Bill Text: NJ A5420 | 2026-2027 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires developers of certain high energy use facilities to submit certain assessments to approval authority for preliminary site plan approval under MLUL.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)
Status: (Introduced) 2026-09-10 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly State and Local Government Committee [A5420 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2026-A5420-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman CHRIS TULLY
District 38 (Bergen)
SYNOPSIS
Requires developer of certain high energy use facilities to submit certain assessments to approval authority for preliminary site plan approval under MLUL.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning high energy use facility preliminary site plan approval and supplementing P.L.1975, c.291 (C.40:55D-1 et seq.).
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. As used in this section:
"High energy use facility" or "facility" means a facility that is a commercial customer for retail electric service and that is projected to have a peak electrical load of at least 100 megawatts.
b. A developer who submits a site plan for preliminary approval pursuant to section 34 of P.L.1975, c.291 (C.40:55D-46), on or after the effective date of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), for the development of a high energy use facility shall include in the application a site assessment that examines, to the extent practicable:
(1) the sound profile of the proposed facility on residential units and schools located within 500 feet of the facility property boundary; and
(2) information provided by the electric public utility that is to service the proposed facility describing any new or existing substations and the anticipated transmission voltage required to service the proposed facility.
c. An approving authority may also require that a site assessment examine, to the extent practicable, the effects of the proposed facility on:
(1) ground and surface water resources;
(2) agricultural resources;
(3) parks and open space;
(4) historic sites; and
(5) forested land on the proposed facility site or contiguous land.
d. Site assessments submitted pursuant to this section shall be used by the approving authority to assess consistency with the policies of the municipality's master plan and compliance with the municipality's adopted noise ordinances, zoning ordinances, and other applicable laws, as applicable.
e. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit, limit, or otherwise supersede existing local zoning authority.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill requires the developer of a high energy use facility, as defined in the bill, who submits a site plan for preliminary approval on or after the effective date of the bill, to include in the application a site assessment that examines, to the extent practicable:
(1) the sound profile of the proposed facility on residential units and schools located within 500 feet of the facility property boundary; and
(2) information provided by the electric public utility that is to service the proposed facility describing any new or existing substations and the anticipated transmission voltage required to service the proposed facility.
The bill permits an approving authority to require that a site assessment examine, to the extent practicable, the effects of the proposed facility on certain other assets enumerated in the bill.
Site assessments submitted pursuant to the bill are to be used by the approving authority to assess consistency with the policies of the municipality's master plan and compliance with the municipality's adopted noise ordinances, zoning ordinances, and other applicable laws, as applicable. Nothing in the bill is to be construed to prohibit, limit, or otherwise supersede existing local zoning authority.
