Changing the culture of state agencies

The New Jersey state plan calls for compact, mixed-use development, but the bureaucracy supports sprawl. Washington Town Center has forced officials to confront this inconsistency. When Washington Township created its town center plan, it applied for, and received, special endorsement from the State Planning Commission. The town center is a compact, walkable, mixed-use project of the type promoted by the State Plan. “Once the municipality gets that endorsement it is supposed to be clear sailing,” says Martin Bierbaum of the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA). “Unfortunately, Washington Town Center got caught in interdepartmental crossfire.” From a public policy perspective, the advantages of Washington Town Center seem obvious — a municipality under significant development pressure created a plan to save open space and build a center with unique character. In practice, the plan ran into massive entanglements. The most difficult involved state agencies, which in theory should have supported the project. “We thought because we had the support of the Planning Commission that the DOT (Department of Transportation) and DEP (Department of Environmental Protection) would treat us as a special case,” Melvin says. “But the reality is that the bureaucracy is not geared to dealing with the uniqueness of the project. Even though the governor and state planners support the project, the truth is that the people who actually review it are still operating under the same rules that favor conventional suburban development.” If similar projects are to move forward, Melvin argues that the regulatory playing field must be leveled. “There are incredible flaws in the state wetlands and highway laws which make traditional main streets illegal, and suburban developments attractive.” In early 1999, Bierbaum was appointed special assistant to the DCA commissioner with the task of resolving conflicts between state agencies and the state plan, and, more immediately, to help Washington Town Center progress. Bierbaum found deeply rooted resistance to permitting plans for new, mixed-use, walkable communities. The mission of the state DOT, for example, is to promote transportation safety and regional traffic flow — not to encourage the development of main streets like those built in New Jersey for 250 years (up to the 1920s). DOT’s street and road design standards need revision, a process which is likely to take years. Likewise, DEP’s goal is to enforce federal and state statutes and protect wetlands. DEP is set up to examine each piece of wetland development in isolation, not in context with a larger plan. Other state departments, such as DCA, Commerce, Treasury, and Agriculture have their own missions. “In some respects each mission is antithetical to the state plan,” says Bierbaum. “So the question is: how do we redefine the mission so that it is not antithetical to the state plan?” In order to solve the immediate deadlock of Washington Town Center, Bierbaum hosted a two-day workshop with state and township officials and other interested parties, led by a professional dispute resolution consultant. This helped to resolve differences and facilitate state permits. The more endemic problems in state departments call for a more ambitious strategy. Bierbaum organized focus groups in the six agencies — DOT, DEP, DCA, and the departments of treasury, commerce, and agriculture — that deal directly with planning and development. These focus groups, consisting of a cross-section of employees, explore: 1) ways that the agencies are, and are not, meeting the state plan; 2) officials’ concerns about the plan; and 3) what additional skills and training are needed for state employees to help make the plan a reality. From these focus groups, three main goals have been established. The first involves marketing, Bierbaum says. Agency employees are often unfamiliar with the state plan, and need to be educated. Secondly, they need guidance as to what actions are consistent, and inconsistent, with the state plan. Thirdly, forums or task forces must be created to enable better communication between agencies. Each agency now has a core group of people who understand the state plan and are comfortable with its goals. “We have the knowledge base, and now these people need to talk to others in their agency. This is going to take another step of motivation and energy.” Furthermore, most municipalities are not as progressive as Washington Township, and not all resistance to TND is on the state level. One of the biggest impediments to livable communities in New Jersey (and elsewhere) is local zoning laws. Conventional suburban development “is the way the state and municipalities have done business at least since World War II, and even before that,” Bierbaum says. “If we want to do smart growth, we will have to reform regulations at many levels.”