A Letter from NAIOP New Jersey President
Jeffrey J. Milanaik
Dear
NAIOP Members and Prospective Members:
NAIOP New Jersey gets
results.
Although
the recession dominated the year, NAIOP members stood together to speak as one
voice on behalf of our industry. Working with the business and labor leaders
that make up the Smart Growth Economic Development Coalition, we achieved major objectives over the past 18
months: the Permit Extension Act of 2008; the Licensed Site Remediation
Professionals program; and the multifaceted New Jersey Economic Stimulus Act,
which makes more businesses eligible for the Urban Transit Hub Tax Credit (UTHTC)
program, suspends the Non-Residential Developer COAH Fee, creates an Economic
Redevelopment and Growth (ERG) grant program to encourage developers to invest
in targeted areas around the State, and permits colleges and universities to
attract private capital to help build student housing, classrooms, parking and
other needed facilities.In January of this year, outgoing Governor Jon Corzine signed NAIOP-supported legislation to extend the Permit Extension
Act to keep permits and
approvals alive through December 31, 2012. Most recently, Governor Chris Christie signed the Time of Application bill into law... the result of a dozen years of effort.
These
important measures are already making a difference, but there is much more work
to be done. With your help, in the coming months we
can advance NAIOP New Jersey’s
key public policy priorities:
- A stable and dedicated source of funding for the
Transportation Trust Fund.
- Further reform COAH to eliminate growth share for
non-residential construction and eliminate non-residential fees.
- Regulatory reform to eliminate costly duplicative reviews at
government agencies and streamline permits.
- Reform the State Planning process to integrate all state
planning functions into one agency to provide consistency and predictability to
the development process.
- Revise the Municipal Land Use Law to allow for Vertical
General Development Permits and Air Rights.
- Improve critical business incentives (e.g., the ERG grant
and UTHTC) by allowing for the carry forward of tax credits incurred and
potential for state to purchase these tax credits by setting up a bank.
- Protect and enhance the logistics industry which accounts
for 11% of the state GDR through Port Support Zones that facilitate and
simplify development permits and improvements in the port regions.
While advocacy is at the core of NAIOP’s mission, we
are committed to providing you with outstanding education, business development
and networking opportunities. We actually increased the number of events in
2009, and plan to do so again in 2010. Despite the recession, membership is
growing at a brisk pace among the younger generation of Developing Leaders
(under 35 years old), and Corporate Membership has increased. NAIOP membership is still
the best investment you can make for your business and your career.
Governor Chris Christie has made great strides so far, but difficult economic challenges continue. NAIOP was very involved with the transition, meeting with Transition Team officials,
incoming legislative leaders and staff to discuss our legislative and
regulatory priorities. We look forward to continuing to work with the Christie Administration
and the legislature to develop and enact sound public policies that will boost
our economy, promote urban redevelopment, make needed improvements to our
transportation infrastructure and keep New
Jersey working.
Jeffrey J. Milanaik
President, Heller Industrial Parks
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