N.J.S.A. 52:18A-202 — Advice of other entities; plan cross-acceptance.

52:18A-202 Advice of other entities; plan cross-acceptance. 7. a. In preparing, maintaining and revising the State Development and Redevelopment Plan, the commission shall solicit and give due consideration to the plans, comments and advice of each county and municipality, State agencies designated by the commission, the Highlands Water Protection and Planning Council established pursuant to section 4 of P.L.2004, c.120 (C.13:20-4), and other local and regional entities. Prior to the adoption of each plan, the commission shall prepare and distribute a preliminary plan to each county planning board, municipal planning board and other requesting parties, including State agencies, the Highlands Water Protection and Planning Council, and metropolitan planning organizations. Not less than 45 nor more than 90 days thereafter, the commission shall conduct a joint public informational meeting with each county planning board in each county and with the Highlands Water Protection and Planning Council for the purpose of providing information on the plan, responding to inquiries concerning the plan, and receiving informal comments and recommendations from county and municipal planning boards, local public officials, the Highlands Water Protection and Planning Council, and other interested parties. b. The commission shall negotiate plan cross-acceptance with each county planning board, which shall solicit and receive any findings, recommendations and objections concerning the plan from local planning bodies. Each county planning board shall negotiate plan cross-acceptance among the local planning bodies within the county, unless it shall notify the commission in writing within 45 days of the receipt of the preliminary plan that it waives this responsibility, in which case the commission shall designate an appropriate entity, or itself, to assume this responsibility. Each board or designated entity shall, within ten months of receipt of the preliminary plan, file with the commission a formal report of findings, recommendations and objections concerning the plan, including a description of the degree of consistency and any remaining inconsistency between the preliminary plan and county and municipal plans. In any event, should any municipality's plan remain inconsistent with the State Development and Redevelopment Plan after the completion of the cross-acceptance process, the municipality may file its own report with the State Planning Commission, notwithstanding the fact that the county planning board has filed its report with the State Planning Commission. The term cross-acceptance means a process of comparison of planning policies among governmental levels with the purpose of attaining compatibility between local, county, regional, and State plans. The process is designed to result in a written statement specifying areas of agreement or disagreement and areas requiring modification by parties to the cross-acceptance. c. Upon consideration of the formal reports of the county planning boards, the commission shall prepare and distribute a final plan to county and municipal planning boards, the Highlands Water Protection and Planning Council, and other interested parties. The commission shall conduct not less than six public hearings in different locations throughout the State for the purpose of receiving comments on the final plan. The commission shall give at least 30 days' public notice of each hearing in advertisements in at least two newspapers which circulate in the area served by the hearing and at least 30 days' notice to the governing body and planning board of each county and municipality in the area served by the hearing and to the Highlands Water Protection and Planning Council for any area in the Highlands Region served by the hearing. d. Taking full account of the testimony presented at the public hearings, the commission shall make revisions in the plan as it deems necessary and appropriate and adopt the final plan by a majority vote of its authorized membership no later than 60 days after the final public hearing. L.1985,c.398,s.7; amended 1998, c.109, s.1; 2004, c.120, s.67. 52:18A-202a Extended period for filing report on preliminary plan. 2. The extended period for the filing of a formal report of findings, recommendations and objections concerning the preliminary plan provided for in section 7 of P.L.1985, c.398 (C.52:18A-202), as amended by P.L.1998, c.109, shall apply to any preliminary plan which has not been finalized by the commission, as provided in subsection c. of section 7 of P.L.1985, c.398 (C.52:18A-202) prior to the effective date of P.L.1998, c.109. L.1998,c.109,s.2. 52:18A-202.1. Findings, declarations The Legislature finds and declares that: a. There are many concerns associated with the design and implementation of the State Development and Redevelopment Plan (hereafter referred to as the "Plan"), including: (1) maintaining beneficial growth; (2) improving environmental quality; (3) assuring cost-effective delivery of infrastructure and other public services; (4) improving intergovernmental coordination; (5) preserving the quality of community life; and (6) redeveloping the State's major urban areas. b. Each of these concerns is an important issue for further study and each should serve as a measure of the efficacy of the Plan. c. However, these concerns are not mutually exclusive and, therefore, a balance among them must be achieved to maximize the well-being for the State and its residents. d. The process of cross-acceptance of the State Development and Redevelopment Plan required under the "State Planning Act," P.L.1985, c.398 (C.52:18A-196 et seq.), is a process designed to elicit the greatest degree of public participation in order to encourage the development of a consensus among the many, sometimes competing, interests in the State. e. This consensus will be facilitated by the availability of sufficient information concerning the impact the State Development and Redevelopment Plan may have on particular regions and on the overall economic well-being of the State. f. The Plan evolves through three phases: (1) the Preliminary Plan, which will serve as the basis for cross-acceptance; (2) the Interim Plan, which will reflect the changes occurring during the cross-acceptance process; and (3) the Final Plan, which is to be implemented after approval by the State Planning Commission. g. A two-stage process shall be established to examine the economic, environmental, infrastructure, community life, and intergovernmental coordination impacts of the Plan. This procedure shall consist of an assessment of the impacts of the Interim Plan and an on-going monitoring and evaluation program after the Final Plan is adopted. h. The results of the Assessment Study shall identify desirable changes to be incorporated into the Final Plan. These studies shall describe the impacts of the policies and strategies proposed in the Plan (hereafter referred to as the "Plan" impacts) relative to the impacts that would likely occur without a Plan (hereafter referred to as "Trend" impacts). In examining the impacts of Plan and Trend, any significant regional differences that result shall be identified and analyzed. Where appropriate, the study shall also distinguish short-term and long-term impacts. i. It is necessary to conduct an economic assessment of the Plan and Trend impacts and to make the results of that assessment available before adoption of the Final Plan. Work on the development of the evaluation methodology and, where possible, the collection of data for the assessment study shall commence upon enactment of this bill. Some factors that shall be addressed during cross-acceptance include: (1) Changes in property values, including farmland, State and local expenditures and tax revenues, and regulations; (2) Changes in housing supply, housing prices, employment, population and income; (3) Costs of providing the infrastructure systems identified in the State Planning Act; (4) Costs of preserving the natural resources as identified in the State Planning Act; (5) Changes in business climate; and (6) Changes in the agricultural industry and the costs of preserving farmland and open spaces. L.1989, c.332, s.1.

This is the verbatim text of N.J.S.A. 52:18A-202, retrieved from the New Jersey Legislature's public statute corpus. Statutes are amended periodically — for the most current version, check the external source link above. Kyzer is not a law firm and this page is not legal advice.