Beyond the Permit Extension Act, the Coalition's legislative agenda includes changes to the State Planning Commission that would make that body citizen-based, with all commissioners being public members. Another proposal would amend the Revenue Allocation District Financing Act to broaden revenue sources, and another would expand the state's Brownfields Program to designated "smart growth" areas.

The group also proposes to amend the Urban Transit Hub Tax Credit program to lower the project cost for eligibility while adding more locations to the existing nine cities that qualify. Another proposal would create a fund to bridge the gap when state BEIP and BRAG grants, tied to creation and retention of jobs, are sufficient to match incentives offered by competing states.

The Coalition also wants to transfer the Smart Growth Ombudsman office from the Department of Community Affairs to the Governor's office as a streamlining measure; create independent science and policy review boards, for oversight purposes, within the New Jersey DEP; streamline the brownfield review process; and expand the "vertical" general development plan approval program for mixed-use projects to "smart growth" areas and to sites of less than 100 acres.

And two other proposals are still being debated internally by Coalition members. One would eliminate the "time of decision" rule, freezing local ordinances in place as they exist when a development application is formally submitted to a municipal land use board. The other would provide for the sale at auction of restricted liquor licenses as a means of generating private investment.

"A vote against this legislation means the clean-up of fewer contaminated sites, fewer groundbreakings, less sales and income tax revenue, fewer jobs, less urban renewal and fewer affordable housing units," Zangari says. "Most importantly, 'no' means a lack of vision for New Jersey's future."