1 1 1 NEW JERSEY CLEAN AIR COUNCIL APRIL 2, 2003 2 TRENTON, NEW JERSEY 3 "MOVING TRANSPORTATION IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION" 4 5 6 JORGE BERKOWITZ, Chairman 7 MICHAEL EGENTON STEPHEN PAPENBERG 8 JOSEPH CONSANCE GEORGE CURRIER 9 BARRY SCHLEGEL JAMES BLANDO 10 FERDOWS ALI LEONARD BIELORY 11 WILLIAM LIBRIZZI RAYMOND MANGANELLI 12 IRWIN ZONIS MARCELINO IGLESIAS 13 GENE FEYL RICHARD ARCHER 14 15 16 17 J.H. BUEHRER & ASSOCIATES 18 17 Academy Street Newark, New Jersey 07102 19 (973) 623-1974 20 21 22 23 24 25 2 2 1 TESTIMONY: 2 COMMISSIONER BRADLEY M. CAMPBELL W. DENNIS KECK 3 JOSEPH MARAZITI ADAM ZELLNER 4 MICHAEL MOLTZEN MICHAEL CERRA 5 GREG DANA JOHN CIAFFRONE 6 DAVID PIECH MARTIN ROBINS 7 JIM SINCLAIR GARY JOHNSON 8 ROBERT CAMPBELL DIANE BRAKE 9 ROBERT BABIK JEFF TITTLE 10 DREW HUDSON 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 3 3 1 MR. BERKOWITZ: Good morning. 2 I would like to welcome everyone to this 3 public hearing on moving transportation in the 4 right direction, and I would ask that we all 5 stand and join in the pledge of allegiance. 6 (Pledge of allegiance.) 7 This is the public hearing conducted by 8 the New Jersey Clean Air Council which was 9 formulated as a result of a legislative mandate 10 which requires us to hold a public hearing once a 11 year concerning air quality in the State of New 12 Jersey and report our findings and make 13 recommendations and that's the process we are 14 involved in this morning. 15 I would like to take a minute and 16 introduce the members of the New Jersey Clean Air 17 Council. 18 (The members of the New Jersey Clean Air 19 Council were introduced.) 20 MR. BERKOWITZ: We of the a very aggressive 21 program today. We have a lot of information that 22 will be presented regarding moving transportation 23 through the State of New Jersey and minimizing 24 impact on air quality. 25 Having said that, we would like to 4 4 1 introduce Bill O'Sullivan. Bill is our liaison to 2 the Department. We are trying to replace the 3 inimicable John Elston. 4 Chris Donnelly is another individual who 5 comes before us. 6 I will just say this: This Council 7 receives a lot of nurturing and a lot of attention 8 from the Department and I think that's why the 9 Council feels appreciated and feels we have a 10 vital function to play in the scheme of things 11 involving the DEP initiative regarding clean air. 12 First of all, we are losing one of our 13 valuable representatives. Angela, can you come up 14 please? 15 Angela Skowronek is our liaison who helps 16 us with the daily work and this is her last time 17 with us. On behalf of the Clean Air Council I wish 18 to express our sincere appreciation for your 19 commitment and dedication to this Council. You 20 have served as liaison to the Department with 21 competence, grace and diligence and we are 22 extremely thankful and wish you continued success. 23 MS. SKOWRONEK: I would like to say a few 24 words. I enjoyed my work with the Council. I think 25 you do wonderful work and I wish you the best in 5 5 1 your endeavors in the future. 2 To make this hearing possible it took a 3 lot of people behind the scenes and we would like 4 to make sure that those people get credit as 5 well. I just want to say thank you to everyone. 6 MR. BERKOWITZ: John Elston is an 7 individual who most of you know. I had the 8 misfortune of being John's boss for a period of 9 three years of my life when I had to have a radar 10 screen to keep track of where he was across the 11 world. 12 John's commitment to this Council is 13 incredible and uncommon. John has served this 14 Council as the Department liaison for over 15 thirteen, fourteen years. So, John, I would like 16 to present this to you. 17 Presented to John C. Elston, in 18 appreciation of your extraordinary work in 19 promoting initiative to safeguard the quality of 20 air for the people of New Jersey and in 21 recognition of the energy, diligence and character 22 you consistently demonstrated throughout your 23 thirty-six year career in State government, the 24 Clean Air Council of the State of New Jersey 25 commends and congratulates you for your 6 6 1 outstanding commitment to the citizens of New 2 Jersey and this country. 3 The Clean Air Council of the State of New 4 Jersey, April 2, 2003. 5 Do you want to say something. 6 MR. ELSTON: This Council knows how I feel 7 about them in the years I have been with them. I 8 just respect your knowledge. I see a few new faces 9 here. That's good as well because it brings in new 10 ideas to be added to the great ideas put before us 11 during the years. 12 I appreciate what you have done for me, I 13 appreciate what you have provided to me. 14 If I can, I might want to say that in the 15 world today of euphemisms and little one-liners 16 and everything else you hear about clean air in 17 various sound bites but I would like to give 18 perhaps the Clean Air Council one, and that's 19 " fresh air"; fresh because it provides fresh 20 thinking. 21 And we all are very dogmatic about the way 22 we do things by way of government but it provides 23 a fresh way of looking at things. 24 With fresh ideas maybe we can really have 25 fresh air. Some of our senior citizens like myself 7 7 1 need it nowadays and we will be relying on you in 2 the future. 3 Thank you one and all and thank the 4 Department. 5 MR. BERKOWITZ: There is a lot of work that 6 goes into putting together this particular 7 hearing. I would like to thank the Hearing 8 Committee, Dr. Joe Satol (phonetic) who is not 9 here, John Maxwell enjoying the climes of Italy, 10 our Vice-Chair, Michael Egenton and Stephen 11 Papenberg, thank you very much. 12 I would like to recognize Assistant 13 Commissioner Sam Wolfe. I would say that Sam has 14 taken upon himself to elevate the importance of 15 the Clean Air Council just recently. 16 Sam I think has recognized the work that 17 Clean Air Council has done. Help has provided 18 input on this side of hte table at various points. 19 Sam, as Assistant Commissioner we thank 20 you for your commitment to this Council, we very 21 much appreciate it. 22 I see the Commissioner is here. It is my 23 pleasure to introduce Commissioner Bradley 24 Campbell. 25 I have seen a lot of Commissioners in my 8 8 1 time. I have to tell you that I haven't seen one 2 as energetic and capable as this Commissioner. He 3 attended the University of Chicago Law School, 4 doing his B.S., work at Amherst College. 5 He was with the United States Department 6 of Justice, Environmental Resources Division, 7 Associate Director of the White House Council on 8 Environmental Quality. He was Regional Director of 9 US EPA Region 3. 10 And now he is the Commissioner of the 11 Department of Environmental Protection of the 12 State of New Jersey. 13 Commissioner Campbell? 14 COMMISSIONER CAMPBELL: Thank you very much 15 for the opportunity to be here this morning. I 16 want to thank our newly reappointed Chairman, 17 Jorge Berkowitz, for his leadership of the 18 Council. 19 I want to talk this morning about a few 20 challenges we have in terms of protecting clean 21 air. First I would like to acknowledge and thank 22 the Council for their support as to the concerns 23 that New Jersey has raised in our challenge to the 24 proposed weakening of sections under the new 25 provisions of the Clean Air Act. Those are Federal 9 Campbell 1 standards that reflect the framers' original 2 understanding-- the framers of the Clean Air Act, 3 not the Constitution-- that older dirtier coal 4 fired plants would essentially be grandfathered 5 into the provisions, they wouldn't have to install 6 new pollution controls at the time of eneactment 7 but when they were upgraded, when they 8 substantially changed or modified operations, at 9 that point they would have to go through a new 10 source review and upgrade their facility. 11 Now a generation after that understanding 12 was established there is the proposal to weaken 13 those provisions for New Jersey which receives 14 nearly one-third of its dirty air from air 15 transported from Midwestern facilities. This is 16 an enormously important health issue and an 17 enormously important competitive issue to the 18 extent that our ability to meet clean air 19 challenges, to reach attainment of clean air 20 standards, requires a further ratcheting down of 21 emissions. The weakening of these standards, the 22 weakening of requirements to clean up dirty plants 23 up-wind essentially means that New Jersey 24 companies down-wind, New Jersey facilities 25 down-wind, have to bear the cost of controls that 10 Campbell 1 should have been installed long ago and in a sense 2 the law breakers up-wind if the changes become 3 final will essentially be able to operate at the 4 expense of companies in New Jersey down-wind. 5 We appreciate the support of this Council. 6 We are hoping on Monday when we will be having a 7 hearing in Newark, we are hoping to have the 8 Council testify. This is New Jersey's effort to 9 have our voice heard in the regulatory process. 10 EPA had a series of hearings in five 11 cities across the country but, sadly, New Jersey, 12 despite the impact on New Jersey, was not chosen, 13 so we are hoping to have this hearing so that New 14 Jersey's views become part of the record, first, 15 and secondly, to really use it as an educational 16 opportunity so that the public can better 17 understand the impact both to public health and to 18 New Jersey's competitiveness if the proposal to 19 weaken the requirements of current law are 20 finalized. 21 I also want to thank and congratulate the 22 Council for focusing clearly on transportation as 23 it proceeds in its efforts. 24 If we look at transportation, 25 transportation is contributing to perhaps a third 11 Campbell 1 of our clean air challenge in this State or our 2 dirty air that results in nearly every New 3 Jerseyan breathing dirty air for some part of the 4 year, a third is from the transportation sector. 5 I would ask the Council to really focus on 6 a couple of distinct issues. 7 First is the issue that dirty air from 8 transportation is quite directly linked to 9 pathogens. 10 The Governor's initiative on smart " 11 growth" is to try to change the pattern of sprawl 12 development of the State in which we lose fifty 13 acres a day to developments and nearly forty 14 percent of that is in the wrong places from a 15 planning perspective. It is integral to continue 16 the effort to reduce the emissions and dirty air 17 contribution of toxics that have been contributed 18 from the transport sector. 19 I think there are probably two very 20 concrete ways in which changes in patterns of 21 development in New Jersey will benefit clean air. 22 First by changing those patterns of development, 23 by having more efficient use of the land and by 24 increasing the extent of repopulating some of our 25 older suburban areas it will reduce the rate of 12 Campbell 1 increase in terms of the startling increases we 2 have seen in per capita travel. 3 We know that people who live in village 4 type developments can walk to work and walk to 5 parks. In urban areas we know that those 6 populations generate vehicle miles of travel per 7 person, and the more we can reinforce our 8 regulatory system to reform those habits, to 9 reinforce the village type development I think the 10 better we will be suited in meeting our clean air 11 challenges. 12 There is a major challenge for the 13 Department in terms of really integrating 14 different parts of the Department and recognizing 15 that what happens in our land use, what standards 16 and approaches we take with respect to land use, 17 with respect to wastewater, that the things that 18 most affect patterns of development are very 19 inextricably linked to the challenges in a 20 regulatory sense in terms of clean air planning 21 challenges that John Elston faced throughout his 22 career here and the challenges that Chris Dolomy 23 (phonetic) now faces in his stead, and I think 24 that is an enormously important piece of it. 25 Second, and enormously important, is the 13 Campbell 1 effort to change the way we spend State funding so 2 in fact we will be more focused on alleviating 3 congestion and streamlining congestion projects in 4 areas where those efforts are needed. 5 I think a concomitant of that is 6 encouragement for growth development around 7 existing mass transit infrastructure. 8 We have a wonderful light rail system 9 being built in South Jersey but there are a lot of 10 questions about whether there will be adequate 11 ridership. Those are the areas where we should be 12 encouraging new growth and development. 13 We have many developed areas where we 14 desperately need to improve the transportation 15 infrastructure to ease congestion and to expedite 16 those projects, and yet often those projects get 17 hung up in the regulatory maze. 18 There was a recently announced initiative 19 to free up 16 of North Bridge (phonetic) and other 20 transportation projects that have been fully 21 funded but where for one reason or another they 22 got stalled in the regulatory process not because 23 there was an environmental problem but because the 24 County Engineer didn't know which form to file and 25 didn't have the proper assistance. 14 Campbell 1 So we have to expedite that recognizing 2 that the emissions and particulates generated from 3 the congestion that weren't addressed in the 4 projects have a far greater impact than any of the 5 issues that might have been worked out in the 6 permanent process, so we have sort of taken that 7 recognition to a new level. 8 So that's one sort of rubric of issues I 9 would ask the Council to focus on. 10 The second is really the need to have and 11 to formulate an aggresive strategy for addressing 12 the particulates. We have tended over time to 13 focus a great deal on air quality on the so-called 14 four pollutants but I am fond of Bill O'Sullivan's 15 reference to the fifth pollutant which is fine 16 particulates and the tendency not to see the train 17 coming in terms of the need to address those. 18 Again, as we get to and the 2.5 micron 19 particulate standard come into effect we are going 20 to have some serious challenges. I think the 21 point now before we get to implementation of it is 22 to think through how we are going to meet those 23 challenges recognizing that in terms of air 24 quality and human health this is most challenging. 25 I think we need to look now in some sense 15 Campbell 1 at advance implementation of that standard so that 2 we can integrate new requirements in a way that it 3 will of the a sort of minimal economic impact and 4 we will be able to stage any changes we need over 5 time and particularly we will look at what we need 6 to do in terms of retrofits. 7 We are not going to retrofit everything in 8 the State but there are targeted areas where if we 9 are smart, if we look specifically at the types of 10 specific sectors we need to address I think we can 11 come up with a rational economically justifiable 12 implementation strategy that will address the 13 public health impact of fine particulates and also 14 do it in a way that minimizes the burden on our 15 businesses and especially minimizes the train 16 wreck that we will hit if we do nothing to 17 implement the 2.5 standard, do nothing to set a 18 guidepath for meeting the 2.5 standard until the 19 actual regulations kick in. 20 I think there is a real opportunity to 21 demonstrate once again New Jersey's leadership on 22 clean air issues by being pro-active and looking 23 rationally at what we need to do, looking across a 24 number of sectors, thinking through how we can be 25 environmentalists and how we put those 16 Campbell 1 requirements in place. 2 Finally, I would ask you to consider and 3 think through how this ties in with more regional 4 approaches as to protecting from air pollution. 5 All of our utilities in the State and I 6 think most of the leading clean air thinking agree 7 that we need to look more at the regional 8 approach, particularly as the Federal government 9 largely abrogates its leadership in clean air 10 protection. 11 And we need to think through and the 12 Council needs to think through what that means, 13 what are the pitfalls and opportunities that we 14 should be looking for, what does it mean 15 specificly as to the transportation sector, what 16 are the opportunities for greater mechanisms as to 17 the regional approach so that New Jersey can move 18 forward in meeting these challenges not on its own 19 but in partnership, bipartisan partnership with 20 other states in the region. 21 I have already had initial discussions on 22 these issues with Commisioner Crotihoc (phonetic) 23 in New York who has provided wonderful leadership 24 on behalf of Governor Pataki and also with Mr. 25 McGinty in Pennsylvania where I think there is a 17 Campbell 1 lot of enthusiasm that this is the right path. I 2 think the intellectual work in defining that path 3 and actually doing the concrete thinking about it, 4 what it involves, how to do it, still lies ahead. 5 And as to these as well as the other 6 issues I look forward to the leadership and 7 insight of the Council's assistance as we move 8 forward. 9 MR. BERKOWITZ: Thank you very much. 10 Any questions? 11 MR. LIBRIZZI: Obviously looking at the 12 regulatory system that would encourage these 13 approaches that you are considering, which I think 14 are very good, it will require some streamlining 15 process and it also requires inter-agency 16 cooperation. 17 Is there thinking in that context in 18 regard to establishing a sustainable relationship 19 between the agencies so that this thing becomes 20 business as usual? 21 COMMISSIONER CAMPBELL: Absolutely, and I 22 think one of the hallmarks of that approach has 23 been to work on an integrated basis, not merely 24 inter-agency basis, and to try to put in place 25 changes in the regulatory structure that 18 Campbell 1 essentially codify the inter-agency nature of what 2 we are doing in developing a blueprint for 3 intelligent growth. For a landscaped regulatory 4 map for DEP we went directly to Transportation and 5 said, what do we need to do to have this addressed 6 adequately as to transportation needs? 7 Ultimately we want all that to be 8 incorporated into not just the State map but also 9 the Transportation Master Plan. Indeed each of 10 the agencies will be dealing, essentially working 11 from a common decision platform about what the 12 right areas are that need to be expedited and 13 where we expedite our requirements after that. 14 There are areas, for example, as to encouraging 15 growth that development is in the right places and 16 transportation access needs to be addressed as 17 well, so that they are expediting the process on 18 their side, too. 19 I think it is very encouraging in that 20 sense but it is also an institutional challenge 21 for the DEP in some cases to recognize that the 22 environmental policy isn't the only policy that 23 needs to be honored. 24 MR. BERKOWITZ: Any other questions from 25 the Council? 19 Campbell 1 ( No response.) 2 MR. BERKOWITZ: Commissioner, we thank you 3 very much. We know you and your capable staff will 4 represent New Jersey well in these efforts. 5 W. Dennis Keck, Department of 6 Transportation, Assistant Commissioner, Planning 7 and Development. 8 Mr. Keck received his degree from Newark 9 College of Engineering, B.S., in Civil 10 Engineering, and completed his Master's degree at 11 Brooklyn Polytech in 1977 with a Master's of 12 Science degree in Transportation Planning. 13 Mr. Keck has over thirty years of 14 experience with the New Jersey DOT and we thank 15 you for being here. 16 MR. KECK: It is good to be here. We have a 17 little power point presentation and we are trying 18 to overcome some technical difficulties. 19 I have copies of my presentation and I am 20 more than willing to move forward and make the 21 presentation without the power point. 22 These are some of the things I wanted to 23 talk about today, transportation and mobile 24 source trends. I wanted to talk about travel 25 demand and vehicle miles of travel. Commissioner 20 Keck 1 Campbell talked about that a a little bit. 2 In particular I want to talk about 3 transportation, land use and air quality and how 4 they intermesh with one another, and I want to 5 talk about what the DOT is trying to do to address 6 those types of issues. 7 And clearly when we start to talk about 8 those things there is a tremendous linkage between 9 transportation and land use. It is an issue that 10 has been talked about ever since I have been in 11 government in transportation for over thirty 12 years, it was talked about thirty years ago and it 13 continues to be an issue of debate. 14 But if we just looked at trends in travel 15 and demographics over the last thirty years what 16 we would see is a good news-bad news type of trend 17 in terms of how the environment has been affected 18 by transportation. 19 If we look at population and if we look at 20 vehicle miles of travel we will see that over the 21 last thirty years the population in this State has 22 increased by thirty-three percent, we will see 23 that vehicle miles of travel has increased by 24 almost one hundred fifty percent over that time. 25 Registered vehicles, tremendous increase, 21 Keck 1 seventy percent. Vehicle miles of travel, the 2 number of registered drivers has increased 3 dramatically, over seventy percent in the last 4 thirty years. 5 But on the other side of the equation, if 6 we look at just VOC what we see are decreases over 7 the last thirty years, almost fifty-nine percent 8 decrease in VOC and forty percent decrease in 9 things like PM CO. 10 So it is a good news-bad news and clearly 11 what is happening in these increases, despite the 12 increases in population, increases in employment, 13 tremendous increase in vehicle miles of travel, we 14 are still seeing reductions in terms of emissions 15 and that is because of fuel, that's because of 16 technology, quite frankly. 17 If we look at travel and economic growth 18 and population, again, if we were to look at the 19 slide chart, which maybe we will see, Americans 20 have been traveling more than ever between 1980 21 and 1996, the number of passenger miles increased 22 by 1.4 trillion, so people are traveling more than 23 ever. 24 About ninety-six percent of all passenger 25 miles takes place in personal vehicles so 22 Keck 1 obviously there is a love affair with the 2 automobile in this country. Certainly New Jersey 3 is part of that love affair. 4 But despite the rapid growth, route miles 5 and highway funding basically remains fairly 6 constant. 7 What we have seen is in the last thirty 8 years or so vehicle miles of travel have more than 9 doubled, but route miles of the increased by maybe 10 by three percent. In essence our transportation 11 system is pretty much here. There aren't a lot of 12 brand new projects and new roadways anymore being 13 looked at, there are some, but that's a very small 14 component. Most of the system is there. 15 Yet we see continued growth in vehicle 16 miles of travel. 17 If we look at other trends, if we look at 18 just the people that are driving alone, we see 19 small increases. 20 If we look at car pools we are seeing a 21 twelve percent decrease. Recently just in the last 22 few years we have seen decreases. 23 If we look at public transportation there 24 has been a major increase in the use of public 25 transportation, going up by about twenty-nine 23 Keck 1 percent just between 1990 and 2000. 2 In the last ten years we have seen 3 dramatic increases. Bicycle usage is going up, we 4 have seen a hundred percent increase in bicycles 5 over the last ten years. 6 Walking has decreased. Part of that, 7 again, you get to the land use issues here, it is 8 working together with the private sector in terms 9 of how we develop and how we can make it easier to 10 walk between buildings so you don't have to get 11 back in your car and drive down the main highway 12 or drive down the road to get to a restaurant 13 which is right next door. 14 Those are some of the issues we need to 15 work on in the public sector and municipalities. 16 Clearly we have seen more people working 17 at home. 18 You see the growth of the vehicle miles of 19 travel, in terms of population it has been 20 relatively flat and in terms of funding it has 21 been relatively flat. 22 And you can see some recent New Jersey 23 trends in just the last ten years, again some of 24 the things I was talking about. 25 Next slide. 24 Keck 1 The simplified message here: Vehicles are 2 getting cleaner because of technology-- we talked 3 about that-- but people are driving more and 4 driving longer distances and so VMT is an issue we 5 need to continue to address. 6 The DOT mission is about balance. The 7 Department of Transportation is concerned about 8 safety, infrastructure, environment and we are 9 concerned about mobility; and how do we balance 10 those factors? 11 Clearly in the State of New Jersey we have 12 an aging infrastructure, we are an old State, we 13 have tremendous congestion, we are a multi-modal 14 State. We are one of the few States in the nation, 15 if you look at the DOT's capital budget this year, 16 it is almost fifty-fifty in terms of investment in 17 public transportation versus investment in 18 highways and other modes like aviation and rail 19 freight. 20 So there is a real struggle in terms of 21 how do we deal with the fragile environment, how 22 do we deal with safety, how do we deal with the 23 aging infrastructure and how do we try to decrease 24 congestion? 25 We try to promote programs that provide 25 Keck 1 choices and reduce vehicle miles of travel. I 2 will talk about Smart Growth, transportation and 3 land use connection, support transit and reduce 4 travel demand, support innovative programs, and 5 implementing programs. 6 We are doing a number of things in our 7 capital program right now to try and help support 8 the Governor's initiative on Smart Growth. 9 The Department of Transportation has been 10 and continues to be very active in the State 11 Planning Commission and a partner with the DEP in 12 terms of how we try to make this a reality. 13 Fix it first, limit highway capacity 14 increases, congestion relief, stop subsidizing 15 sprawl and rebuilding suburban corridors. 16 Smart Growth and transportation: 17 Concentrate growth and redevelopment areas 18 of our older urban and suburban places. 19 And protect open space, increase 20 transportation options and availability and reduce 21 automobile dependency. 22 We are trying to implement these policies 23 through a number of ways. The Governor recently 24 held for the first time, for the first time I 25 believe in my recollection that a Governor 26 Keck 1 actually held a transportation forum in New Jersey 2 in New Brunswick that he spoke about a number of 3 Smart Growth principles. 4 Fix it first: We want to try to direct our 5 resources more toward safey and system 6 preservation. 7 We are trying to reduce our backlog of 8 deficient bridges. In the State of New Jersey we 9 have over six thousand bridges but I will tell you 10 that it is a tremendous challenge. About 11 twenty-five hundred of those are on State highway 12 systems. The vast majority of the others are on 13 the County systems and Authority systems, but we 14 face tremendous burdens. 15 Some of this infrastructure is very old, 16 some of it is very, very difficult to address 17 because it is in urban areas where you have 18 tremendous challenges in terms of addressing the 19 environment, addressing people and addressing 20 mobility. 21 We have just ten bridges in our program 22 and the cost of repairing those bridges could 23 easily exceed two billion dollars. So it is a 24 tremendous challenge that we face, and yet some of 25 these are absolutely critical. 27 Keck 1 We have tremendously aging infrastructure 2 in our State and we face major challenges as to 3 how do we continue to preserve that 4 infrastructure. 5 We also have recently done an analysis of 6 our interstate highways. A lot of our interstate 7 highways were built back in the early 8 nineteen-sixties. Much of the pavement is 9 starting to wear out. Just repairing pavement, 10 forgetting about adding lanes, but just repairing 11 pavement on the ground today over the next ten 12 years could cost easily 1.9 billion dollars, just 13 to repair the pavement that is taking a beating 14 today. We are talking about preservation of what 15 we have. 16 Next slide, please. 17 One of the things we want to do is limit 18 new capacity. Quite frankly, we still have a maze 19 of projects that have been in our capital program 20 pipeline for years. They are trying to address 21 major congestion points in our State. We have 22 them, you can go to any one of the twenty-one 23 Counties and point them out. Any of us that 24 utilizes the public transportation system or 25 highway system knows we have major capacity 28 Keck 1 issues. 2 But what we have done in our capital 3 spending program, no more than four percent of our 4 total 2.5 billion dollar capital program will be 5 used on major new capacity projects. We have got 6 tremendous demand, we have tremendous needs. We 7 need to balance those needs in a way that makes 8 the most sense, so we are again looking to 9 withhold and to hold off on spending a lot of our 10 capital resources on major new capacity because we 11 have such pressing needs and we need to balance 12 those needs. 13 We want to stop subsidizing sprawl. We are 14 working again with the Office of Smart Growth and 15 the DEP on Smart Growth criteria and to redesign 16 and defer some of our local projects that have 17 sprung up, we are looking to partnerships with 18 municipalities on how we can work together with 19 the private sector so that projects don't result 20 in further suburban sprawl. 21 A good example, Hillsborough. There was a 22 long-standing project to bypass Hillsborough, a 23 project that has been in the capital pipeline for 24 the past twenty years. It was being designed with 25 four interchanges, one at each end and two in the 29 Keck 1 middle. 2 Those two interchanges in the middle quite 3 frankly were there because the local municipality 4 saw the opportunity to grow. 5 We said, Wait a minute, what is the real 6 purpose of this? 7 The purpose is to provide a bypass, the 8 purpose is not to create and induce further 9 growth, so those two interchanges of the been 10 changed. 11 That's just one example of a project that 12 is going to move forward but it is a project that 13 we have changed the design. 14 Next slide. 15 In terms of urban centers and suburban 16 corridors, we are going to redevelop some of our 17 urban centers and redesign/ rebuild some of our 18 suburban strip areas. Much of our highways, Route 19 46, Route 22, are tremendously congested today, 20 they have a lot of safety problems and it is 21 because of the strip commercial development along 22 them. 23 Our proposed five year program does 24 contain funding for some key projects in these 25 areas. But, again, when you are looking at how we 30 Keck 1 can work together with local municipalities in 2 terms of designing these things and how can we 3 again create accessibility, a lot of the safety 4 problems are created by numerous driveways and 5 numerous points of conflict, how can we better 6 design those so that we can still support the 7 economic growth that has already occurred but at 8 the same time trying to improve mobility and 9 safety? 10 We are going to try to support New Jersey 11 Transit. Our capital program, in lookling at the 12 2.5 billion, it is only a fifty-fifty split with 13 New Jersey Transit. One of the things we are 14 encouraging is the concept of transit village, 15 that is working with municipalities and saying, 16 Hey, let's look at this asset that you have in 17 your town called a train station and, you know 18 what, this can really be a magnet for really 19 changing your land use and your zoning and looking 20 at not just making the train station a departure 21 point to someplace where you go to work from but 22 it can be a destination, a really tremendous asset 23 to your municipality if we work together on land 24 use planning. 25 So we have tried to work with some of our 31 Keck 1 municipalities to really change that focus and 2 also increasing some of our local aid programs in 3 terms of providing more dollars to have more 4 municipalities to do the planning and to do some 5 of the changes and try to encourage growth around 6 rail stations. 7 Sounds simple, doesn't it? Sometimes you 8 can lead the horse to the trough but trying to get 9 him to drink is easier said than done. 10 But one thing we have done, we have 11 established last year about seven transit 12 villages, now we have established our eighth, 13 Metuchen, and our goal is to double that this 14 fiscal year. 15 We are working with municipalities to talk 16 about how we can do that, how we can encourage 17 compact mixed use development within walking 18 distance of some of these stations. 19 The other goal is we need to increase 20 parking, again, Park-and-Ride. What is more of an 21 incentive for the use of public transportation 22 than being able to get to the station and having a 23 place to park? 24 Again, easier said than done. 25 Engineering-wise Park-and-Ride is easy. I am an 32 Keck 1 engineer; I can build it. 2 I will tell you they become tremendous 3 issues for municipalities who, again, don't 4 particularly like the impact caused by them. It 5 is amazing how many times simple straightforward 6 projects become caught up in, " Not in my back 7 yard. " 8 One of the commitments of DOT is to add 9 twenty thousand new parking spaces over the next 10 five years. We are up to that challenge working 11 with the Authority, working with Transit to try to 12 provide that. And what better way to do that than 13 having a better place to park so you can use the 14 train, so you can use the bus? 15 Some innovative programs that we are 16 also trying to work on are context sensitive 17 design: " Hey, it is not DOT's project, it is our 18 project. " It is about how you work together to 19 try and say, " What are we trying to address? " 20 One is the transportation context. Another 21 context is the environmental context, and another 22 one is what is the community trying to do, what is 23 the population, do you have a lot of senior 24 citizens, what are the demographics we are trying 25 to address? 33 Keck 1 We are trying to change how we address our 2 projects. We are doing a lot more for the bicycle 3 program. 4 The number of applications we get for 5 these types of programs far exceeds the dollars we 6 are providing. We need to look at how we can do 7 more of that. We need strengthened access permit 8 control. The DOT has been a leader in this, we are 9 one of the few states in the nation that has 10 adopted a code of access. It was legislation 11 passed in the late nineteen-eighties and 12 legislation passed in the early nineteen-nineties. 13 We want to go back and look at that access process 14 to see how can we make it more Smart Growth 15 friendly so we are now focusing on that process. 16 That will be a project in terms of how we 17 provide better access to the development that 18 occurs along our major highways. 19 Again, we are looking to try to reduce 20 travel, and while a lot of these strategies aren't 21 the magic answer, we need basically to look at all 22 of the strategies at our disposal to try to 23 resolve the problem. 24 Ride sharing, van pools, alternate work 25 schedules, telecommuting, we put forth eight 34 Keck 1 different transportation management areas in our 2 State and we work with the private sector at the 3 County level to try to encourage each of these. 4 The Department spends almost five million 5 dollars a year supporting transportation 6 management associations with the goal of looking 7 at these types of initiatives. 8 Lastly, let my just close quickly, meeting 9 the challenge, how do we address air quality, 10 congestion, land use and sprawl? It requires 11 multi-faceted solutions. 12 It requires new partnerships; we couldn't 13 do it alone. Clearly we need to have partnerships 14 with municipalities and Counties with our 15 environmental partners. 16 Innovation: We need to look at all 17 different strategies our disposal. 18 Those are some of the things the 19 Department of Transportatiion is trying to do to 20 try to be supportive of some of the major 21 challenges. It isn't easy but we are trying to the 22 best of our ability to meet the challenges and to 23 play a key role in the State. 24 MR. MANGANELLI: Maybe you can help me sort 25 out a couple of things here. 35 Keck 1 You were mentioning in a number of your 2 suggestions a regional approach, yet you talked a 3 lot about what you need to do with municipalities. 4 As you well know there is a bill being 5 introduced doing away with Municipal government 6 versus County government, and I am trying to sort 7 this out, whether it would be doing away with 8 Municipal government and go on to a regional 9 approach? 10 A lot of the things you are talking about, 11 the public transportation, is really regional, yet 12 you are trying to design it so you have the local 13 people walking to that so that there is a train 14 station which will serve the whole region and then 15 we have the problem with parking. 16 I would like to hear from you which 17 direction are you going in, are you going in 18 regional, are you going in local; which is the 19 better way to do it? 20 MR. KECK: I wish I had the answer but I 21 really don't. 22 I think clearly for a long time back in 23 the nineteen-eighties the Department of 24 Transportation proposed a piece of legislation 25 called the County Municipal Planning Partnership 36 Keck 1 Act, and if we are talking about having 2 Municipalities work through their County 3 government to of the a more regional approach so 4 that you don't have one Municipality planning all 5 this development right at their neighbor's border 6 and the next Municipality fighting with their 7 neighbor, we don't want that, so the concept was a 8 regional approach. 9 And I think the regional approach is one 10 that works well. 11 Unfortunately our State is a home rule 12 State and the right to guard that home rule status 13 is one that all of the Municipalities have long 14 upheld as their right, so I don't have an easy 15 answer to your question. 16 I think your question is really a key 17 issue certainly that I don't know that any of us 18 in this room can individually solve but I think we 19 need to clearly look at how do we coordinate 20 planning to provide a regional type of plan that 21 supports all of the growth from the individual 22 components that make up that plan. 23 I think that's really one of the issues 24 that we still face in terms of State employees and 25 public servants trying to work together to see how 37 Keck 1 we can make this work better. 2 I really don't of the the answer. 3 We do try to work with individual units 4 where we can on projects but we also try to really 5 look at the regional context to make sure that it 6 fits within some parameters of the regional 7 context: 8 MR. LIBRIZZI: How does State government 9 define " regional "; is it County, multi-Town? 10 MR. KECK: You know, it depends. 11 I mean you can define regions by-- there 12 are three major metropolitan planning 13 organizations in the State of New Jersey whose 14 goal is to do long-range transportation planning. 15 We have three metropolitan planning 16 organizations which are Federally supported and 17 mandated under Federal law covering the entire 18 State of New Jersey, which is unique. 19 We are the only State in the nation that 20 has three adjacent metropolitan planning 21 organizations that cover the entire State. In most 22 cases you don't have that. 23 Yet you have twenty-one Counties. Some of 24 those Counties are very progressive and have good 25 planning departments and really do I think good 38 Keck 1 regional planning and work with their 2 Municipalities. 3 Others do not. 4 So it is a mixed bag, it really is a mixed 5 bag. 6 I think from a regional perspective that 7 is one way to go. There is a contention that 8 planning can't stop at County boundaries. It would 9 depend on the infrastructure that is already in 10 place. You are within zones. 11 MR. LIBRIZZI: I think the DOT is to be 12 congratulated for the efforts you told us about 13 but my question is this: Is technology available, 14 is there interaction between the DOT and DEP such 15 that your projects can be evaluated as to the 16 potential of improving air quality? 17 You mentioned Route 22 with all those 18 stores and a thousand and one driveways. 19 Is it possible for DEP to tell you that if 20 you were to succeed in reducing the driveways by 21 ninety percent or whatever it would be there would 22 air quality improvement and reducing by X parts 23 per million of CO or some measure of success that 24 would result by these local urban types of 25 improvements? 39 Keck 1 Otherwise it may well be that you are 2 doing something good for the nerves of the drivers 3 on Route 22 but you are not doing anything for air 4 quality. 5 Is there an opportunity to evaluate the 6 success in the areas when you are talking about 7 these projects? 8 MR. KECK: Yes, and we do that on a 9 state-wide basis, we have a number of state-wide 10 models we have worked with DEP on for years, and 11 Bob Miller is here, he is one of our Bureau Chiefs 12 who assists in planning. 13 We work on state-wide models that try to 14 predict exactly what the impact is of traffic from 15 a certain type of improvement and how that affects 16 our air quality in terms of a state-wide 17 perspective. 18 But I will tell you that it is not 19 something that you can predict that accurately 20 becasue there are so many factors that enter into 21 it, but clearly we understand and know what 22 certain types of projects will provide benefits 23 for and certain types of projects that will not, 24 so we try to gear our strategies accordingly. 25 But when you get down to the micro-level 40 Keck 1 it is very difficult because there are so many 2 factors in terms of the Municipalities. 3 It is difficult to say this is good or 4 this is not good for air quality. It is easier I 5 would say to know in five years since you rebuilt 6 Route 22 what the improvement is and you say there 7 has been a change of X, Y, or Z, but we don't know 8 if it was because of that housing development 9 north of Route 22, so if you knew what is there 10 today would remain there you might be able to but 11 conditions are constantly changing. 12 I was recently at a public hearing down in 13 Wildwood and they asked, how come the Department 14 of Transportation never built the Route 65 15 Freeway? 16 You can argue from an air quality 17 standpoint if you built that freeway maybe you 18 would of the an air quality benefit, but you are 19 going through some of the most sensitive 20 environmental areas on the whole East Cost, and 21 you have to weigh all of the factors in terms of 22 benefits and in terms of environmental impact. 23 Clean air clearly is one, but you can't 24 forget about the others in terms of how we make 25 the decision, and that's why that project never 41 Keck 1 moved forward, because of that sensitivity that we 2 face. 3 MR. PAPENBERG: Being from South Brunswick 4 Township we actually straddle three Counties so 5 obviously we have a lot of challenges when it 6 comes to any type of planning. 7 One of my recommendations which I am sure 8 you are very familiar with and are interacting 9 with is the League of Municipalities. That is the 10 group that Municipalities turn to more often than 11 not on these issues, so I would encourage you to 12 continue working with the League both as to 13 Counties and as to Towns as to these challenges. 14 The other point I have is, one of my pet 15 peeves-- and I have discussed this with the 16 Council, it has come up time and time again-- is 17 in our our Municipality we have Route 522 which 18 actually bisects the Municipality east and west. 19 The way it was constructed it separates a 20 residential community from an area where there 21 were parks, and you had talked before about the 22 fact that families in order to of the access to 23 parks or recreation of the to take a car. 24 Is there something now that would require 25 when a highway is constructed that there has to be 42 Keck 1 incorporated some type of access to allow people 2 to cross the highway without being harmed, such as 3 a bridge of bypass? 4 MR. KECK: There are no rules or 5 regulations but the DOT looks at those factors 6 much more today than it ever did in the past. 7 The only context we used to look at was 8 the transportation mobility and capacity, and all 9 those other factors were just being brushed aside. 10 We don't do that today. There has to be a 11 balance here and the balance is about the 12 environmental context, community context and the 13 transportation context. All of those need to be 14 weighed, and we do that much more now. 15 MR. LIBRIZZI: If something like that 16 occurs and the community was very adamant about it 17 that could be a stopper? 18 MR. KECK: That could be a stopper. There 19 is nothing that stops projects faster than a 20 community saying, " We don't like the project. " 21 The fact is you have so many demands, so 22 much to do with so little dollars to meet the 23 demands, that there is nothing to stop something 24 faster than the community saying no. 25 Unless a project has tremendous need and 43 Keck 1 extraordinary justification we are typically going 2 to say, " Okay, we are not going to move forward 3 on that project and we will go somewhere else. " 4 We have been extraordinarily responsive to 5 these types of issues and building crossings for 6 highways where people do have to drive to get 7 across the highway, we have cut down on that. 8 We don't of the the confrontational 9 battles we had years ago. Most difficulties of the 10 been worked out on a negotiated level, and as I 11 said, the quickest way to stop a project or a 12 large portion of it is to of the the Municipality 13 saying no. 14 I really believe that everything that I 15 have shown here is truly working and is becoming 16 very effective public policy. We are not perfect 17 but we are trying to change because the 18 realization is that unless we partner we are just 19 not going to be successful so we are really trying 20 to do more partnering with communities in order to 21 get things done. 22 MR. LIBRIZZI: At this point in time both 23 sides are blaming each other, the Municipalities 24 are the only ones who raise any money because we 25 have the local property taxes so they have the 44 Keck 1 ability to impact the sociological faric of the 2 State. 3 You mentioned the County several times and 4 you have some pretty innovative ideas but I don't 5 understand how this translates down to the County. 6 Can you in fact dictate through regulation 7 these concepts that are developed at the County? 8 They of the their Planning Board, they have a 9 Highway Department. 10 MR. KECK: There are certain things that we 11 through a regulatory process can dictate to the 12 County in terms of access on a State highway major 13 development which comes in and the access is on a 14 County road or on a Municipal street. 15 MR. LIBRIZZI: How does or does the State 16 government promote County or Municipal access 17 standards? 18 MR. KECK: One of the answers is we are 19 looking at access standards to see how we want to 20 try to change that in the future. Maybe you want 21 to apply some of those access standards to some of 22 the State roads as well. That's one avenue we are 23 going to investigate. A lot of the Counties have 24 been very progressive as well. They have a lot of 25 ideas and we have worked well with them, not all, 45 Keck 1 but a lot of them of the, recognizing that this is 2 in the Municipalities and the Counties best 3 interest because they are facing infrastructure 4 and congestion and some of those dilemmas and they 5 know they need to try to help solve those problems 6 and we can only do that by working together. 7 MR. LIBRIZZI: The Commissioner mentioned 8 that the State government is looking at this map. 9 The question becomes in my mind, is the County 10 also looking at the map in the same context as the 11 State government. 12 MR. KECK: I am sure everybody is looking 13 at the map. 14 MR. LIBRIZZI: But maybe not in the same 15 way? 16 MR.KECK: The Counties have been for a long 17 time, it has come to the forefront now, but issues 18 with the State Planning Commission are something 19 that I think all the County and Municipal 20 governments have been concerned, about and the 21 dialogue continues, and I think that's healthy for 22 New Jersey. 23 MR. EGENTON: As Vice-Chairman of the Clean 24 Air Council I happen to be familiar with 25 environmental and transportation issues and there 46 Keck 1 is a connection, and I want to thank you on behalf 2 of the Council for detailing it with your great 3 presentation here today and laying out the efforts 4 of your Division and we appreciate your efforts 5 and Commissioner Jack LaTier (phonetic). 6 We will present our findings in a formal 7 presentation in July and send it to the 8 Commissioner. There is a strong link between your 9 Department and the DEP and the efforts as to 10 congestion and Smart Growth and proper planning. 11 MR. BERKOWITZ: We thank you very much for 12 a very informative presentation. You can count on 13 hearing from us. 14 Don't be ashamed that you don't know the 15 answer to Dr. Manganelli's questions. 16 MR. KECK: He is asking the right 17 questions. 18 MR. BERKOWITZ: The next speaker is Joseph 19 Maraziti. Mr. Maraziti was the Chairman of the 20 State Planning Commission, and I will tell you 21 that if you take a look at the words that are used 22 commonly today, revitalization of urban areas, 23 refocusing our growth to prevent sprawl, these are 24 not new words, they appear in the enabling 25 legislation and we congratulate Mr. Maraziti for 47 Maraziti 1 putting so many urban and suburban sprawl 2 questions in the public forum. 3 I think Mr. Maraziti has done a great 4 service in this State in providing the public 5 debate as to addressing these issues. 6 MR. MARAZITI: Thank you. 7 Good morning, members of the Commission 8 and members of the public. I appreciate the 9 opportunity of coming before you but I am humbled 10 before this group because I am going to talk about 11 a lot of things that you probably know a lot more 12 about than I do. 13 I thought I would start my presentation 14 and divide it into just sort of an overview 15 conversation about the issues as I see them, 16 having been on the State Planning Commission for a 17 number of years, and then talk a little more 18 focused about them, but the main thing I want to 19 do is take questions and engage in conversations. 20 The very first slide that will be up 21 there, I hope, is one that is designed to 22 demonstrate-- well, it will be the second one-- is 23 designed to demonstrate that everything is 24 changing; we are in a constantly changing 25 environment. 48 Maraziti 1 We have an opportunity to help shape the 2 changes that are being made that we don't even 3 see. We don't see half of the changes that really 4 affect our lives as they are happening. 5 And one of the things I hope that happens 6 is that we get to that slide, but I appreciate 7 your help because I don't know how to do that. 8 That's not the slide, it is the next one. 9 I don't know if you can all read that. I 10 will read it because I like it every time I read 11 it. 12 This is from a New York Times book review 13 about a back. It points out that: " 14 Only fifty years ago"-- that's not very 15 long ago for somebody of my age--" the United 16 States was a very different place. The population 17 contained a small and declining number of 18 foreign-born, the result of strict immigration 19 quotas installed in the nineteen-twenties. Ellis 20 Island would close for good in 1955. Most blacks 21 still lived in the South, where where racial 22 segregation was the law. Blue-collar workers 23 outnumbered white-collar workers in this country. 24 The first Levittown had yet to be built. Few 25 couples got divorced. There were no supermarkets 49 Maraziti 1 or shopping malls, almost no four-lane highways or 2 air conditioning, no television or ball-point 3 pens. More than half of the nation's farm 4 dwellings had no electricity. Tobacco companies 5 placed cigarette advertisements in medical 6 journals." 7 These are things that happened in our 8 lifetime without our really perceiving that they 9 are going on and this will continue as we are 10 standing here today; changes will be affecting in 11 Jersey. 12 I got interested in State planning because 13 I saw this as an opportunity for the citizens of 14 New Jersey to come together and decide what we 15 want the change to do for us, because it will come 16 one way or the other. 17 The next slide, please. 18 You know all these things: We are the 19 most densely populated State, growing at a rate of 20 forty-five thousand people annually. Thirty states 21 will experience more growth than New Jersey in 22 the next twenty years. 23 More residential building permits in Ocean 24 County in the last decade than any either County. 25 One half of New Jersey agricultural land 50 Maraziti 1 lost since 1950. 2 We have the highest density of local 3 government in the United States. 4 The next slide. 5 This is an illustration of I think the 6 very powerful influences and changes we will be 7 experiencing in the next ten, twenty, thirty 8 years. This shows that as some people say New 9 Jersey will become the route of travel as the flow 10 of cargo from Southeast Asia comes through the 11 Suez Canal and arrives in the United States on the 12 East Coast where New Jersey is the gateway to the 13 continent on the east side of the country. 14 As you see as to the increase in the flow 15 of cargo, today eighty percent of that shipping 16 goes to Los Angeles, in 2020 it is predicted it 17 will be down to seventy-three percent. Then those 18 numbers shift even more dramatically. 19 What that means for new Jersey is that we 20 will have enormous influx of commerce arriving at 21 Port Newark, Port Elizabeth and when the harbors 22 are deepened ships like Maersk's which docked only 23 half loaded because of the depth problem I am told 24 that when there is no longer a problem a ship like 25 that of Maersk will offload cargo that will 51 Maraziti 1 require a caravan of twenty-eight miles long of 2 tractor-trucks to move it out of the port. 3 That's an enormous impact on clean air, 4 highways and everything else. 5 And as I understand it that cargo will 6 arrive in an incompletely manufactured state, 7 there will still be some more processing that will 8 be required. It will have to go someplace for the 9 final, whatever is going to happen to it, and the 10 likelihood is that it will go to Pennsylvania, 11 which means our highways will be conduits to 12 Eastern Pennsylvania where the jobs will be. 13 Then when they are completely manufactured 14 they will come back to the market, primarily the 15 New York Metropolitan Region. 16 That's something I think we need to be 17 better prepared for than we are. We need to be 18 able to capture that process so we don't lose 19 jobs, we don't have traffic or congestion 20 problems. 21 All of us of the heard how we will of the 22 a million more people in the next twenty years but 23 more than one million more people than now are 24 expected to be living in this State in the next 25 twenty years. 52 Maraziti 1 I think the most important statistic is 2 that the expectation of jobs will grow by some 3 eight hundred sixty thousand jobs. That means 4 unless things change eight hundred thousand more 5 cars on the roads in the morning and eight hundred 6 thousand more cars on the roads in the evening. 7 The next slide. 8 We have this in the State Plan. I have 9 copies of the State Plan in back on the table 10 there if anyone would like to have a copy of it. 11 These are the roads that show heaviest 12 congestion, severe congestion. I think things are 13 probably going to get worse. I don't think things 14 will get better in the short term, I think it will 15 get a lot worse before it gets better. 16 We are all talking about sprawl and I 17 thought it would be helpful to of the a 18 definition: A pattern of development characterized 19 by inefficient access between land uses or to 20 public facilities or services and a lack of 21 functional open space characterized by being 22 automobile dependent, single use, resource 23 consuming, discontinuous, there is no connection 24 with anything, and it is a low-density development 25 pattern. 53 Maraziti 1 Next slide. 2 What I thought we would do is put up 3 something to show what we are talking about 4 graphically when we are talking about alternatives 5 to sprawl. These are graphics that come out of the 6 State Plan. You can get a sense from it of what 7 we are trying to show. 8 The first slide is showing existing 9 conditions of development looking through Central 10 New Jersey up to New York Harbor, you can see Long 11 Island and Connecticut on the other side, that's 12 what it looks like today. 13 The current trends if we keep doing what 14 we are doing, which we will probably do unless 15 something dramatic happens-- my message today is 16 be bold in all of your decision-making-- unless 17 something happens that is what we will have in 18 twenty years. 19 In twenty years, that's the condition on 20 the right side at the top, you can see spots of 21 green for preservation but basically it is paved 22 over. 23 Now, an alternative is this one down here 24 which is designed to show the same population, the 25 same number of uses but in a more concentrated 54 Maraziti 1 center base kind of design so there is more 2 compactness to it and the alternative to sprawl 3 that is laid out in the State Plan and the State 4 planning concept, the State Plan is not 5 anti-growth, the State Plan is designed to say 6 there is a different way to grow and it is a 7 different place perhaps in many cases so we can 8 maintain the future of this State that attracted 9 all of us to either come here or want to stay 10 here. 11 They are going to be obliterated unless we 12 do something quickly and dramatically. 13 The eight goals of the State Development 14 and Redevelopment Plan, I want to talk about the 15 first one-- I don't know what happened to the 16 numbers-- what should be number 1 is to revitalize 17 New Jersey's cities and towns. 18 And you will note it says cities and towns 19 because it recognizes that there are many 20 developed older communities in New Jersey that are 21 also suffering from the neglect and the 22 abandonment that essentially our largest cities 23 suffer. 24 So the goal of the Plan, the first stated 25 goal of the Plan, is to revitalize the State's 55 Maraziti 1 cities and towns. That's what we have mostly 2 turned our backs on and abandoned and we can't 3 afford to do that. 4 The second one is conserve the State's 5 natural resources and systems. 6 I thought I would put up here the policies 7 on air resources that obviously for this audience 8 are set up in the State Plan, and the first one is 9 state-wide coordination, and that is in developing 10 the State implementation plan to involve County 11 and regional governments. 12 And the other is to involve other States 13 and the Federal government into this broader issue 14 as well. 15 The next slide. 16 To continue, I want to talk about land use 17 patterns because this is part of our policy on air 18 resources, and that is, as you can see, to 19 establish and maintain growth management programs 20 at all levels of the government but promote center 21 based land use patterns that reduce automobile 22 dependency, shorten automobile trip lengths and 23 encourage use of alternative modes of 24 transportation. 25 That is really the centerpiece of what we 56 Maraziti 1 have to do in order to avoid the problems that I 2 told you about as well as to do it with clean air 3 and clean water, so it comes down to a common 4 solution to these problems, and that is the 5 interconnectedness between land use problems, 6 clean water and air resources is something we have 7 not paid enough attention to until Governor 8 McGreevey and Commissioner Campbell's putting them 9 in the forefront, and everybody is beginning to 10 talk about it and beginning to get it, and once 11 people get it I believe the right things will be 12 done about it. 13 The policies that we have in the State 14 Plan with respect to air resources, reduce vehicle 15 miles traveled and being conscious of global 16 warming and ozone depletion. 17 Now, everybody is talking about maps and 18 things so I couldn't conclude this presentation 19 without putting up the State Plan policy map. Of 20 course the color scheme is just the reverse of the 21 Big Map, the red areas on this map are ones that 22 would be largely green. I haven't seen yet an 23 overview or comparison of the Big Map and this one 24 but I understand they are largely the same. 25 You will see more colors on the Big Map, 57 Maraziti 1 more nuances on it, areas of farmland as 2 distinguished from environmentally sensitive areas 3 which are laid out in the browner colors. 4 This map is a result of a consensus based 5 decision-making process that went through years 6 before it was accepted. 7 When this map was first done with the 8 development of the first plan in 1991 it pretty 9 much looked like this one. 10 When we went through the process of doing 11 the review of the plan in 2001, the years leading 12 up to that, the way that was done was upon request 13 from any interested area the Commission considered 14 adjustments to the map and we made any number of 15 adjustments to this map but we didn't make a zero 16 based planning map in 1991 and so there are, I 17 agree with Commisioner Campbell and those that say 18 that there are improvements that need to be made 19 to this version of the map because when the State 20 Planning Commission was working on this we didn't 21 have the the benefit of the data, the richer data 22 that is now available, fly-overs and landscape 23 projects that happened and have been developed 24 since this map was developed. 25 So I have urged that the Department send 58 Maraziti 1 that information to the State Planning Commission 2 so the Commission can run that data through and 3 come up with one map. 4 I wanted to talk in terms of, when we talk 5 about the State Plan people think it is just a 6 land use document or environmental document, if 7 you like, but it is really a fiscal document. The 8 Legislature required that there be an independent 9 assessment of whether the State's adopting the 10 State Plan would be beneficial or detrimental, a 11 whole variety of fiscal points on the financial 12 side which under the State Plan if implemented 13 would save billions of dollars for the citizens of 14 New Jersey, reduce capital costs, a twenty-seven 15 thousand increase in work trip transit users, 16 fewer acres of land will be used and sewer pipes 17 and water pipes and so on. 18 Why hasn't the State planning been adopted 19 or implemented? Well, the first point I put up 20 there is it would require a change of long 21 ingrained behavior. 22 We are a civilization that results from 23 colonies with this genetic implant in our brains 24 that we must constantly clear the fields and keep 25 moving out, and we have done that quite well, not 59 Maraziti 1 only in this State but the country, and we need to 2 take another look to understand what we are 3 leaving behind. 4 Also land use control is at the local 5 level, and that's the home rule issue, so it is 6 very difficult to get a consensus with five 7 hundred and sixty-six different Municipalities to 8 agree to move in a certain direction. 9 And of course we are seeing the ever 10 growing phenomenon of Municipalities now fighting 11 with each other, these border wars breaking out 12 from all over the place. 13 I come from Morris County. There are 14 several examples in our County of Municipalities 15 going to Court fighting developments of one or the 16 other. This is unseemly, this is just not the way 17 things should be done, but we have to recognize 18 that we have to deal with making regional 19 decisions at a regional level and that means some 20 change in what I believe is the laws that we have 21 at this point. 22 The next point is probably one of my 23 favorite topics, the real property tax system. 24 We have a tax system that is an incentive 25 for doing all of the things we are trying to talk 60 Maraziti 1 ourselves out of doing because any public official 2 who understands how the economies of running a 3 Municipality works has to be looking for certain 4 types of retables and that makes for a ratable 5 chase for every ratable that everybody wants, and 6 I think that is a scandal because what we are 7 doing, we have a tax policy-- I don't blame the 8 Municipal officials, the Mayors-- but we have a 9 tax policy that is forcing us to turn our backs on 10 our own children. 11 This is a family unfriendly tax policy 12 that is driving us today; we don't want too many 13 kids around. 14 Now, if we carry that to the extreme-- and 15 we are on that course-- we don't want kids, we 16 want clean ratables, we want office buildings that 17 are generally located on the border of the 18 Municipality so the next town will get the 19 traffic. There are some variations on that but 20 the property tax system just drives the 21 decision-making in the wrong direction. 22 The last point is skepticism, that is a 23 big factor about the willingness to live in New 24 Jersey's Cities and towns. 25 We have created no choice for people in 61 Maraziti 1 our State for housing and there is really only one 2 type of housing that we have invested our best 3 talent and our major amounts of funding in, and 4 that is the single family home in suburbia, so we 5 don't provide choices, and that's why many people 6 don't want to live in the Cities, because we 7 haven't made it attractive enough. 8 I ask the question: What is wrong with New 9 Jersey; why don't we have any world class cities? 10 We are a world class state. We have an 11 economy which has the highest incomes in the 12 country, we have an economy which if we were 13 separated as a country we would eclipse most of 14 the nations of the world, and yet we don't have a 15 city that people are clamering to get into. 16 And that's being reversed all over the 17 State. In my law practice I am working with Cities 18 of New Jersey on redevelopment projects and 19 developers are coming and waking up to this, they 20 understand the opportunity. We have had impact 21 assessments done and we learned that there is an 22 you economic driver behind this, whether we have a 23 State policy behind it or not, that is, we are 24 seeing demographically our population is changing 25 their attitude of where they want to live. A fair 62 Maraziti 1 number of baby-boomers or empty-nesters want to 2 live in a more walkable community where they don't 3 have to drive anywhere but walk and get a 4 newspaper and things of that sort. 5 Not everyone is anxious to do that but 6 more and more that is phenomenon. 7 The second one is young adults wanting to 8 lieve in a city, for example, Hoboken. This is a 9 trend, but we don't know: Will they stay there 10 when they have children? 11 And then the immigrant population coming 12 to New Jersey, coming from countries where people 13 live in Cities and they would rather live in 14 Cities, and they are coming to our Cities and our 15 Cities will be experiencing a revitalization and 16 rebuilding, and we have to help that and move it 17 along. 18 Governor McGreevey has moved the ball 19 forward. Governor Whitman, as you will remember, 20 in her second inaugural shocked everyone by making 21 this topic the topic of her second inaugural 22 address, a very important thing for her to do. 23 Governor McGreevey's contribution is 24 Executive Order number 4, gathering together 25 cabinet members to meet on a regular basis to deal 63 Maraziti 1 with these issues. In his State of the State 2 Speech he talked about the Big Map which is the 3 focal point of this conference, and there it is as 4 of March 3. I think it has changed since then, and 5 as I said, the colors are somewhat reversed. 6 The next slide is the State Plan map which 7 shows the comparison. 8 And that is my presentation. I will 9 conclude by saying if you can sense from me a 10 sense of the urgency, I hope you do understand 11 that we have no time to lose. One professor at 12 Rutgers said we will be built out in thirty-five 13 to fifty years. I don't know if that's correct 14 but if it is off by ten or twenty years it is 15 still a frightening thought. That's why I say we 16 have to be bold in all of our decision-making. 17 MR. BERKOWITZ: I would like to begin the 18 questioning very briefly. 19 Some have alleged that the DEP has 20 overstepped its regulatory function in putting out 21 the Big Map and essentially becoming a land use 22 agency. 23 Where do you see the dynamic going between 24 the Department and its Big Map and the State 25 Development Commission and its map? 64 Maraziti 1 MR. MARAZITI: First of all, I am a lawyer, 2 I don't know if I can answer the question of where 3 it is going but I will answer the question of 4 where I think it should go. 5 I think the Big Map is a very helpful tool 6 but I think the development of a single map to be 7 used by all State agencies and the private sector 8 and Counties and Municipalities ought to come 9 through a more open and collaborative process, and 10 that's what the statute requires be done in the 11 State Plan. 12 We had public hearings all over the State 13 with respect to that map. We went everywhere. In 14 addition to the public hearings, we had, 15 especially I, I insisted that our routine monthly 16 meetings not be held in Trenton but that we go to 17 different Counties all over the State. 18 We had a seventeen member Commission 19 irritated when they all of the time were getting 20 stuck in traffic going all across the State. 21 I think for a document like this to work 22 it is as important, it has to be a good document, 23 it has to be a good map, but it can be a great map 24 and still fail if there is not a sense of 25 consensus about it, if there is not a sense that, 65 Maraziti 1 " I have had something to do with those 2 decisions," if there is not a sense that it comes 3 up from the people rather from the top down. 4 My plea is that the development of the map 5 proceed as I just mentioned at the beginning, 6 that the newer more updated information that DEP 7 has be delivered to the Commission and public 8 hearings be held and it go through that process so 9 that it can be integrated into everybody's 10 thinking, not just the thinking of one agency. 11 MR. LIBRIZZI: The Big Map and the 12 challenges that you suggest, it would seem to me 13 that we are talking about a time period that is 14 going to stretch out to solve these problem. 15 MR. MARAZITI: Yes. 16 MR. LIBRIZZI: What would you suggest in 17 terms of what we should be doing now as the major 18 paradigm shifts are being made, what should we be 19 doing now to fill that gap? 20 MR. MARAZITI: Everything we can. The 21 Governor has talked about the legislative package, 22 transport development rights is part of that, I 23 think that will work in limited situations, it is 24 not the solution. 25 If I had my wishes I would put property 66 Maraziti 1 tax reform very near the top of that list. We have 2 to break the incentives that we have now that 3 cause us to go in the wrong direction and turn 4 that around to some more logical way to go about 5 raising money to pay for important government 6 services. 7 If I were to leave one thought in your 8 minds I would leave that one. 9 MR. LIBRIZZI: Do you think these regional 10 organizations can be instrumental in the early 11 stages? 12 MR. MARAZITI: Everything we deal with at 13 the State Planning Commission is based on the idea 14 of trying to get regional-- as I was talking about 15 before, Municipalities and land use control and 16 they do what you would expect them to do often 17 times, not every Municipality, but so many just 18 think about the perimeter of their borders, and 19 that used to make sense. 20 Home Rule today is different than what it 21 was fifty years ago. Fifty years ago Home Rule 22 made more sense to me then if you are talking 23 about a Municipality having this condition than it 24 does to me now because fifty years ago people 25 lived in one town, they slept there, for the most 67 Maraziti 1 part people commuted to New York and Philadelphia, 2 and the kids went to school and the woman of the 3 house stayed home and did housework all day. It 4 made more sense to say, this is my home territory. 5 Now I ask you what is your home like 6 today? I consider my home territory to include a 7 number of different territories. I work and live 8 someplace, I shop in others and I feel that I have 9 as much a right to comment on what is happening in 10 the town where I work where I spend much of my 11 working day as I do in the town that I sleep in, 12 so we need to broaden the picture and the regional 13 approach I think is the answer. 14 MR. PAPENBERG: I am getting the message 15 that you are really emphasizing that the 16 fundamental problem here is the property tax 17 system that we have. 18 What would be your idea of an alternative 19 for funding government? 20 MR. MARAZITI: I was afraid somebody would 21 ask that question. 22 Well, everybody talks about the income tax 23 as an alternative. That is one. But I think a 24 state-wide real property tax system would also 25 change the dynamics in some way. That might be 68 Maraziti 1 interesting to look at. 2 I understand the issue about the cost of 3 collection and distribution of the funds but it 4 costs a lot of money now with five hundred and 5 sixty-six Municipalities. 6 As somebody once said, if we were trying 7 to design a tax system that would do all of the 8 wrong things we have got it, we designed it. 9 We have to change it, modify it. 10 MR. BERKOWITZ: One last question in the 11 interest of moving along. 12 MR. EGENTON: Joe, just to add to your 13 thoughts on property tax, one of the incentives of 14 bringing the constituencies I represent back to 15 the Cities, I agree with you on it, is the 16 ratable chase. If you look at the number of 17 school districts you can get some ideas there but 18 I think the business community is trying to go 19 back to the Cities and there are some ideal Cities 20 that have made it work, Jersey City, Hoboken, 21 Trenton and Newark. 22 But it is not just the typical tax 23 incentives but there are also quality of life 24 issues. 25 If I move back to the City can my 69 Maraziti 1 employees at lunchtime go out and grab a sandwich 2 and make it back safely to work? 3 There are some simple quality of life 4 issues we have heard time and time again from the 5 Governor and on down are important but I think 6 there are many levels that need to be addressed. 7 There are typical ways, here is a tax incentive, 8 come to Paterson and open up a shop, which is 9 great, but they are looking at some of the things 10 I just talked about. 11 MR. MARAZITI: I completely agree with 12 that. In my law practice our firm represents the 13 City of Perth Amboy where there are millions of 14 dollars of redevelopment in the works. 15 The Mayor understands this, and if you 16 were to go to Perth Amboy today as compared to ten 17 or eleven years ago, the sidewalk improvements are 18 fabulous, the lighting, the place is spotless. It 19 gives you a sense of being well kept and desired 20 and comforted. 21 And that's the kind of planning upon which 22 we have to build. 23 MR. BERKOWITZ: We are going to have to cut 24 it off. Thank you very much. We very much 25 appreciate your comments. 70 Maraziti 1 ( Short recess. ) 2 MR. BERKOWITZ: Adam Zellner, Department of 3 Community Affairs, Office of Smart Growth, 4 Executive Director. 5 MR. ZELLNER:. Good afternoon, almost 6 afternoon. 7 I have a copy of my testimony but rather 8 than go through the testimony, I just heard some 9 of the former speakers and Joe Maraziti, I thought 10 rather than go through some of the specific 11 details that are examples in there I would talk a 12 little about Smart Growth and then bring that back 13 around to how those principles that we are 14 supporting that the Governor has made a priority 15 in this administration would help lead to this. 16 I am the the Executive Director of the 17 Office of Smart Growth. I think most everyone 18 knows that Smart Growth has taken on a variety of 19 meanings in the last few months, my friends in the 20 Star-Ledger and other newspapers are doing an 21 excellent job of covering it. 22 I would like to read you an excerpt of a 23 definition and I would like you to keep in mind 24 this definition. 25 Smart Growth is the term used to describe 71 Zellner 1 well-planned, well-managed growth that adds new 2 homes and creates new jobs while preserving open 3 space farmland and environmental resources. Smart 4 Growth livable neighborhoods contain a variety of 5 housing types and costs supported by multi-modal 6 transportation. Smart Growth is an approach to 7 land use planning that targets the State's 8 resources and funding to enhance the quality of 9 life for residents of New Jersey. 10 That is the definition of the Smart 11 Growth. 12 Smart Growth can be seen all around us. I 13 think the common misconception is that it is just 14 about rebuilding Cities. It is evident in Cities, 15 you can see it in Elizabeth and Jersey City, but 16 also in the rebirth of some of our urban areas as 17 they help to redefine what they are and it can 18 also be seen all around smaller suburban towns 19 like Red Bank and Rahway. 20 Now, Red Bank is completing a major 21 redevelopment and in Rahway's case they are just 22 beginning redevelopment around their railroad 23 station, it is putting people out of their cars 24 and on to transit. 25 In rural towns like Chesterfield and 72 Zellner 1 Hope-- some people believe that Smart Growth is 2 just about the Turnpike and Parkway corridor, it 3 is not, it is also about rural communities looking 4 to preserve their charm and quality of life. 5 That is the definition of Smart Growth and 6 that is a difficult task for New Jersey to 7 accomplish. How will we do it? 8 Governor McGreevey really laid out a very 9 comprehensive plan and aimed at getting those 10 Smart Growth principles implemented two ways: In 11 our internal world of State government which are 12 the departments of New Jersey, and our external 13 policies, Municipal governments and County 14 governments that actually control the land use in 15 our State under Home Rule. 16 So I think I will start out by describing 17 the internal and external arms, how they work 18 together, and I will bring that full circle to the 19 principles of why we are back here today and allow 20 the Panel to ask me some questions. 21 The internal arm is our government agency, 22 the Smart Growth Policy Council is the internal 23 arm and it is made up of the members of the 24 various departments throughout the State. 25 Their job is really to look at how we as a 73 Zellner 1 State are focusing our efforts in determining 2 where it is we are going to go to grow and 3 preserve. We spend quite a bit of money in New 4 Jersey every year on a variety of things, 5 infrastructure, roads, highways, utilities, water; 6 so how we as a State promote growth often dictates 7 what the private sector does. 8 Where the public sector is looking to 9 invest the private sector follows the public 10 sector in those older Cities and older suburbs. 11 So the internal arm really coordinates how 12 we spend money. It is about making sure that we 13 are all on the same page in terms of where we want 14 to promote growth, where we want to accommodate 15 growth and where it is we want to see 16 preservation, where our resources, water, farmland 17 resource are valued, and where we want to see the 18 State not investing its dollars to help subsidize 19 that very sprawl which is a diminishment of our 20 quality of life that we enjoy here in New Jersey. 21 In years past you would have the DOT 22 building a road to a place that the Department of 23 Commerce knew nothing about and you would have the 24 the DEP in the end saying, " You have wetlands 25 concerns there." Departments did not communicate 74 Zellner 1 so we didn't often know what the right and left 2 hands were doing. 3 Under Governor McGreevey's internal arm of 4 Smart Growth that policy is changing and that's 5 the internal arm of what we do in Smart Growth. 6 The external arm is how we communicate 7 those policies, funding decisions I just described 8 to the external partners that control land use in 9 our State Municipalities and Counties that have a 10 relationship to Municipalities and land use. 11 Our job at the Office of Smart Growth is 12 to work with the Municipalities and Counties to 13 look at growth and transportation plans, to make 14 sure that our local governments are looking to 15 grow and preserve the infrastructure. 16 I will give you an example of why it is so 17 important to have this coordinated especially in 18 these difficult fiscal times. 19 I think all of us know the example of a 20 town that builds on an open field four hundred 21 houses on the edge of its border to the next town. 22 Now there are traffic concerns because the State 23 didn't know that local roads would have to be 24 developed and the State gets involved to come in 25 widening the roads, new infrastructure, et cetera. 75 Zellner 1 So we have already built the houses and 2 now we need to take some frontage from peoples' 3 driveways to pave that road. The State is called 4 in and because of the development now Green Acres 5 is called and says, " We need open space," so now 6 the land is triple the price it was if we had 7 planned for that open space because there is this 8 development. 9 So the Municipality is developing it and 10 the State is catching up. Even when the State is 11 catching up the State is a partner. So what you 12 now have is a marriage of the internal arm that I 13 described and the external arm, our Office with 14 the County and Municipal partners that we work 15 with. 16 The idea is to support and promote the 17 Smart Growth principles that I will describe again 18 in a second but also to make sure that we are 19 working with them so we understand where they are 20 looking to grow and preserve so we get the 21 opportunity of mass transit, well designed 22 communities, compact, mixed use, green spaces, the 23 kind of things that make our communities both 24 livable and sustainable and also reduce the auto 25 dependency that helps destroy the air quality in 76 Zellner 1 the State and our quality of life because our 2 infrastructure is always trying to catch up. 3 It is very hard to catch up when the roads 4 are built and the cars are on the road. 5 We are working very hard with the other 6 State agencies including DOT and DEP to make sure 7 that we are looking at their priorities and what I 8 will call their mapping system. The DEP has come 9 out with the Big Map and we are looking to make 10 sure that that map is coordinated with the State 11 Plan so that there is one depository for all this 12 information. 13 In addition the DOT has just announced a 14 ten year capital improvement plan. We are working 15 with them to make sure that that information will 16 show where it is we are going to be investing, so 17 at the end of the day we have a functional piece 18 where a developer, Municipality, private company 19 can come in and look at where localities are 20 looking for growth, the State Plan, where the 21 State regulatory laws will allow that growth, a 22 portion of the regulatory map where the State's 23 investments in infrastructure are, and finally 24 where agricultural land is not being preserved so 25 that you don't have that sometimes conflict 77 Zellner 1 between development and preserved land. 2 So the idea is making it a financial tool, 3 a depository where people can actually receive a 4 predictable system of development in New Jersey; 5 that's what we are going to try to do here. 6 That brings me to the principles that we 7 are promoting through the office of Smart Growth 8 and they are specific as they relate to air 9 resource policies which I think will tie back to 10 some questions by the Panel. The state-wide 11 coordinated planning at all levels of the 12 government should be coordinated to ensure that 13 both land and capital facility development will 14 lead to attainment of National Air Quality 15 Standards to make sure we are promoting the type 16 of growth, compact, mixed use, green spaces, 17 walkable communities, mass transit accessible 18 communities. 19 Two, regional-interstate coordination: 20 Undertake cooperative regulatory, land use 21 development and transportation programs by the 22 State to meet the National Air Quality Standards 23 through research and cooperation with other states 24 in the region and with appropriate Federal and 25 interstate authorities. 78 Zellner 1 Our Office is already working with the 2 Governor of Pennsylvania in looking at Route 78 3 and Route 80. We recognize if you are only 4 lookling at solving the problem by just looking 5 in New Jersey the traffic problem would still be 6 here and that we need to look at what our friends 7 in both Pennsylvania and New York and Connecticut 8 are doing. 9 Land use patterns: Maintain growth 10 management programs at all levels of government 11 that promote center based land use patterns. 12 We have seen a change in New Jersey in the 13 last twenty or twenty-five years, I won't go into 14 it, but it basically is where growth was occurring 15 and investments were taking place that has allowed 16 sprawl to creep out, people moving out of the 17 Cities and into the suburbs, and it promotes auto 18 dependency. As you go further and further out mass 19 transit doesn't exist. There is a catching up with 20 infrastructure all of the time, so really what you 21 have is auto dependency and it means widening of 22 roads one or more lanes, the roads have to be 23 widened all of the time. 24 Carbon monoxide hot spots and ozone: 25 Address transportation mobility choices, use of 79 Zellner 1 clean alternative forms of energy and development 2 or redevelopment activities in areas where there 3 are carbon monoxide hot spots and ozone problems.