“Unpredictability” Tops List of Impediments to Redevelopment According to Forum Attendees

April 19th, 2010 by Jay Corbalis

New Jersey Future’s fifth-annual Redevelopment Forum, rescheduled and held on March 19, attracted close to 500 people who attended 22 workshops on a wide variety of topics.

2010 Redevelopment Forum. Source: NJ Future

The conference attendee surveys from the Redevelopment Forum offered some revealing insights to what conference-goers feel are the primary obstacles to redevelopment in New Jersey and what the state could do to improve prospects for redevelopment. Over half of the respondents felt that developers face too much unpredictability in the redevelopment process, and just under half felt that state incentives do not do enough to encourage redevelopment. A third felt that state rules and regulations are biased against redevelopment, that municipal officials don’t have the in-house capacity to deal with the complexity of redevelopment, and that community residents don’t understand or see the benefits of redevelopment.

Ideas for what the state could do to improve prospects for redevelopment were varied. Many respondents felt that stronger statewide or county-wide regional planning powers, an expedited permitting process, municipal consolidation, technical assistance for municipalities and community groups, a historic preservation tax credit, fiscal incentives for density and redevelopment, and reform of the state’s regulatory process should be top priorities.