Official Site of The State of New Jersey

Have A Business Need? NJBAC Can Help.

The NJBAC is offering no-cost technical assistance, training, and problem-solving – we are here to support all of your Business Enhancement needs. Whether you have a one-off resource question, are looking for a strategic assessment of a district, or could use some quick visualized tactical inspiration to foster visible and tangible change, NJBAC can help. Contact NJBAC Assistant Director Jef Buehler to start the conversation and move towards action.

Today’s email has information on assistance we can provide, as well as about technical and financial resources that may be a fit for your community or district. Please feel free to share this information with other officials, district management stakeholders, and businesses. To see all prior Business Enhancement Connection emails, click here!

Best Practices

Outdoor Dining Permissions in NJ Will Not Expire:  New Jersey is all in on outdoor dining, as Governor Murphy signed the law making outdoor dining permanent in our state. Restaurants and certain retailers or manufacturers of alcoholic beverages may continue to use fixtures such as tents, canopies, umbrellas, tables, and chairs in designated outdoor spaces or on public sidewalks. A new law has made permanent the temporary outdoor dining rule changes adopted in February 2021. Additionally, holders of temporary expansion permits issued by the New Jersey Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) may convert their temporary permit into a permanent permit at their next annual renewal. Need an quality ordinance to make sure outdoor dining works for your district or community? Let us know!

Amplified Music & Performance Ordinance: Want to manage outdoor music to go with your outdoor dining? Check out this noise ordinance and outdoor music/performance toolkit from Toronto: Amplified Live Music on Patios – City of Toronto.

Form Based Code – A Model Code and Process:  Kingston, New York’s form-based code serves as a best-in-practice model for other municipalities on how to center community needs, advance equity in planning, and prepare for the future, including calibrating development to accommodate increased population growth. It uses simple and effective visualizations and connects them to real community needs. If your municipality wants to join Hammonton and other NJ towns with Form Based Codes, this is an excellent template to use. There will be a free webinar about how planning can support equity that will include a walk through what Kingston is doing on January 21. Register here.

Looking for Sponsors? Best Practice Packet: Here is a great example of a sponsorship packet from downtown Colorado Springs that includes so many way to engage and invest at different levels while supporting business-centric events, placemaking, fun and social engagement, and civic connections.  It is a larger city and as such the packet is very comprehensive, but the model could be shrunk down and used by smaller districts as well.

Featured Grants & Support

Know a Business That Wants to Own Their Building?: Applications for the New Jersey Economic Development Authority's (NJEDA’s) Main Street Acquisition Support Grant is open, with up to $50,000 to reimburse an eligible NJ small business for closing costs related to a New Jersey commercial property that the business purchased to operate from. Grants are first come, first served while funds last. For-profit or non-profit entities meeting the various requirements are eligible to apply.  Closing must have taken place after 10/1/2024 and grant application date must be no later than one year from date of closing. If any of your businesses needs help obtaining their required Tax Clearance Certificate, NJBAC, can help – send them to the NJBAC live chat online for assistance.

NJBAC Can Work With All the Businesses in Your Community

We are here to support your communities’ and districts’ businesses. NJBAC offers free online chat and telephone (800-537-7397) assistance in English and Spanish to any business in NJ – any size, any location, and any type. Businesses can always download the NJBAC Small Business Manual – a one-stop tool for many business concerns – online here for english. A Spanish version of the manual is also available here for spanish. Individual businesses or organizations can order a printed copy as well by clicking this link. For bulk orders of up to 10 printed copies, please contact NJBAC’s Tracy Thomas directly.

Our NJBAC team can advocate for businesses, concierge them to funding and technical solutions, help them find locations for growth or developing export markets, guide them to navigating the commercial cannabis sector, and much more. Want to set something up online or on-site for your businesses? Reach out to NJBAC Assistant Director Jef Buehler to get plugged in to all of our business success services.

NJBAC’s Business Enhancement Services is online:  Now you can refer to Business Enhancement Services directly online with just a click!  Please favorite the website – it will be expanding over time as we add new resources and tools that support municipal and district revitalization and place-based business enhancement.