SENATE COMMUNITY AND URBAN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR

SENATE, No. 1408

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  MARCH 17, 2025

      The Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee reports favorably a Senate Committee Substitute for Senate Bill No. 1408.

      As substituted and reported, this bill establishes a limited preemption from local zoning regulations for applications to convert certain office parks and retail centers that meet the eligibility requirements of the bill into mixed-used developments.  A developer of a proposed project to repurpose or redevelop a retail center or office park into a mixed-use development is required to demonstrate that the retail center or office park located on the lot or land included in the application for development meets the following requirements to be deemed an eligible property:

      (1)  the office park is at least 50,000 square feet or the retail center is at least 15,000 square feet; and

      (2)  (a)  the office park or retail center has a vacancy rate of at least 25 percent for at least 18 months immediately preceding the application for development; or

      (b)  the office park or retail center has suffered an economic downturn over the three-year period immediately preceding the date of the application.

      The bill provides that a mixed-use development that is the subject of an application for development to convert an eligible property is to be a permitted use and is not to require a use variance if the application for development complies with certain requirements provided in the bill.

      The bill further provides that the municipal planning board is to approve an application to repurpose or redevelop an eligible property into a mixed-use development notwithstanding the eligible property’s location in the municipality, if the project complies with the zoning requirements applicable to projects within the municipality’s mixed-use zone.  If the municipality has multiple mixed-use zones in its zoning ordinance, the municipality is to designate which of its mixed-use zones’ regulations are to apply to mixed-use developments that meet the requirements of the bill.

      If the municipality’s zoning ordinance does not have a mixed-use zone, a development that meets the bill’s requirements is to be subject to certain other requirements provided in the bill.

      A project undertaken pursuant to the bill is to be eligible for long term tax exemption pursuant to the "Long Term Tax Exemption Law," P.L.1991 (C.40A:20-1 et seq.) and is to be deemed an "area in need of redevelopment" or an "area in need of rehabilitation" without consideration of the requirements of the "Local Redevelopment and Housing Law," P.L.1991, c.431 (C.40A:12A-1 et seq.).

      The provisions of the bill are not to prohibit or limit an applicant’s ability to apply and qualify for variances, tax incentives, financing, or grants.

      A development project and any municipal action undertaken pursuant to the bill is to be in compliance with the "Municipal Land Use Law," P.L.1975, c.291 (C.40:55D-1 et seq.) and all other applicable municipal zoning ordinance requirements.