Governor unveils construction permit dashboard
By: Katie Sobko
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
..... To mark her hundredth day in office, Governor Mikie Sherrill announced the creation of a building and construction permitting dashboard for housing, energy and commercial real estate projects - something she had promised during her campaign.
.....
The dashboard, launching in a pilot phase, will allow developers, businesses and nonprofits to track the progress of permits in real time, Sherrill said at a press event to announce the initiative on thruway, April 30, [2026] in Trenton.
..... Entities can apply for access to the new dashboard now. Application will be open through May 21 [2026 and can be found at permits.nj.gov .
..... Sherrill
said her administration is looking for 10 projects to pilot the dashboard. Successful applicants, she said, will be able to see "next steps, due dates and the status of all of their permits in one place."
..... "Your government should work for you, and this dashboard is one big part of making sure that it does," the governor said.
..... Sherrill held the event at the Department of environmental Protection, which acting Commissioner Ed Potosnak said has already started working to streamline New Jersey's real estate development permitting process with Operation FAST, an effort to make the DEP "more efficient, more responsive and working for the public and businesses."
..... "FAST" stands for facilitated approvals for sustainable transformation, and it is intended to implement permitting reforms across the agency, Potosnak said.
..... State Senator Paul Sarlo, a Wood-Ridge Democrat, who serves as chair of the state Senate Budget Committee and works professionally as an engineer for the Bergen County contracting firm Joseph M. Sanzari Incorporated, was on hand for the event. Sarlo said he understands both sides of the permitting process.
..... "It's all of our jobs to safeguard, put up the necessary guardrails and guide rails, to protect our constituents of New Jersey to ensure that all applicants and development are done in a very safe manner to protect our environment" He said. "that does not mean we put up roadblocks and detours and obstacles."
..... Katie Sobko covers the New Jersey statehouse. Email:sobko@northjersey.com