New Studies Provide Valuable Insights
MILLVILLE — Three southern New Jersey counties now have databanks which will allow them to plan for and help accommodate economic development, courtesy of a federal grant which financed the studies.
The South Jersey Economic Development District (SJEDD) office here has just forwarded results of the studies to the Economic Development Administration (EDA). The programs are already in the hands of planning, development and administrative officials in Atlantic, Cumberland and Cape May Counties.
The studies were completed for a cost of $180,000 and provide Atlantic County with two comprehensive sets of guidelines, Cumberland County with two and Cape May County with another.
"We really got our money's worth," according to Kirk W. Conover, SJEDD Chairman. "The databanks will allow three of our counties to chart new economic development using sound planning principles."
Atlantic County's studies were conducted by the Center for Regional and Business Research of Atlantic Cape Community College.
The first takes demographic, sociological and geographic data and provides guidelines for directing development growth into appropriate areas, for utilizing existing infrastructure and for managing growth.
The second Atlantic County study focused on the historic development around existing Atlantic City Expressway interchanges and provides data and list potential opportunities from existing and planned interchange improvements along the route served by Hammonton, Egg Harbor City and Egg Harbor Township. The study was conducted in conjunction with the South Jersey Transportation Authority.
"The study will allow the region to assess the potential benefits from improvements (made possible by expressway interchanges), evaluate the local consequences of these benefits and, if desired, to implement policies to take advantage of them," the report notes.
In Cumberland County, the Empowerment Zone (CEZ) now has a series of new tools to work with, including databases, images and GIS data providing graphics of CEZ boundaries, streetscapes, flood zones, wetlands and other mapping information.
In addition, the federal funding provided for a new printed data kit which the county will supply to municipalities for marketing purposes.