By:  Ted Zangari, Esq.

The members of the Smart Growth Economic Development Coalition would like to correct the misconceptions surrounding Assembly Bill No. 4335/ Senate Bill No. 3156, the Water Quality Management Plan (WQMP) legislation.  Despite what critics contend, this legislation is not a threat to the environment.  Rather, the bill leaves environmental protections in place while providing a focused remedy to overreaching regulations that have compounded economic problems from the Great Recession ever since their adoption in 2008.

The proposed legislation addresses hyper-detailed administrative requirements that have created a cumbersome process for revising ALL of the adopted wastewater treatment plans, not just the few plans that could reasonably characterized as “outdated.”  This administrative process requires extensive work on the part of the counties to attempt to predict with precision exactly where development will occur in each of our State’s 566 municipalities decades in advance. The 2008 rules then require each county to use those predictions to identify exactly where public sewers would continue to support development, where septic systems would be permissible and where no wastewater services would be provided.  This State mandate is expensive and labor intensive, and has failed to meet its own objectives.  More pointedly, the paperwork created by the process does not improve the quality of our environment.  To the contrary, the current administrative process is an obstacle to allowing sound redevelopment and new development that comply with our more modern environmental protections.

Under the current burdensome administrative process, all 21 counties were required to prepare their intensively detailed countywide plans by April 2009. As a starting point, each county was asked to reconcile the draft sewer service area maps provided by NJDEP. But the materials and instructions provided by NJDEP included bad data and factual mistakes and were based on faulty assumptions.  Existing and approved projects were slated to be removed from the maps while landowners were kept in the dark.  Fortunately, the counties held meetings where the general public could review and refute the draft maps.  Unfortunately, however, many landowners were unaware – and many remain unaware – that their properties were being removed from the maps since no individualized notice is required under the current rules. 

The ongoing process to develop accurate “ground truth” maps has been difficult.  It is now nearly three years later and only two counties (Hudson and Monmouth) have submitted plans to the State for approval – plans that are far from perfect.  Despite diligent efforts by all counties, a significant amount of work remains to be done before new wastewater management plans can be in place. But this is only part of the problem that must be fixed.

The 2008 WQMP rules also paid no heed to broader State Planning goals, such as fostering sustainable economic growth, planning for center-based development, creating jobs, and meeting workforce housing needs.  These are goals that cannot be met without adequate sewer and water infrastructure.  New Jersey needs to plan for where growth should take place and how that development should be designed to promote economically viable, sustainable communities.  Instead, the administrative system created by the 2008 WQMP rules simply focuses on the retraction of sewer service based on a narrow set of flawed environmental data.  This flawed process must be stopped in its tracks.

Credit must be given to NJDEP in recognizing that the program adopted in 2008 is flawed.  NJDEP has granted short-term extensions to counties on a case-by-case basis. But given the current state of our economy and every affected landowner’s basic need for certainty and predictability, such ad hoc extensions must give way to the sort of uniform extension set forth in A-4335/ S-3156 .  Such an extension is especially critical given one of the most troublesome aspects of the 2008 WQMP rules – the claim that NJDEP has the authority to rescind all sewer service areas without consideration for broader State Planning goals.  If NJDEP were to exercise that power, the withdrawal of sewer service areas would be catastrophic for New Jersey’s economy. 

A-4335/ S-3156 would prohibit NJDEP from rescinding wastewater service area designations for a limited time period as the plans continue to be developed – and as the new Office for Planning Advocacy works with the State Planning Commission to finalize a new State Strategic Plan for New Jersey’s future.  Such assurance is necessary for landowners who are concerned about the status of their properties, as well as for those with financial commitments from lenders and investors. An extension of time will also allow NJDEP and the counties, both of which are operating under constrained conditions, to ensure that the plans are accurate and are in the best interest of New Jersey and its economic recovery.

The opposition to this legislation is based on misdirected and inaccurate statements.  The opponents of this legislation would lead you to believe that this initiative would somehow rescind all environmental regulations and lead to unfettered development.  To the contrary, this bill does not in any way affect the dozens of regulatory protections or programs in place in New Jersey.  All of the reams of regulations prohibiting and limiting development in or near environmentally sensitive areas would remain in place.  Moreover, the current WQM Plans will continue to be in place only until the new plans are adopted. Lastly, all development applications must still satisfy stringent requirements from multiple agencies including planning and zoning boards, local and county utility authorities, regional planning agencies, and numerous State and federal agencies.

New Jersey requires a comprehensive, statewide approach to planning.  How we treat our wastewater is a critical component of our approach to planning, but wastewater planning is only one part of a broader approach.  Our wastewater planning needs to address the dual-planning objectives of protecting New Jersey’s water while also encouraging growth in the appropriate places and at the appropriate densities.  The current WQMP rules are not designed to achieve this dual objective and are fundamentally unfair because they ignore regional planning objectives, usurp local and regional zoning, and impose a burdensome regulatory process that has stifled economic growth.

The Christie Administration and Legislature should be applauded for recognizing that the current WQMP regulatory process does not meet its intended goals. The proposed legislation is an interim solution that will help fuel New Jersey’s economic engine while maintaining our existing water quality protections. 

Ted Zangari is Founder of the Smart Growth Economic Development Coalition, a group of over 30 organizations whose goal is to promote long-term redevelopment, smart growth and economic stimulus initiatives within New Jersey.