"July 2016, the Newark City Council added a new chapter to its zoning and land use regulations entitled “Environmental Justice and Cumulative Impacts” which is intended to create stronger environmental and land use policy tools at the local level to prevent and mitigate additional pollution associated with a variety of development and redevelopment projects. It also addresses environmental justice by helping to prevent Newark, which has a disproportionate number of low-income and residents of color, from having a disproportionate number of polluting projects placed within its borders. Among other things, the ordinance, considered to be the first of its kind in terms of stringency and comprehensiveness in the U.S., provides additional information to the Newark Environmental Commission, the Planning Board and the Zoning Board of Adjustment regarding applications that may contribute to overall cumulative environmental burdens facing residents in the City. 

Three panelists will discuss the various components and impacts of the ordinance. Dr. Nicky Sheats, Esq., director of the Center for the Urban Environment of the John S. Watson Institute for Public Policy at Thomas Edison State University, will focus on providing the backdrop for the conditions that prompted development of the ordinance and the rationale among advocates and local officials for pursuing an approach focusing on land use. Dr. Ana Baptista, Assistant Professor of Professional Practice in Environmental Policy and Sustainability Management and Associate Director of the Tishman Environment & Design Center, The New School, will provide a historical context for the development of the Newark ordinance, an overview of its purpose and design. Ms. Cynthia Mellon, co-chair, City of Newark Environmental Commission and coordinator, Newark Environmental Resource Inventory, will focus on initial outcomes resulting from the Ordinance and challenges in its implementation, especially with regard to planning and decision-making in an urban community. 

Presented by the Bloustein School and the Joseph C. Cornwall Center for Metropolitan Studies at Rutgers University-Newark"