APA Petition is live! - Communities with Colleges Coalition

The New Jersey chapter of the American Planning Association just launched a petition in opposition to bills S1534 / A2586.

This bill would exempt private colleges and universities from any kind of land use oversight and from requirements for compliance with local zoning codes under the Municipal Land Use Law. It would eliminate the careful review that local planning boards and boards of zoning adjustment conduct when evaluating land use applications.

This would cause more rather than less conflict between universities and the municipalities in which they are located. It would deprive local zoning boards of home rule, which means that tax payers essentially lose their say in what their town looks like. Since private institutions will have the right to build or construct without any municipal oversight or control, they will do so on property they currently own or acquire in the future. There will be no checks and balances in effect , nor will there be any recourse possible when dorms, parking lots, fences, etc will be constructed. This puts any home owners’ property value at serious risk!

Please sign the petition and spread this news to your contacts in NJ:

http://www.change.org/petitions/oppose-new-jersey-assembly-bill-no-2586-s-1534