While New Jersey Governor-elect Chris Christie hasn’t had much to say about transportation, the planning organization NJ Future points out that he’s put forth some promising rhetoric when it comes to development. On NJ Future’s Garden State Smart Growth blog, Dan Fatton takes a look at some responses Christie gave to a smart growth questionnaire:

• On managing growth statewide: “We have to promote efficient development patterns if we are going to minimize the impact of development in environmentally sensitive areas …”
• On encouraging growth in centers: “It is absolutely critical that we recognize the value of the existing and historic infrastructure that already exists within our urban centers and focus our efforts on restoring these communities.”
• On promoting redevelopment: “As part of my plan to bring back New Jersey’s cities, we will provide incentives for developers to restore existing buildings while at the same time providing immediate incentives for families to move back to our urban centers. We need to focus on improving the existing infrastructure of our cities with the intent of making them an attractive place for people to live.”
• On reining in sprawl and preserving open space: “All of these efforts are possible if we refocus our efforts away from suburban sprawl that continues to erode our open space and farmlands, while costing billions for new roads and transportation systems. We will focus all of the existing incentive programs back to our cities; remove the regulatory constraints that have blocked previous efforts to rebuild while we improve on the old infrastructure and economic base. These efforts will enable us to preserve our rural legacy while restoring our economy and putting our residents back to work.”

But succeeding will be difficult, NJ Future says, if Christie doesn’t beef up the state’s planning staff. According to Fatton, “[New Jersey’s State Planning Commission] continues to function with half its public and local government seats unfilled, and the [Office of Smart Growth] has been left with a skeleton staff. Meanwhile, the required update of the State Development and Redevelopment Plan is five years overdue.” Tri-State and NJ Future are among 16 organizations that have called on the next governor to strengthen the state planning agencies.