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The state Senate Thursday voted 29-7 in favor of legislation its sponsors believe would help foster smart development throughout the state while broadening the options for owners of protected property in the Highlands to sell their development rights.
Under a provision of the state Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act of 2004, a voluntary Highlands transfer of development rights program was established that provided significant incentives to towns within the seven counties of the North Jersey Highlands region to create receiving zones for the transfer of development rights from the preservation area.
The bill (S-80/A-602) would allow cities and towns anywhere in the state outside of the Highlands region to agree voluntarily to accommodate receiving zones for development and be eligible for the incentives that are available. These incentives include: enhanced planning grants of up to $250,000; grants to reimburse the reasonable cost of amending the municipal development regulations; authority to impose special Highlands impact fees for new development; and other assistance, incentives or benefits that are made available to towns and counties that have received plan endorsement from the State Planning Commission or that have incurred costs in implementing a transfer of development rights program or other smart growth project.
The Highlands transfer development rights program is designed to provide benefits to Highlands property owners that have seen the value of their property limited by development restrictions aimed at protecting the drinking water for roughly 5.4 million people in New Jersey.
A municipality located outside of the Highlands Region would be eligible to participate in the program if it has received plan endorsement by the State Planning Commission or the commission, in coordination with the Highlands Council, determines that it has designated an appropriate project area as a receiving zone.
"This bill will help benefit the property owners in the Highlands region who have made sacrifices in order to help us protect the drinking water for more than half of the residents in our state," said Sen. Bob Smith (D-Middlesex), a co-sponsor of the measure with Senators Robert Gordon (D-Bergen) and Jim Beach (D-Camden).
The bill was approved by the Assembly on Feb. 25. It moves to the governor's desk for consideration.
— TOM HESTER SR., NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
