Page 31 - RE-NJ

Sherrill and Republican Jack Ciattarelli
vying to succeed Gov. Phil Murphy and
with every Assembly seat up for grabs.
It’s also part of a larger refresh of the
55-year-old association, which boasts
more than 850 members, following
an organizational assessment in early
2024 that was based on confi dential
feedback from members. The study
reinforced the need for strong
advocacy, among other fi ndings, while
revealing a desire to explore new event
topics and new venues.
The chapter has responded over the
past 18 months or so, hosting panels
on data centers, artifi cial intelligence
and other topics, while hosting its
popular President’s Awards and Hall
of Fame Reception at the renovated
Gateway offi ce complex in Newark.
But perhaps most notable was a Sept.
22 forum at Middlesex College in
Edison, where Sherrill and Ciattarelli
spoke directly to a sold-out crowd of
roughly 200 NAIOP members.
“If you were to ask, ‘What’s the
number one reason to support
NAIOP?’ I think most of our developer
members would say advocacy,” said
Kennedy, who joined the chapter in
2023. “While we have a pretty good,
strong program, we’ve identifi ed ways
we can make it even better. We’re
going to have a brand new executive
branch coming in, so we’re going to
be laser-focused on educating them
and creating visibility of our CRE
priorities.”
As it has in past years, NAIOP’s
advocacy will extend to the
Legislature and the growing number of
bills that impact commercial projects.
Kennedy said the chapter was tracking
more than 30 measures “that range
from annoying to terrifying in terms
of impacting the growth of warehouse
development in the state,” among
other areas, adding that the lame duck
period after Election Day will provide
“a lot of risk and opportunity.”
NAIOP is also focused on regulatory
issues, Kennedy and Schlindwein
said, from the new rules over how
independent contractors are classifi ed
and compensated to the Department
of Environmental Protection’s closely
watched proposals for developing
in coastal fl ood zones. They also
pointed to the potential to make the
state’s Municipal Land Use Law “more
workable from a process perspective
(through) … a lot of small ball
ideas” that could be packaged into a
legislative update.
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The goal is “not a repeal and replace”
of the law, Kennedy said, but a surgical
approach to ensure that developers
are treated more fairly when seeking
local approvals and entitlements.
“Some of them may see it as a breath
of fresh air for the ability to have
these independent contractors do
their reviews and be responsible for
the work that they’re doing, and it
gives them an easier time to be able to
process the permits.”
can connect over the year.”
“It’s not that we’re looking for a free
pass for approvals, but there are
stories you hear that are real — 15
planning board meetings or requiring
endless studies … and, instead of
saying no, they just try to slow you
down and scare you off. That shouldn’t
be allowed.”
Schlindwein, who joined NAIOP in
2009, is the fi rst former member of
its Developing
The impact of any current or
future strategic plan will be short-
lived without the help of the next
generation, Kennedy and Schlindwein
said. Fortunately, they feel there
is a clear track record of young
professionals joining the chapter and
becoming incrementally more active
as their careers advance.
Leaders group
“I think it just clicks — I know it
to rise all the
clicked for me,” Schlindwein said.
way to chapter
“When you start out, your main goal
president. The
It’s also critical to build on the
… isn’t necessarily to advocate for the
association
industry’s recent policy wins.
entire industry. You want to learn and
hopes that
Among them is a 2024 law to allow
you want to network, and then at some
there are many
architects and engineers to self-
point, I think you start to realize how
more to follow
certify applications for construction
important the advocacy is just because
as it continues
permits, the chapter leaders said,
of the exposure that you get to it. Then
to invest in and foster the industry’s
noting that they hope to help the next
you want to participate and make a
young talent. That includes giving
administration “hit the gas on that
difference in that part of the industry.
Developing Leaders the opportunity to
concept, so that it can become more of
sit on committees — from legislative
“That’s when people start to volunteer
a part of the way we do business.”
or regulatory affairs committees to the
their time on committees. And the
“I think that’s probably one of the
teams that help organize its gala and
amount of energy that gets put in
most important ones,” Schlindwein
golf outings. The association is also
by a lot of the members, not just for
added, citing its similarity to the
crafting a formal mentorship program
their own personal benefi t, but for the
landmark 2009 Site Remediation
that pairs the young professionals
benefi t of the organization and the
Reform Act, which empowered
with an industry legend, Kennedy said,
organization’s efforts to advocate for
third-party consultants to spearhead
“creating an environment where they
all of us, is just a tremendous.” RE
environmental cleanups and helped
reduce the DEP’s once-vast backlog
of cases. He said there’s a signifi cant
appetite for other measures that can
“give the development community
certainty where there’s currently
less certainty because of the review
processes.”
“It’s not going to work for all, but I
think there’s a lot more permitting
and procedures where a program
like that could work — where
there’s a set of private contractors
approved to do reviews,” said
Schlindwein, a managing partner with
Greek Real Estate Partners in East
Brunswick. “And it doesn’t have to
take the ability to issue those permits
away from the state agencies, but
just streamline that review process,
because I know that there’s a lot of
us that, whether it’s the DEP or the
(Department of Transportation), are
waiting on different permits that
sometimes can just take an inordinate
amount of time.”
Broadly speaking, Schlindwein said he
doesn’t believe the agencies’ rank-and-
fi le workers are responsible for the
delays.
“I think sometimes it’s just the
procedures and the workloads that
they have and the amount of time
that it takes to get through,” he said.
Matt Schlindwein