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Builders Denounce New Jersey Anti-Growth Plan

In his state of the state address, Gov. McGreevey proposed giving local jurisdictions broad authority to impose one-year building moratoriums. In a letter to the governor, NAHB President Kent Conine called that program “the worst sort of no-growth rhetoric masquerading as smart growth.”

In his letter, Conine complained that the governor has failed to consider the current and future housing needs of the citizens of his state.

From 1990 to 2002, New Jersey’s population grew by more than 840,000, an 11% increase, and only four new homes were built for every five new households that were started in the state during that period.

A growing imbalance between the need for housing and the actual supply has been reflected in home prices. They have jumped 11.79% over the past year, the third highest increase among the 50 states, according to the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight.

In addition to providing no-growth advocates with a powerful tool for stopping residential construction in its tracks for a full year, the governor has also put forth a highly restrictive zoning map that fails to provide enough land to accommodate the state’s growing population, Conine said.

The governor’s proposals “give priority to the environment over many social needs, and they fail to recognize the importance of housing to the quality of life of New Jersey’s residents,” Conine wrote.

In his letter, Conine said that home builders fully support the infill and brownfields development and urban reinvestment that the governor’s blueprint envisions for city centers and older suburbs. “However, your moratoria proposal and the unprecedented power you propose to grant local municipalities to act on NIMBY (not-in-my-backyard) impulses guarantees that your infill strategy will fail.”

For more information, e-mail Blake Smith or call him at 800-368-5242 x8583.

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