New Jersey Future Blog
Stormwater Utilities—Peeling Back the Onion
November 9th, 2020 by Gary Brune
Ever since Governor Murphy signed legislation in March 2019 providing communities with the option of creating a stormwater utility to address flooding and water quality issues, two key questions have loomed: how much do municipalities and counties currently spend on stormwater infrastructure, and how receptive are they to this new concept?
In its 2020 Best Practices Inventory, the Department of Community Affairs (DCA) will ask localities both questions. The results should shed light on the current level of effort, potential funding gaps, and the willingness to explore a solution that, for some communities, might represent a more equitable way to achieve their long term vision.
Specifically, DCA’s 2020 inventory survey will have three new questions:
- How much did your municipality spend on operational costs for managing and treating stormwater runoff (e.g., street cleaning, pipe system cleanouts, storm drain/outfall maintenance, public education) last fiscal year and how much was appropriated for the current fiscal year?
- Which projects in your municipality’s most recent adopted capital budget, if any, are associated with stormwater management?
- Is your municipality either considering establishing a stormwater utility or authorizing a sewerage authority or municipal utility authority to establish a separate stormwater operation?
Why is this so important? In New Jersey, stormwater infrastructure needs have traditionally been funded through local property tax revenue, and with local budgets hard-pressed to address high profile issues such as schools and law enforcement, stormwater projects are often deferred or discounted. Chronic flooding threatens public safety, snarls traffic, and chokes economic growth. The forecast portends more of the same. Based on storm patterns since 1958, a National Climate Assessment study issued in 2015 documented a 71% increase in the severity of heavy storms affecting northeastern states such as New Jersey. (See graphic below.) Stormwater is also responsible for approximately 60% of water quality problems in the state, including harmful algae blooms that regularly plague freshwater lakes.
Observed Change in Very Heavy Precipitation, 1958 – 2012
Source: 2015 US Climate Resilience Toolkit, National Climate Assessment
Since there is no relationship between the value of a property and the amount of stormwater runoff, the property tax is a particularly poor funding source for this critical need. Similar to existing sewer and water utilities, a stormwater utility employs a more equitable user fee approach, with charges based on a given property’s degree of impervious coverage (e.g., hardened surfaces, such as driveways) that generate runoff. Under a stormwater utility, costs are more equitably allocated based on each property’s contribution to the problem.
Survey responses, which are mandatory, are due to DCA’s Division of Local Government Services by November 3, 2020. And since ongoing budget language links receipt of local aid payments from the Consolidated Municipal Property Tax Relief program to satisfactory completion of the Best Practices Inventory, a high level of compliance is anticipated. The Department plans to compile the responses into a summary report.
Detailed information about DCA’s Best Practices Inventory may be found in Local Finance Notice 2020-20 (see https://www.nj.gov/dca/divisions/dlgs/lfns/20/2020-20.pdf).
For a comprehensive overview of stormwater utilities, including key policy, legal, and financial issues, consult the recently-launched New Jersey Stormwater Resource Center at https://stormwaterutilities.njfuture.org/. The Center, prepared by New Jersey Future, is tailored to provide both basic and technical information for interested residents and local officials.
An Interview with 2020 Cary Edwards Leadership Award Winner Peter Reinhart
November 9th, 2020 by New Jersey Future staff
New Jersey Future is honoring Peter Reinhart this year for his decades of service and commitment to fair and affordable housing, for bridging real estate development and smart growth, and for his years of leadership on progressive land use policy throughout the state and with the New Jersey Future Board of Trustees. Join New Jersey Future for a virtual celebration of the 2020 Smart Growth Awards on December 15.
Q: You are known for your commitment to affordable housing. Can you speak about your work and how you became involved in this area?
A: When I was in Rutgers Camden Law School in the early 1970’s, the first Mount Laurel decision came down and I was introduced to the long history of housing segregation and the efforts underway to reverse it. In 1983, while I was serving as general counsel at K. Hovnanian Enterprises, the New Jersey Supreme Court decided Mount Laurel II, requiring municipalities to provide housing for low- and moderate-income families. The company made a smart business decision to seek out opportunities to build “inclusionary developments.” In my position, I was active in seeking out opportunities for these developments. I also became active in working on the legislation that became The Fair Housing Act in 1985 that moved responsibility for the affordable housing doctrine from the courts to the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH). In 1993, I was appointed by Governor James Florio to COAH, where I served until 2004. I was very involved in the nitty gritty of the Second Round Rules of COAH, but when the time came for the rules to be updated, Governor Jim McGreevey and his cabinet wanted to shift the Rules into a “growth share” model—a model that I felt did not promote affordable housing and was likely unconstitutional. I voted against the adoption and was subsequently not reappointed to COAH.Incidentally, my interpretation as to the constitutionality was ultimately proved to be correct by the New Jersey Supreme Court about 10 years later.
Q: Your work over the years helped to bridge real estate development and smart growth. Can you talk about how you did that?
A: I had been active in the New Jersey Builders Association as the representative for K. Hovnanian. I worked my way up the ladder becoming president in 1995. As president, I had a voice in helping shape the policy positions of the organization. During the 1990’s and 2000’s, the market for new housing was shifting from the traditional single-family detached housing in the suburbs to more dense, walkable places. I think my positions with K. Hovnanian and within the trade association enabled me to have a voice in the discussions shifting land use policies toward the “smart growth” approach.
Q: What has shaped your commitment to progressive land use policy?
A: In college, I was a political science major and always had a strong interest in public policy. Personally, it had never seemed right to me that so many people did not have access to decent housing, food, healthcare, etc. At the same time, there is nothing wrong with business and people making profits for what they have done. I believe that they are not mutually exclusive. Our society benefits if everyone is better off. And economically, everyone benefits if no one suffers.
Q: What can you say about your role as a New Jersey Future Trustee and the organization over the years?
A: I joined the New Jersey Future Board in 2007 as a trustee. I had known a few of the founders of the organization and was impressed with the approach to having a balance of different interests on the board including developers, environmentalists, and government and non-profit leaders. It was not very common for an organization to explicitly seek such a balance. After I retired from K. Hovnanian to become the director of the Real Estate Institute at Monmouth University and a full-time professor, I was asked to become the chair of New Jersey Future’s Board of Trustees. It has been one of my favorite and most enjoyable volunteer positions. I was fortunate to have Pete Kasabach take over as Executive Director about the same time as I joined the Board. Together, we were able to help steer the organization through the 2010’s. We were fortunate that public interest was growing in our issues of intelligent growth, smart land use policies, equity concerns, and balancing development and environmental interests.
Q: What are some highlights from your time on New Jersey Future’s Board of Trustees?
A: When Superstorm Sandy struck on October 29, 2012, Pete Kasabach and I had a phone conversation the next day as to what role New Jersey Future could take. We decided to try to put together a major forum on what New Jersey should do in the wake of Sandy to help the state rebuild and to learn from the lessons of Sandy. We were able to pull together a major conference a month later at Monmouth University with very impressive speakers from around the nation. Over 500 people attended. I think that event helped elevate the importance of New Jersey Future in the public dialogue.
The opportunity to help the organization become a leader in promoting safe drinking water has resulted in real change for so many in New Jersey. The work of Jersey Water Works in promoting solutions for water problems is having real lasting impact on this most basic and important need of the people.
I am also proud of the staff and board’s emphasis on promoting the Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion initiative both within the organization and outside. Many organizations are recognizing that need and I think New Jersey Future is setting an excellent example in that regard.
Our two major events, the annual Redevelopment Forum and the Smart Growth Awards, are now viewed as very important programs and bring together many hundreds of interested people and recognize well-planned projects that might otherwise not receive public accolades. Getting a Smart Growth Award from New Jersey Future is now considered quite an achievement and is widely promoted by the award winners.
I am very proud of the staff and trustees for continuing to maintain the balance of interests within New Jersey Future that the founders created. In analyzing a potential position on an issue, New Jersey Future continues to insist on principled decision making and analysis without succumbing to partisan or other interests not consistent with our mission. I think New Jersey Future is held in high esteem by policy makers for this approach and consistency.
Q:Is there anything you would like to add?
A: It has been one of my great honors to be involved with New Jersey Future. The members of the board are all highly recognized within their sphere and all bring a commitment to making New Jersey a much better place in the future. I come away from every meeting or event fully energized from the intellect and energy demonstrated.
The primary mission of New Jersey Future has evolved over its more than thirty year history from promoting the State Plan to promoting policies that create a strong, diverse and fair state. But the vision of a strong future for the state has not changed. The dedication of the trustees and staff throughout have proved the original idea to be correct. I am confident that New Jersey Future will continue to be a leading voice for promoting a strong, fair, equitable, diverse state into the future for many years.
To Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions, We Need to Drive Less—and Build Smarter
October 14th, 2020 by Tim Evans
We are not going to meet our greenhouse gas reduction goals through electric vehicles alone; we need to find ways to allow people to drive less. A new report from Transportation for America, Driving Down Emissions: Transportation, Land Use, and Climate Change, makes clear that the amount of carbon we pump into the atmosphere still depends on how much we drive, which in turn depends on where and how we build things.
The report reminds us that the amount of driving people do is not an immutable background condition that we must simply factor into other calculations. Rather, travel behavior is a direct result of signals sent by the public sector about how people are expected to travel. Federal and state government policies that favor car travel over other modes of transportation, and that prize mobility (increasing vehicle speed) over accessibility (reducing trip distances by bringing destinations closer together), induce people to drive more and to walk, bike, or ride public transit less. The focus on vehicle throughput manifests itself in road design that treats pedestrians as an afterthought (at best) and makes walking unsafe in too many places.
Travel behavior is also influenced by local government land-use decisions that place different kinds of destinations far apart from each other, through single-use, low-density zoning, and branching street networks that funnel traffic onto a few high-speed arterial roads, even for local trips. Never mind that the state’s existing mixed-use, walkable communities with traditional downtowns, grid street networks, and a variety of housing types have accounted for most of New Jersey’s population growth over the last decade; building more of this kind of development would not pass muster with the zoning code in most places today. The Transportation For America report points out that “We can make a significant dent in the growth of emissions simply by satisfying the pent-up market demand for affordable homes in the kinds of walkable, connected communities where residents drive far less each day than their counterparts in more sprawling locations.” Putting more homes, stores, and offices in places where people can walk (or take shorter car trips) is a win-win.
This is especially true for lower-income households who would prefer not to incur the expense of driving everywhere (let alone purchasing an electric vehicle) but who cannot afford the high price of entry into many walkable towns, thanks to zoning that restricts the supply of housing, pushing prices upward. Electrifying the vehicle fleet would, on its own, do nothing to address these problems.
If we want a more equitable solution to greenhouse gas emissions—and want to help solve the lack of supply and diversity of housing options at the same time—we need to make reducing vehicle-miles traveled an explicit goal of the transportation system and remind transportation officials that, ultimately, it’s people—not cars—that need to get from one place to another. We need to be mindful that there are plenty of households whose difficulties with the current transportation system will not be solved simply by electrifying all our cars and trucks. We need to invest in our public transportation system and to make walking and biking safer, so more people have options beyond driving. And we need to confront the system of local land-use rules that make low-density, single-family detached housing and car-dependent commercial strips the default development pattern and instead make it easier to accommodate new population and job growth in the kinds of compact, walkable centers that people already desire.
Changes to Municipal Land Use Law would make NJ municipalities more resilient
October 14th, 2020 by Missy Rebovich
Almost every year for the past two decades, New Jersey has experienced a presidential-declared disaster in some location along the coast while many New Jersey towns experience chronic flooding as a result of increasingly severe storms. These events are expected to grow worse as climate change continues to warm our atmosphere. As sea levels rise and flooding intensifies, the economic impact of each storm increases, and is felt by everyone. Residents seek to rebuild homes, businesses have to deal with ruined inventory and try to stay afloat when shops are flooded or destroyed, and commuters must navigate roads that are flooded or attempt to use transit that is inoperable in order to access basic necessities.
Climate-related hazards will only become more frequent and more damaging over time, so preparations and planning must start now. Currently, New Jersey’s Municipal Land Use Law does not account for climate change, but a bill sponsored by Senator Bob Smith (S2607) and Assemblywoman Nancy Pinkin (A2785) would require the land use plan element of municipal master plans assess likely impacts associated with climate change-related risks and devise strategies to address them. This type of forward-thinking land use planning is critical to keeping New Jerseys residents, businesses, and the environment safe and thriving.
The bill has cleared the Senate and made it through the Assembly Environment and Energy Committee. New Jersey Future hopes to see this legislation pass through the Assembly and signed into law so our cities and towns can start planning for a more resilient tomorrow. To support the bill, email Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin (asmcoughlin
njleg
org) and ask him to post the bill for Assembly vote.
The Geography of Poverty and Race in New Jersey
October 14th, 2020 by New Jersey Future staff
Despite New Jersey’s urban resurgence in the years since the Great Recession, and despite concerns about gentrification expressed in popular media, high-poverty neighborhoods have not gone away. Inspired by a study earlier this year by the Economic Innovation Group (EIG) that documented how concentrated poverty has continued to spread in the United States, New Jersey Future has performed a similar analysis of poverty in New Jersey over the last two decades, including an analysis of how the demographics of high-poverty neighborhoods have changed. Like the EIG study, we used census tracts to represent the concept of a neighborhood, and we defined “high-poverty” as having a poverty rate of 30% or higher.
Concentrated poverty has been on the rise in New Jersey in the last two decades, as is true nationally. In 2000, New Jersey had 110 high-poverty neighborhoods, representing 5.7% of all tracts in the state.1 In 2012, there were 134, or 6.7% of all tracts. By 2018, that number had risen to 145, or 7.2% of the total number of neighborhoods in the Garden State. It is true that some neighborhoods have transitioned out of poverty—45 census tracts exceeded a 30% poverty rate in 2012 but not in 2018.2 These are often found in places we think of as revitalizing urban centers, including Jersey City, Newark, East Orange, Elizabeth, Trenton, Perth Amboy, Asbury Park, Camden, and Millville. But they are outnumbered by neighborhoods that have transitioned into high poverty between 2012 and 2018, of which there are 56. It is very often the case that new high-poverty neighborhoods occur in different parts of the same cities in which other neighborhoods are transitioning out of poverty, a reminder that poverty is still a growing problem even in cities where “gentrifying” neighborhoods grab most of the headlines.
The overall story, however, is one of persistent poverty. From 2012 to 2018, 89 neighborhoods started out high-poverty and stayed that way. And not only are high-poverty neighborhoods a persistent problem, they also continue to be racially segregated. Majority-Black neighborhoods are much more likely to have poverty rates above 30% than is true statewide, with 33.2% of majority-Black neighborhoods also qualifying as high-poverty, compared to only 7.2% of all tracts. Similarly, 23.9% of majority-Hispanic neighborhoods are also high-poverty. Of all 145 high-poverty neighborhoods in the state in 2018, 42.8% were majority-Black and 35.9% were majority-Hispanic, while the total state population is only 12.7% Black (non-Hispanic) and 19.9% Hispanic.
With the percent of all neighborhoods having poverty rates of 30% or more gradually increasing, and with the percentages of majority-Black and majority-Hispanic neighborhoods that are also high-poverty both much higher than the statewide rate and growing faster, it is clear that poverty—and especially racially segregated poverty—is very much still with us and getting worse.
See the full report for more detailed information.
1 The total number of census tracts in the state was 1,944 in 2000, rising to 2,010 after the 2010 Census, as population increased and new tracts were defined.
2 Tract boundaries are redefined for each decennial Census, so 2000 Census tracts cannot be directly compared to post-2010 data in many cases, limiting trend analysis for individual tracts.
New Jersey Future Partners with the New Jersey District of Key Club International
October 14th, 2020 by New Jersey Future staff
New Jersey Future is excited to announce a new partnership with the New Jersey District of Key Club International and the District Project Steering Committee for the group’s service year project “Keeping the Garden State Green.”
The New Jersey Key Club District reviewed environmental organizations around the world and selected New Jersey Future as one of three partner organizations for its environment-driven project. Key Club is an international, student-led organization that provides its members with opportunities to perform service, build character, and develop leadership. In New Jersey, there are over 140 high school Key Clubs, with over 12,000 student members.
During the 2020-2021 academic service year, all Key Club members in New Jersey will be supporting service projects related to the District’s “Keeping the Garden State Green” initiative. Students from every county in the state will focus on projects and events related to environmental awareness and education, devoting substantial time and effort to supporting the well-being of the planet and making a positive impact on the environment.
The New Jersey Key Club held a virtual student rally on Sunday, October 11 to kick off the new service year and District project. As a partner organization, New Jersey Future was invited to participate, and created a video shown during the rally about our work to mainstream green infrastructure, featuring Stormwater Director Kandyce Perry and Policy and Program Coordinator Andrew Tabas.
The educational video teaches about the problems of stormwater runoff, which has been greatly exacerbated in our region as heavy rain events have increased by more than 70%in the last 50 years. The video explains the benefits of using green infrastructure to manage stormwater and provides examples of specific actions students can take to help address stormwater problems in their communities, such as installing rain barrels and rain gardens at their homes and schools.
New Jersey Future is looking forward to working with the New Jersey Key Club this year in its efforts to keep New Jersey green. We’ve asked these young environmental leaders to tell us their stories about working with green infrastructure as part of their service project this year and we are looking forward to sharing them with you. Stay tuned!
Broadband for All: The Geography of Digital Equity in New Jersey
September 16th, 2020 by Kimberley Irby
Today, the internet is the medium through which people access healthcare, housing, employment, safety, and education. Access to the internet is an essential public good, as much as access to clean water, energy and transportation. Recent Census Bureau estimates indicate that 16-17% of households (about half a million) in New Jersey lack internet access. For New Jersey’s recovery from the pandemic to be successful, everyone should have the ability to access the internet at reasonable speeds with affordable prices regardless of their geography or income.
Extent of the digital divide in New Jersey
Before the pandemic necessitated many to work or learn from home, the digital divide throughout the country was apparent in terms of geography, class, and race. In 2018, NJ Spotlight published an interactive map, featuring American Community Survey (ACS) 2013-2017 estimates, that revealed access issues in low-income urban and rural areas in New Jersey, similar to the rest of the nation. According to the data, people in fewer than 60 percent of households could go online in the cities of Perth Amboy, Salem, Bridgeton, Camden, and Trenton, whereas at least 95 percent of households had internet access in 17 wealthier communities in the north or central parts of the state. It is important to note that ACS data only provides estimates and current Federal Communications Commission (FCC) data conveys significant overestimates of internet coverage. To truly close the divide and achieve digital equity, it is important that we have the most up-to-date and accurate data possible.
What we can do about the digital divide in New Jersey
BroadbandNow claims that the two most effective ways state and local governments can improve their broadband situation are by: 1) creating better mapping and adopting smarter funding strategies and 2) promoting and encouraging community broadband solutions in low-competition areas. BroadbandNow further claims that both of these methods are at odds with the actions of dominant Internet Service Providers (ISPs) that have contributed to inflated measurements of internet speeds and competition at the federal level and fought against municipal broadband. Thus, it is critical to first understand where and what type of coverage is available in New Jersey. An effective way to do this is through a statewide broadband office, which can not only collect data, but also communicate, coordinate, plan, and fund. Although COVID-19 is resulting in slashed state budgets, we can still look to examples like New York, Minnesota, Illinois, and Georgia, for inspiration and guidance.
Community or municipal broadband refers to broadband internet access services that are provided either fully or partially by local governments. The benefit of municipal broadband, when done well, is that it provides high-speed internet with rates that are competitive with those of national ISPs. To date, no municipal networks exist in the state, but there is pending legislation (Assembly Bill A850) to create a “Community Broadband Study Commission” that would evaluate the feasibility of establishing community broadband networks. Public-private partnerships are another popular alternative for expanding access. In fact, some types of municipal broadband are achieved through these partnerships. In March 2020, another Assembly bill (A3649) was introduced that would require the Office of Information and Technology (OIT) to establish a statewide wireless network through a public-private partnership agreement, in which the private entity would assume responsibility for construction and cover some or all of the up-front costs.
The future of the digital divide in New Jersey
Currently, other organizations in the region are working to assess the situation in more depth and recommend specific policies to enact. For example, the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission is conducting a three-part study on broadband deployment and access throughout the Greater Philadelphia area. The first part, Discussing Technology, outlines broadband basics and deployment throughout the region. The upcoming second part, Understanding the Digital Divide, will cover the extent of the digital divide at the neighborhood level as well as its ramifications during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the third part, Bridging the Digital Divide, will feature policy recommendations.
From the data we currently have, despite the lack of precision, we know that New Jersey is one of the most highly wired states, if not the highest, in the nation. Thus, it’s within our reach to become the first state to actually achieve full broadband coverage. Given how critical internet access is to quality of life and equitable, inclusive communities, closing the digital divide should be a priority for New Jersey as it recovers from the economic damage of the pandemic. If our government commits to obtaining updated data and exploring solutions for the communities most in need, we can cement our status as a broadband leader and prove that digital equity is integral to New Jersey’s future.
See the full analysis here.
The Black-White Homeownership Gap in New Jersey
September 16th, 2020 by Tim Evans
A recent study by the real-estate firm Redfin has brought attention to the gap in homeownership rates between white and Black households. While homeownership is not necessarily the right choice for everyone, there are reasons to care about it, beyond simply putting a roof over one’s head. Homeownership is one of American households’ primary means of building wealth, because a home is the most valuable asset that most families own, and home values tend to appreciate over time. And the gap between white and Black homeownership rates indicates that this path is not necessarily equally open to everybody.
The homeownership rate for Black households in New Jersey, at 41.0 percent, lags almost 36 percentage points behind the homeownership rate for non-Hispanic white households (76.9 percent). The gap at the national level is nearly as large: 41.4 percent of Black households nationwide own their homes, compared to 72.1 percent of non-Hispanic white households.
County-level analysis in New Jersey indicates that homeownership rates for Black households tend to be highest — and tend to lag white homeownership rates by the smallest amounts — in places like Hunterdon, Sussex, and Warren counties that have high homeownership rates overall. (See Figure 1.) These places also tend to have small Black populations, however. They also tend to have housing stocks that have few options for renters, meaning that most households that can afford the price of entry — irrespective of race — are going to be homeowners by default. Such places price out more non-white households than white ones, since non-white household incomes tend to be lower (in New Jersey, median household income for white households is $85,423; for Black households, it is $51,309). In these counties, a relatively high Black homeownership rate is not necessarily the good news that it superficially appears, being more a function of a small denominator (few Black households overall) than of a large numerator (large numbers of Black homeowners).
Results at the municipal level are more informative. Here, the smallest disparities between the Black and non-Hispanic white homeownership rates tend to be found in places with low homeownership overall, the reverse of what was true at the county level. Hudson County was an exception to the broader county pattern, with a relatively small gap between Black and white homeownership rates but with low homeownership rates for all races. But the pattern in Hudson County turns out to be more typical of the municipalities where most of the state’s Black households live, with more diverse housing stocks, more diverse populations, and greater numbers of renters. It is also true that these places with smaller Black/white homeownership disparities and higher Black population percentages tend to have lower home values, hinting at the lingering effects of past discriminatory practices—redlining, restrictive covenants, racial steering by real estate agents, as well as the ongoing phenomenon of exclusionary zoning—cited by the Redfin study as contributing to the homeownership gap. Having been effectively excluded from whole sections of the state, non-wealthy, non-white households end up concentrating in a relatively small number of places with more diverse housing stocks but where values tend to be low.
The geographic patterns of disparity between white and Black homeownership rates are not an accident; they are the artifact of a history of racial discrimination and segregation that New Jersey needs to confront. Understanding where – and why – the disparities are greatest or lowest can point toward housing strategies that can expand opportunities for everyone, putting New Jersey on a path toward becoming a more equitable and inclusive state.
See the full analysis here.
Greening the Garden State: These Three Towns Show You How!
September 15th, 2020 by Andrew Tabas
Green streets aren’t just for big cities like Philadelphia. They can help smaller cities like Camden and Hoboken and towns like Highland Park to meet flooding and stormwater challenges while providing community benefits. Camden, Hoboken, and Highland Park chose to use green streets strategies because they protect public health, improve water quality, manage stormwater runoff, reduce flood damage, provide social gathering spaces, and make municipalities more beautiful places to live, work, and play. While traditional streets use grey infrastructure such as pipes and gutters to transport stormwater, green streets use green infrastructure such as street trees and rain gardens to capture and treat stormwater at its source. Jersey Water Works and EPA Region 2 recently released New Jersey Green Streets Case Studies to spread awareness about green streets and their many benefits.
Trainees and volunteers during installation of Waterfront South rain gardens in Camden, New Jersey
Camden built a rain garden at the site of an old gas station to solve two public health challenges: combined sewer overflows and environmental contamination.
Since Camden has a combined sewer system, heavy rainfall can make sewers overflow and release untreated sewage into roads and waterways. Camden’s new rain garden captures stormwater, reducing the strain that storms put on the sewer system.
The old gas station was a brownfield site that leaked contaminants. As part of the construction of the rain garden, the builders removed contaminated materials, reducing these risks for the community. In addition, the project brought career development benefits to the community, as it incorporated training for landscapers and 300 young PowerCorps participants. “We created the PowerCorps Camden program to give jobs to at-risk Camden youth to maintain the rain gardens and parks, providing them with a job, a credential, life skills training, and future job placement,” says Andy Kricun, the former executive director of the Camden County Municipal Utilities Authority. “This can be replicated wherever a water utility seeks to be an anchor institution in their community, and to maximize benefit to the residents they serve.” The project is part of a larger project to build three riverfront parks and dozens of rain gardens across the city. The Camden rain garden was made possible by the Community Collaborative Initiative from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
Rain garden with curb bump-out installed as part of Highland Park streetscape improvements.
Hoboken successfully transformed its main street, Washington Street, into a green street by building 15 rain gardens. The move will help to mitigate local flooding, a major issue for the city’s residents. Each rain garden can hold from 3,700 to 26,000 gallons of rainwater. Once secured in the rain garden, the water can infiltrate into the ground and replenish local groundwater instead of contributing to flooding. The rain gardens bring additional benefits to the community as well: they make Washington Street more attractive, increase accessibility for pedestrians through shorter crosswalks, and moderate the speed of traffic. Hoboken used two best practices to make sure that its project would be a success. First, after experiencing maintenance issues in previous rain gardens, Hoboken made a detailed maintenance manual and hired a contractor who is capable of keeping up maintenance to ensure that the rain gardens continue to absorb stormwater. Second, Hoboken used regular public meetings to keep the community informed and to build buy-in.
Bench installed as part of the Highland Park streetscape project.
Highland Park, a smaller community near the Raritan River, included green streets in its streetscape initiative on Raritan Avenue and the intersecting 3rd, 4th, and 5th avenues. The streetscape program improved the experience of pedestrians in the town by turning ordinary streets into “outdoor living rooms” with rain gardens and public benches. Along the way, Highland Park learned the critical lesson that it is necessary to train staff properly when maintaining a living system. Inexperienced staff can accidentally remove native plants instead of weeds. Despite this challenge, Highland Park’s leaders are glad that the community has put green infrastructure at the forefront. “Highland Park jumped at the opportunity to incorporate more environmentally-friendly infrastructure into our downtown streetscape design more than a decade ago,” said Mayor Gayle Brill Mittler. “The now well-established rain gardens add an attractive backdrop to our outdoor living rooms on corners of our main street, making our downtown a destination and vibrant gathering place for residents and visitors.”
The Jersey Water Works Green Infrastructure Committee and EPA Region 2 partnered to develop these case studies with help from local officials from Camden, Hoboken, and Highland Park. Jersey Water Works is committed to mainstreaming the implementation of green infrastructure throughout New Jersey. Our Green Streets in New Jersey Portfolio has additional examples of successful cases of green infrastructure. Has your town implemented a green street? Email Andrew Tabas (atabasnjfutureorg) to connect.
Meet our 2020 Summer Interns!
September 15th, 2020 by New Jersey Future staff
New Jersey Future’s internship program is developing the next generation of thinkers in smart growth. We offer graduate and undergraduate students the opportunity to assist us with various projects, including research, writing, communications, and administration. We appreciate their wide-ranging contributions! See a list of our previous interns and learn how to apply.
Here is what this summer’s interns worked on, in their own words.
Yash Bajaj
The George Washington University
Field of Study: International Affairs, Economics
This summer, I had the pleasure of working with New Jersey Future’s Community Outreach Manager Mo Kinberg and the Jersey Water Works Combined Sewer Outflow Committee. I worked on developing an inventory of the existing water workforce training programs in New Jersey that would prepare residents of communities with combined sewer systems to be eligible for employment in the water workforce sector. I researched local training providers and organizations as well as the future of employment opportunities in the water and wastewater industries. I also attended online meetings and webinars discussing green infrastructure programs, solutions for CSOs, and Long Term Control Plans for municipalities. I wrote blog posts summarizing the information from online events so that stakeholders in the state have an understanding of solutions and strategies that will prevent stormwater runoff and also include community engagement.
During my internship, I developed a better understanding of the issues related to stormwater management and why it will be important to incorporate green infrastructure solutions into any infrastructure plan. I was also able to improve upon my research, communication, and writing skills. I am thankful for the opportunity and look forward to continue to learn about sustainability and green solutions in New Jersey.
Leah Henk
University: Bucknell University
Field of Study: Environmental Engineering
Working in the field of policymaking this summer was really interesting! I worked on a few different projects relating to lead in drinking water. I did a lot of research on the disclosure of lead pipes in rental units in other states. This information was then presented to the Jersey Water Works Lead in Drinking Water Task Force. This involved networking in the policymaking field. I also worked alongside New Jersey Future Policy Analyst Kimberly Irby to draft a statewide communications plan for lead work in New Jersey. Lastly, I did research in lead disclosure in home-child care facilities. All of this work was done under the guidance of New Jersey Future Policy Manager Gary Brune.
From this position, I learned what it took to actually get policies enacted. I also learned more about how to effectively communicate with others and how to efficiently get a point across. I am very thankful for this opportunity and am reassured that pursuing public policy as a minor was the right decision for me.
Sasha Culley
Princeton University
Field of Study: Economics and Environmental Studies
Through the Princeton RISE program, I worked on a data visualization project for Jersey Water Works (JWW) that is creating flooding impact maps overlaid with demographic data on race, income, and other vulnerability and resilience measures. My work focused on the consequences of combined sewer overflows (CSOs), a phenomenon which most acutely threatens the public health of communities of color. I gathered demographic and flood-specific data for future analysis and supported the flood mapping project by researching economic disparities within the context of water infrastructure. I analyzed the results to inform JWW member action and policy recommendations on the inextricably linked environmental and racial justice implications of CSO investment. The analysis and consequent maps will aid the identification of environmental justice hotspots and help effectively direct investment in equitable and sustainable water infrastructure solutions. I am thankful to New Jersey Future, Jersey Water Works and my supervisor, New Jersey Future Program Coordinator Lauren Belsky, who granted me insight into the complex challenges of water infrastructure and allowed me to contribute to such a purposeful project.
Will Stocovaz
Princeton University
Field of Study: Public and International Affairs
This summer I worked as a data collections and analysis intern at New Jersey Future, gathering and analyzing data pertaining to systemic poverty and racial segregation in New Jersey. Utilizing census data spanning a decade, I looked for prevalent trends and compared the results to other states. With the guidance of New Jersey Future Director of Research Tim Evans, I created summaries of key metrics used to identify poverty levels and match them with demographic shifts, establishing concrete evidence for a link between poverty and race in New Jersey. These patterns point to the ways in which local land-use decisions, especially about housing, reinforce and perpetuate racial and economic segregation in New Jersey.
This internship experience has improved many skills including my MS Excel proficiency, data analysis, time management, and research efficiency.
