Interest in planning for sustainable communities has dramatically increased in the past few years in New Jersey. It has been estimated that as much as 60% of the content of sustainability efforts will need to be addressed at a local level (Selman, 1996). Conversely, although different communities have different priorities and needs, local sustainability is always contingent on sustainability at higher levels. Therefore, it is necessary to translate knowledge of sustainability imperatives and ecological limits that manifest at the global and regional levels into understanding and action at the local level.

New Jersey Sustainable State Institute is currently working with a number of communities to develop new models and implement sustainable community plans. Recent projects include Highland Park, Trenton, Hillsborough and Princeton. With each community we are creating comprehensive strategic plans for sustainable development that set goals for the future, use indicators to track progress, and develop action plans that have roles for local government, citizens, businesses, schools, and civic organizations. Each plan is created as part of a public dialogue that incorporates local desires for the future and an understanding of the impact every community has on regional and global sustainability issues such as urban sprawl and global warming.

Mayors’ Committee for a Green Future
The Green Future Roadmap is a resource designed to facilitate local progress toward sustainable development and municipal greening. The Roadmap will be a comprehensive suite of tools, resources and incentives to motivate and guide New Jersey municipalities toward a green future. In addition, the Roadmap will have “criteria” that can be used to evaluate the sustainability efforts of New Jersey municipalities, encompassing issues such as global warming, pollution, biodiversity, buying local and sustainable agriculture.

The Green Future Roadmap is an initiative of the Mayors’ Committee for a Green Future (MCGF), which is a committee of the New Jersey State League of Municipalities. The MCGF’s mission is to “Make New Jersey green, one municipality at a time.” This will be accomplished by local action on the environment in the areas of: water, air, transportation, toxics, energy consumption, waste, land use, conservation and health. The MCGF co-chairs of the are Highland Park Mayor Meryl Frank and Maplewood Deputy Mayor for the Environment Fred Profeta.

The Green Future Roadmap will:

• Create measurable criteria defining what communities must achieve to be considered green and sustainable.
• Provide guidance and tools to enable communities to make progress on those issues.
• Identify and create, as necessary, incentives for municipalities that are making progress toward the criteria.

The ultimate goal of the MCGF is to provide NJ League of Municipalities certification to “green communities” that make meaningful progress toward a green and sustainable future. To ensure that the Roadmap is technically sound and widely accepted, the MCGF is working with a number of partners and supporting organizations, including the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, the Municipal Land Use Center at the College of New Jersey, the New Jersey Sustainable State Institute at Rutgers, and the Rutgers Center for Green Building. The MCGF and supporting partners have convened a Sustainable Communities Working Group (SCWG) to support the development of criteria, tools, resources and incentives that municipalities can implement to become green and sustainable. The working Group consists of over 40 New Jersey leaders, experts and organizations including state agencies, non-profit organizations, and businesses.

Funding for this effort is being provided by the G. R. Dodge Foundation and the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, Office of Smart Growth.

A New Jersey Mayor learns about the solar panels installed on a Highland Park Municipal roof.

Highland Park
Highland Park, NJ, created a Green Community Plan (with the help of NJSSI) as a means to measure and track the community’s progress towards achieving their sustainability-related goals over time. The plan formalizes and augments the many sustainability-related activities and policies that Highland Park has implemented over the years, thus allowing citizens to more readily observe and understand the effects that their actions have on the environment and community.

Beginning in July 2006, Highland Park’s Green Community Working Group and NJSSI began developing unique and relevant sustainability goals. Five goal areas of key importance were: 1) Healthy Environment, 2) Healthy People, 3) Strong Community, 4) Convenient Transportation, and 5) Fairness and Equity. Each goal includes objectives that the community has highlighted as important sub-goals.

The building blocks of this green strategic plan and resulting goals include municipal planning documents, Rutgers analytical reports on Highland Park, and precedents from other communities as well as the current national literature. These goals, coupled with objectives, are meant to en-courage those from all facets of the community, including municipal government, individuals and families, school children, local businesses, and not-for-profit organizations, to participate in the Green Community Plan initiatives. The plan also consists of a comprehensive set of indicators for sustainable development and will identify a cohesive set of policies and objectives to improve the sustainability of Highland Park.

NJSSI also worked with Highland Park as the community kicked off the Green Challenge, an initiative that empowers citizens to take an active role in promoting sustainability primarily at the household level. This initiative is part of the larger educational outreach project to build public support for the Highland Park 2020 agenda and the Green Community Plan. In addition, NJSSI created the Green Highland Park website, which included information about the creation of the Green Community Plan, an online green discussion forum, green living tips for residents, and information about Highland Park’s Green Challenges.

Highland Park´s Eugene Young Enviromental Learning Center with its green roof.

Maplewood
Maplewood has a long tradition of leadership in environmental initiatives-from the 10-year old jitney program, to the recycling program and the new Police and Court Building, which will be the first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEEDTM) certified municipal public building in New Jersey.

Their recent Green Day fair, held October 6, 2007, was inspired by the planning around the development of Maplewood’s Environmental Action Plan. Maplewood was selected by Clean Air Cool Planet as one of a few municipalities in the country to qualify for a grant to offset in the costs of compiling the Action Plan.

Other initiatives include:
Maplewood Environmental Advisory Committee Climate-Change Action Plan—On June, 9, 2007, a community Town Hall meeting on the Action Plan was attended by over 100 people who provided the vision and ideas for the plan. The intention is to reduce Maplewood’s greenhouse gas impact by 20 percent in the next few years.

Energy Star Change a Light Bus Tour—Maplewood was selected as a stop on the Energy Star Change a Light Bus Tour on October 18, 2007, focusing on the importance of choosing Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs (CFLs) as a first step toward energy efficiency.

Jennifer Senick is Executive Director at Rutgers Center for Green Building.
Randy Solomon is Executive Director at the New Jersey Sustainable State Institute.
Medea Villeré is Project Assistant at the New Jersey Sustainable State Institute/ Rutgers Center for Green Building.