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Upcoming Meetings
President's Message
2007 Election Recap
Transmission Pipelines and Land Use Planning
NJSME heads to Atlantic City
Below is a list of meeting times and locations for those events specific to NJSME at this year’s League of Municipalities’ Conference in Atlantic City. We are very excited to once again hold our Annual Meeting and Awards Luncheon as part of the League conference; and based on the luncheon registration numbers, we are expecting this year’s luncheon to be one of the most heavily attended in recent history. See you in Atlantic City!
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14
“Past President’s Breakfast”
8:30 a.m.—Room306 – Atlantic City Convention Center
“Business Meeting”
10:00 a.m.—Room316 – Atlantic City Convention Center
“Annual Luncheon Meeting & Awards Presentation”
12:00 noon—Room302 – Atlantic City Convention Center
“Joint Presentation Of The New Jersey Institute Of Local Government Attorneys And The New Jersey Society Of Municipal Engineers”
2:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.—Room310 –
Atlantic City Convention Center
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15
“Joint presentation between the New Jersey Society Of Municipal Engineers, the Building Officials Association of NJ, and the Municipal Construction Officials Association of NJ”
10:00 a.m. – Room316 – Atlantic City Convention Center
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President's Message
By Carl E. Peters PE LS
We are furiously preparing for an active Municipal Engineering program at the upcoming League of Municipalities Conference this month. In addition to our regular business meeting and luncheon, the Society is collaborating with two other professional groups to present educational programs.
First, on Wednesday afternoon, we will engage in what appears to be an informative program with the NJ institute of Local Government Attorneys. The proposed topics of discussion are:
Utility Relocations and Pole Removal
Current Trends in Land Use Law
Tort Law – Protecting Your Municipality
Opening Bids – The Things That Can Go Wrong
Developer’s Agreements
Proper Billing Practices
Conflicts of Interest
In one and one half hours we obviously will not be able to fully review all of these issues but this session may serve as the springboard for more detailed discussion of one or more of these topics at an upcoming general membership meeting. Although you may feel ready for a snooze after the annual luncheon (possibly you already got that during my speech), this program promises to be worth your time to attend.
Second, on Thursday morning (not until 10 AM) we again meet with the Building Officials and Construction Officials. This program was the subject of our June General Membership meeting. Since it was well received we thought that we would bring the information to a larger audience. This panel discussion will endeavor to clarify the roles of code officials and Municipal engineers at different stages in the development and construction process. We will focus upon:
Prior Approvals for Issuance of a Construction Permit
Accessible Routes and the Barrier Free Subcode
Prerequisites for Issuance of a Temporary Certificate of Occupancy
Special Inspections under the Uniform Construction Code
Site Grading and Storm Water Regulations
It’s our hope that we will be able to shed light on some of the misunderstandings that commonly arise during the development process. I hope that it will also be informative for governing body members and administrators.
If you arrive on Tuesday afternoon there is another program that looks interesting. The League is offering a session entitled Utility Work in Municipal Rights of way. I’m curious to see if our new MOMURP pilot program with NJUA is mentioned.
That reminds me – very soon we will be mailing you a package of information with utility contact information and details of the pilot program for obtaining better utility information during the design phase. This program is only available to NJSME members. It may be expanded in the future but “you got it here first”.
I hope to see you at the conference. Please take the opportunity to say hello.
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2007 Election Recap
New Jerseyans went to the polls last Tuesday to elect a new Legislature. Democrats will control the Assembly by a margin of 48-32 and the Senate by a margin of 23-17 when the 213th Legislature is sworn in on January 8, 2008. The only incumbent Assembly member to be defeated in his bid for re-election to the Assembly was Democrat Michael Panter. The Democratic majority in the Assembly decreased by two votes from 50-30 to 48-32; Republicans picked up seats in the 2nd, 8th, and 12th districts and Democrats picked up a seat in the 14th district. Republican Senators Nicholas Asselta and Sonny McCullough were defeated by Democratic Assemblymen Jeff Van Drew and Jim Whelan in the 1st and 2nd districts, respectively, and Democratic Senator Ellen Karcher was defeated by Republican Assemblywoman Jennifer Beck in the 12th district. The Democrats increased their margin in the Senate by one vote.
The Assembly will have 27 freshmen members, the largest number of new members since 1991. The Senate will have 16 freshmen, the largest number of new members since 1973. Eleven of the new Senators are current members of the Assembly. Two of the newly elected Assembly members, Mila Jasey and Elease Evans, were also selected by the county committees in their districts to complete the terms of Mims Hackett and Alfred Steele, who resigned their seats prior to the election. They will both be sworn in tomorrow. Sandra Bolden Cunningham, who was elected to the Senate in District 31 yesterday was also selected by the county committee in that district to complete the term of Joseph Doria, who resigned in October to serve as Commissioner of the Department of Community Affairs.
The NJSME is now poised for what could be a very eventful “lame duck” Legislative session, where legislation has been known to move at a feverous pace. Due to the widespread changes coming to the Legislature in January, as discussed above, that leaves many “lame duck” Legislator’s a limited amount of time to try to accomplish many things. The schedule may even be compounded if Governor Corzine decides to unroll a “Monetization” or “Securitization” Plan for the toll roads during this abbreviated session. As always, our legislative committee will remain on top of all the action and be sure that, along with the help of our Executive Director, that we are well represented in Trenton and that our voice is heard on matters of importance to the NJSME.
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Transmission Pipelines and Land Use Planning
Submitted by: Frank Seney, PE
The economic prosperity of our Nation, and the quality of our daily lives, depends heavily on an underground network of pipes and wires. Most people do not appreciate the intricacy of the buried infrastructure that provides electricity, communications, water, and fossil fuels to our society. Since buried facilities are not visible, they attract attention only when something goes wrong. Excavation damage, or inappropriate land uses, may lead to a failure of the facilities. In the case of natural gas and hazardous liquid pipelines, the consequences of a failure can be catastrophic, for both people and the environment.
Property development adjacent to transmission pipelines has implications for the safety of both communities and pipelines. The federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) contracted with the Transportation Research Board (TRB) to study land use practices, zoning ordinances, and preservation of environmental resources with regard to pipeline rights-of-way and their maintenance. The TRB issued a special report titled Transmission Pipelines and Land Use: A Risk-Informed Approach , which is available at http://trb.org/publications/sr/sr281.pdf.
The recommendations from the special report include developing risk-informed land use guidance. This guidance needs to address the range of appropriate land uses, structures, and human activities compatible with pipeline rights-of-way. Setbacks, and other measures that could be adopted to protect structures that are built and maintained near pipelines, also need to be considered. The guidance will be formatted as model local zoning ordinances, subdivision regulations, and planning policies and model state legislation that could be adopted for land uses near pipelines.
On January 15, 2008, PHMSA, in conjunction with other pipeline safety stakeholders, will convene the Pipelines and Informed Planning Alliance (PIPA) to develop the land use guidance. In order to be effective, PIPA will require a wide variety of expertise. Required expertise includes planning & zoning, real estate, risk assessment, and pipeline operation & maintenance. Information about Land Use Planning is available on the PHMSA Pipeline Safety Program Stakeholder Communications web site at http://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/comm/LandUsePlanning.htm.
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