This Directive is intended to guide regulatory
decisions and permitting processes as the
Department of Environmental Protection (DEP
or the Department) develops the Blueprint
for Intelligent Growth (BIG) map.
Background
The BIG map is an important element of Governor
McGreevey's State of the State initiatives
to stop overdevelopment and congestion. Ultimately,
this approach will strengthen environmental
and natural resource protection and promote
development and redevelopment in areas that
are appropriate from an environmental and
planning prospective, by providing a common
platform among agencies that will identify
those areas that are appropriate for growth
and those areas that need stronger regulatory
protection. The map will ultimately be incorporated,
as appropriate, into the State Development
and Redevelopment Plan (the State Plan) map.
Following a period of informal consultation
with municipal officials and the public, the
map is currently undergoing preliminary review
prior to being promulgated as a rulemaking
proposal.
Regulatory reforms identified with the BIG
map will make DEP's regulatory standards and
outcomes predictable and consistent with the
funding and regulatory programs of other agencies.
The BIG map will provide a basis for across-the-board
reform of DEP's regulations. Instead of the
current one-size-fits-all approach, in which
development projects that are desirable from
an environmental or planning perspective are
subject to the same standards and often lengthy
regulatory approval process as all other projects,
DEP will reform its approach to provide expedited
turnaround times and predictable standards
across program areas when development is proposed
in places appropriate for growth. In places
where environmental criteria or natural resource
values demand greater protection, DEP and
other agencies will set standards more protective
than current regulations, subject projects
to closer regulatory scrutiny, and ensure
that no state funds are spent in a way that
might contribute to degradation of the resource.
This will also enable DEP to review applications
in growth areas in an expedited manner.
While the map is being developed in regulatory
form, we are working with the State Planning
Commission to incorporate more environmental
information into the State Plan map. This
will reduce the potential for conflicts where
an area designated for growth under the State
Plan map proves to present environmental or
natural resource issues that make approval
of new development problematic under DEP's
regulatory mandates.
Policy
The transition to a landscape-based model
in which DEP regulations are more precisely
tailored to known environmental conditions
and natural resource features is the most
significant reform to the regulatory system
since our major environmental laws were first
enacted a generation ago. This effort requires
integration of an enormous amount of data,
and the conduct of robust public process to
ensure that all affected constituencies are
heard. Care also must be taken to ensure that
the legally prescribed process for regulatory
policy change is followed meticulously before
any aspect of the BIG map is given regulatory
effect, whether directly or indirectly.
Accordingly, I am directing staff as follows:
- Under no circumstances may the
designation of a BIG Map zone (green, yellow,
or red) be given regulatory effect with
respect to a pending application for a permit,
approval, authorization, or other regulatory
decision. This prohibition shall remain
in effect unless and until the BIG Map and
associated regulatory changes are formally
adopted by regulation following notice and
comment in accordance with the Administrative
Procedures Act.
- New applications for any permit,
approval, authorization, or other regulatory
decision shall be processed according to
current regulations and standard procedures
and timetables unless and until the BIG
Map and associated regulatory changes are
formally adopted by regulation following
notice and comment.
- Responses to inquiries from local
municipal and planning officials should
make clear that the BIG Map should not be
the basis for regulatory or other decisions
and should not otherwise be relied on unless
and until the BIG Map and associated regulatory
changes are formally adopted by regulation
following notice and comment.
- Any rule changes proposed as
part of the BIG Map initiative shall include
criteria to determine which pending applications
should, as a matter of fairness, be decided
in accordance with current regulations.
Such provisions shall be developed in consultation
with interested members of the public.
- Programs other than regulatory
programs, including open space acquisition,
funding, and planning programs, may make
use of the BIG Map, giving due regard to
the inherent limitations of the data and
information prior to the adoption of the
BIG Map by regulation following notice and
comment.
This directive shall be circulated to all staff
and posted on the DEP web site.
