Archive for the ‘Highlands’ Category
Posted by Phil Morin on April 22, 2010
On Thursday, legislation designed to make it easier for both homeowners and businesses to install clean-energy producing solar panels was signed into law by Governor Chris Christie. Specifically, S-921 amends a number of laws, including the the Municipal Land Use Law, Highland Act, Pinelands Act, and legislation relating to various NJDEP approvals, including coastal development permits, to exempt solar panels from being considered as “impervious cover” or “impervious surface.” This legislative change is significant as local zoning laws typically set maximum impervious surface or coverage percentages and municipal and state agencies have been inconsistent in determining whether solar panels should constitute an impervious surface.
According to a release from two of the primary sponsors, Senator Bob Smith (D-Middlesex, Somerset) and Senator James Beach (D-Camden):
Currently, there are numerous state laws and regulations that prohibit what is known as “impervious cover” or “impervious surface” from covering large expanses of a given property. Impervious surfaces or cover can be anything such as driveways, homes, pavement or any other cover that prevents water from being absorbed into the ground, thereby preventing aquifers from being replenished and causing run-off, soil erosion, flooding and other environmental hazards.
The new law (S-921) will exempt solar panels from being considered “impervious cover” because they are elevated panels that do not completely cap the ground and prevent water absorption. The exemption will allow for the development of solar panels in various protected areas where they are currently prohibited such as the Pinelands, the Highlands, coastal and waterfront areas, and other areas protected by the Municipal Land Use Law.
Following the bill signing, Governor Chris Christie commented on the new law: “There is a balance to be struck between responsible land-use law and well-intended but burdensome restrictions that do more harm than good,” Governor Christie said. “This legislation removes the regulatory burden, serves our environment by expanding renewable energy assets and serves the economy by creating demand for solar panel production.”
Other Republicans also eagerly supported the legislation:
“Most people don’t realize that New Jersey is one of the largest and fastest growing solar energy producers in the country,” said primary sponsor State Senator Jennifer Beck (R-Monmouth). “While there is a growing demand from homeowners, farmers and the business community to install solar panels on their properties, many have found a patchwork of conflicting laws and regulations that have prevented clean energy installations. This legislation removes a major obstacle that has prevented our state’s growth in solar energy.”
Municipalities and environmental regulators have been inconsistent in their determination of how ground-level solar panel arrays should be considered for zoning purposes and compliance with environmental regulations, with some designating the structures as impervious surfaces. This designation has prevented some proposed solar energy installations from being built. The legislation, S-921, specifically exempts solar panel installations from being considered an impervious surface cover.
“This legislation will ensure that solar panels are considered in a uniform manner for zoning and environmental purposes, which will eliminate confusion and speed the adoption of clean energy in New Jersey,” said Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon (R-Monmouth), a co-sponsor of the legislation.
“There’s no reason the Garden State cannot become the biggest producer of clean solar energy in the nation,” added Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande (R-Monmouth).
In addition to signing this legislation on Earth Day, Governor Christie has been promoting his energy policy all week, as noted in a release from the Governor’s Office regarding a recent Board of Public Utilities conference on sustainability. For the release, click HERE.
Posted in Alternative Energy, Environmental Issues, Green Legislation, Highlands, Pinelands | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Phil Morin on February 28, 2010
The State Assembly has passed a bill (A-602) touted as providing more options for landowners within the Highlands preservation area. The bill would expand the transfer of development rights (“TDR”) program contained within the Highlands Act to permit any municipality in the state to accept a transfer of development rights in connection with preserved land in the Highlands. Under the current legislation, only a municipality in a county which is within the Highlands jurisdiction may accept TDRs (i.e., Morris, Sussex, Bergen, Hunterdon, Warren, Passaic and Somerset). The Assembly Environment and Solid Waste Committee issued a statement prior to the full Assembly vote on the bill which further notes that the existing legislation only allows a municipality to be eligible to receive a TDR if it has received plan endorsement from the State Planning Act. The bill would allow municipalities to be eligible if the Highlands Water Protection and Planning Council in conjunction with the State Planning Commission, has determined that a suitable project area has been designated as a receiving zone.
According to a report in the Star Ledger, one of the sponsors of the bill states that it will provide relief for landowners who lost the ability to sell or develop their land as a result of restrictions on development created by the Highlands Act:
“This will boost the Highlands Transfer Development Rights program so that landowners in the Highlands are fairly compensated for lost property value,” Assemblyman Erik Peterson (R-Hunterdon), a sponsor of the bill, said in a news release. “If we create a better market for development rights, we will increase the odds that landowners are made whole for preserving their land.”
The State Senate is also considering identical legislation (S-80) which has passed the Senate Environment and Energy Committee.
Posted in Environmental Issues, Highlands, Legislation | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Phil Morin on October 22, 2009
The Hunterdon County Democrat is reporting that the Highlands Council has calculated drastically reduced affordable housing obligations for communities which adopt the Highlands Council’s regional master plan (“RMP”). The article contemplates that the substantial reductions relating to the affordable housing requirements in some communities may operate to encourage RMP adoption.
According to the article:
For municipalities fearful that state quotas for low-cost housing will cause overdevelopment, new numbers being circulated by the Highlands Council are enticing. For those willing to comply with the master plan drafted by the council, the quotas fall dramatically.
There are 15 municipalities in Hunterdon that fall within the Highlands region. Of the 12 for which the Highlands Council has released its calculations, the “affordable” obligation total drops from 1,874 units under targets provided by the state Council on Affordable Housing to 410 — a reduction of more than 78%.
Eileen Swan, the Lebanon Township resident who is the executive director of the Highlands Council, says her group has an agreement with COAH that COAH will accept the projections made by the Highlands Council.
“This is not about avoiding the constitutional obligation” that every municipality must provide its fair share of affordable housing, she said. The difference lies in the Highlands Council judging a municipality’s total capacity for development, rather than just looking at the amount of vacant land. It considers the land’s physical limitations, including sewer and public water availability, ground water reserves and the capability of land to use septic systems without contaminating ground water.
For the full article, click here.
Posted in Affordable Housing, Environmental Issues, Highlands, Master Plan Review | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Phil Morin on July 13, 2009
An NJBIZ.com article written by Evelyn Lee contains an excellent synopsis of “developer-friendlier” legislation authored by the New Jersey Legislature and (mostly) signed into law by Governor Corzine over the last year. The legislation was intended to extend permit approvals, expedite site cleanups and spur development in down economic times.
However, the article notes that many industry leaders still have concerns about the practical application and limitations of several of these new laws:
[T]he Permit Extension Act has some limitations, said Tim Touhey, chief executive of the New Jersey Builders Association in Hamilton. The Highlands region has determined that it won’t allow any permits to be extended, although some of the more developed municipalities in the region — such as Dover and Rockaway — have been designated as growth areas by the state, he said.
The Site Remediation Reform Act also has many unknowns, particularly with regard to presumptive remedies that the Department of Environmental Protection will develop for sensitive sites, said David Fisher, vice president of governmental affairs at Matzel & Mumford Organization, an Edison-based homebuilder. Presumptive remedies are expected to be finalized within a year of the law’s enactment, according to DEP.
“If we don’t know how to clean up a site, then we don’t know how costly it’s going to be,” he said. “What value do you place on land when you don’t know how much it’s going to cost to clean it up?”
Others said that legislative changes fell short in terms of addressing flaws in the state’s affordable housing funding methodology and directing new projects to redevelopment areas.
For the full article, click here.
Posted in Affordable Housing, Environmental Issues, Highlands, Legislation, Redevelopment, Transportation | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Phil Morin on December 9, 2008
The New Jersey Supreme Court upheld the Appellate Division’s ruling in OFP, L.L.C. v. State of New Jersey, which held that the owner of 93-acre parcel in the Highlands preservation area who failed to obtain a required approval from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection prior to the date the Highlands Act was first introduced in the Legislature and thus failed to qualify for an exemption under the Act, must first exhaust its administrative remedies, such as applying for a hardship waiver pursuant to the Act, before claiming that a regulatory taking has occurred. The Court also affirmed the consitutionality of the retroactive application of the Highlands Act. According to a report in the Star Ledger on-line:
The New Jersey Supreme Court today upheld the Highlands Act, a landmark land-preservation law that curbs development in northern New Jersey.
Developer OFP has been fighting to build 26 homes on 93 acres in Washington Township in Morris County and has argued that the Highlands Act amounts to an unfair “taking” of their land. The state Supreme Court today upheld an appellate court ruling that the developer needed to make use of the compensation remedies that are built into the 2004 law — such as applying for a waiver — before asking the courts to intercede.
. . . .
In arguments before the Supreme Court in September, OFP attorney Brian Mulligan said a waiver would not make his client whole because it would allow only “minimal” use of the land.
Deputy Attorney General Barbara Conklin, arguing on behalf of the Department of Environmental Protection that day, conceded that the developer probably would not be able to build all 26 homes, but no one knew what they could build because they never applied “to get the relief the act intended them to have.”
For the full article, click here.
For the Supreme Court’s per curiam opinion, click here.
For the Appellate Division’s opinion, click here.
Posted in Environmental Issues, Highlands, Legislation | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Phil Morin on October 30, 2008
The Star Ledger is reporting that the Highlands Council has endorsed an agreement with the Department of Community Affairs that allows municipalities which adopt stringent restrictions on development in their communities to obtain reductions to their affordable housing obligations.
According to the Ledger:
Under the agreement, strict environmental constraints like water availability, steep slopes and the proximity of pristine waters would limit the number of affordable housing units in a particular municipality. At the same time, 20 percent of any new residential construction in those communities must be affordable, and projects with affordable housing will receive priority for approvals.
The adoption of the Highland master plan by individual communities before the end of the year, will also allow these communities additional time to submit a housing plan to the Council on Affordable Housing.
Communities that sign on would get an extra year to file their plan for meeting their affordable housing obligation. And the number of affordable housing units they would need to build would be determined through the Highlands Council’s analysis of sustainable development.
Highlands towns that choose not to conform to the regional master plan would have to follow COAH rules like every other town in the state, under the agreement. Those towns must file their affordable housing plan by Dec. 31.
The agreement also notes that there are still 3,000 affordable homes that must be built in the Highlands region as a result of growth that has already taken place.
For the full article, click here.
Posted in Affordable Housing, Environmental Issues, Highlands | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Phil Morin on September 30, 2008
Paul Mulshine, a columnist with the Star Ledger, wrote a particularly distressing piece in Tuesday’s paper regarding the plight of one homeowner and her losing battle with the state over burdensome environmental regulatory requirements as a result of enactment of the Highlands Act in 2004.
While it is important to focus on the macro issues of preserving water quality and open space that were the driving force for many regulators and legislators who supported the Act, one must not lose sight of the burden the Act has put upon many property owners who bought property intending for it to be the nest egg for their family and who ended up with a goose egg. Furthermore, funding sufficient to compensate landowners for their losses is not yet available and, given the current economic climate, will not likely be part of the state’s toolkit for some time.
Posted in Environmental Issues, Highlands, Legislation | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Phil Morin on September 27, 2008
The New Jersey Supreme Court heard oral argument this week to decide whether the Highlands Act unjustly barred development of a 93-acre lot retroactively without providing out just and proper compensation.
According to the Asbury Park Press:
Landowners OFC, LLC received approval from Washington Township to subdivide the lot to build 26 homes in 1999 — five years before the Highlands Act, which aims to limit development to protect drinking water supplies, became law. But an error in approving a water supply permit by a township official delayed the application, resulting in the project’s final approval missing the development deadline set under the 2004 law.
While the Justices reserved decision, at least two members of the panel seemed sympathetic to the plaintiff’s claims:
Looking at how OFC’s permits were botched and TDRs were not available to them, Associate Justice Barry T. Albin said the totality of failure resulted in “a developer caught into this intricate governmental mess.” Albin earlier, however, said that while the situation may be unequitable, the company’s due process rights were not necessarily violated.
“I don’t care where you lay the blame, you certainly can’t lay it at the foot of the plaintiff because they had nothing to do with it,” added Associate Justice Roberto Rivera-Soto.
For the full article, click here.
For the Appellate Division opinion in OFP, LLC v. State of New Jersey, finding that the plaintiff failed to pursue a hardship waiver and, thus, failed to exhaust its administrative remedies, click here.
Posted in Environmental Issues, Highlands, Legislation | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Phil Morin on September 22, 2008
In an effort to encourage municipal buy-in to the Highlands master plan, the Highlands Council has agreed to negotiate extensions of up to one year for a municipality to submit its fair share housing plan under the newly-enacted regulations adopted by the Council on Affordable Housing – so long as the municipality adopts the recommendations contained within the Council’s master plan. However, the Department of Community Affairs has not yet approved the plan, which leaves Highlands municipalities in limbo with three months to the deadline for filing a third round plan.
According to the Daily Record:
The New Jersey Highlands Council on Thursday gave its executive director Eileen Swan the ability to negotiate an agreement with the state Council on Affordable Housing that would give communities that announce their intention to conform to the master plan an additional year to draw up new housing plans to meet their COAH obligations.
For the full article, click here.
However, the Star Ledger is reporting that DCA has not formally approved this agreement.
Posted in Affordable Housing, Highlands | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Phil Morin on August 4, 2008
Despite the substantial impediments to development in the Highlands imposed upon over half of the acreage in the region as a result of the Highlands Act, environmentalists are not satisfied. Several last minute amendments to the plan proposed by the environmental lobby on the eve of the Highland Council’s public hearing to vote on the Highlands master plan were rejected. As a result, environmental groups have been lobbying Governor Corzine to veto the Highlands master plan.
The latest argument being presented to defeat the current master plan is that the master plan adopted by the Highlands Council does not take into account the new affordable housing rules and legislation (A-500/S-1783), which was signed into law by the Governor on July 17 – the same date the Highlands master plan was voted on by the Council. As a result, environmentalists argue, the Governor must veto the plan so the Council will incorporate the changes to the Fair Housing Act into the plan.
The Star Ledger reports on the perceived incongruities between the plan and A-500 here.
Posted in Affordable Housing, Environmental Issues, Highlands, Legislation, Master Plan Review | Leave a Comment »
On Thursday, legislation designed to make it easier for both homeowners and businesses to install clean-energy producing solar panels was signed into law by Governor Chris Christie. Specifically, S-921 amends a number of laws, including the the Municipal Land Use Law, Highland Act, Pinelands Act, and legislation relating to various NJDEP approvals, including coastal development permits, to exempt solar panels from being considered as “impervious cover” or “impervious surface.” This legislative change is significant as local zoning laws typically set maximum impervious surface or coverage percentages and municipal and state agencies have been inconsistent in determining whether solar panels should constitute an impervious surface. 
