickens.”
Monday, November 22, 2010 (Morning)
NEWS
‘Transit Village’ prep progress in Hawthorne (Griffiths, The Record) Hawthorne, Bergen County
“The borough continues to do preparatory work needed to establish Passaic County’s first transit village around its rail station.”
RFP
Zoning Board Planner — Plainsboro, Middlesex County
Zoning Board Engineer — Plainsboro, Middlesex County
Planning Board Planner — Winslow, Camden County
Thursday, October 28, 2010 (Morning)
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood “disappointed” in decision to scrap Hudson River tunnel project (Frassinelli, The Star-Ledger) Trenton, Mercer County
“All through the last-ditch efforts to persuade Gov. Chris Christie not the kill the nation’s largest public works project, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood held his tongue, said little publicly, met with the governor twice and continued to hold out hope the multi-billion dollar Hudson River train tunnel project could be saved.”
Plainfield inching closer to Muhlenberg redevelopment (Spivey, MyCentralJersey) Plainfield, Union County
“The nonprofit parent company of the former Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center has a confidentiality agreement in place with a potential buyer and developer of the property as local officials start gearing up to study what a sale might mean for the city and its residents.”
Questions surrounding North Arlington zoning decision from 2009 (Anderson, South Bergenite) North Arlington, Bergen County
“The borough attorney is looking into the validity of a variance granted at a zoning board of adjustment meeting from more than a year ago in which meeting minutes are missing.”
Developers express interest in Transit Village (Burrow, Town News) River Edge, Bergen County
“Six developers have submitted Expressions of Interest for the proposed Transit Village project, according to Colin Quinn, River Edge’s redevelopment attorney.”
Friday, October 22, 2010 (Morning)
Officials: NJ-NY tunnel cost estimate is $9.77B (Delli Santi, The Associated Press) Trenton, Mercer County
“The cost of building a rail tunnel between New Jersey and New York City is estimated at $9.77 billion, some $4 billion less than the worst-case estimate the governor of New Jersey cited when he canceled the project two weeks ago, three government officials told The Associated Press on Thursday.”
ARC tunnel was on budget through August, documents show (Rouse, The Record) Statewide
“Public documents say a Hudson River tunnel project that Governor Christie terminated on the basis of cost overruns was on budget as of Aug. 31.”
New Jersey Rail Tunnel Needs Tighter Oversight, Federal Document Says (Dopp/Keane, Bloomberg) Statewide
“New Jersey began its stalled $8.7 billion rail tunnel without proper oversight and faces ‘significant risk’ of overruns, according to a document from the Transportation Department inspector general’s office.”
Highlands Act: Chester Township, N.J., is first Morris town to get Highlands OK (O’Dea, The Daily Record) Chester, Morris County
“The township that hosts the office of the New Jersey Highlands Council today became the first Morris County municipality to adopt the master plan written by that body for the region.”
Hawthorne aims to spruce up rail neighborhood, end parking woes with ‘transit village’ concept (Shrestha, The Record) Hawthrone, Passaic County
“The goal is to end a parking nightmare brought on by the local rail station, and in doing so improve pedestrian access to the business district around the station.”
Thursday, September 16, 2010 (Morning)
DCH proposal shakes up Montclair business owners (Prochilo, The Montclair Times) Montclair, Essex County
“The Montclair Planning Board is contemplating whether to declare Valley Road’s DCH site and some surrounding lots an area in need of redevelopment - a move that would grant the municipal government condemnation powers. The specter of having their land and businesses seized using eminent domain has alarmed and enraged some of the landowners involved.”
Borough wants to be a Transit Village (Griffiths, The Gazette) Hawthrone, Passaic County
“The Borough of Hawthrone is seeking to become Passaic County’s first transit village.”
Independence Township agrees to work within Highlands Act guidelines (Novak, The Express-Times) Independence, Warren County
“Township officials’ self-described civil disobedience against New Jersey’s 2004 Highlands Act is over.”
ShopRite developer postpones third Wyckoff Planning Board hearing (Weinberger, Suburban News) Wyckoff, Bergen County
“A Planning Board hearing tonight on a proposed ShopRite off of Greenwood Avenue has been postponed until October, according to the attorney for the developer.”
OPINION
Cranford Special Improvement District (SID) at risk (Krause, for the Suburban News) Cranford, Union County
“After considerable study to protect and develop Cranford’s charm and character, in 1985 under Mayor Edward Force’s leadership, the Township Committee created an SID and established a Downtown Management Corporation (DMC).”
Friday, July 9, 2010 (Evening)
NJDOT announces ‘Transit Village’ status for Montclair (Staff, The Montclair Times) Montclair, Essex County
“The New Jersey Department of Transportation yesterday announced that Montclair has been designated as an official Transit Village community in recognition of their ongoing efforts to create walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods near a public transportation center.”
NJ Pinelands Commission preserves 1,612 acres despite budget cuts (Moore, The Asbury Park Press) Pinelands, South Jersey
“Despite another year of budget cuts that reduced its staff by 19 percent, the state Pinelands Commission preserved 1,612 acres of land and improved management practices for forestry, wetlands restoration, power line maintenance and advanced septic systems, it said.”
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.”
