Bill Text: NJ S1551 | 2010-2011 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Eliminates development review fees charged by Pinelands Commission.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-03-04 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Environment and Energy Committee [S1551 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2010-S1551-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator PHILIP E. HAINES
District 8 (Burlington)
Senator JEFF VAN DREW
District 1 (Cape May, Atlantic and Cumberland)
SYNOPSIS
Eliminates development review fees charged by Pinelands Commission.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning development review fees charged by the Pinelands Commission and amending P.L.1979, c.111.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 6 of P.L.1979, c.111 (C.13:18A-6) is amended to read as follows:
6. The Pinelands Commission shall have the following powers:
a. To adopt and from time to time amend and repeal suitable bylaws for the management of its affairs;
b. To adopt and use an official seal and alter the same at its pleasure;
c. To maintain an office at such place or places in the pinelands area as it may designate;
d. To sue and be sued in its own name;
e. To appoint, retain and employ, without regard to the provisions of Title 11A of the New Jersey Statutes but within the limits of funds appropriated or otherwise made available for such purposes, such officers, agents, employees and experts as it may require, and to determine the qualifications, terms of office, duties, services and compensation therefor;
f. To apply for, receive, and accept, from any federal, State, or other public or private source, grants or loans for, or in aid of, the commission's authorized purposes;
g. To enter into any and all agreements or contracts, execute any and all instruments, and do and perform any and all acts or things necessary, convenient, or desirable for the purposes of the commission or to carry out any power expressly given in this act;
h. To conduct examinations and investigations, to hear testimony, taken under oath at public or private hearings, on any material matter, and to require attendance of witnesses and the production of books and papers;
i. To prepare and transmit to the Commissioner of Environmental Protection such recommendations for water quality standards for surface and ground waters in the pinelands area, or in tributaries and watersheds thereof, as the commission deems appropriate;
j. To prepare, promulgate, adopt, amend or repeal, pursuant to the provisions of the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), such rules and regulations as are necessary in order to implement the provisions of this act;
k. To appoint advisory boards, commissions, or panels to assist in its activities;
l. To identify any lands in which the public acquisition of a fee simple or lesser interest therein is necessary or desirable in order to insure the preservation thereof, or to provide sites for public recreation, as well as any lands the beneficial use of which are so adversely affected by the restrictions imposed pursuant to this act as to require a guarantee of just compensation therefor, and to transmit such identifications to the affected local governments, the Commissioner of Environmental Protection and to the Secretary of the United States Department of Interior;
m. To call to its assistance and avail itself of the services of such employees of any State, county or municipal department, board, commission or agency as may be required and made available for such purposes;
n. [To establish and change, in accordance with a fee schedule to be set forth by regulation adopted pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), reasonable fees for services performed relating to development review applications filed with the commission as required by the Comprehensive Management Plan.] (Deleted by amendment, P.L. , c. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill)
(cf: P.L.2003, c.117, s.30)
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill would eliminate the authority of the Pinelands Commission to charge development review fees for applications filed with the commission pursuant to the Pinelands Comprehensive Master Plan. In light of proposed State funding cutbacks in the commission's operating budget, it has recently proposed fee increases for existing development application categories and for new categories as well, namely single family homes and municipal projects. This proposed action would not only increase already high property taxes, but would adversely affect planned economic growth in this region. The bill would serve to prevent the commission's operating budget shortfall from being offset by fees that would increase property taxes.
