State Planning Commission Preparing for Cross Acceptance III

The State Planning Commission (SPC) is preparing to enter its 3rd round of cross acceptance negotiations with the counties and municipalities this autumn.

On July 16, 2003, the SPC proposed its revised cross acceptance and plan endorsement rules. A 60-day public comment period will begin with the rule proposal publication in the New Jersey Register on September 2, 2003 and end on November 1, 2003. These proposals are designed to “streamline” the cross acceptance process. For example, the public notice requirements in the rules are to be relocated and reorganized into a single section. In addition, new time limits of petition review are included as well as a revised period of endorsement for submitted plans.

The SPC will continue to encourage counties or municipalities to obtain plan endorsement of their master plans. In addition, regional grouping of plans are to be encouraged by the SPC. Plan endorsement is designed to be a two-step process comprising of an initial petition and final petition stages. Center designations and map amendments will only occur during the plan endorsement process.

The Office of Smart Growth (OSG) will distribute to counties and municipalities new data layers from the DEP, DOT, Agriculture, and other state agencies relevant to the plan implementation process. This action, prior to initiation of the formal cross acceptance process, is proposed to begin on November 15, 2003.

For the next round of cross acceptance, NJBA proposed the inclusion of a Growth Fit component. A letter was sent to SPC Chairman Timothy Touhey explaining the recommendations. NJBA believes that the lack of implementation of the State Plan by counties and municipalities has been because due to the scant attention the process has given to current and future housing needs. A Growth Fit component addressing population and employment growth would help rectify this. NJBA has suggested the inclusion of a data layer for population, employment, and housing. It is essential that these projections be disaggregated so that cross acceptance delivers a State Plan that contains adequate areas for growth. These areas have to accommodate the projected growth in the desired compact growth patterns.

Adam Zellner, Executive Director of OSG, indicated at the June 18, 2003 SPC meeting that work is beginning on population and employment projections, though the source of these projections are not known yet. The SPC will have to agree upon the use of a specific projection. A methodology will have to be approved to distribute the projective growth among the municipalities.

It is vital to the State Plan’s success that population, employment, and housing projection information is included prior to the formal cross acceptance process. New Jersey is expected to grow by approximately 1.3 million people by 2020 (NJ Dept. of Labor Projections). The State Plan will need to accommodate people, jobs, and homes for it to succeed.

SPC Cross Acceptance Timeline