• Home
  • Register
  • Thursday
  • Friday
  • Sponsors
  • Hotel
  • Contact
2014 NJ PLANNING CONFERENCE

PRELIMINARY PROGRAM - THURSDAY, JANUARY 23


8:00am - Registration, Breakfast, Welcoming Remarks


9:00am - 10:30am:


Session TB1:  Preparing for Climate Trends
[AICP CM]

This panel will provide an update on climate trends and projections in New Jersey, highlight policy gaps that have been identified as part of the NJ Climate Adaptation Alliance's stakeholder engagement efforts, and report on perceptions of climate change impacts and preparedness including those of planners as part of our survey with APANJ.  Panelists will explore planning responses to the need for resiliency, mitigation and adaptation.

  • Jeanne Herb, Associate Director, Environmental Analysis & Communications Group, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
  • Raimy Cheyne, candidate for Master's Degree in City and Regional Planning 2014, Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
  • Wolfram Hoefer, Design Professor, School of Environmental & Biological Sciences, Rutgers
  • Martin Johnson, President & CEO, Isles
  • David Henry, Health Officer Monmouth County Regional Health Commission
  • Jennifer Rovito, GISP, GIS Manager, Environmental Analysis & Communications Group, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy


Session TC1:  Issues in Fiscal Impact Assessment in NJ
[AICP CM]

Assessing the near and longer term effects of development is at the heart of many planning and project-level decisions.  Part science, part art and always dependent on hard-to-find data and shifting budgetary trends, this is an area of practice in which your tools and skills can become outdated quickly.  This panel will guide you to the best sources of data available, and alert you to the demographic and budgetary trends that are critical to getting it right.

  • Paul Phillips, AICP/PP, Phillips Preiss Grygiel, LLC
  • David Listokin, Professor and Co-Director of the Center for Urban Policy Research, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning & Public Policy
  • Dr. Sen-Yuan Wu, Research Economist, Division of Labor Market & Demographic Research, NJLWD
  • Richard Reading, AICP/PP

Session TD1:  WQMP:  County Plans Nearing Adoption…and then what?
[AICP CM/Legal, CLE]

Hear an update from DEP on the status of the plans throughout the State and the approach that the Department is taking on such issues as plan amendments, alternative treatment technologies and capacity reservations.  You will also hear the perspective of a county planner that has worked through the process and attorneys working with landowners.

  • Michael J. Gross, Esquire, Chair, Environmental Law Practice Area, Giordano Halleran & Ciesla
  • Richard M. Hluchan, Esquire, Hyland Levin LLP
  • John Peterson, PP, Deputy Director, Atlantic County Department of Regional Planning
  • Ray Cantor, Chief Advisor, Office of the Commissioner
  • Liz Semple, Manager, Coastal & Land Use Planning 

Session TE1/2:  What was Mount Laurel supposed to fix?  How did we do?  Why is COAH so hard to reform? (9:00am-12:15pm)
[AICP CM/Legal, CLE)

It has been 42 years since a trial court concluded that municipal zoning tends to reflect the desires of those already in place to the disadvantage of the regional interest and basic housing needs of our growing population.  Over this span, our Supreme Court created a doctrine in 1975 and an implementation framework aimed at those with low and moderate incomes in 1983.  The Legislature adopted the Fair Housing Act in 1985 and COAH administered an allocation-based system for 12 years, and has floundered ineffectively for nearly 14 years.  In 2013, a temporarily configured Court in a split decision begged the Legislature to find a fix.  And those conversations have been tortured – there seems to be little consensus over what exactly was broken, what was the point of the whole exercise, has time passed the need for this doctrine by, and what – if anything – should be done about it.  Our profession owes our elected leadership an answer.  Join us as our field’s leading academics weigh in on these issues.

  • J. Creigh Rahenkamp, PP
  • David Dante Troutt, Professor of Law and Justice John J, Francis Scholar, Rutgers School of Law, Newark
  • Alan Mallach, FAICP, Senior Fellow, Center for Community Progress
  • Stuart Meck, FAICP/PP, Associate Research Professor & Director, Center for Planning Practice
  • Lawrence S. Lustberg, Esquire, Director, John J. Gibbons Fellowship in Public Interest & Constitutional Law
  • David Kinsey, FAICP/PP, Kinsey & Hand, Visiting Lecturer, Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University
  • Marty Bierbaum, Ph.D.-J.D., Associate Director, National Center for Smart Growth, University of Maryland; Director of N.J. Municipal Land Use Center (retired)
  • Jeffrey Surenian, Esquire
  • Elizabeth McKenzie, AICP/PP
  • Kevin Walsh, Esquire, Associate Director, Fair Share Housing Center

Session TH1:  Sustainable Master Planning: A Resilient, Carbon Neutral, & Economically Viable Path Forward[AICP CM]

How can you plan for growth while reducing your environmental footprint? As we seek to plan for growth, prepare for a changing climate, and create long term economically healthy communities, a new paradigm in planning is emerging. The Sustainable Master Plan is one that not only addresses the need for physical space often driven by programmatic requirements but also balances this growth against environmental, social, and economic goals. Using several case studies from various entities in New Jersey we will look at how this new paradigm, using a triple bottom line approach of economics, environment, and social impact, can create a new sustainable vision of the future.
 
  • Jason Kliwinski, AIA, LEED Fellow, Director of Sustainable Design - Parette Somjen Architects
  • Alan Grant, PE, Principal, Terra Neutral

10:45am-12:15pm


Session TB2:  A Regional Approach to Supporting Community Rating System (CRS) Communities
[AICP CM]

Integrating planning and emergency preparedness has been at the heart of the message from APA and others for moving forward.  The Monmouth County Division of Planning and the Monmouth County Office of Emergency Management have been exploring various ways of leveraging County resources to encourage municipal participation in the National Flood Insurance CRS program as well as to provide baseline data and information to towns already involved in the program.  The County has initiated a CRS users group for participating municipalities as well as as towns new to the program to provide peer support and access to professional assistance from County, state, and federal agencies.  Hear from your peers involved in this initiative what has worked and where the pitfalls lie.

  • Joe Barris, AICP/PP, Assistant Planning Director, Monmouth County NJ
  • Amanda Gowans, CFM, ISO/CRS Specialist, ISO Community Hazard Mitigation
  • James Watt, CFM, Program Development Specialist, NJDEP
  • John Miller, P.E., CFM, CSM, Certified Floodplain and Stormwater Manager, New Jersey Association of Floodplain Managers Legislative Committee Chair
  • Margaret Murnane Brooks, CEM, Deputy Coordinator, Office of Emergency Management, Monmouth County, NJ
  • Meghan Leavey, AICP/PP, Planner/CRS Coordinator, Monmouth County NJ
  • Jason Greenspan, AICP/PP, Director of Planning and Community Development, Middletown NJ

Session TC2:  Particular Suitability
[AICP CM/Legal, CLE]

In Advance v. Branchburg and Price v. Himeji, the courts have wrestled with use variances and the difficult concept of "particular suitability.”  Join the discussion as leading practitioners explain what it means to them and how they deal with this issue in their work.

  • Henry Kent-Smith, Esquire, Fox Rothschild & Adjunct Professor, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning & Public Policy
  • Richard J. Hoff, Jr., Esquire, Bisgaier Hoff
  • Howard D. Geneslaw, Esquire, AICP/PP, Gibbons
  • Christine Cofone, AICP/PP, Cofone Consulting Group 

Session TH2:  Achieving Sustainability Locally Through Incentives & Regulations 

The panel will address the options for promoting sustainable development including the balance between mandates and incentives with options within these broad categories.  The APANJ Sustainability Committee Chair will present the Chapter’s policy guide.  And the options and the pros and cons of these regulatory approaches will be illustrated by a project in Jersey City known as the "Green Guide". This project involved the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency (JCRA) setting out to promote sustainable development in its redevelopment areas. To do so, they worked with a consultant team to review best practices, work with stakeholders and review existing state, county and local sustainability programs to determine the best approach. The JCRA ultimately decided on a sustainable development certification program similar in concept to the LEED certification program. The panel will not only address sustainable development options but will explore the process and the final decision made by the JCRA.

  • Elizabeth McManus, AICP/PP, LEED AP, Clarke Caton Hintz
  • Angela Clerico, AICP/PP, LEED AP, Natural System Utilities
  • Jeffrey LeJava, Professor & Managing Director of Innovation, Pace Law School
  • Other Speakers Invited

12:30pm - 2:00pm - Session TA3/Lunch & Keynote:  The Need for Advocacy in Planning:  Where is the next Paul Davidoff?  [AICP CM]

- The Honorable Peter Buchsbaum, Superior Court (Retired)


2:15pm - 4:15pm


Session TB4:  Integrating Hazard Mitigation into Planning
[AICP CM]

A hazard mitigation planning process can be an effective method to build widespread community support for difficult land use decisions to prepare municipalities against future natural disaster. The plan that evolves through the process can also be an indispensable mechanism to coordinate municipal, county, state and federal strategies, actions and financial investments for both emergency response and long-term development alternatives. Every county throughout New Jersey is or will soon be preparing or updating their All Hazards Mitigation plans. These are plans that simply cannot become shelf-bound dust collectors. Learn how this task is being approached through the lens of the lessons from Superstorm Sandy and how these plans can and should be integrated into a municipality’s master plans, zoning ordinances, and capital improvement plans to influence day to day as well as long term lands use decision making. 

  • David M. Kutner, AICP/PP, Recovery Planning Manager, New Jersey Future
  • John A. Miller, PE, CFM, CSM, Legislative Committee Chair, NJ Association for Floodplain Management
  • David J. McKeon, AICP/PP, Planning Director, Ocean County
  • Dan Kennedy, AICP/PP, Deputy Director, Office for Planning Advocacy, NJ Business Action Center
  • Cathleen M. Carlisle, MPA, Senior Mitigation Planner, Risk Analysis Branch, Mitigation Division, DHS/FEMA Region II

Session TC4:  Redevelopment 2014:  New Tools to Achieve Results
(AICP CM/Legal, CLE)

The dampening of the use of redevelopment as a tool for urban revitalization, even with the growing popularity of an urban lifestyle, has been a result of the association of public opinion between redevelopment and the use of Eminent Domain. Recent amendments to the enabling act have created a distinction between a Condemnation Redevelopment Area and a Non-Condemnation Redevelopment Area; changed criterion "E"; and added a criterion for "brownfields".  This panel will outline potential uses of the changes in the statute and discuss the integration of the newly enacted financial incentives available to support redevelopment.

  • David Roberts, AICP/PP, RLA, LEED AP ND, Department Manager, Maser Consulting PA
  • Stanley Slachetka, AICP/PP, Planning Group Manager, T&M Associates
  • Joseph J. Maraziti, Jr., Esquire, Maraziti, Falcon & Healey, LLP 
  • Robert S. Goldsmith, Esquire, Greenbaum Rowe Smith & Davis
  • George Vallone, President, Hoboken Brownstown Company and Professor of Finance, Graduate School of Business, Rutgers University.

Session TD4:  Using Planning Tools to Promote Energy Efficiency
[AICP CM]

This session will address best practices for promoting increased energy efficiency and resiliency through traditional planning and zoning tools that were tested in West Windsor, NJ and Upper Merion, PA.  Planners will learn to spot opportunities, overcome barriers, and both encourage and enable retrofit and redevelopment that will strengthen the energy system and achieve efficiency.

  • Clinton Andrews, AICP, Ph.D., Professor and Associate Dean for Planning & New Initiatives, Bloustein School
  • Jennifer Senick, Executive Director, Rutgers Center for Green Building
  • Jennifer Souder, ASLA, LEED AP BD+C, Instructor, Green Building Studio, Bloustein School
  • Daniel Dobromilsky, LLA, PP, LTE, Landscape Architect, West Windsor Township
  • Eric Goldstein, LLA, PP, Executive Director, King of Prussia District 

Session TE4:  Reforming or Replacing COAH:  So What do We Do About It?
[AICP CM/Legal, CLE]

A number of alternatives to COAH have been posited, but which makes the most sense depends on what goals are most important to achieve in the reform.  This panel will present the array of alternatives from a re-boot of the allocation system, to modifications of approaches that have been tried by other states.

  • David Dante Troutt, Professor of Law and Justice John J, Francis Scholar, Rutgers School of Law, Newark
  • Art Bernard, AICP/PP
  • Robert W. Burchell, Professor & Co-Director for Urban Policy Research, Urban Planning & Policy Development Program
  • Thomas F. Carroll, III, Esquire, Hill Wallack, LLP
  • Stuart Meck, FAICP/PP, Associate Research Professor & Director, Center for Planning Practice

Session TH4:  Building Healthy Communities
[AICP CM]

Health professionals are turning to planners to help implement policies and programs that create healthier environments to live, work and play for all ages and abilities. Concern for the health effects of transportation is an emerging focus of research and planning.  Choices made by decision makers at the state and local levels have tangible impacts on the health of citizens, and educating, inspiring and empowering decision makers to adopt and consider health impacts toward decisions about transportation planning is critical. Leaders and policymakers at the local, regional, and state levels are beginning to integrate considerations of health and well-being during the development, evaluation and implementation of transportation and land use policies, services and planning.  This session will address how health data and chronic disease prevention goals can be used in making land use and transportation decisions. Panelists will share national, state and local examples of how health outcomes can influence community health. Panelists will discuss the health case for good planning and obesity-prevention strategies that can empower planners to consider the health impact of their decisions.

  • Leigh Ann Von Hagen, ACIP/PP, Senior Research Specialist, Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center, Rutgers University
  • Nora Shepard, AICP, New Jersey State Advocacy Organizer, Safe Routes to School National Partnership
  • Laura Torchio, AICP, Eat. Play. Live... Better Program Coordinator, Montclair State University
  • Janet Heroux, MHS, MBA, Prevention Consultant, Partnering for a Healthy New Jersey, New Jersey Department of Health
  • Other Speakers Invited

4:30pm-6:00pm


Session TA5:  Professional Ethics in Planning & Design (4:30pm-6:00pm)
[AICP CM/Ethics]

This session will focus on the AICP Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct and its application in the day-today decision making of practicing planners in both the private and public sectors. Attendees will discuss various scenarios planners may face and brainstorm how best to approach these situations.

Stuart Meck, FAICP/PP, Associate Research Professor & Director, Center for Planning Practice
Deborah Alaimo Lawlor, FAICP/PP, AICP Commissioner, Region 1
David Kinsey, FAICP/PP, Kinsey & Hand, Visiting Lecturer, Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University

Reception

American Planning Association - New Jersey Chapter | PO Box 813, New Brunswick, NJ 08903 | 848.932.2817 | www.NJPlanning.org