The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission and NJ's Burlington County are approaching municipalities along the South Jersey light rail line to ensure that local planning and zoning laws will foster commercial and residential development near the new stations.

City councilors and other local officials contacted by the Philadelphia Inquirer supported the outreach effort, and said the rail line figured heavily in their economic development planning.

Zoning supportive of denser, mixed-use development will make the difference between a station that acts as an economic stimulus and a platform set in a parking lot.

NJ Transit is presently reviewing the work schedule submitted by the project contractors for construction of the line. Once the schedule is approved, the contractors would have three years to bring the line to completion.