[UPDATE: The Portal Bridge/East Coast Greenway hearing has been postponed again.]

Two important New Jersey events that were snowed out last month have been rescheduled for the coming weeks.

New Jersey Future’s 2010 Redevelopment Forum — one of the state’s largest events for municipalities, developers, and advocates interested in smart growth — will now be March 19 from 8am to 3:45pm at the Hyatt Hotel in New Brunswick. The event’s keynote speaker is Shelly Poticha, the Senior Advisor for Sustainable Housing and Communities at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, who will discuss the department’s new “livable communities” initiatives. Workshop topics range from green building design to New Jersey’s new complete streets law and the Transportation Trust Fund. Learn more and register for the event at NJ Future’s website.

Also, a public hearing which the East Coast Greenway sees as an opportunity to bridge a critical gap in the Maine-to-Florida off-road trail has been rescheduled for March 24 from 6pm to 8pmSecaucus Town Hall at (1203 Paterson Plank Rd). NJ Transit is building 2 new rail bridges across the Hackensack River, near the existing Portal Bridge. Because the project impacts Hudson County parkland, NJ Transit must return parkland to the county. This parkland could take the form of 2 miles of Greenway trail (pictured at right) which will bring the Greenway off-road from Belleville Turnpike in Kearny to West Side Avenue in Jersey City. But officials from Hudson County and the state Department of Environmental Protection need to hear that there is public support for this project.

Comments can also be sent by mail by April 7 to Laurie Cotter, Deputy County Administrator, 567 Pavonia Avenue, Jersey City, NJ 07305 with a copy to New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Green Acres Program, Bureau of Legal Services and Stewardship, P.O. Box 412, Trenton, NJ 08625-0412. For more details, see MTR‘s earlier coverage.