11:374/015:434 LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND THE ENVIRONMENT Fall, 2004
TH4, 5 1:10-4:10 131 Blake 8/30/04
Department/Course Web Site: http://aesop.rutgers.edu/~humeco/
Click on Courses and this web site gives you digital access to a copy of the course syllabus (with links), homework assignments (with links), and whatever else I decide to put on it.
Computer Lab: 221 Blake Hall
If you are registered for this course and/or are an EPIB major you have access to the lab that we share with the LA program 231 Blake Hall. A number of useful data files are available only on the lab network including the National Dam Inventory and the State's Known Contaminated Sites Database (see below).
Instructor: Professor George E.B. Morren, Jr., Department of Human Ecology, 208 Cook Office Building, Office hours: M 3rd Period., Telephone: 732/932-9153 x315, E-Mail: morren@crssa.rutgers.edu
Texts:
Powers & Duties of the Municipal Governing Body. New Brunswick, NJ, Center for Government Services, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning & Public Policy, 1997.
The Environmental Manual for Municipal Officials, 2nd Ed., Mendham, NJ, Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions (1998)
Course Overview:
Local government on the sharp edge of environmental action, health and safety. Organization and functioning of governing bodies with particular reference to New Jersey. Its role in such areas as resource management (including land use planning), hazard mitigation, contaminated site remediation and use, water quality, environmental and heath regulation, and emergency management. Relations with state and federal agencies.
The course addresses two main gaps in the awareness of citizens (including students), the nature of local government and its key role in assuring the physical well being of residents.
The course will address a series of topics in the classroom in a lecture-discussion-student report format. We will use many guest lecturers drawn from the public sector of local, state, and federal officials as well as the private/voluntary sectors who will bring their experience and training to bear on particular topics.
I plan to assign the same informational resources that are available to and likely to be used by local officials including a text used in a course Rutgers offers to local officials as well as publications and web-publications of government agencies and voluntary organizations such as the New Jersey League of Municipalities and the Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions.
Course Requirements:
Organized in 2-person interdisciplinary teams, students will select a particular locality and carry out research on its organization and operations with particular reference to past and present environmental problems and issues. Repeated visits to the locality you select, including attendance at the meetings of relevant governing bodies or boards and interviews with appropriate officials, employees, and residents is mandatory.
The research teams will be organized in Week 2 of the semester on the basis of information developed during the Week 1 meeting. The aim is to have teams that are diverse as to majors and career goals. Teams will be self-organizing around assigned tasks, particularly the term research projects. Students will meet face-to-face and/or digitally (for example, using the course bulleting board) to decide on tasks, individual work assignments, exchange information, report progress and problems. In addition, students will evaluate each other’s performances within the teams and in class presentations. Teams will present their preliminary findings in weeks 7 and 8 final reports during weeks 13 and 14, with written reports due in the instructors office on Wednesday of the first final exam week (hard copy and digital copy). Final reports will be in a form appropriate to posting on the course web site.
The preliminary, mid-terms report will focus on how a particular locality is organized to carry out the basic functions of local governments and will also introduce the range of environmental issues the locality is facing currently. You will be provided with an outline of the kinds of topics the report might cover.
The final report will incorporate the “high points” of the preliminary report while focusing on how your locality has gone about addressing one of more of its most important environmental issues.
The League of Women Voters maintains a web site to facilitate citizen involvement in the democratic process. It includes a guide to government and links (and contact numbers) for state and local governments. http://www.lwvnj.org/
The New Jersey State League of Municipalities provides services to most of the cities and towns of the state that are its members including notice of relevant Federal; and State legislation, and just surfacing problems and issues. It also facilitates the exchange of information and experience among towns. Its web page has links to municipalities and offers other information such as a description of local government in New Jersey. It publishes a magazine, Municipalities, received by most local officials. http://www.njslom.org/
City Connections is a commercial site that offers services to government and business including links to various (but not all) towns and government agencies. http://www.cityconnections.com/
The National League of Cities is a national level group that was founded by some of the state-level leagues. It represents 49 state leagues and 1,500 member cities in addition to the 18,000 municipalities belonging to the state organizations. The web page offers a variety of links, services and sources. http://www.nlc.org/
New Jersey On-line is a commercial site owned by the Star-Ledger of Newark that mounts lots of advertising and entertainment stuff while also providing connections to community and municipal web sites (click community connections), current news organized by town name, and even chat rooms organized by county. http://www.nj.com/
EPA’s National Superfund List organized by state and locality http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/
Index of Watershed Indicators is an EPA site that allows you to find "your" watershed and look at data reporting on its quality. Unhappily, the Republicans seem to have killed it. You can ‘visit’ its archived .pdf form using this link. This is only one of several separate EPA databases that you can [try to] tap for local environmental quality assessments.
http://www.epa.gov/305b/2000report/
National Geographic Society web site on suburban sprawl and the “New Urbanism.” Images depict the attributes and problems of each type of community.
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/earthpulse/sprawl
NJ Department of Environmental Protection for information on a variety of topics including the Greenacres program, and environmental quality issues.
Students can also gain access to the following databases from this page directly:
Data Links: New Jersey Dam Inventory NJNID
New Jersey Former Military Facilities
My [GM’s] Annotated Superfund List 1999
Week 1: 2 September Introducing the course. Subject matter. Organization of the course. Student information gathering. Information sources for local government, issues, and the State of New Jersey.
Handouts: Syllabus; Student Information Form
Week 2: 9 September Organization of Teams. What do we mean by 'environment?' What do we mean by ‘local government?’ What does local government do?
Handout: Town Profile Form.
Read: Chapters 1 ‘Environmental Issues’ & 2 ‘Local Governing Body’ In: Environmental Manual, pp. 1-35.
Chapter 7, ‘Municipal Utilities Authority’, In: Environmental Manual, pp. 81-88.
Harris Effross, County Governing Bodies in New Jersey. New Brunswick, Rutgers University Press (1975); Chapter 1 (pp. 3-6), Chapter 15 (pp. 270-294) Electronic Reserve
Week 3: 16 September Local Government Forms, Types & Problems
*Guest Speaker: Michael Cerra, New Jersey State League of Municipalities
Review Website: http://www.njslom.org/
Read: Reock: Forms of Municipal Government in New Jersey’ In: Powers & Duties; pp. 1-17.
‘The Faulkner Act: N.J.’s Optional Municipal Charter Law ‘In: Powers & Duties; C1 –C22 & Appendices C-1 & C-2
Alan Karcher, ‘Municipal Madness: The Myth of Home Rule and the Case for Municipal Consolidation.’ New Jersey Reporter: November 1998, Volume 28, Number 3, pages 24-31 Electronic Reserve [excerpt from Alan Karcher, New Jersey's Multiple Municipal Madness. Chang Reserve]
Michael Jennings, What's in a Name New Jersey Towns Fight the Urge to Merge and Michelle Ruess ‘Into Oblivion’ New Jersey Reporter: May-June 1997 Volume 27, Number 1, pages 28-32 Electronic Reserve
Mark J. Magyar, ‘Whitman's Regionalization Pitch.’ New Jersey Reporter: February 1999, Volume 28, Number 6, page 2 Electronic Reserve
Phyllis Spinelli, ‘Fire Companies Blaze the Way on Regionalization: Merger of fire services in 5 Hudson towns promises tax savings and faster responses.’ New Jersey Reporter: February 1999, Volume 28, Number 6, pages 16-23. Electronic Reserve
Week 4: 23 September Economics of Sprawl and Preservation
Guest Speaker: Joe Seneca, University Professor, Bloustein School
Read: James W. Hughes & Joseph Seneca, "Then and Now: Sixty Years of Economic Change in New Jersey" and
James W. Hughes & Joseph Seneca, "The Beginning of the End of Sprawl?"
Available at the Bloustein School web site: www.policy.rutgers.edu
Click on "Faculty" Click on "S" Scroll to Joe Seneca
Click on the paper titles
Supplemental Material on Sprawl:
Thomas Rudel, Situations and Strategies in American Land-use Planning. Cambridge (U.K), Cambridge University Press (1989); Chapters 1-3 (pp. 1-51) Chang Reserve
Joel Garreau, Edge City: Life on the New Frontier. New York, Anchor/Doubleday (1991) , Chapters 1 & 2, pp. 1-68. Electronic Reserve See also critique:
Samuel M. Hamill, Jr., ‘A New Approach to Land Use Regulation: Controlling Sprawl in New Jersey.’ New Jersey Reporter: April 1999, Volume 28, Number 8, pages 32-36 Electronic Reserve
Adesoji O. Adelaja & Brian J. Schilling, ‘Innovative Approaches to Farmland Preservation.’ in “Contested Countryside: the Rural Urban Fringe in North America”, Owen Furuseth and Mark Lapping (eds.). Electronic Reserve
Review Websites: Public Opinion on Sprawl and Smart Growth in Southern New Jersey http://www.crab.rutgers.edu/~goertzel/sjgrowth.htm
And associated slide presentation on South Jersey http://crab.rutgers.edu/~goertzel/sj.htm
Sprawl Watch http://www.sprawlwatch.org/
Sprawl Busters (anti-Walmart!) http://www.sprawl-busters.com/
Sprawl-related articles from the Planning Commisioners’ Journal http://www.plannersweb.com/articles/sprawl-articles.html
Week 5: 30 September Planning and the Environment: Environmental Commissions
Guest Speaker: Marvin Reed, New Jersey Downtown (former Mayor, Princeton Borough)
Review Website: http://www.anjec.org/
Read: Connors, ‘The Governing Body and Local Public Policy’ Powers & Duties; 68-75
Bizak, ‘The Governing Body’s Role in Planning and Zoning’ Powers & Duties; 83- 90
Chapter 3, ‘Planning Board and Zoning Board of Adjustment; Chapter 4, ‘Environmental Commission;’ Chapter 5, ‘Historic Preservation Commission;’ Chapter 14, ‘Special Preservation Areas;’ In: Environmental Manual, pp. 36-73, 164-173.
Joseph Maraziti & Herb Simmens, State Plan Creates Powerful Opportunities for Municipalities’ New Jersey Municipalities, October, 1999:68-73 Electronic Reserve
Sally Dudley, ‘The Critical Role of Local Environmental Commissions.’ New Jersey Municipalities, March, 1999: 14, 18, 20. Electronic Reserve
Lewis Goldshore & Sally Dudley, ‘Environmental Commissions at the Crossroads.’ New Jersey Municipalities, November, 1999:30, 32. Electronic Reserve
Review Websites:
http://www.michiganlanduse.org/resources/councilresources/Sample_State_Planning_Goals.pdf
http://www.sustainable.doe.gov/articles/simmons/COVER.PDF
Week 6: 7 October Open Space Preservation – Greenacres
Guest Speaker: Gary Rice, NJDEP Greenacres Program
Read: Chapter 13, ‘Land and Wildlife;’ In: Environmental Manual, pp. 148-163.
Review Website: http://www.state.nj.us/dep/greenacres/
Week 7: 14 October MID-TERM
Preliminary Student Reports
Week 8: 21 October The Politics of Deer Control
Guest Speaker: Mayor Phyllis Marchand, Princeton Township
Review Websites: Deer & People http://aesop.rutgers.edu/~deer/
New Jersey Residents’ Perception of Deer in the Suburbs http://aesop.rutgers.edu/~agecon/deer/
Princeton Township http://www.princetontwp.org/
Week 9: 28 October Municipalities and Watersheds
Noelle MacKay, Deputy Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association
Review Website: http://www.thewatershed.org/
Week 10: 4 November Environmental Quality and Local Communities (‘Superfund’)
Guest Speaker: John Frisco, EPA Region 2
Review Website: http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/
Read: Chapter 9, ‘Environmental Quality,’ In: Environmental Manual, pp. 99-110.
Jason Wilson, ‘Dredge We Must: Jobs vs. Environment in Newark Bay.’ New Jersey Reporter: May-June 1996, Volume 26, Number 1, pages 32-37. Electronic Reserve
Bruno Tedeschi, ‘Brownfields of Dreams: Chemical Industry Declares 'It ain't over.' New Jersey Reporter; March-April 1998, Volume 27, Number 6, pages 8-14. Electronic Reserve
Week 11: 11 November Municipal Finance
Guest Speaker: Bob Morrison, Municpal Auditor, Morrison & Hodulik, PA
Review Website: http://www.state.nj.us/dca/
Week 12: 18 November Summation: An Overview of Sprawl and Preservation
Yours truly!
THANKSGIVING
Week 13: 2 December Final Oral Reports
Week 14: 9 December Final Oral Reports