A319

By Assemblymen KRAMER, COTTRELL, Malone, Gibson, Assemblywoman Wright, Assemblyman Collins, Senators Singer, Cafiero, Matheussen and Inverso

An Act appropriating $15,284,000, and reappropriating $2,788,000, from the "Green Acres, Clean Water, Farmland and Historic Preservation Bond Act of 1992," P.L.1992, c.88, and reappropriating $328,000, and appropriating $2,675,000 in interest earnings, from the "Open Space Preservation Bond Act of 1989," P.L.1989, c.183, for farmland preservation; authorizing the use of unexpended balances and interest earnings from certain farmland preservation bond funds for farmland preservation; approving certain farmland preservation projects in southern New Jersey as eligible for funding; appropriating $750,000 from the "Green Acres, Clean Water, Farmland and Historic Preservation Bond Act of 1992," P.L.1992, c.88, for soil and water conservation projects; and appropriating $1,000,000 from the "Green Acres, Farmland and Historic Preservation, and Blue Acres Bond Act," P.L.1995, c.204, for costs incurred in implementing the farmland preservation program.

1. a. There is appropriated from the "1992 Farmland Preservation Fund," established pursuant to section 24 of the "Green Acres, Clean Water, Farmland and Historic Preservation Bond Act of 1992," P.L.1992, c.88, to the State Agriculture Development Committee the sum of $15,284,000 for the purpose of: (1) providing grants to counties and municipalities for up to 80% of the cost of acquisition of development easements on farmland, provided that any funds received for the transfer of a development easement shall be dedicated to the future purchase of development easements, for projects approved as eligible for such funding pursuant to section 2 of this act and section 1 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (now before the Legislature as Senate Bill No. 1710 of 1996 or Assembly Bill No. 328 of 1996); and (2) providing for up to 100% of the cost of acquisition of development easements under such emergency conditions as the State Agriculture Development Committee determines, for projects approved as eligible for such funding pursuant to section 2 of this act and section 1 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (now before the Legislature as Senate Bill No. 1710 of 1996 or Assembly Bill No. 328 of 1996).

b. There is reappropriated from the "1992 Farmland Preservation Fund," established pursuant to section 24 of the "Green Acres, Clean Water, Farmland and Historic Preservation Bond Act of 1992," P.L.1992, c.88, to the State Agriculture Development Committee the unexpended balances of $2,788,000 appropriated pursuant to P.L.1995, c.60, for the purpose of: (1) providing grants to counties and municipalities for up to 80% of the cost of acquisition of development easements on farmland, provided that any funds received for the transfer of a development easement shall be dedicated to the future purchase of development easements, for projects approved as eligible for such funding pursuant to section 2 of this act and section 1 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (now before the Legislature as Senate Bill No. 1710 of 1996 or Assembly Bill No. 328 of 1996); and (2) providing for up to 100% of the cost of acquisition of development easements under such emergency conditions as the State Agriculture Development Committee determines, for projects approved as eligible for such funding pursuant to section 2 of this act and section 1 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (now before the Legislature as Senate Bill No. 1710 of 1996 or Assembly Bill No. 328 of 1996).

c. There is reappropriated from the "1989 Farmland Preservation Fund," established pursuant to section 22 of the "Open Space Preservation Bond Act of 1989," P.L.1989, c.183, to the State Agriculture Development Committee the unexpended balances of $328,000 appropriated or reappropriated pursuant to P.L.1993, c.262, P.L.1993, c.263, P.L.1993, c.264, P.L.1995, c.60, P.L.1995, c.61, P.L.1995, c.62, and P.L.1996, c.56, for the purpose of: (1) providing grants to counties and municipalities for up to 80% of the cost of acquisition of development easements on farmland, provided that any funds received for the transfer of a development easement shall be dedicated to the future purchase of development easements, for projects approved as eligible for such funding pursuant to section 2 of this act and section 1 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (now before the Legislature as Senate Bill No. 1710 of 1996 or Assembly Bill No. 328 of 1996); and (2) providing for up to 100% of the cost of acquisition of development easements under such emergency conditions as the State Agriculture Development Committee determines, for projects approved as eligible for such funding pursuant to section 2 of this act and section 1 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (now before the Legislature as Senate Bill No. 1710 of 1996 or Assembly Bill No. 328 of 1996).

d. There is appropriated from the "1989 Farmland Preservation Fund," established pursuant to section 22 of the "Open Space Preservation Bond Act of 1989," P.L.1989, c.183, to the State Agriculture Development Committee the sum of $2,675,000 in interest earnings for the purpose of: (1) providing grants to counties and municipalities for up to 80% of the cost of acquisition of development easements on farmland, provided that any funds received for the transfer of a development easement shall be dedicated to the future purchase of development easements, for projects approved as eligible for such funding pursuant to section 2 of this act and section 1 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (now before the Legislature as Senate Bill No. 1710 of 1996 or Assembly Bill No. 328 of 1996); and (2) providing for up to 100% of the cost of acquisition of development easements under such emergency conditions as the State Agriculture Development Committee determines, for projects approved as eligible for such funding pursuant to section 2 of this act and section 1 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (now before the Legislature as Senate Bill No. 1710 of 1996 or Assembly Bill No. 328 of 1996).

2. The following projects are eligible for funding with the monies appropriated or reappropriated pursuant to subsections a., b., c., and d. of section 1 of this act:

Project (farm)	County	Municipality	Acres (+/-)	Amount of Grant Not To Exceed
Hall Estate	Burlington	North Hanover/ Chesterfield	222	$525,000
Croshaw	Burlington	North Hanover	185	475,000
Rahilly	Burlington	Springfield	40	75,000
Cape May/ Stites	Cape May	Dennis	35	75,000
Cape May/ Conover	Cape May	Middle	29	100,000
Cape May/ Hoff	Cape May	Middle	58	150,000
Cape May/ Shivers	Cape May	Middle	173	325,000
Kiefer	Cumberland	Greenwich	186	275,000
Willis	Cumberland	Hopewell	216	325,000
Dubois	Cumberland	Upper Deerfield	102	200,000
Johnson Farms Ent.	Cumberland	Upper Deerfield	112	225,000
Mae Partnership	Gloucester	Elk/ Harrison	317	550,000
Sorbello	Gloucester	South Harrison	55	150,000
Blasig, Jr.	Mercer	East Windsor	96	375,000
Skeba	Mercer	East Windsor	60	300,000
DiDonato	Mercer	Lawrence	84	600,000
Hendrickson	Mercer	Lawrence	92	625,000
Johnson	Mercer	Lawrence	65	475,000
Blasig, Sr.	Mercer	Washington	46	200,000
Washington Twp./ Mercrock	Mercer	Washington	85	325,000
Concorde Stud	Monmouth	Upper Freehold	248	950,000
Freiberger South	Monmouth	Upper Freehold	91	225,000
Leonard, CP	Monmouth	Upper Freehold	395	1,725,000
Red Bird Inc./ C.W. Plan Inc.	Ocean	Plumsted	128	300,000
Myers	Salem	Upper Pittsgrove	292	500,000

3. There is appropriated from the "1992 Farmland Preservation Fund," established pursuant to section 24 of the "Green Acres, Clean Water, Farmland and Historic Preservation Bond Act of 1992," P.L.1992, c.88, to the State Agriculture Development Committee the sum of $750,000 for the purpose of providing grants to landowners for up to 50% of the cost of soil and water conservation projects approved as eligible for such funding.

4. There is appropriated from the "1995 Farmland Preservation Fund," established pursuant to section 25 of the "Green Acres, Farmland and Historic Preservation, and Blue Acres Bond Act of 1995," P.L.1995, c.204, to the State Agriculture Development Committee the sum of $1,000,000 for the purpose of providing for costs, as defined in section 3 of P.L.1995, c.204, incurred in implementing the provisions of the "Agriculture Retention and Development Act," P.L.1983, c.32 (C.4:1C-11 et seq.).

5. The expenditure of the sums appropriated or reappropriated by this act is subject to the provisions and conditions of P.L.1989, c.183, P.L.1992, c.88, or P.L.1995, c.204, as appropriate.

This bill would (1) appropriate $15,284,000, and reappropriate $2,788,000 (in unexpended balances from previous appropriations), from the "Green Acres, Clean Water, Farmland and Historic Preservation Bond Act of 1992," P.L.1992, c.88, and (2) reappropriate $328,000 (in unexpended balances from previous appropriations), and appropriate $2,675,000 (in interest earnings), from the "Open Space Preservation Bond Act of 1989," P.L.1989, c.183, for farmland preservation projects approved as eligible for funding pursuant to this bill with respect to such projects located in southern New Jersey and pursuant to a companion bill (Senate Bill No. 1710 of 1996 or Assembly Bill No. 328 of 1996) with respect to such projects located in northern New Jersey. Specifically, the sums appropriated or reappropriated would be utilized to: (1) provide grants to counties and municipalities for up to 80% of the cost of acquisition of development easements on farmland; and (2) provide for up to 100% of the cost of acquisition of development easements under such emergency conditions as the State Agriculture Development Committee determines, in accordance with the provisions of the bond acts.

This bill would also appropriate $750,000 from the "Green Acres, Clean Water, Farmland and Historic Preservation Bond Act of 1992," P.L.1992, c.88, to provide grants to qualifying farmland owners for up to 50% of the cost of soil and water conservation projects. With respect to soil and water conservation grants, neither the 1992 bond act nor the 1995 bond act requires identification of the particular projects to be funded by the appropriation bill; thus, the State Agriculture Development Committee would make the decisions with regard to which particular projects are to be funded with the monies appropriated by this bill for soil and water conservation grants.

Finally, the bill would also appropriate from the "Green Acres, Farmland and Historic Preservation, and Blue Acres Bond Act of 1995," P.L.1995, c.204, the sum of $1 million to cover the costs, as defined in the bond act, incurred in implementing the "Agriculture Retention and Development Act," P.L.1983, c.32 (C.4:1C-11 et seq.), which is the major law concerned with the farmland preservation and development easement purchase program in the State.

Thus, the total sum appropriated or reappropriated from various farmland preservation bond funds pursuant to the bill would be $22,825,000.

The bill includes an appropriation of $75,000 designated for the acquisition of a development easement on an additional approximately 40 acres of the Rahilly farm in Burlington county, which is intended to supplement an earlier insufficient sum of $350,000 (for approximately 107 acres) in connection with that farm that was appropriated pursuant to P.L.1996, c.54.

Appropriates $22.825 million from 1989, 1992, and 1995 bond acts for farmland preservation, soil and water conservation projects, and program implementation costs; approves funding of certain farmland preservation projects in southern NJ.