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New Jersey
Developer-Sponsored ''Smart Growth'' Plan for Garden State Criticized
In unmistakable opening shots of a public opinion battle over regulatory changes sought by a coalition of developers and business leaders in their ''Smart Growth and Economic Development Stimulus Act of 2008, coalition lobbyist Ted Zangari announced, ''We're swearing off sprawl and encouraging smart growth,'' while New Jersey Sierra Club Executive Director Jeff Tittel stated, ''This, en toto, is as much about smart growth as Haagen-Dazs is to Weight Watchers.''
The lobbyist, reports Newark Star-Ledger writer Ian T. Shearn, acknowledged that the public saw developers as the villain in clashes with the environmental movement and that they usually just reacted to single events or bills without any common legislative strategy, an approach that has changed with the 12 bills of the newly devised act.
The bills, to be offered throughout the year, would concede some development boundaries in exchange for state concessions and incentives, the writer observes, noting that under the first proposal, introduced two weeks ago, state and local governments would grant developers a six-year extension for all already issued permits and approvals, including those that have expired.
Given its 40 co-sponsors, the writer expects the bill ''to sail'' through the Assembly, though the governor's office wants to see some compromise amendments.
After the coalition lobbyist called New Jersey ''the most ill-equipped state to deal with redevelopment issues'' and Mack-Cali Realty Chief Executive Mitchell Hersh described a related breakfast conversation with Democratic Governor Jon Corzine about the business climate as ''very meaningful,'' gubernatorial spokesman Jim Gardner declined to reveal specifics, saying only, ''The impact of the national recession in New Jersey remains a major concern and requires us to remain focused on growing the state's economy, but we must do so in an environmentally sound manner.''
With many of the financial incentives the coalition seeks dependent on new state revenue, lobbyist Zangari argued that even without such revenue ''the programs would at least spur smart growth beyond Hoboken and Jersey City to places like Newark that pay the same for labor, concrete and steel, yet don't fetch rents and purchase prices to make the construction numbers pencil-out.''
Sierra Club chapter director Tittel said the developers are invoking smart growth as a public relations ploy.
''If these bills get passed, it will be a coup d'etat for the builders of New Jersey. They're trying to use a downturn in the economy to push through their dream list,'' he warned. ''We're going to be closing schools and hospitals while we're making developers rich? It's going to be an interesting battle.'' -- Star-Ledger 6/4/2008
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