ANJEC's Highlands Herald
Welcome to ANJEC’s Highlands Herald, e- newsletter. The Herald is designed to help environmental commissions, municipal officials, and the public understand and participate in the Highlands planning process.
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In this Issue
- Highlands Council Issues Land Preservation Report
- Highlands Act Sustains Legal Challenge
- Redevelopment Area Designated
Highlands Council Land Preservation Report
The Highlands Council has released a report covering the results of land preservation efforts in the Highlands since the 2008 adoption of the Regional Master Plan (RMP). An additional 7,690 acres have been added, bringing the overall total of land preserved to 290,214 acres or nearly 34% of the region. Nearly 47% of the Preservation Area has been protected. The aggregate dollar value of these lands ranges from $2.2 billion to $3.38 billion, depending on the per acre value assumption used in the calculation.
Funding has come from programs supported by the Garden State Preservation Trust, including Green Acres and the Farmland Preservation Program. Recently, the Highlands TDR Program has begun to preserve lands.
The report presents other facts on preservation issues. Costs of preservation appear to be rising on a per acre basis. The distribution of land by parcel size indicates the large number of smaller parcels in the region and the fact that 32% of the land area is represented by parcels over 100 acres in size, while an additional 17% is contained in parcels from 50 to 99.99 acres. It recommends concentrating on the larger parcels while smaller parcels may be suitable for preservation using the TDR program.
The report also finds a good fit between land preservation and the RMP preservation priorities. Municipalities may want to examine the Council’s agricultural and environmentally sensitive land preservation priorities and factor them into their own open space plans. Municipalities have played an import role in preservation through the operation of their open space tax dedicated funding. Reduction in these programs does not seem warranted given the rising cost of land.
View and download the entire report.
Highlands Act Sustains Legal Challenges
1. U.S. Supreme Court Declines to Hear Case Challenging Highlands Act.
A two-year court battle brought by nine Highlands landowners ended June 28 when the U.S. Supreme Court notified the N.J. Attorney General that it would not hear the case “after reviewing briefs by both parties and the earlier court decisions”.
Previously, the Superior Court had dismissed the case on January 2008, the Appellate Division of the Superior Court affirmed the dismissal on Sept 4, 2009 and the N.J. Supreme Court declined to hear the case in January.
The U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision “without comment”.
Read the Highlands Council’s press release.
2. Heritage at Independence, LLC v. State
The Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey rendered a decision in Heritage at Independence, LLC v. State on August 18. Read the entire decision.
. In July 2007 Heritage at Independence LLC , a developer with 113 acres of undeveloped land in the Preservation Area, filed suit against the NJ DEP, the Highlands Council and the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH). Heritage sought to declare the Highlands Act unconstitutional, an order to bar the State from regulating the development and a builder’s remedy to allow the construction of affordable units that were a part of the original municipal approval. The trial court dismissed the original suit. Heritage appealed to the Appellate Division of the Superior Court. The appeal decision contains considerable language supporting the Highlands Act. The drawing of the Highlands Preservation Area boundaries and relies heavily on the “presumption of validity”, and “failure to exhaust administrative remedies”. The case specifically addresses issues that continue to arise about the Highlands Act and serves as an excellent resource for understanding the current legal debate.
Highlands Council Designates Another “Highlands Redevelopment Area”
One of the least known provisions of the Highlands Act is its encouragement of redevelopment in the Preservation Area. To be considered as a redevelopment area the site proposed must be at least 70% impervious cover or be a designated brownfield.
Once the Council designates a redevelopment site, the project is eligible for waivers from the DEP’s Highlands Rules as determined by the DEP’s Highlands Preservation Area Approval (HPAA) process. Overall, the intent is to encourage new development but in restricted circumstances confined to previously developed or contaminated property. The Council has previously designated four sites as redevelopment areas.
The designated site is on Goldmine Road in Mt. Olive Township and if ultimately approved would allow the construction of a 12,000 s.f. building and the restoration of a previous quarry site.
Municipalities are encouraged to develop a thorough understanding of the redevelopment area process and to be proactive in their designation, rather than waiting for a developer to make the proposal to the Council
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