Hearing on the Permit Extension Act: A-2867
A bill designed to suspend the clock on the permits received for projects that have been unable to proceed because of the recession.
June 5, 2008
Thank you for the opportunity to speak today. I am here representing PlanSmart NJ and the Smart Growth Economic Development Coalition that supports this bill.
I am trained as a land use planner, having been in my job for 23 years at PlanSmart NJ, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. For all these years we have been promoting sound land use and regional planning. My credentials include having spent five years on the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) and six years on the State Planning Commission. I know what sprawl is and why it is harmful it is to New Jersey’s environment. and I know what smart growth is supposed to be and why we need it.
PlanSmart NJ has recently joined this coalition to get a number of bills passed as soon as possible. The bills are part of the Smart Growth Economic Stimulus Package that includes the Permit Extension Act. Most of these bills are designed to jumpstart redevelopment – still fragile in New Jersey’s core areas.
We know how important this package of bills is, because we have been working on a Smart Growth Economy Project since 2005. Our Project has convinced us that New Jersey’s economy is not just in a cyclical downturn – it is in serious danger of sinking into a rust-belt like irrelevance.
Failing to recover from this serious recession as soon as possible would be devastating to our hopes for restoring environmental quality, reducing disparities among communities and investing in the future. Failing to recover the economy will mean that we fail to achieve the promise of Smart Growth.
PlanSmart NJ has never before supported such a bill, but then New Jersey has never needed permits to be extended so much. The Permit Extension Act allows projects to buy time to allow the economy to recover and make sure that these projects, which have gone through the lengthy and costly process that make up the rules of the game today, will be held harmless by the recession. Extending their permits will allow for the shortest possible recession, getting New Jersey back on track as soon as possible.
I know that many of my colleagues in the environment community find it hard to understand why PlanSmart NJ has taken this stand. But I see our position as completely consistent with PlanSmart’s 40 years of work. We have always been a multi-goal organization, supporting plans that nurture both the economy and the environment, reducing costs and disparities among communities.
We see the issues embedded in these goals as not only interconnected, but inseparable – like the faces on a Rubik’s Cube. Today, the side representing the economy is on top. Passing the Permit Extension Act allows a small move to be made to help the economy, without moving any of the squares on the side representing the environment.
The Permit Extension Act does not roll back environmental standards – it holds the line on them. It is neutral on sprawl and redevelopment. The Permit Extension Act only does one small, but important thing – it gives time to projects that need it, so that these projects can deliver to the State the economic benefits they provide.
Clearly we need more than the Permit Extension Act – it does nothing for New Jersey’s other problems. But we need the Act first and we need it now.
As I said before, we have never before supported a Permit Extension Act because the economy has never needed it as badly as it does today. I stand among this coalition today because I believe that most of the old approaches to public policy in New Jersey have failed to deliver the outcomes promised.
PlanSmart NJ has always been focused on the outcome and will try new strategies when old ones have failed to achieve them. We need the resources that a healthy economy brings – better conditions on the ground in the future. I hope that you will endorse this bill today, and move quickly to examine and move the other bills in this responsible coalition’s package. PlanSmart NJ stands ready to help you in any way. Thank you.