McGreevey Creates Smart Growth Policy Council

Now, McGreevey has countered with an executive order creating the Smart Growth Policy Council, the basic aim of which is to make sure that the goals of the growth management plan and the activities of state agencies are on the same page. The council will include several key state officials, along with the heads of the Board of Public Utilities, New Jersey Transit and the New Jersey EDA. A senior policy advisor from McGreevey's staff will chair the panel, which has already begun interviewing former OSP staffers for similar positions on the council's staff.

"It will be an important element of our efforts to improve the quality of life," according to McGreevey. "We need to break down the barriers that separate the various agencies that play a role in how New Jersey develops. The panel will work to protect open space and farmland from development and direct growth to our urban and suburban centers and ease traffic congestion."

Among other things, the new effort is aimed at implementing procedures and programs to make sure that the activities of state agencies and local governments, including state development grants and incentives, are consistent with the intent of the state growth management plan. It also aims to coordinate and consolidate redevelopment initiatives, especially those involving brownfields.

Interestingly, McGreevey's executive order also authorizes the state attorney general to intervene on behalf of local governments needing legal assistance against development proposals that don't fit the growth management plan. It also targets school construction, aiming to curb the building of sprawling, campus-style schools in rural areas. They're seen as precursors to sprawl, and the state would like to see more schools built in already built-up areas instead.