Sponsored by:
Assemblyman ALEX SAUICKIE
District 12 (Burlington, Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean)
SYNOPSIS
Provides that certain developments at commercial farms would not constitute major developments for stormwater management purposes.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning stormwater management at certain commercial farms and supplementing Title 58 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. As used in this section:
“Commercial farm” means the same as that term is defined in section 3 of P.L.1983, c.31 (C.4:1C-3).
“Department” means the Department of Environmental Protection.
“Development” means the division of a parcel of land into two or more parcels, the construction, reconstruction, conversion, structural alteration, relocation, or enlargement of any building or structure, any mining excavation or landfill, and any use or change in the use of any building or other structure, or land or extension of use of land, for which permission is required under the “Municipal Land Use Law,” P.L.1975, c.291 (C.40:55D-1 et seq.). In the case of development on agricultural land, “development” means any activity that requires a State permit, any activity reviewed by a County Agricultural Board and the State Agricultural Development Committee, and municipal review of any activity not exempted by the “Right to Farm Act,” P.L.1983, c.31 (C.4:1C-1 et al.).
“Major development” means an individual development, as well as multiple developments that individually or collectively result in: (1) the disturbance of one or more acres of land since February 2, 2004; (2) the creation of one-quarter acre or more of regulated impervious surface since February 2, 2004; (3) the creation of one-quarter acre or more of regulated motor vehicle surface since March 2, 2021; or (4) a combination of the creation of regulated impervious surface and regulated motor vehicle surface that totals an area of one-quarter acre or more. “Major development” shall not include a development at a commercial farm that creates 1.25 acres or less of regulated impervious surface or regulated motor vehicle surface, or a combination thereof.
“New stormwater conveyance system” means a stormwater conveyance system that is constructed where one did not exist immediately prior to its construction or an existing system for which a new discharge location is created.
“Regulated impervious surface” means any of the following, alone or in combination: (1) a net increase of impervious surface; (2) the total area of impervious surface collected by a new stormwater conveyance system; (3) the total area of impervious surface proposed to be newly collected by an existing stormwater conveyance system; and (4) the total area of impervious surface collected by an existing stormwater conveyance system where the capacity of that conveyance system is increased.
“Regulated motor vehicle surface” means any of the following, alone or in combination: (1) a net increase in motor vehicle surface; and (2) the total area of motor vehicle surface that is currently receiving water quality treatment either by vegetation or soil, by an existing stormwater management measure, or by treatment at a wastewater treatment plant, where the water quality treatment will be modified or removed.
b. Notwithstanding the provisions of any law, rule regulation, or municipal ordinance to the contrary, a development at a commercial farm that creates 1.25 acres or less of regulated impervious surface, regulated motor vehicle surface, or a combination thereof, shall not be considered a major development and therefore, shall not be subject to the requirements or permitting fees associated with a major development, under the department’s stormwater management rules at N.J.A.C.7:8-1.1 et seq., or any successor regulations adopted by the department.
c. The department may, in accordance with the “Administrative Procedure Act,” P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), adopt rules and regulations establishing new standards and requirements for commercial farms that create 1.25 acres or less of regulated impervious surface or regulated motor vehicle surface, or a combination thereof, so long as the rules and regulations are less stringent than those for major developments.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill would provide that a development at a commercial farm that creates 1.25 acres or less of regulated impervious surface, regulated motor vehicle surface, or a combination thereof, would not be considered a major development and therefore, that a commercial farm would not be subject to the requirements or permitting fees associated with a major development under the Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) stormwater management rules at N.J.A.C.7:8-1.1 et seq. The bill would also permit, but not require, the DEP to adopt rules and regulations establishing new standards and requirements for commercial farms that create 1.25 acres or less of regulated impervious surface or regulated motor vehicle surface, or a combination thereof, so long as the rules and regulations are less stringent than those for major developments.
It is the view of the sponsor that existing State laws and regulations concerning stormwater management, which consider development at commercial farms to be a “major development,” impose excessive requirements and permitting fees that are disproportionate to the relative lack of risk of stormwater management runoff at commercial farms. The sponsor notes that in the specific case of a development to construct a hay barn at a particular commercial farm, the costs of compliance with existing State laws and regulations concerning stormwater management, including the creation of a basin, engineering costs, and permitting fees, doubled the cost of the original development from $250,000 to $500,000.