Bill Text: NJ A5551 | 2020-2021 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires counties and municipalities to conduct public hearings and obtain DEP approval prior to sale, lease, lease renewal, or exchange of certain public trust lands.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-05-05 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Environment and Solid Waste Committee [A5551 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2020-A5551-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman JOANN DOWNEY
District 11 (Monmouth)
Assemblyman ERIC HOUGHTALING
District 11 (Monmouth)
SYNOPSIS
Requires counties and municipalities to conduct public hearings and obtain DEP approval prior to sale, lease, lease renewal, or exchange of certain public trust lands.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning the sale, lease, lease renewal, or exchange of certain public trust lands by counties and municipalities, and supplementing P.L.1971, c.199 (C.40A:12-1 et seq.).
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. Notwithstanding the provisions of any law to the contrary, no county or municipality shall sell, lease or renew a lease for a term of 3 years or more, or exchange any real property or improvement that is located on tidally-flowed waters or adjacent shorelines, or that is utilized for public access to any tidally flowed waters or adjacent shorelines, unless the county or municipality first:
(1) conducts two public hearings on the proposed sale, lease, lease renewal, or exchange at least 14 days apart and at least 90 days in advance of the date of the proposed sale, lease, lease renewal, or exchange. The county or municipality, as applicable, shall publish a notice of the public hearings in at least two newspapers circulating in the municipality in which the real property or capital improvement proposed to be sold, leased, or exchanged is located at least 60 days prior to the public hearings. The county or municipality, as applicable, also shall provide a copy of the notice to the Department of Environmental Protection, and the department shall publish the notice on its Internet website. The public hearings shall be held in the municipality where the real property or capital improvement proposed to be sold, leased, or exchanged is located or, if that is not practicable, in a municipality as close thereto as can reasonably be arranged. At the hearings, the county or municipality, as applicable, shall explain the proposed sale, lease, lease renewal, or exchange, and accept testimony from members of the public on the issue of public access to the tidally flowed waters or adjacent shorelines which may be affected as a result of the proposed sale, lease, lease renewal, or exchange. The county or municipality conducting the public hearings shall transcribe the public hearings and provide a copy of the transcripts to the Department of Environmental Protection. A county or municipality may consolidate the public hearings required pursuant to this section with any other public hearing conducted pursuant to law, provided the public hearings meet the requirements of this paragraph; and
(2) obtains the approval of the Department of Environmental Protection. An application for approval pursuant to this paragraph shall be made to the department after the public hearings required pursuant to paragraph (1) of this subsection, in a form and manner as determined by the department.
b. The department shall approve a sale, lease, or exchange, or lease renewal, pursuant to this section only if the department finds that the sale, lease, lease renewal, or exchange does not affect the public's right of access to the tidally flowed waters or adjacent shorelines and is otherwise consistent with the public trust doctrine and the provisions of P.L.2019, c.81 (C.13:1D-150 et seq.). The department may require, as a condition of an approval granted pursuant to this section, that the county or municipality, as applicable, or the prospective owner or lessee of the real property or improvement undertake additional measures, as the department deems appropriate, to ensure that the public has sufficient access to the tidally flowed waters and adjacent shorelines.
c. For the purposes of this section, "public access" includes visual and physical access to, and use of, tidal waters and adjacent shorelines, sufficient perpendicular access from upland areas to tidal waters and adjacent shorelines, and the necessary support amenities to facilitate public access for all, including, but not limited to, public access points, public facilities that support access, parking, boat ramps, and marinas.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill would prohibit the sale, lease or renewal of a lease for a term of 3 years or more, or exchange of any real property or improvement that is located on tidally-flowed waters or adjacent shorelines, or that is utilized for public access to any tidally flowed waters or adjacent shorelines, by a county or municipality unless the county or municipality first conducts two public hearings on the proposed sale, lease, lease renewal, or exchange at least 14 days apart and at least 90 days in advance of the date of the proposed sale, lease, lease renewal, or exchange. The bill would also require that the county or municipality, as applicable, obtain the approval of the Department of Environmental Protection for the sale, lease, lease renewal, or exchange. An application for approval would be made to the department after the required public hearings, in a form and manner as determined by the department.
The department would be required to approve the sale, lease, lease renewal, or exchange only if the department finds that the sale, lease, lease renewal, or exchange does not affect the public's right of access to the tidally flowed waters or adjacent shorelines and is otherwise consistent with the public trust doctrine and the provisions of P.L.2019, c.81 (C.13:1D-150 et seq.). Under the bill, the department may require, as a condition of an approval granted pursuant to this section, that the county or municipality, as applicable, or the prospective owner or lessee of the real property or improvement undertake additional measures, as the department deems appropriate, to ensure that the public has sufficient access to the tidally flowed waters and adjacent shorelines.
