The State Plan coordinates planning activities and establishes statewide planning objectives in the following areas: land use, housing, economic development, transportation, natural resource conservation, agriculture and farmland retention, recreation, urban and suburban redevelopment, historic preservation, public facilities and services, and intergovernmental coordination (NJSA. 52:18A-200(f)).

Other Organizations working on smart growth issues

The State Planning Act mandated that the Plan achieve a series of quality-of-life and economic goals for the benefit of the whole state. The State Plan designates where growth should go and what areas should be preserved.

The State Plan Policy Map identifies areas for growth, limited growth, agriculture, open space and conservation as required by the State Planning Act. The map integrates the two major planning concepts of the Plan, Planning Areas and Centers and Environs. The map delineates five major planning areas:

“Smart Growth,” which promotes development in centers with existing public transit and other infrastructure and protects open space and natural resources, is a primary goal of state planning. The Act did not require municipal compliance, but the Plan affects non-municipal land use and infrastructure decisions. Subsequent rules and regulations of other state agencies, such as those of the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH), are moving toward mandatory compliance with the State Plan by municipalities.

Cross Acceptance is the State Plan consensus building process. To initiate the process of a State Plan revision and update, the State Planning Commission issues a Preliminary Plan and a Preliminary State Plan Policy Map as well as a Cross-Acceptance Manual. All municipalities in the state are asked to file a Cross-Acceptance report with their county. In this report, the municipality reviews its own land use plans and compares them to the goals and objectives of the State Plan and the Policy Map and notes any inconsistencies. The municipal reports are combined into a county Cross-Acceptance report and the county then becomes the "negotiating entity" with the Office of Smart Growth (OSG), which is the staff of the State Planning Commission. The OSG staff meets with each county's planning staff to negotiate any inconsistencies and then a public hearing is held in each county. A municipality that disagrees with the county report can also file a dissenting report directly with the OSG.

More information about the Cross-Acceptance process and any currently scheduled hearings can be found on the state website: http://www.nj.gov/dca/osg/plan/crossacceptance.shtml

Plan Endorsement is the process undertaken by municipalities, counties or regional entities to have their master plans endorsed by the State Planning Commission. Since New Jersey is a “home rule” state, implementation of the State Plan relies on municipal cooperation. Municipal compliance with the State Plan is determined through a Plan Endorsement petition process. A municipality submits a petition, which includes all of its planning documents, to the OSG, where it is reviewed in concert with other state agencies for conformance with the State Plan.

More information on Plan Endorsement can be found on the state website: http://www.nj.gov/dca/osg/plan/endorsement.shtml

The State Planning Commission (SPC) has extended the period of Cross Acceptance with the counties and delayed the publication of a new State Plan by several years. Publication is currently expected in 2008.

The next steps will be:

Revised dates for the next steps have not been announced yet. Once scheduled, the dates can be found on the Office of Smart Growth web-site and ANJEC will post them here as they become available.

Environmental Commissions play an important role in the state planning process. As keepers of the municipal Environmental Resource Inventory (ERI), which should be the basis of land use planning in the municipal master plan, a commission should participate in Cross Acceptance. Commissioners can review the municipal Cross-Acceptance reports as well as the county report to ensure they accurately reflect the environmental conditions in their town. Commissioners can use information generated by the planning process and, in turn, inform the process by utilizing the ERI as a database in delineating Planning Area boundaries and Critical Environmental Sites.

Commissions also can participate in discussions on how the goals of the State Plan can be met through local action.

The environmental commission (EC) should also be involved in the process of petitioning for Plan Endorsement. An up-to-date ERI is a required element of the petition. The commission needs to be aware of municipal petition plans and should undertake steps necessary to review and update the ERI in advance. The planning board and EC should review local master plans and ordinances to determine any obvious inconsistencies with the state policies and planning maps. As keeper of the environmental resource data, the EC should be prepared to recommend potential Critical Environmental Sites (CES) or Historic and Cultural Sites (HCS) designations in the State Plan.

Once municipal petitions are underway, the EC should have a representative on the town’s Plan Endorsement committee or be a partner to that committee to ensure that it considers environmental resources in all plans submitted to the State Planning Commission.

11/07