New Jersey Future Blog
New Jersey Future Launches the New Jersey Stormwater Utilities Resource Center
September 4th, 2020 by New Jersey Future staff
New Jersey Future developed a new one-of-a-kind tool to help localities determine if a stormwater utility is right for their communities. The New Jersey Stormwater Utilities Resource Center is a one-stop-shop, housing technical legal and financial information, case studies, and helpful guidance on stormwater solutions, community process, and public engagement. Development of the resource center was guided by local engineers, utilities, attorneys, government officials, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection staff, and the Flood Defense Coalition, to ensure that it addresses local needs.
It is no secret that New Jersey communities are experiencing stronger storms and greater rainfall than ever before, leading to increased flooding, pollution, and property damage. Citing over 50 years of data, the National Climate Assessment observed a 71% increase in the amount of precipitation falling in very heavy storm events in the northeastern United States. Echoing these findings, in 2018, New Jersey experienced its highest amount of rainfall on record. Corresponding stormwater issues continue to worsen, and localities are seeking cost-effective solutions to give their residents more peace of mind when it rains.
Stormwater utilities can help. In fact, over 1,700 communities, across 40 different states in the US, have created them. In March 2019, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed into law the Clean Stormwater and Flood Reduction Act, which gives local government entities the ability to establish stormwater utilities if they so choose. If established, stormwater utilities must collect fees based on the amount of stormwater a property generates. These utilities can be established municipalities, counties, groups of municipalities, and sewerage and improvement authorities. Fee revenue would be dedicated solely to stormwater management and could not be used for any other purposes, ensuring that the negative impacts of stormwater can be addressed.
Nearby states, such as Pennsylvania and Delaware have experienced firsthand the positive impacts of employing a stormwater utility. Wilmington, DE Department of Public Works Commissioner Kelly Williams attributes vast improvements to establishing a stormwater utility: “By establishing a stormwater utility, Wilmington was able to directly address its stormwater issues while equitably distributing the cost of compliance and watershed protection. Without the utility, we would be struggling to give stormwater the priority it deserves.” Creating a utility can ensure a stronger, healthier, and safer community that rests easier when it rains.
To learn more and to stay informed about developments in stormwater utilities, connect with us here. For any questions about the resource center, or stormwater utilities in general, please feel free to contact Brianne Callahan (bcallahanh
njfuture
org) .
A Guide to Diversifying Housing Options for an Aging Population
August 11th, 2020 by New Jersey Future staff
A new report by New Jersey Future, Municipal Strategies to Diversify Housing Stock for an Aging Population: A Case Study Report, is part of New Jersey Future’s Creating Great Places to Age program. The program grew out of New Jersey Future’s 2014 report, Creating Places To Age in New Jersey, which identified a mismatch between where many older New Jerseyans are living and the land use characteristics that actually make a place “aging-friendly.” Subsequent work has focused on identifying places with aging-friendly land use patterns (compactness, mixed-use downtowns, a walkable street grid) and assessing their ability to accommodate older residents, especially in terms of whether they provide the types of housing options that older people are likely to want as they seek to downsize.
In line with the zoning policies of most municipalities in New Jersey, a disproportionate amount of housing in most non-urban communities is designated for one family and tends to be built on large lots. This pattern of development, while ideal for some, incentivizes development of large homes, excludes residents with lower incomes, and limits the options for older residents. Older New Jerseyans, who are more likely to be housing cost-burdened than older residents in any other state, stand to benefit from more housing options. But they aren’t the only residents who would benefit. Diversifying housing options benefits residents of all ages by creating compact and sustainable mixed-use and pedestrian-oriented downtowns; and by promoting mixed-income, multimodal, and mixed-age neighborhoods that are engaging and vibrant. New Jersey’s high-cost housing market has been restrictive for residents of all ages. It has impeded Millennials as they hope to move out and start families, as well as retiring Baby Boomers who want smaller and less expensive homes that are easier to maintain.
The report outlines some of the strategies that municipalities can adopt to accommodate a wider range of housing. While these options are particularly helpful for meeting the needs of older residents, they can serve people of all ages. Case studies in the report describe how five municipalities throughout New Jersey have each implemented a strategy, providing a roadmap for other local governments or advocates. To formulate the report, New Jersey Future compiled a limited list of municipalities that have implemented some kind of strategy that resulted in more types of housing options being built or permitted. Although the list is not inclusive of all strategies implemented by all New Jersey municipalities, it demonstrates that towns are capable of implementing a variety of strategies in a variety of ways that are suitable to their needs. A table of towns and strategies is included in the appendix.
The report concludes with some implications for interested municipalities and housing advocates. For example, one indicator of success appears to be municipal engagement with local residents. Inclusive planning and implementation can help towns enjoy greater public support. Additionally, in some cases, municipal actions were supported by the state through grants and technical assistance, particularly when the state and the municipality both embraced smart growth goals—growth strategies that favor redevelopment of existing built environments, reliance on public transit, preservation of natural areas and ecosystems, and equitable, safe communities for all residents. Although local governments determine most land use decisions under the Municipal Land Use Law, state policy has an important role to play in how those decisions are made. State legislation could require municipalities to permit multifamily housing, as Oregon did in 2019.1 To concentrate development near mass transit, the state could require multifamily housing and mixed-use near transit, similar to proposals in the California legislature that ban single-family detached zoning near transit and make the minimum required density a fourplex.2 Both states also have enacted laws allowing the construction of accessory dwelling units statewide. Municipalities hoping to create sustainable and attractive communities cannot ignore the need for a more diversified and increased housing stock, or else they risk losing residents who comprise the workforce, tax base, and consumer activity that supports local economies.3
Main Street – North Brunswick, New Jersey (Google Maps)
1 Slate, 2019, “Legalize It.” https://slate.com/business/2019/07/oregon-single-family-zoning-apartments-housing.html
2 Los Angeles Times, 2018, “Get ready for a lot more housing near the Expo Line and other California transit stations if new legislation passes.” https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-housing-transit-bill-20180104-story.html
3 AARP, “The Longevity Economy Outlook.” https://www.aarp.org/research/topics/economics/info-2019/longevity-economy-outlook.html
New Jersey’s population impacted by loss of immigrants
August 6th, 2020 by Tim Evans
For the past decade, the small annual increases in New Jersey’s population have been largely due to immigration, as the Star-Ledger reported—using New Jersey Future as a source—in a June story (“N.J.’s population would have fallen over the past decade if not for growing diversity, new data shows”) about how the steady stream of immigrants has made New Jersey increasingly diverse. But with recent changes in federal immigration policy, the stream of immigrants has slowed to a trickle, with implications for the state’s overall population growth.
Earlier this year, the release of the Census Bureau’s 2019 state population estimates revealed that New Jersey experienced a year-to-year population loss between 2018 and 2019—something that hadn’t happened since the 1970s—with total population declining by 0.04 percent, or 3,835 residents. The March release of county population estimates provided further clarity, showing that population losses are happening in just about every corner of the state rather than being a strictly urban or suburban or rural phenomenon. Only six of New Jersey’s 21 counties gained population over the last year, and even these were mostly very small gains.
Losses happening in Smart Growth locations as well
The recently released 2019 municipal population estimates further reinforce the fact that New Jersey’s population losses are widespread, with 435 of the state’s 565 municipalities having fewer residents in 2019 than a year earlier. In every county other than Ocean, population-losing municipalities outnumbered gainers. While the story of population change in New Jersey for most of this decade has been about redevelopment—new growth happening in places that are already developed, having experienced their initial growth waves decades ago—this is not the case this year. Between 2018 and 2019, the 349 cities, towns, and mature suburbs that were at least 90 percent built-out (as of 2015) collectively lost 5,051 people, a 0.083 percent loss, after having dominated the state’s population growth earlier in the decade. But at the other end of the spectrum, sparsely-developed places on the exurban fringe are faring even worse than the mostly built-out places: The 68 municipalities that were less than 50 percent built-out as of 2015 experienced a cumulative population decline of 1,112 people since last year, representing a 0.255 percent decrease (a greater loss than the redevelopment areas, in percentage terms). This year, population changes appear largely independent of what type of place is being considered.
Immigration rates dramatically affecting growth
Instead, the population stagnation that has gripped the entire state, afflicting both smart-growth areas and sprawling exurbia alike, appears to be tied to the macro factors discussed in New Jersey Future’s analysis of state population estimates earlier this year. In particular, recent changes in national immigration policy have caused net international immigration to drop nationwide and have had an outsized effect on New Jersey’s population dynamics, since New Jersey is a major immigrant destination and its population growth has been heavily dependent on immigrants in recent decades. As noted in our earlier analysis, New Jersey gained a net 50,087 international immigrants between 2015 and 2016 (an annual increase typical of most of the decade) but gained only 21,284 between 2018 and 2019—a decline of more than half.
The drop may be due to what is happening with the most recent and most vulnerable immigrants—those who are not yet United States citizens, whose residence in the country is hence the most tenuous and most at the mercy of changing policy. Nationally, from 2016 (prior to the change in administration) to 2018 (the most recent year for which data on citizenship status are available from the American Community Survey), the number of non-citizens has decreased by about 402,000, a 1.8 percent decrease, after increasing modestly (by about 21,000) from 2010 through 2016. In New Jersey, the number of non-citizens was already on the decline earlier in the decade, falling by a little over 12,000 (a 1.3 percent decrease) from 2010 to 2016, but dropped by nearly six times this amount—just under 73,000, an 8.0 percent decrease—in only two years, from 2016 to 2018.
Jersey City illustrates this phenomenon in microcosm. Its population of non-citizens declined by 1,186 between 2016 and 2018, after increasing by almost 8,000 from 2010 to 2016. While citizenship data are not yet available for 2019, Jersey City’s loss of 1,776 people between 2018 and 2019—the largest loss by far of any municipality in the state, and representing nearly half (46 percent) of the state’s total population loss—could easily be due primarily to a continuation of the downward trend in its non-citizen population.
In fact, given that New Jersey’s overall population loss from 2018 to 2019 was only 3,835, it is not at all hard to imagine that a further decline in the statewide non-citizen population — already down by 72,937 between 2016 and 2018, a sudden and dramatic acceleration of the trend from earlier in the decade — could be entirely responsible for the overall statewide loss, completely canceling out New Jersey’s already-slow growth from other sources.
Immigrant losses hitting smart growth locations
The drop in the non-citizen population is having a disproportionate effect on the compact, walkable places that have dominated population growth for most of this decade. Immigrants, and especially the most recent arrivals, tend to be drawn toward older cities and towns with traditional downtowns and a diversity of housing stock. Among the 32 municipalities in which non-citizens made up at least 20 percent of the population in 2016, a clear majority (26) score well on all three of New Jersey Future’s three smart-growth metrics — net activity density (population and jobs per square mile), presence of a mixed-use center, and local street network density — with another four scoring well on two of the three. Statewide, fewer than one in four municipalities score well on all three metrics, so compact, walkable places are substantially overrepresented among the magnets for recent immigrants. This group of 32 municipalities together lost more than 15,000 non-citizen residents between 2016 and 2018. If policy changes are resulting in recently arrived immigrants being sent back to their home countries before having the chance to become citizens, and in fewer immigrants choosing to come to New Jersey in the first place, this might have negative implications for downtown redevelopment efforts, by robbing the state of a key demographic group that has demonstrated an affinity for older cities, towns, and walkable suburbs.
General demand still strong for smart growth locations
The dramatic decline in the non-citizen population also calls into question the theory that the rebirth of the cities is over because Millennials have decided to move to the suburbs now that they’re having kids. Municipal population changes do not support the idea that people have suddenly decided to flee walkable urbanism for car-dependent suburbia. Rather, it may be that the people who have started leaving New Jersey in the last few years for reasons having to do with national policy just happen to have been concentrated in compact, walkable places. They are leaving those places, but because they are returning to their countries of origin, not because they want to move to a cul-de-sac subdivision.
A Shift to Working From Home Raises Many Questions About Potential Effects on Other Aspects of Daily Life
August 6th, 2020 by Tim Evans
A few weeks into Governor Murphy’s stay-at-home order, New Jersey Future and others commented on how the sudden and dramatic drop in driving was producing a corresponding drop in air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. We wondered how much of the increase in working from home, and its accompanying air-quality benefits, might persist even after the pandemic eventually abates, especially now that many workers and employers are finding that a lot of meetings don’t have to happen in person and that they can accomplish much of what they need to do without direct personal interaction with coworkers.
But a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions is just one of many possible downstream effects of having a larger share of the workforce work from home on a more or less permanent basis. Going to work is the single biggest reason that most people leave the house every day. What else might happen when leaving the house is no longer built into many New Jerseyans’ daily routines? Before we aspire to lock in our unexpected gains in reducing our carbon footprint, the law of unintended consequences suggests that we should consider what other effects might come as part of that bargain.
What will happen to all the office buildings that are abandoned by at least part of the white-collar workforce that used to occupy them during the day? What will happen to the central business districts—or the suburban office parks—that host those workplaces?
What will happen to the restaurants, delis, pharmacies, and other businesses that cater to the needs of the office workforce? How about these same types of businesses that are located where the new crop of telecommuters live? Will living near non-work destinations become more appealing when work no longer requires you to leave the house? What will happen to retail in general? Will shopping behavior change?
What might happen to parking demand if a lot fewer people are in their cars every day? How about road capacity? Might this create opportunities to reimagine spaces formerly devoted to cars?
How might a reduced need to commute to work affect people’s decisions about where to live? How might working from home affect our social lives?
New Jersey Future has attempted to game out some of the likely effects—both positive and negative—on the geographic patterns of residence, employment, shopping, and travel behavior if the stay-at-home advisories of the pandemic era translate into a permanent increase in the number of people working from home. Read our insights here.
New Jersey Future to work with regional campaign for resilience
July 14th, 2020 by Peter Kasabach
Ensuring a resilient New Jersey is a core tenant of New Jersey Future’s mission. For the past year, I have been co-chairing the Coastal Resilience Task Force that has been supported and managed by the Waterfront Alliance. The Task Force worked to develop recommendations for climate adaptations, investments, and policy changes to boost resilience in the New Jersey and New York region.
The Task Force’s job is now over and the work has pivoted toward the creation of the Rise to Resilience action-oriented policy campaign. New Jersey Future is proud to be an inaugural member of the important and growing Rise to Resilience coalition, a group of New Jersey and New York residents, leaders in the business, labor, and justice communities, volunteer organizations, scientists, and environmental advocates. The coalition launched on July 10 with a virtual rally with over 300 attendees.
The Rise to Resilience campaign was created to advocate for local, regional, and national solutions to the climate change challenges threatening our communities. Hurricane Sandy devastated our region eight years ago, and a coherent future-oriented plan to adapt to climate change has yet to be developed. Meanwhile, our communities continue to experience the impacts of the climate crisis. It is time to invest our time, energy, and resources into a fair, effective, and timely adaptation strategy for New Jersey and our region and then to implement it.
The following are some of the specific goals that New Jersey Future will be working toward and that overlap with the campaign:
- Develop strengthened flood risk disclosure laws in New York and New Jersey.
- Establish a clear governance system to oversee the implementation of statewide resilience policy.
- Ensure that the Climate Resilience Plan and New Jersey Protecting Against Climate Threats (NJPACT) per Executive orders 89 and 100 effectively incorporate climate resilience into statewide policy.
- Establish a state sea level rise standard to guide all tidal planning and investment decisions.
- Amend the municipal land-use law to ensure that all local master plans incorporate climate vulnerability assessments and resilience measures.
- Incorporate climate change risk into state Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) permits and stormwater rule updates.
- Develop and include measurable targets in the forthcoming State Climate Resilience Strategy to provide direction and accountability.
- Establish a state-endorsed model vulnerability assessment for use by municipalities.
New Jersey Future has already been working on many of these issues, and looks forward to continuing this work with such an extensive coalition to make New Jersey more resilient.
What’s in your water? A new dashboard will help you find out.
July 14th, 2020 by New Jersey Future staff
Author: Jyoti Venketraman
Public health connects us all. This is never more true than during a pandemic. One of the most important public health successes of the past century is advances in sanitation and water treatment, on which we rely daily and yet it remains invisible. In our current pandemic, clean water to wash our hands and stay hydrated is our first line of defense against the COVID virus. When you open that tap, how do you know the water you use daily is clean? Where do you go to find this information?
Every year in July, water systems put out a report called the Consumer Confidence Report (CCR). The CCR helps you as a consumer understand your water quality. You can access the CCR via your utility website or receive it along with your utility bill. Data like that in the CCR helps build trust and empowers users.
The invisible nature of water and sewer infrastructure means data plays an essential role in showing progress, while identifying opportunities for improvement and investment. In a pandemic and accompanying economic crisis, statewide data on water infrastructure becomes more critical as it can help us identify trends in how systems are navigating the crisis, and plan for anticipated changes.
In December of 2020, Jersey Water Works (JWW), a 600-member collaborative of diverse stakeholders working to transform New Jersey’s water infrastructure, will launch an online data dashboard called Jersey WaterCheck. Jersey WaterCheck will be the first time data on water infrastructure from multiple sources will come together in one place to tell the story of New Jersey’s water and sewer systems. This web-based dashboard is being designed for a wide variety of users and will provide a range of metrics that is easy to understand. WaterCheck will:
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- Include information about every drinking water and wastewater system in the state.
- Integrate data from publicly available sources and survey information in one easy-to use website.
- Give water and wastewater utilities a way to demonstrate the value of their services and show the positive impact they have on New Jersey’s water and public health.
- Provide our state’s elected leaders the information they need to seek solutions to New Jersey’s significant water infrastructure needs.
- Provide communities a way to engage with their utilities and understand the vital public health role these systems play.
If you are a utility, Jersey WaterCheck can help you demonstrate progress, showcase public health commitment to your community, and enable learning on best practices from your peers. If you are a consumer, Jersey WaterCheck will help you better engage and understand your local water and sewer system and the role they play in community public health. On a state level, Jersey WaterCheck can help us narrate the story of our progress and identify opportunities to improve.
As we develop Jersey WaterCheck, we are engaging our diverse stakeholders in JWW to guide the development process, provide feedback, and build support. Jersey WaterCheck development is being guided by JWW’s Data Advisory Committee members who bring a diverse set of subject matter expertise in the water metrics. A coalition of utilities are being invited to test the dashboard and provide feedback on the metrics. Finally, a consumer-oriented focus group will be organized to provide feedback.
Transparent data on water systems is essential for taking steps to keep you and your families safe. Water Check can help us tell data stories—stories of change, stories of progress, and stories of transformation. To learn more about Jersey WaterCheck via monthly updates, sign up for the JWW newsletter.
Meet our 2020 Spring Interns!
July 14th, 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.
Zachary Kocaj
Rutgers University
Field of Study: Bioenvironmental Engineering
Working as a data dashboard intern this summer was a new learning experience. The project involved gathering and analyzing data from potable and wastewater service systems throughout New Jersey. Under the guidance of Professor Daniel Van Abs of Rutgers University and Kimberley Irby of New Jersey Future, Matt Bewley and I collaborated to divvy up tasks to complete the project efficiently. Observing how much potable and wastewater services vary across the state has been eye-opening.
This internship has improved my communication abilities, time management, research efficiency, and Excel knowledge. I am thankful for the wonderful learning experience and look forward to continuing to work in the water services field.
Matt Bewley
Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, Rutgers University
Field of Study: Urban Planning and Public Policy
This summer, I worked with the Jersey Water Works (JWW) team to support the development of JWW’s future data dashboard. In particular, I helped gather data on utility rates and on utilities themselves, including about the availability of financial information and consumer confidence reports. Gathering the rates and other information required combing through a variety of sources, and I learned to quickly sort through rate schedules and utility webpages to extract the information needed. With the guidance of Rutgers Professor Daniel Van Abs as well as Jyoti Venketraman and Kim Irby of New Jersey Future, we made sure that the information we collected was accurate and that it spoke to the data dashboard’s performance metrics. With the data gathered this summer as its basis, the data dashboard will allow policymakers and individual water and sewer customers to assess utilities’ progress toward the goals of the JWW coalition. By contributing to this project, I developed a much better understanding of water and sewer systems in New Jersey, and this knowledge will be a big help as I start my career in urban planning.
Tom Kozma
Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, Rutgers University
Field of Study: Planning and Public Policy
Between graduating from Middlesex County College with an A.A. degree and starting at Rutgers University, I had the pleasure of working with Tanya Rohrbach on New Jersey Future’s Creating Great Places to Age program. My primary responsibility was to research municipalities which had successfully implemented strategies to increase the variety of housing available to residents, with a special emphasis on how older residents would benefit.
Based on interviews with representatives from some of these towns, I co-authored a summary report of my findings. I also wrote two blog posts further explaining how some of these strategies, such as accessory dwelling units and public private partnerships, can benefit people of all ages. During my internship, I learned a lot about housing issues in New Jersey and the legal process surrounding zoning. I hope to use this knowledge as I continue my academic career and start to work in the world of planning and land use.
Bolstering the Water Workforce with Innovative Programs
June 12th, 2020 by Kimberley Irby
The coronavirus crisis has reminded us of the vital role of our water infrastructure and, accordingly, has highlighted the impact of when it fails. Regardless of a contagious and deadly virus, public health is threatened without safe and reliable water services, both drinking water and wastewater. Along with reminding us how important water infrastructure itself is, the pandemic has also underscored that the water workforce is composed of essential workers. Although office managers may be able to work from home, that flexibility is not afforded to plant operators and others who must work in the field to keep unseen, but critical, functions running.
In New Jersey, as the coronavirus threatens public health in the state with the second-highest number of cases and deaths, the water sector has to work even harder to ensure that services continue unimpeded, while also managing the issues of lead in drinking water, combined sewer overflows, and aging infrastructure in general. The crisis has spurred calls to include funding for water infrastructure in federal stimulus packages, some with an emphasis on sustainability. However, considerations for a shrinking and demographically homogeneous water workforce have largely been missing from these conversations.
Nationwide, the water workforce is anticipated to dwindle due to older professionals, most of which are white and male, retiring. It is estimated that within the next 10 years, approximately one-third of water utility operators in the U.S. will be eligible to retire. This presents a challenge to fill vacancies with qualified candidates who will ensure that we have safe, clean drinking water and reliable wastewater services. However, this also presents an opportunity to fill vacancies with demographically diverse, local candidates – ideally those who also understand the importance of investing in upgrades and sustainability like green infrastructure (GI). In Camden and Newark, there are water workforce programs that have been created relatively recently to try to address these issues by training residents of communities that suffer from a combination of economic, health, and environmental burdens in GI maintenance and/or connecting them to professional opportunities in the water industry.
Camden
PowerCorps Camden is a training program for opportunity youth ages 18-26 who have a high school diploma. It blends environmental stewardship with support services, provided by a nonprofit called the Center for Family Services (CFS). Nearly half of the funding for the program is sourced from the Corporation for National Community Service (CNCS) and a little more than half is leveraged through matched dollars from other funders. Every six months, 30 members learn how to maintain green infrastructure, develop professional skills, and receive counseling to improve their confidence and guide them through the transition to working full-time.
In Camden, the PowerCorps program has succeeded as a second of its kind, as the original one started in Philadelphia. This shows that a workforce training program of this sort is not only replicable, but adaptable to a given city’s circumstances. For instance, the City of Camden was unable to manage the program alone, but the Camden County Municipal Utilities Authority (CCMUA) and the non-profit CFS, along with other partners, have been able to both secure funding from a federal agency and administer the variety of services necessary for the program.
Camden Works is a program open to any Camden resident looking for employment. It is not a technical training program like PowerCorps; rather, the focus is on helping participants refine their professional skills and connect them to local job opportunities. Similarly to PowerCorps, the Center for Family Services (CFS) serves as the resource for both professional development and social support. There is no educational requirement; if an individual wishes to get their GED, the program can help them do so.
Both PowerCorps and Camden Works offer services to their members on a personal level. For example, if a member is dealing with childcare or transportation issues that will hinder their ability to get a job, the programs will help them mitigate the issues as much as possible so that when they get a job offer, they are ready to start without worrying about those types of hurdles. Additionally, members have control over what they want to prioritize and which barriers they want to address. Ultimately, the programs prepare their participants so that when the time comes, they are ready to fully dive into employment.
Newark
In Newark, the Ironbound Community Corporation (ICC) has trained 21 Newark residents to take the National Green Infrastructure Certification Program (NGICP). Certification requires a high school diploma or equivalent and completion of a GI training course. ICC owns a training license to do this and is the only certified trainer in the state. This is part of a larger job training program, funded through EPA Brownfields Grants, in partnership with the County of Essex.
Besides the green infrastructure installation and maintenance classroom training, residents receive basic literacy training, as well as OSHA-10, OSHA-40, and OSHA Hazardous Waste and Emergency Response certifications. Due to COVID-19, they are delayed in delivering the second cohort of this training that would include hands-on training in installing and maintaining green infrastructure on several Blue Acres sites in the Ironbound that were bought out after Superstorm Sandy.
As a multi-service, community-based organization, ICC blends early childhood education and social services with community organizing and advocacy work to serve as a neighborhood anchor organization for the predominantly low income residents of Color in the community. One of their goals is to “address unmet needs and service gaps, particularly for under-served individuals and families.” Another goal is to help “develop self-esteem, self-efficiency, and civic participation.” Though ICC’s other services are not directly tied to the NGICP, residents that participate in the training would have access to those social support services all the same.
The types of training programs that have appeared in these New Jersey cities are special because, in addition to connecting local residents to water sector jobs, they are making a substantial difference in people’s lives. Moreover, these types of programs can have a three-fold impact: environmental, through supplying qualified workers to fill water sector vacancies; economic, through bolstering the local economy by hiring local residents; and social, through empowering those who come from traditionally disadvantaged communities. When discussing funding for water infrastructure, lawmakers should consider not only the physical make-up of the infrastructure, but also the human capital that makes it possible for clean water to reach our taps and dirty water to be collected and treated. As we navigate the new normal of COVID-19 recovery, we should consider expanding the reach of these water workforce programs, which have the potential to build resilience in our individuals, communities, and critical infrastructure systems.
Redevelopment Is the New Normal
June 12th, 2020 by Tim Evans
Since the end of the decade of the 2000s, New Jersey Future has been documenting the return of population growth to the state’s cities, towns, and older, walkable suburbs, noting that redevelopment (new development happening in places that are already built-out) has become the “new normal.” While it makes intuitive sense that increased growth in already-developed places has likely alleviated development pressure on the exurban fringe, we have previously lacked the ability to quantify this effect.
Recently-released 2015 land use/land cover data from the Department of Environmental Protection offer an opportunity to assess the state of land development in New Jersey.
- From 1986 to 2007, New Jersey’s rate of land development was nearly double the rate of population growth; from 2007 to 2015, the ratio dropped to more like 1:1
- Since 2007, most of the state’s population growth has been happening via redevelopment, in places with little to no buildable land left
- Redevelopment can take many forms, from infill projects on surface parking lots, to adaptive reuse of existing buildings, to building whole new neighborhoods on large derelict properties
Now, with recent new data from the Department of Environmental Protection’s Land Use/Land Cover mapping project, and a value-added analysis by researchers at Rowan and Rutgers universities, we can clearly see the degree to which redevelopment has been saving land. From 1986 (the earliest year for which the project has produced data) through 2007,1 the number of acres annually converted to urbanized uses held steady in a range roughly between 14,000 and 18,000 acres (see Figure 1). But post-2007, that figure has dropped dramatically, first to a little more than 5,000 acres per year between 2007 and 2012, and then even further, to about 3,500 acres per year, between 2012 and 2015.
Figure 1. Newly-Developed Acres Per Year
It is true that population growth has dropped off over the last decade as well, reducing the pressure to develop new land, but this alone does not come close to explaining the drop in the rate of land development. Between 1986 and 1995, and again between 1995 and 2007, New Jersey’s rate of increase in developed acres was nearly double the rate of population growth (see Figure 2). But between 2007 and 2015, the rates were nearly identical; population growth slowed, but new land development slowed by a lot more. In the latter period, the state thus developed far fewer new acres for every new resident than had been true in prior decades. How did this happen?
Figure 2. Rate of Land Development vs. Population Growth
The decrease in newly-developed acres per new resident happened largely because of the channeling of growth back into older cities and towns; when new people move into a place that was already mostly developed, and new development happens by reusing previously-developed land, the amount of newly-developed land per new resident is essentially zero. Prior to 2007, municipalities that were already at least 90 percent built-out 2 (that is, had developed at least 90 percent of their developable land, with most of the remaining undeveloped land being either permanently preserved or undevelopable due to regulation) were mostly stagnant or actually losing population. But built-out places have dominated growth since the Great Recession3, with municipalities that were at least 90 percent built-out as of 2015 accounting for two-thirds of the state’s population growth between 2007 and 2018 (see Figure 3).
Figure 3: % of Total Population Growth Accounted For By Built-Out (≥ 90%) Municipalities, 2000-2007 vs 2007-2018
How does new population (and job) growth happen in places that have little or no buildable land remaining? What does “redevelopment” actually look like on the ground? The answer often depends on what kind of development is already in place.
Infill on surface parking lots
Many places have more buildable land remaining than they realize, even if most of it is technically “developed.” “Developed” does not always imply the presence of buildings or other structures; sometimes it simply means “paved.” Surface parking lots represent a de facto land bank for many less densely-developed towns, offering opportunities for infill development between existing buildings, especially if parking structures can be constructed to retain parking capacity but with a smaller two-dimensional footprint. If the existing development pattern is already mixed-use and walkable, infill projects can be designed to harmonize with their surroundings. If the existing pattern is more car-oriented or dominated by a single land-use type, infill projects can offer a chance to create pedestrian amenities and to add land uses or housing types that are currently missing.
Some New Jersey examples include:
- A new seven-story mixed-use complex in Woodbridge, planned for the site of a strip mall and parking lot adjacent to the Woodbridge train station
- Woodmont Metro in Metuchen, an apartment complex with a new public plaza and new parking structure, built on a former commuter parking lot adjacent to the Metuchen train station, that will help diversify the borough’s housing stock, which was previously dominated by single-family detached homes
- Voorhees Town Center, formerly known as Echelon Mall, was a more extensive adaptation, where not only was some of the surface parking replaced with new townhouses, a short restaurant row, and a pedestrian plaza, but part of the mall itself was also knocked down to make room for the new uses
Adaptive reuse of existing buildings
One way to absorb new residents into a built-out place that results in minimal visual change to the existing landscape is by converting non-residential buildings into housing, whether it be an old factory, an office building, a church, or some other obsolete land use. Or a building can be converted to offices or some other use for which it was not initially designed. This can happen even in the most densely developed places, because there is no need to squeeze in any new buildings—the existing buildings have already claimed the space.
Some examples include:
- Luxe Apartments, adjacent to Woodbridge Center Mall in Woodbridge, where an office building is having the upper floors converted to luxury apartments
- Edison Village in West Orange, a complex of historic factory buildings that have been converted to apartments, with a retail component and open green spaces, with townhomes to be added later
- The Vault, an old bank building in Red Bank that has been converted to office space
- Office buildings in Newark that have been converted to apartments: Walker House, Eleven 80
Building a whole new neighborhood on a large derelict site
Occasionally, a single property with a very large footprint—e.g. a factory complex, warehouse, golf course, suburban office park, or shopping mall—will become economically obsolete and go vacant, with little prospect of attracting new occupants. If the existing buildings don’t easily lend themselves to adaptive reuse, it may be more feasible for a developer to simply demolish the old land use entirely and treat the land as a clean slate for building what amounts to a whole new neighborhood. If done in the context of a surrounding environment that is largely car-dependent, this blank canvas can even present the opportunity to create a mixed-use town center in a municipality that previously lacked one, although such a situation can result in a self-contained pod of “modular urbanism” with limited connection to adjacent development. (Suburban, car-oriented land uses were often designed to have limited points of access to and from their surroundings, so connectivity can be difficult to weave in after the fact.) If done in the context of a surrounding street grid with good connectivity, the existing grid can be extended onto the redevelopment property, creating new vehicular and pedestrian connections and allowing for shorter local trips.
Some examples include:
- Wesmont Station in Wood-Ridge transformed the site of a former Curtiss-Wright airplane factory into a new transit-oriented neighborhood, complete with a new NJ Transit commuter rail station
- East Brunswick is planning to create a new town center on the site of an obsolete shopping center
- The District at 1515 project in Parsippany will bring a mix of residential and retail uses, connected by a walkable internal street grid, to the site of a former office park
An empty General Motors plant in Ewing has been cleared to make way for the new Ewing Town Center
The common theme uniting these projects is reuse—reuse of buildings, reuse of land, reuse of infrastructure—which puts the “re-” in “redevelopment.” Any time new residents or businesses can be absorbed into a place that has already been developed—whether through adaptive changes to existing buildings or the construction of new buildings on land that was previously used for something else—this translates to undeveloped land in some other location that does not need to be urbanized to accommodate these residents and businesses, thereby slowing the rate at which New Jersey consumes its remaining open spaces. It also usually means the new development can take advantage of infrastructure that is already in place—roads, power lines, water and sewer pipes—avoiding the costs of extending infrastructure into undeveloped territory.
Redevelopment isn’t just about avoiding the costs associated with new development on previously-undeveloped land, however. It can often also represent an opportunity to make incremental improvements to the existing built environment in which a redevelopment project is situated, by updating the architectural features of an existing building, or introducing a building type or civic function that was previously lacking, or adding to the variety of the town’s housing stock, or creating pedestrian connections and amenities to make the neighborhood more walkable, or providing needed urban open space, or enabling more people to live near public transit and cut back on their driving and car ownership. And when a non-residential building is adapted to residential use, or a formerly industrial land use is cleared and replaced with new residential development, population growth can take place without displacing existing residents, which is often a concern in high-demand urban areas with no buildable land left. Redevelopment is a way to add new housing supply to built-up areas, helping to alleviate upward pressure on housing prices. It can accomplish population change via a net new addition, rather than by the replacement of long-time residents with new ones.
Whatever form it takes, redevelopment can simultaneously enhance livability for existing developed places while allowing other lands to remain undeveloped. Redevelopment will be an essential tool for New Jersey’s municipalities to make an economic comeback. New Jersey Future will continue to partner with towns across the state to create stronger and more integrated places.
1 The DEP data have been produced at irregular intervals since 1986, with data points for 1986, 1995, 2002, 2007, 2012, and 2015
2 Build-out percentage is computed as a ratio of developed acres to total developable acres, where developable land is the sum of 1) already-developed land and 2) undeveloped land that is still available for development. It answers the question “How much of what can be developed has been developed?” Acreage still available for development is estimated by researchers at Rowan and Rutgers universities by overlaying the DEP Land Use/Land Cover data with other data sources that describe lands that have been permanently preserved or are otherwise regulated and cannot be developed. “Available” lands are what remains when undevelopable lands and already-developed lands are both filtered out.
3 Among the data reference years for which DEP land use/land cover data were produced, 2007 comes closest to coinciding with the Great Recession.
Newark’s Lead Service Line Replacement Program is a Model for the Nation
June 12th, 2020 by Missy Rebovich
In 2017, the City of Newark, New Jersey, was facing a crisis: the third consecutive test of the city’s water exceeded the federal limit of 15 parts per billion for lead. Something had to be done. Where others may have been inclined to delay action or downplay the risks, Newark developed a plan that would not only drastically reduce exposure to lead in drinking water but serve as a national model for doing so.
Water Pipe Replacement
Newark, New Jersey’s largest city, is home to 282,000 residents who are served by the City’s water system. In June 2017, testing revealed 22% of 129 samples of the City’s water exceeded the federal limit for lead. Since more than 10% of samples exceeded the federal threshold, the City had to inform its residents. As of May 2020, every six-month test since June 2017 has shown exceedances.
The City attributes the source of the problem to failed corrosion control treatment (sodium silicate) at the Pequannock Water Treatment Plant, which supplies water to about half of the city. A new corrosion control treatment system using zinc orthophosphate was installed in May 2019. Water from the Wanaque Water Treatment Plant, which supplies water to the East and parts of the North and Central Wards, did not show signs of elevated lead levels.
In 2018, the City developed the first iteration of its LSL replacement program in which it set out to replace all 18,000 LSLs over eight years through a voluntary program. To fund the program, Newark enacted an ordinance authorizing the sale of $75 million in city bonds and a $12 million loan from the state’s Water Bank with up to $9 million in principal forgiveness. Residents could sign up to have their LSLs replaced at a cost of $1,000. Full replacements to remove the entire portion of the pipe running from the water main in the street to the house can cost up to $7,000. This version of the program received lackluster response in large part due to the cost imposed on the property owner.
Subsequently, in August 2019, Newark arranged a different financial package, securing a $120 million bond with help from the Essex County Improvement Authority which allowed the City to cover the full cost of the replacements and cut the timeframe for completion from eight years to under 36 months. A reworked lease agreement with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey will bring in $155 million to service the debt on the bonds. This funding allowed the City to revamp its program so that there would not be a cost share for the property owners.
While extensive community outreach for the updated program resulted in over 3,000 residents signing up for the program, the City still needed to be able to reach the property owners and obtain their permission in order to complete the work. With about 80% of the housing units in the city rentals, this proved difficult. In September 2019, Newark City Council passed an ordinance that made it mandatory for property owners to sign up for the program and empowered the City to enter a property to replace an LSL even if the owner did not sign up for the program. This ordinance became an example for the state when, in January 2020, Governor Murphy signed into law legislation that allows municipalities to adopt an ordinance to enter properties to replace LSLs without property owner permission, after notifying residents.
In order to keep residents informed about the program, Newark developed a comprehensive website that outlines the program and keeps a running count of how many LSLs have been replaced. The website also has a tool for residents to learn the material of their service lines and to see where replacements have already happened in the city. This public database was welcomed by residents, many of whom felt they would not have received information about lead in their water from their landlords.
Residents are notified when their LSLs will be replaced, and once the work is complete, workers explain that filters provided through the program should be used until tests come back confirming that any lead jostled loose in the replacement has been removed. Within three to six months, residents automatically receive a testing kit to fill with water and return to the City. The City retained 120Water to develop a comprehensive communications program that would engage residents. The communications program emphasized outreach to children to make learning about water fun and included stickers, puzzles, and games.
WIth these two fundamental program changes—mandating LSL replacement regardless of property owner permission and offering LSL replacements at no cost to the property owner—the City of Newark is the first to implement the approach recommended by the Jersey Water Works Lead in Drinking Water Task Force. Kareem Adeem, Director of Newark’s Water and Sewer Department, served on the task force and was instrumental in explaining obstacles to LSL replacement and identifying practical solutions.
Through the program, the City has been replacing LSLs at a rate of about 90 per day, slowing only briefly as the world recalibrated to confront the coronavirus pandemic. In March, when personal protective equipment (PPE), including masks and Tyvek suits, were in short supply, the City was able to rely on its database to determine which properties had already replaced the portion of the LSLs running from the edge of the property to the house—meaning that no interior work would be necessary—and focused on completing the work on those properties. Once PPE was available, crews of two workers conducted pre-construction interviews with residents to ensure anyone who was ill was isolated before performing any work.
Early progress by the City kept work on track during the pandemic, and the halfway mark of 9,000 LSLs replaced was reached in April 2020. On May 6, the City announced that it had replaced 10,000 LSLs, putting the City well on its way to replace all its LSLs within 24 to 36 months of its start date on March 13, 2019.
Newark’s remarkable progres demonstrates that LSL removal is not only possible, it’s within reach for communities across the state. New Jersey Future and other members of the Jersey Water Works Lead in Drinking Water Task Force have been working closely with the Murphy administration and members of the Legislature to require drinking water systems to adopt similar programs, which could virtually eliminate the risk of lead in drinking water in ten years.
