From the Director's Desk

I recently attended the 7th Annual Smart Growth National Conference in Washington D.C. The conference featured a wide range of participants from throughout the country who shared experiences related to smart growth implementation. The conference included over 96 sessions over a three-day period. (More...)

MLUC@TCNJ Receives Form-based Code Grant

MLUC@TCNJ received a grant for $450,000 from NJDOT to promote municipal “form-based codes” among municipalities in New Jersey. The grant contracts were signed and work commenced in January 2008.

What are form-based codes? (More...)

MLUC@TCNJ Participates in Trenton Brownfields Program

Since July 2007, MLUC@TCNJ Director Martin Bierbaum has been participating as a member of the Brownfields Environmental Solutions for Trenton (BEST) Advisory Council.

The Advisory Council serves to provide expert advice to City of Trenton staff with respect to contaminated site remediation and redevelopment. (More...)

Asbury Park – MLUC@TCNJ Supports Its New Shade of Green

As a “comeback coastal town,” Asbury Park is sporting a new shade of green in at least a couple of ways. It has formed The Asbury Park Sustainability Committee to guide its redevelopment in more environmentally sensitive ways. The greenbacks it has recently received from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation to underwrite its continuing work provides another green dimension. (More...)

Delaware Township Considers TDR

Transfer Development Rights (TDR) has been a perennial topic in Delaware Township for as much as the past decade. Lately, the discussion has become both more serious and focused. With a bit help from MLUC@TCNJ it may soon become a reality. (More...)

MLUC@TCNJ Supports Mayors’ Committee for a Green Future

MLUC@TCNJ supported the successful hosting of the third business meeting and workshop of the New Jersey League of Municipalities’ Mayors’ Committee for a Green Future. The combination meeting/workshop took place at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University on January 29, 2008. MLUC@TCNJ, along with the New Jersey Sustainable State Institute (NJSSI), an Institute within the Bloustein School and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection—Office of Planning and Sustainable Communities have been providing technical support to this Mayors’ Committee. The professed goal of the Committee is to “Make New Jersey green, one municipality at a time.”  (More...)

Student Design Winners Announced “FOR NJ”

As part of the Technology Student Association’s Fall Leadership Conference, talented middle-school and high school technology students from across New Jersey took part in a competition to design a logo and re-name the “Food Waste Recycling Initiative.”  Over 60 students submitted graphic art designs for a logo and new name for the environmental organization, which is a partnership spearheaded by the Solid Waste Resource and Recovery Group at Rutgers, NJ, and which includes the Municipal Land Use Center at the College of New Jersey, as well as community partners who are both “generators” and “processors” of the food and organics. (More...)  

MLUC@TCNJ Organizes Focus the Nation Teach-in

MLUC@TCNJ organized a TCNJ campus-wide teach-in on January 31, 2008, entitled “Focus the Nation: Global Warming Solutions for America.” The teach-in on the Ewing Township campus was part of a nationwide event that involved over 1,000 educational institutions, civic associations and faith-based groups. Its purpose was to serve as a catalyzing force to focus a national conversation on global warming and climate change. Approximately 150 TCNJ students participated in the event. (More...)

MLUC@TCNJ Convenes Transit-interested Towns

However the State Legislature votes on Governor Corzine’s recently unveiled toll-based fiscal restructuring proposal, public transportation in New Jersey promises to increase its importance in the foreseeable future. Aside from the proposed toll hikes, the spike in gasoline prices over the past three years has changed the public’s calculus leading to increased NJ Transit ridership.  (More...)