No conflict between environment, economy

Ted Zangari, Smart Growth Economic Development Coalition
   The bi-partisan Permit Extension Act is a much needed piece of legislation that will help jump-start New Jersey’s ailing economy and put people back to work.
   It will allow good and viable projects to move forward, thereby stimulating economic growth and creating jobs. The fact is, the Permit Extension Act respects New Jersey’s tough environmental standards, promotes smart growth and cleans up polluted “brownfields” with the tab picked up by the private sector rather than taxpayers.
   The bill’s opponents serve up little more than outdated scare tactics and misleading statements. Trenton lobbyist Michele Byers offered a cute analogy in her recently published opinion piece entitled “Lawmakers should reject Permit Extension Act” in which she craftily avoids certain facts and distorts others because she would like you to believe that permit extension is bad for New Jersey and bad for the environment – and that is fundamentally false.
   The Smart Growth Economic Development Coalition — a broad-based group ofrespected civic, business, economic, smart growth, planning, labor, and redevelopment organizations — offers our fellow New Jerseyans a clearer, morediverse point of view, and would like to correct some of Ms. Byers’ misstatements.
   In her opinion piece, Ms. Byers uses the analogy of perishable foods in a refrigerator to describe permits. But who doesn’t freeze perishables to prolong their shelf life, particularly when money is tight and these items are otherwise still perfectly good?
   Permit extension simply freezes these expiring permits for a few years so they can thaw out as soon as New Jersey’s economy begins to rebound. In fact, with extended permits, these projects will contribute to New Jersey’s economic recovery.
   If you’ve ever put a small addition on your house you know how cumbersome governmental approvals and bureaucracy can be. Now imagine all that red tape on a larger scale, directly affecting hundreds of projects and thousands of jobs.
   The building and environmental permitting process in New Jersey can take five years or more to complete and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars as permits are needed from any combination of governing and regulatory bodies from the municipal through the county and to the State levels. In fact, Assemblyman Louis Greenwald, D-Camden, a prime sponsor of this legislation, stated that the same permits that can be approved in a matter of minutes in other states can take upwards of a year and a half to get approved in New Jersey.
   It is widely acknowledged that New Jersey has the most stringent environmental regulations in the country, so to say that this bill, by simply prolonging the shelf life of perfectly good and already approved permits for viable projects, “guts environmental rules” is just plain false. In fact, it is irresponsible and misleading to make such a claim. The permits that would be impacted by this piece of legislation have already met or exceeded all environmental and regulatory standards in place at the time they were reviewed and granted, and this legislation would extended them for a defined period of time — not 16 years.
   Furthermore, some of these projects will remediate contaminated sites, redevelop blighted urban areas, re-invigorate our communities, and employ our skilled laborers in the process of creating green jobs.
   It is unfortunate that special interest lobbyists like Ms. Byers continue reverting to sensationalism and scare tactics to invoke fear within ourcommunities and our citizens.
   The “growth versus environment” argument is old. We don’t buy into it, and neither should you.
   These permits were granted after having being exhaustively reviewed against stringent environmental regulations — not from 10 or 20 years ago, but from two years ago or even less.
   It’s simply not an “either or” argument, and it’s not “all or nothing.” We are all environmentally conscious, and these permits uphold the regulations by whichthey were judged.
   That being said, we are also realists. We realize our state’s economy is malfunctioning like an old and inefficient refrigerator, in the process allowing permits to spoil during tough economic times through absolutely no fault or wrong-doing on the part of those who put so much of their time and energy into obtaining them.
   We all want clean air to breathe, clean water to drink and open spaces to enjoy with our families, but we also want an affordable place to call home and raise a family. Together, we are seeking to balance quality of life objectives with the dire need to create jobs, attract new businesses, retain our residents, and “grow smart” in urban centers and suburban downtowns, on “brownfields” and “portfields” and around transit hubs.
   Permit extension is not anyone’s special interest. It’s everyone’s best interest.
Ted Zangari is the founder of the Smart Growth Economic Development Coalition and a redevelopment lawyer at Sills Cummis & Gross.