Whoever wins the tight New Jersey governor’s race will have done so after a grueling, hard-fought campaign. But the victor will then face the even more challenging task of maintaining the state’s prosperity, which will require smart management of the state’s land and water. To that end, 16 New Jersey environmental, housing, and planning groups, including the Tri-State Campaign, have released a comprehensive agenda for the state’s next governor.

The platform’s transportation elements include:

• A call for “complete streets that serve the needs of everyone — pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and transit riders,” and a reauthorization of the state’s Transportation Trust Fund that emphasizes transit-supportive land use.
• The development of “an effective state and regional land use planning framework for development patterns that reduce carbon emissions from heating and cooling and transportation.”
• Reform of the state’s Council on Affordable Housing in order to support compact, affordable development “while respecting environmental constraints,” as opposed to greenfield construction.
• Passage of a short-term open space funding measure, and the establishment of a long-term means to fund open space acquisition and capital improvements that will help protect the state’s natural resources.

The full platform, which was mailed to Gov. Jon Corzine and rival candidates Chris Christie and Chris Daggett earlier this month. The broad coalition of groups which wrote the platform called for smart use of federal stimulus funds in May.