Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman DAWN FANTASIA
District 24 (Morris, Sussex and Warren)
SYNOPSIS
Allows for exclusion of certain properties from Highlands preservation area.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning the preservation area of the Highlands Region and supplementing P.L.2004, c.120 (C.13:20-1 et al.).
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. Notwithstanding subsection b. of section 7 of P.L.2004, c.120 (C.13:20-7) or any other law, or any rule or regulation adopted pursuant thereto, to the contrary, beginning on August 10, 2024, when an owner of property located within the preservation area offers that property for sale to the State and the State rejects the offer due to the lack of available funding to purchase the property at an amount equal to a fair market value appraisal or appraisals of the value of the lands made using the land use zoning of the lands, and any State environmental laws or Department of Environmental Protection rules and regulations that may affect the value of the lands subject to the appraisal and in effect on August 9, 2004, that property owner may request that the property be removed from the preservation area.
b. Upon a written request from the property owner to the Commissioner of Environmental Protection and the Chair of the Highlands Water Protection and Planning Council containing documentation from the State specifying that the State does not have funds available to purchase the property at a price equal to the value of the lands as appraised made using the land use zoning of the lands, and any State environmental laws or Department of Environmental Protection rules and regulations that may affect the value of the lands subject to the appraisal and in effect on August 9, 2004, the property shall be exempt from the provisions of sections 30 through 43 of P.L.2004, c.120 (C.13:20-28 et al.) and shall be regulated by the State and the local government unit in the same manner as property located in the planning area.
The property shall be excluded from the preservation area and this exclusion shall be recorded on the deed of the property, on written order of the Commissioner of Environmental Protection in conjunction with the Chair of the Highlands Water Protection and Planning Council, by the clerk or register of deeds and mortgages of the county wherein the affected property is located and shall remain attached thereto.
c. The Commissioner of Environmental Protection and the Chair of the Highlands Water Protection and Planning Council shall take all appropriate action to note the exclusion of a property pursuant to this section on all maps and descriptions of the preservation area prepared or published by the Department of Environmental Protection or the council.
d. The provisions of this section shall be applicable only to lands the owners of which at the time of the proposed sale to the State is the same person who owned the lands on the date of enactment of P.L.2004, c.120 (C.13:20-1 et al.) and who has owned the lands continuously since that enactment date, or is an immediate family member of that person.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill would allow, beginning on August 10, 2024, an owner of property located in the Highlands preservation area to request that the property be excluded from the preservation area under certain circumstances. Specifically, this bill would provide that when an owner of property located within the preservation area offers that property for sale to the State and the State rejects the offer due to the lack of available funding to purchase the property at an amount equal to a fair market value appraisal of the value of the lands as of August 9, 2004 (the day before the date of enactment of the "Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act," P.L.2004, c.120), that property owner may request that the property be removed from the preservation area. Under the bill, upon written request by the property owner to the Commissioner of Environmental Protection and the Chair of the Highlands Water Protection and Planning Council containing documentation from the State that the State does not have funds available to purchase the property at a price equal to the value of the lands as of August 9, 2004, the property would be exempt from the provisions of sections 30 through 43 of P.L.2004, c.120 (C.13:20-28 et al.) and would be regulated by the State and the local government unit in the same manner as property located in the planning area.
The bill would apply to lands the owner of which, at the time of the proposed sale to the State, is the same person who owned the lands on the date of enactment of the "Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act" and who has owned the lands continuously since then, or is an immediate family member of that person.
The bill would require that the property be excluded from the preservation area and would require this exclusion to be recorded on the deed of the property. The bill would require the Commissioner of Environmental Protection and the Chair of the Highlands Water Protection and Planning Council to take all appropriate action to note the exclusion of such a property on all maps and descriptions of the preservation area prepared or published by the Department of Environmental Protection or the council.