N.J. Admin. Code § 2:76-17A.13 - Final municipal review

(a) The municipality shall approve or disapprove the acquisition of a development easement on an eligible farm based on total available funding and provide the following to the Committee:

1. A commitment of funding by the municipality and each level of government that is providing funding, as evidenced by an adopted resolution of each governing body.

i. In the event that the county is providing funding, the individual farm application shall initially be submitted to the board. In such event, the county shall hold title to the development easement.

ii. In the event that the county is not providing funding, the municipality must notify the board, in writing, that an individual farm application was granted final approval and submitted to the Committee for final review. In such event, the Committee shall hold title to the development easement.

iii. In the event that the municipality is pre-acquiring the development easement, it shall adopt the appropriate ordinance pursuant to the Local Lands and Building Law, N.J.S.A. 40A:12-1 et seq. The municipality shall transfer title to the development easement to the county in the event the county is providing funding, or shall transfer title to the development easement to the Committee in the event the county is not providing funding;

2. A commitment of funding in the event the development easement shall be acquired under installment purchase pursuant to the Agriculture Retention and Development Act, N.J.S.A. 4:1C-32, as amended; and

3. In the event that a donation or other method of leveraging monies authorized pursuant to the Garden State Preservation Act, P.L. 1999, c. 152 (N.J.S.A. 13:1C-1 et seq.), is being utilized, a commitment of funding as required to purchase the easement.

(b) Nothing in this subchapter shall be construed to require that any eligible farm in a project area shall receive a price per acre that is the same as any other eligible farm in that project area or that any eligible farm must be purchased with installment payments because other eligible farms in the project area are so purchased.

(c) No development easement shall be purchased at a price greater than the higher of the two independent appraised values determined pursuant to N.J.S.A. 4:1C-31.h.

(d) In the event that there are insufficient county, municipal, or other non-SADC funds to acquire development easements on all of the eligible farms, the municipality shall establish a priority ranking of farms pursuant to its ranking criteria and N.J.A.C. 2:76-6.10(a)1 i and shall forward to the Committee requests for final approval only for those farms for which there is a sufficient local funding commitment.

(e) Copies of the municipal governing body's resolution, county governing body's resolution and the board's resolution approving the funding proposal and the purchase of the development easement shall be submitted to the Committee.

Notes

N.J. Admin. Code § 2:76-17A.13

Amended by 52 N.J.R. 1549(a), effective 8/3/2020