Bill Text: NJ S2680 | 2012-2013 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Allows development on piers in coastal high hazard areas in certain urban municipalities.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Vetoed) 2013-08-19 - Absolute Veto, Received in the Senate [S2680 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2012-S2680-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator NICHOLAS J. SACCO
District 32 (Bergen and Hudson)
Senator JOSEPH M. KYRILLOS, JR.
District 13 (Monmouth)
SYNOPSIS
Allows development on piers in coastal high hazard areas in certain urban municipalities.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning waterfront development in special urban areas and supplementing Title 12 of the Revised States.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. The Legislature finds and determines that:
a. Rules and regulations adopted by the Department of Environmental Protection pursuant to R.S.12:5-1 et seq. allow residential development, including hotels and motels, on existing piers in coastal high hazard areas in Atlantic City, subject to certain conditions set forth in those rules and regulations;
b. These rules and regulations also allow housing, hotels, motels, and mixed use and commercial development on piers over large rivers in special urban areas, subject to certain conditions set forth in those rules and regulations, but do not allow such development in coastal high hazard areas outside of Atlantic City; and
c. It is the public policy of this State to encourage development that will help to restore the economic and social viability of special urban areas.
2. a. Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law, ordinance, or rule or regulation to the contrary, residential development, hotels, motels, mixed use development, and commercial development may be permitted on a pier located over a large river in a coastal high hazard area within a qualifying municipality, provided that the development otherwise complies with all applicable laws, ordinances, rules and regulations.
b. Except as provided in subsection a. of this section, nothing in this section shall affect the authority of the Department of Environmental Protection to regulate development located in a qualifying municipality or in a coastal high hazard area.
c. As used in this section:
"Coastal high hazard area" means a flood prone area subject to high velocity winds (V zones) as delineated on a Flood Insurance Rate Map prepared by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, extending from the offshore to the inland V zone boundary line as designated on the Flood Insurance Rate Map.
"Qualifying municipality" means a municipality eligible for aid pursuant to P.L.1978, c.14 (C.52:27D-178 et seq.).
3. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill would allow for residential development, hotels, motels, mixed use development, and commercial development to be permitted on piers over large rivers located in coastal high hazard areas within qualifying municipalities, provided the development otherwise complies with all applicable laws, ordinances, rules and regulations. Currently, this type of development is prohibited by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) in special urban areas outside of Atlantic City. The bill defines "qualifying municipality" to mean a municipality eligible for State aid pursuant to P.L.1978, c.14 (C.52:27D-178 et seq.).
Pursuant to R.S.12:5-1 et seq., commonly referred to as the "waterfront development law," the DEP regulates, among other things, development on piers over the Atlantic Ocean and over large rivers located in special urban areas. The DEP's rules and regulations allow, subject to certain conditions, residential development, including hotels and motels, on existing piers over the Atlantic Ocean in coastal high hazard areas in Atlantic City. While the DEP's rules and regulations allow, subject to certain conditions, housing, hotels, motels, mixed use and commercial development on piers over large rivers in special urban areas, the rules and regulations prohibit such development in coastal high hazard areas located outside of Atlantic City.
