A1700 2R

Sponsored by:

Assemblyman RONALD S. DANCER

District 12 (Burlington, Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean)

Assemblywoman VALERIE VAINIERI HUTTLE

District 37 (Bergen)

Assemblyman CLINTON CALABRESE

District 36 (Bergen and Passaic)

Senator NILSA CRUZ-PEREZ

District 5 (Camden and Gloucester)

Senator SANDRA B. CUNNINGHAM

District 31 (Hudson)

Co-Sponsored by:

Assemblywoman Murphy, Assemblymen McGuckin, Benson, Karabinchak, Assemblywomen DiMaso, Lampitt, Senator Singleton and Assemblywoman Pinkin

SYNOPSIS

Expands eligibility criteria for designating certain areas as being in need of redevelopment.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

As amended by the Senate on May 30, 2019.

An Act concerning the designation of certain areas as in need of redevelopment and amending P.L.1992, c.79.

Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

1. Section 5 of P.L.1992, c.79 (C.40A:12A-5) is amended to read as follows:

5. A delineated area may be determined to be in need of redevelopment if, after investigation, notice and hearing as provided in section 6 of P.L.1992, c.79 (C.40A:12A-6), the governing body of the municipality by resolution concludes that within the delineated area any of the following conditions is found:

a. The generality of buildings are substandard, unsafe, unsanitary, dilapidated, or obsolescent, or possess any of such characteristics, or are so lacking in light, air, or space, as to be conducive to unwholesome living or working conditions.

b. The discontinuance of the use of ²a building or² buildings previously used for commercial, ²retail, shopping malls or plazas, office parks,² manufacturing, or industrial purposes; the abandonment of such ²building or² buildings; ²significant vacancies of such building or buildings for at least two consecutive years;² or the same being allowed to fall into so great a state of disrepair as to be untenantable.

c. Land that is owned by the municipality, the county, a local housing authority, redevelopment agency or redevelopment entity, or unimproved vacant land that has remained so for a period of ten years prior to adoption of the resolution, and that by reason of its location, remoteness, lack of means of access to developed sections or portions of the municipality, or topography, or nature of the soil, is not likely to be developed through the instrumentality of private capital.

d. Areas with buildings or improvements which, by reason of dilapidation, obsolescence, overcrowding, faulty arrangement or design, lack of ventilation, light and sanitary facilities, excessive land coverage, deleterious land use or obsolete layout, or any combination of these or other factors, are detrimental to the safety, health, morals, or welfare of the community.

e. A growing lack or total lack of proper utilization of areas caused by the condition of the title, diverse ownership of the real properties therein or other similar conditions which impede land assemblage or discourage the undertaking of improvements, resulting in a stagnant and unproductive condition of land potentially useful and valuable for contributing to and serving the public health, safety and welfare, which condition is presumed to be having a negative social or economic impact or otherwise being detrimental to the safety, health, morals, or welfare of the surrounding area or the community in general.

f. Areas, in excess of five contiguous acres, whereon buildings or improvements have been destroyed, consumed by fire, demolished or altered by the action of storm, fire, cyclone, tornado, earthquake or other casualty in such a way that the aggregate assessed value of the area has been materially depreciated.

g. In any municipality in which an enterprise zone has been designated pursuant to the "New Jersey Urban Enterprise Zones Act," P.L.1983, c.303 (C.52:27H-60 et seq.) the execution of the actions prescribed in that act for the adoption by the municipality and approval by the New Jersey Urban Enterprise Zone Authority of the zone development plan for the area of the enterprise zone shall be considered sufficient for the determination that the area is in need of redevelopment pursuant to sections 5 and 6 of P.L.1992, c.79 (C.40A:12A-5 and 40A:12A-6) for the purpose of granting tax exemptions within the enterprise zone district pursuant to the provisions of P.L.1991, c.431 (C.40A:20-1 et seq.) or the adoption of a tax abatement and exemption ordinance pursuant to the provisions of P.L.1991, c.441 (C.40A:21-1 et seq.). The municipality shall not utilize any other redevelopment powers within the urban enterprise zone unless the municipal governing body and planning board have also taken the actions and fulfilled the requirements prescribed in P.L.1992, c.79 (C.40A:12A-1 et al.) for determining that the area is in need of redevelopment or an area in need of rehabilitation and the municipal governing body has adopted a redevelopment plan ordinance including the area of the enterprise zone.

h. The designation of the delineated area is consistent with smart growth planning principles adopted pursuant to law or regulation.

²[i. Areas with buildings used, or previously used, as a shopping mall, shopping plaza, or professional office park, which buildings have been vacant or partially vacant with less than 50% occupancy, for a period of at least]² ¹[one year] ²[two years¹.]²

(cf: P.L.2013, c.159, s.1)

2. This act shall take effect immediately.