TRENTON, N.J. – New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA) Acting Commissioner Richard E. Constable III today announced the launch of a new Capital Needs Survey that will collect information on the repair, restoration and improvement needs of historic sites throughout the state. The New Jersey Historic Trust, a DCA affiliate, is leading the effort and encourages all publicly owned and nonprofit-managed sites to participate in the survey.

“The Historic Trust recognizes that even our state’s most notable and celebrated historic sites and attractions have significant needs for repairs and improvements, all of which will ultimately serve the public better,” said Acting Commissioner Constable. “This survey will help the Trust identify those specific needs and begin to quantify the costs associated with making these historic buildings relevant and useful in their communities.”

The survey will begin on February 1, 2012, and run until May 1, 2012. It will pose questions about a building’s use, repair needs, projected repair costs, and, if appropriate, its participation in heritage tourism development.

A “historic building” is defined as a structure that was built more than 50 years ago, or prior to 1962.  A property does not need to be listed on the state or national Register of Historic Places to be included in the survey. Buildings that may participate include: historic residences, farmsteads, factories, theaters, museums, houses of worship, fire houses, libraries, railroad stations, schools and more. Buildings owned by private homeowners or businesses are not eligible for this survey.

This is the second Capital Needs Survey in the State of New Jersey. The first, in 1990, identified capital needs of more than $400 million. The results of the survey helped garner public support for four historic preservation bond referendums in the 1990s, and sustain historic preservation funding from the Garden Sate Preservation Trust from 2000 to 2010.

This year, the Historic Trust is hoping to attract more participants by making the survey accessible online. 

“By using the Internet and making the survey easy to complete and submit, we hope to reach as many historic site stewards as possible,” said Historic Trust Executive Director Dorothy Guzzo. “The broader the participation, the better picture we will have of the state’s real need for historic preservation funding. “

Upon completion of the survey, the data will be analyzed and the capital needs of the state’s historic properties will be tallied and published by the end of the year. The Historic Trust will use the information to prioritize and/or revise criteria for its program, as well as to alert the community to begin thinking about their future stewardship needs.

“The Capital Needs Survey will provide New Jersey with important financial data to illustrate the continuing need for investment in the state’s historic resources,” said Historic Trust Chair Chris Perks. “Funding the preservation of existing buildings and structures helps make our communities more sustainable as well as enjoyable.”

The Historic Trust administers grants from the Garden State Historic Preservation Trust Fund, the NJ Cultural Trust Capital Preservation Grant Program, the “Discover NJ History” License Plate Fund and the 1772 Foundation Grant Program for New Jersey. Since 1990, the Historic Trust has awarded more than $134 million in matching preservation grants to sites in every county of the state.

Established in 1967, the New Jersey Historic Trust is the only nonprofit historic preservation organization in New Jersey created by state law. Its mission is to advance historic preservation in New Jersey for the benefit of future generations through education, stewardship and financial investment programs that saves the state’s heritage and strengthens its communities.

For more information on the New Jersey Historic Trust, please visit http://www.njht.org.

For more information on the Capital Needs Survey, log on to http://fs19.formsite.com/NJHT/CapitalNeedsSurvey/index.html.

Beginning February 10 through March 30, instructors will present during 2 hour webinars each Friday morning between 9:00 and 11:00 a.m. EST. The webinars will cover the following topics:

February 10 – Exam Overview
February 10 – Spatial Analysis of Planning Practice
February 17 – Functional Areas of Planning Practice
February 24- Public Participation and Social Justice
March 2- Plan Making and Implementation
March 9 – Research and Quantitative Methods
March 16- Planning Law
March 23- AICP Code of Ethics
March 30 – Planning History and Theory

Up to 1000 participants from chapters participating in the webinar cooperative (please consult with your chapter’s Professional Development Officer to learn if your chapter is a member of the co-op) will be able to register for the course for free. Most presentation materials and webcasts will be available after the meeting. Recorded webcasts and referenced materials will be posted to the Utah APA chapter website at http://www.utah-apa.org/webcast-archive under a new title referencing the 2012 AICP Exam Review Series. Limited materials are proprietary to the instructor and will only be available during the live webinar.

Register for a session now by clicking a date below. You should also be able to register via a link to the Utah state chapter website soon via http://www.utah-apa.org/webcasts

Please remember to register for each webinar in the series:

Fri, Feb 10, 2012 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM EST

Fri, Feb 17, 2012 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM EST

Fri, Feb 24, 2012 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM EST

Fri, Mar 2, 2012 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM EST

Fri, Mar 9, 2012 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM EST

Fri, Mar 16, 2012 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM EDT

Fri, Mar 23, 2012 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM EDT

Fri, Mar 30, 2012 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM EDT

Once registered you will receive an email confirming your registration with information you need to join the webinar. System Requirements are as follows:

PC-based attendees Macintosh®-based attendees

Required: Windows® 7, Vista, XP or 2003 Server Required: Mac OS® X 10.5 or newer

Questions?

If you have immediate questions about the 2012 AICP Exam Review webinar series, please contact Lauren Blackburn, Vice President for Professional Development for the North Carolina chapter of the American Planning Association. You may reach Lauren by email at lblackburn@ci.davidson.nc.us. If you have questions about the webinar cooperative in general, please contact Chris Brown, Professional Development Officer for the New Jersey chapter of the American Planning Association. Chris is the Continuing Education Planning Webcast Series Coordinator for the cooperative and may be reached at christopher.alex.brown@gmail.com.

NOTE:  Copies of the book will be available for purchase within the next couple weeks. Check back to our website shortly.

The Redevelopment Handbook was originally published in 2003 to provide municipalities with a guide to the various techniques that can be used to invigorate an area that is not physically or economically contributing to the community. The 2nd edition follows the same format and offers technical resources and guidance that provide readers with the opportunity to explore the benefits of redevelopment and plan for targeted growth in their communities. 

The new edition demonstrates that many towns can benefit from strategic revitalization, particularly as New Jersey’s suburbs begin to show their age. It also includes examples of how updating the appearance and functionality of worn structures and obsolete land uses can bring new energy and life to a community.

The Redevelopment Handbook was coauthored by Stan Slachetka and David Roberts with assistance from the staff of the Department of Community Affairs.

Slachetka is a licensed professional planner and Associate and Planning Group Manager with the Middletown-based firm of T&M Associates. Roberts is a Department Manager with the Red Bank-based firm of Maser Consulting. He is a licensed professional planner and a certified landscape architect in New Jersey, and a registered landscape architect in five states.

The APA-NJ’s Ethnic & Cultural Diversity Committee (ECDC) is providing opportunities for organizations and researchers to highlight their work and/or best practices that reflect interesting perspectives for regional equity and/or cultural and ethnic communities to a large audience. ECDC is requesting proposals for its ongoing ECDC’s 4Thought Forum Series and potentially future APA-NJ Webinars and/or the APA-NJ Annual State Planning Conference.

In 2011, the 4Thought Forum Series garnered major interest with an overwhelming attendance of planners, government workers, community leaders and interested parties.

The 4Thought Forum Series is two hours in length and held four times a year. The goal of the Series is to fulfill ECDC’s mission by providing a formal set of forums that:

• Identify approaches and practices that effectively promote regional equity (social, economic, transportation and/or environmental)
• Introduce new and trending approaches or planning practices that effectively respond to the social, economic and physical needs of cultural enclaves and/or inner-city communities
• Provide clearer understanding of settlement patterns of various cultures and ethnicities
• Discuss self-sustaining and livable communities practices for disinvested communities
• Introduce planning or professional development topics that are seldom discussed in a formalized setting that may be cultural or ethnic specific
• Provide opportunities for minority owned firms to highlight their unique services to the planning community
• Give an interesting perspective on any culture or ethnic community

The ECDC’s mission is to provide ongoing education forums and opportunities for professional planners, planning students and university faculty of different backgrounds to network, share ideas and bring recognition to unique values and perspectives.

Proposal Formats

General 4Thought Forum
All 4Thought Series Forums are 2 hours in length.

Complete Session proposals include:

• Proposed session title
• General description
• Outline of session
• Key Learning Objectives (at least 2)
• Case Studies (if applicable)
• Supporting Research (if applicable)
• Key information attendees will take back to their community or jobs?
• Speakers biographies

* The APA-NJ ECDC will work with organizers on securing a date/time and venue.

 Potential Themes

• Transportation and Equity
• Equitable Capital Disbursements
• Planning for Ethnic & Cultural Enclaves
• Gentrification
• Planning for the Unbanked and Underbanked
• Digital Divide
• Meaningful Public Outreach/Participation/Inclusion
• Complete Inclusion – youth, seniors, women, immigrants, homeless
• Food Deserts/Access
• Health and Nutrition
• Open Space and Recreational/Play Space in Urban Areas
• Promoting Civic Engagement
• Health Impact Assessments/Environmental Justice
• Law
• Policy
• Diversity in the Planning Profession
• Bike/pedestrian planning in lower income and/or immigrant neighborhoods

Submitting a Proposal
Proposals will be accepted on a rolling basis. Respondents to this request should submit their proposals via email to Tiffany Robinson, ECDC Chair at ecdc.nj@gmail.com. Ms. Robinson can be reached at (973) 946-5685 for questions.

Contacts:
New Jersey Future: Chris Sturm at 609-393-0008, ext. x114.
Regional Plan Association: Robert Freudenberg at (609) 228-7080, ext 1
American Planning Association/NJ Chapter: Charles Latini at 212-203-5137

A1338/S743 Undermines Regional Planning in the Highlands, Pinelands; Adds Farmland, Open Space to “Smart Growth Areas”

A1338/S743, which extends the effective period of the Permit Extension Act of 2008 and expands the locations for permit extensions, will be considered by the Assembly Housing and Local Government Committee on January 30th.

Extending permits in smart-growth areas during an economic downturn is not unreasonable.

However, the bill undermines regional planning by amending its definition of “environmentally sensitive area” to remove the Pinelands and Highlands regions from areas where permit extensions are prohibited. Why should preservation areas in the rest of the state be exempt from permit extensions, but not the water-rich Pinelands and Highlands regions? The bill also includes a confusing clause that extends all permits in the Pinelands, raising potential conflicts with federal law. (See sections 3 (i) and section 2 (b) (2).)

The bill creates a new definition for a smart-growth area that includes places that have never been included before, and should never be included:

• The entire Highlands Planning Area, including not only identified growth areas, but also many environmentally sensitive areas where growth should not occur.
• Planning Area 4, The Rural Planning Area, which comprises much of the countryside of New Jersey, characterized by “large masses of cultivated or open land” where the state’s intention is to “maintain large contiguous areas of farmland and open space and accommodate growth in Centers.”
• Planning Area 3, The Fringe Planning Area, a “predominantly rural landscape” with limited infrastructure, appropriate for “development and redevelopment in appropriately located and designed Centers to accommodate growth that would otherwise occur in the Environs.”

This new definition of smart growth areas clearly conflicts with the Christie administration’s State Strategic Plan, which emphasizes farmland preservation in Agriculture Development Areas. It contradicts the Highlands Act by describing the entire Highlands Planning Area as appropriate for growth. While this new definition will have a limited effect on which permits can be extended, we believe the longer-term intent may be to establish an expansive definition for where growth should be encouraged that could be used in future legislation, thereby opening these rural and environmentally sensitive areas to a host of development incentives.

As organizations committed to sound land-use planning, we oppose the bill as written. It should be amended to simply extend the date that permit extensions expire, rather than redefine smart growth areas and undermine the Highlands and Pinelands regional planning efforts.

Thank you for your consideration.

Download the Testimony

Salary and benefits competitive.

Please submit resume to mail@hgapa.com

Heyer Gruel & Associates
236 Broad Street
Red Bank, NJ 07701
Phone 732-741-2900
Fax 732-741-2929
Email mail@hgapa.com

“In general, APA-NJ believes the regulations allowing for waivers of affordable housing set-asides and reduction in densities for inclusionary projects under conditions of alleged economic feasibility have tremendous potential for abuse.  Further APA-NJ does not believe the regulations currently in place governing municipal housing liaisons, administrative agents, and Regional Contribution Agreement (RCA) administrators should be changed. One of reasons New Jersey has had a successful affordable housing program is because of the administrative requirements to implement and maintain affordable housing programs.  Dilution of these administrative requirements will weaken implementation of affordable housing programs in New Jersey.”

Read the Full Letter

PRN 2011-243 Summary

Pursuant to the Governor’s Reorganization Plan for the Council on Affordable Housing, Reorganization Plan No. 001-2011 (Reorganization Plan), the New Jersey Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) ceased to exist after August 29, 2011. The Reorganization Plan’s consolidation of the statutory functions, powers, and duties of COAH with those of the Department streamlines the activities of the Department and reduces bureaucracy and repetition of functions. Committed to affordable housing for low- and moderate-income residents of New Jersey, the Department will continue to implement the Fair Housing Act (FHA) and the powers and duties previously assigned to COAH through the Office of the Commissioner, Local Planning Services. The Office of the Commissioner will provide assistance to municipalities and developers of affordable housing and will implement and administer the FHA. As required by the FHA at N.J.S.A. 52:27D-307.5, the Commissioner has the authority to adopt all rules necessary for effectively carrying out the provisions and purposes of the act and the Reorganization Plan. Procedural rules, which became effective on June 2, 2008 as N.J.A.C. 5:96, and were subsequently amended on October 20, 2008, currently govern the process to be followed by municipalities and developers involved with implementation and administration of the FHA. As a result of the Reorganization Plan, the process and procedures previously employed by COAH are being updated to reflect the transfer of authority to the Commissioner and to increase regulatory flexibility and efficiency through streamlined protocols. 

Read the Full Proposal

NJ Spotlight  |  By Charles Latini, Jr., APA-NJ President  |  January 19, 2012

While Governor Christie has some accomplishments worth touting, there is still much to be desired before a New Jersey comeback truly begins.

Housing continues to be unnecessarily expensive. State and local governments overregulate the housing industry, particularly with their land-use and zoning restrictions, and stand in the way of the private market’s capacity to develop affordable and market-rate housing in conformity with a sound State Development and Redevelopment Plan.

To be competitive, we also need to develop an infrastructure (transportation, wastewater, drinking water, energy, and parks) funding plan that puts folks back to work and improves our medium- to long-term economic competitiveness. Our infrastructure continues to crumble and yet be ignored for the smoke and mirrors of job growth without recognition of the cumulative impact.

Proper maintenance and an upgrade of our public infrastructure and housing stock is one of the best economic development approaches to maintaining and attracting new businesses, stable households, and fiscally sound communities. With federal infrastructure funding continuing to decrease and housing costs pricing our employees out of the state, New Jersey needs to develop new and innovative ways to solving core issues.

Governor Christie says, “Do the big and difficult things because it lays the foundation for future greatness.” We, at the New Jersey Chapter of the American Planning Association, agree. Let’s do just that.

We need a bolder vision beyond short-term financial incentives, one that puts people back to work — planning, engineering, and building trades working together to deliver a quality of life that makes our state second to none and a truly attractive place to do business.

 Job Requirements

Minimum Qualification Requirements:

1. A master’s degree from an accredited college in economics, finance, planning, business administration, management science, operations research, organization behavior, industrial psychology, statistics, personnel or public administration, psychology, sociology, human resources development or a closely related field and three years of satisfactory full-time professional planning and/or capital budget experience working with the budget of a large public or private concern in budget administration, economic or financial administration, or fiscal or economic research; or in management of methods analysis, operations research, organization research or program evaluation; or in personnel administration, public administration, recruitment, position classification, staff development or in a related area; or
2. A baccalaureate degree from an accredited college and five years of satisfactory full-time professional experience in the areas described in “1” above; or
3. A combination of education and/or experience equivalent to “1” or “2” above.

Specialized Knowledge (Preferred):
Eight to twelve years progressively responsible experience in public sector policy analysis, project management, capital and/or transportation planning experience. Excellent oral and written communication skills. An advanced degree in engineering, public policy or other relevant discipline is also desired. Also required are the ability to synthesize engineering, policy, economic, and legislative and other information.

Salary & Benefits
Min $69,015, Mid $86,266

How to Apply

To be considered for this vacancy, follow these four easy steps:

1. Place the Control Code found below in the upper right hand corner of your resume.
2. Ensure that your resume is received by this office by the Due Date provided below.
3. Make sure that your resume includes a chronological work history.
4. Send your resume to this address:

MTA Bridges and Tunnels
Employment Services
Resume Review Section
2 Broadway, 22nd Fl.
New York, New York 10004
or fax to 646-252-7949

Deadline – January 27, 2012 

• February 13, 2012 at 6:00 p.m., Presentation, 7:00 p.m. Public Hearing ,Richard Stockton College, Campus Center Theatre, 101 Vera King Farris Drive, Galloway, NJ 08205-9441 
• February 16, 2012 at 6:00 p.m., Presentation, 7:00 p.m. Public Hearing, Offices of Government Service, Gloucester County Clayton Complex, Building A, 1200 N. Delsea Drive, Clayton, NJ 08312 
• February 23, 2012 at 6:00 p.m., Presentation, 7:00 p.m. Public Hearing, North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority, One Newark Center, 17th Floor, NJTPA Conference Room, Newark, NJ 07102 
• February 27, 2012 at 6:00 p.m., Presentation, 7:00 p.m. Public Hearing, Frelinghuysen Arboretum, Haggerty Center, 353 East Hanover Avenue, Morris Township, NJ 07962 
• February 28, 2012 at 6:00 p.m., Presentation, 7:00 p.m. Public Hearing, Monmouth University, Bey Hall, 400 Cedar Avenue, West Long Branch, NJ 07764-1898 
• March 1, 2012 at 6:00 p.m., Presentation, 7:00 p.m. Public Hearing, Rutgers University EcoComplex, 1200 Florence Columbus Road, Bordentown, NJ 08505 

Download the public hearing announcement from Gerry Scharfenberger, Director, Office of Planning Advocacy.

Learn more about the Chapter’s position here.