Gov. Christie yesterday signed legislation extending the Urban Transit Hub Tax Credit program to include wind energy facilities constructed anywhere within the South Jersey Port District. The minimum capital investment requirement is $50 Million (unchanged from the existing UTHTC); however, the minimum job requirement is 300 new full-time employees (vs. 250 full-time employees in the existing UTHTC). The legislation can be accessed by clicking here.

Signing

(Blog editor-in-chief Ted Zangari, founder of the Smart Growth Economic Development Coalition, fifth from right, watches Gov. Christie Christie enact the “Time of Application” law which Zangari first proposed to the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Ronald Rice, more than six years ago.)

Governor Chris Christie today signed legislation to simplify and make more predictable regulations governing land-use development applications at the municipal level, encouraging development and lowering costs for New Jersey businesses and job creators.

S-82, commonly referred to as “time of application” or “time of decision” legislation, provides that a land-use development application will be governed by the municipal development regulations in effect at the time of the application.  Exceptions are provided for those rules related to health and public safety. 

Continue Reading Governor Christie Signs Legislation to Reform Land-Use Development Regulations

The Star-Ledger
March 15, 2010

In this op-ed,Ted Zangari states his case for the passage of the Time of Application legislation (S82/A437). Currently NJ has a “time of decision” rule that allows a municipality to re-zone a property up until the moment its land use board decides the fate of an application. As a consequence, businesses are leaving our state.

To read the op-ed, please click here.

In the February 4, 2010, edition of The Star-Ledger, Ted Zangari was quoted about a NJ Senate committee approving a proposal to allow builders to lock-in the local zoning on a particular property for several years by filing an application for development.

“Property owners often spend hundreds of thousand of dollars and up to five or six years pursuing a land use application in reliance on current ordinances, but if the town fathers decide they don’t like what the law permits they can literally re-zone the property right up until the moment of decision on that application. That’s not proper planning, it’s reactionary zoning,” said Ted Zangari, a real estate attorney and founder of the Smart Growth Economic Development Coalition.

To read the full article, please click here.

 Proposal’s Aims to Attract, Retain Businesses and Residents; Promote Long-Term, Sustainable Growth  

NEWARK, NJ — Today, the Smart Growth Economic Development Coalition – a collaborative group of 22 state-wide business, industry and urban renewal organizations – announced that their “Economic Development Recovery Strategy for New Jersey” is being presented to the Christie/Guadagno Administration and the 214th State Legislature. The goal of these select reforms and legislative initiatives is to make New Jersey more attractive to business and residents alike, through long-term smart growth and tax-relief strategies; greater efficiencies and collaboration within governing bodies; and various financial inducements as well as expedited permitting incentives.

The Coalition acknowledges that the new administration and legislative leaders are already considering some of the proposed reforms and initiatives outlined within this proposal, as they endeavor to improve New Jersey’s business climate. The Coalition supports these efforts to better-position and market New Jersey as part of a long-term business development and retention strategy.

Ted Zangari Esq., founder of the Coalition and redevelopment attorney with the Newark-based law firm of Sills Cummis & Gross said, “The Coalition has proposed a wide range of reforms that set New Jersey on the path of long-term recovery.”

Continue Reading Smart Growth Economic Development Coalition Presents “Economic Development Recovery Strategy for New Jersey” to Christie/Guadagno Administration and 214th Legislature

Publication:  The Bergen Record (January 11, 2010)

“Business groups are gearing up for the new legislative session even as they wage the final battles of the old one.” “Business representatives have spent recent weeks meeting with Christie’s transition team, hoping to shape his plans. Among the groups, the Smart Growth Development Coalition, a partnership of more than 20 business and planning groups, gave the governor-elect a white paper touting a ‘recovery strategy for New Jersey.’” “Ted Zangari, the coalition’s founder, said the group will deliver the 26-page proposal to legislators as they are sworn in for the new session Tuesday.

By MICHAEL MILLER | Staff Writer – pressofAtlanticCity.com

Environmental groups this week opposed two bills they said would undermine water quality in New Jersey.
The first, A-4347, would extend the lifespan of some construction-permit approvals by more than a year in the wake of the real-estate market collapse and the recession.

The second, A-4345, would give sewer authorities more than a year longer to update their wastewater management plans, which in a way serve as a blueprint for development.

That bill also expands sewer-service areas by including all properties that have site-plan approval, subdivision approval or construction permits, among others, in towns that have not yet adopted updated wastewater management plans. Continue Reading Environmental Groups Oppose Sewer Changes

The Smart Growth Economic Development Coalition has presented a report to the incoming Christie/Guadagno Administration in which it recommends 21 action items to reenergize New Jersey’s economy. The report can be viewed by clicking here.

The top-five recommendations include the following concepts:

  • Overhaul the State Planning Process: Create a Master Plan for New Jersey’s Future.
  • Consolidate and Streamline the Business Retention and Recruitment Process, the Financial Incentives Process, and the Land Use Permitting and Approvals Entitlements Process.
  • Analyze New Jersey’s Tax Structure Against Competitor States and Craft a Realistic Plan for Reducing Taxes as the Economy Improves; Start Now by Symbolically Eliminating the Punitive “Headquarters Tax”.
  • End the Practice of Last-Minute Re-Zonings; Abolish the “Time of Decision” Rule.
  • Prepare for the Expansion of the Panama Canal: Immediately Formulate Definite and Realistic Plans for Eliminating the Bayonne Bridge by 2014, then Create Additional International Free Trade Zones.
“The intention of the law is noble,” says Ted Zangari, a Newark-based redevelopment law attorney with Sills Cummis & Gross. “No one wants to see the kind of waste and abuse [by EnCap] that was documented by the state auditor. But the new law is misguided in a number of ways, beginning with the requirement of a 110% performance bond. Let’s not forget that performance bonds were in place on the EnCap project and yet completion of site work is far from a sure thing.”

NORTH ARLINGTON, NJ-On Monday here, Gov. Jon Corzine signed the so-called “Anti-EnCap” bill, which establishes oversight on certain public-private projects, into law. After a string of victories in the legislature, the move was a rare defeat for the commercial real estate industry and economic development community that maintains the bill was an overreaction to the controversial EnCap project in the Meadowlands.