Sandy Causes New Jersey to Rethink Long-Range Planning

Salvador Rizzo reports that just as it was about to go before the state's Planning Commission for final approval, after more than a year of development, Gov. Chris Christie's "State Strategic Plan" has been "sent back to the drawing board."

"At a news conference today," writes Rizzo, "Christie said the long-awaited plan, which is intended to replace the guidelines established in 2001, would take up to six more months to update and complete."

"It made sense for us to put it off and to reconsider it in light of some of the new challenges that have been presented by the storm and the aftermath of the storm," the governor said.

Although a revised version of the plan was released last weekend, it has already come in for criticism from Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. "[He] and others have said Christie's plan would weaken measures to protect land and clean water and loosen regulations for developers."

"The plan promotes development in the wrong places and does nothing to protect people in the future from flooding, storm surges, sea level rise, and other consequences of climate change," Tittel said. "We are glad the plan was held today and hope significant changes are made."