‘Smart growth' office hosts public hearing on county growth plan

NEWTON - The Office of Smart Growth of the N.J. Dept. of Community Affairs will conduct a public hearing on the Sussex County Strategic Growth Plan to receive public comment on the county’s petition for initial plan endorsement. The hearing will be held at 6 p.m. tonight (Thursday, June 1) in the Freeholder meeting room at the Sussex County Administrative Center, located at One Spring St. in Newton. Sussex County is the first county in the state to submit a county-wide plan to the State Planning Commission. The county has a history of being active with the commission, most recently in 2004 with the “regional center” designations in Branchville, Byram and Newton-Hampton. Plan endorsement is the state commission’s comprehensive planning process that coordinates planning activities among state agencies and local governments. It was developed to provide technical assistance and coordination for municipalities, counties, regional and state agencies to meet the goals of the State Planning Act. The end product of plan endorsement is to achieve more center-based growth and more coordination between state investment and local planning. Interested parties and members of the public are encouraged to attend the public hearing. Comments may be provided orally and in written form at the hearing. In addition, the public may provide comments at any time until the State Planning Commission takes final action on the petition. Comments can be sent electronically to OSGmail@dca.state.nj.us or to spcchairman@dca.state.nj.us, and may also be sent by regular mail to the NJDCA, Office of Smart Growth, 101 South Broad St., P.O. Box 204, Trenton, NJ 08625-0204. Interested parties may register with the Office of Smart Growth to receive notification of planning commission meetings, hearings or other plan endorsement matters, by filing a request to OSGmail@dca.state.nj.us, specifying the subject matter requested, and by providing the party’s contact information, including name, organization (if applicable), and address. The petition is available for public inspection between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, at the county planning division office, also located at One Spring St. in Newton. The petition is also posted on the Office of Smart Growth Web site at www.nj.gov.