ASSEMBLY ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION No. 32

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: DECEMBER 15, 1997

      The Assembly Environment, Science and Technology Committee reports favorably Senate Joint Resolution Bill No. 32.

      This joint resolution directs the Department of Environmental Protection to amend its Coastal Zone Management regulations concerning infill development in erosion hazard areas and coastal high hazard areas. Under current regulation, codified at N.J.A.C.7:7E-7.2(e)1.iii(3), in order to qualify as "infill" a single family home or duplex must have a "house or commercial building ... located on each lot abutting the lot line, perpendicular to the shoreline, and within 100 feet of said lot line."

      This definition has caused inequities, confusion, and odd results because of the requirement that the buildings within 100 feet of the property must be on abutting lots. Many lots in the costal area are only 40 to 50 feet wide. In at least four cases, “Coastal Area Facility Review Act” permits have been denied because a small, intervening lot existed between the proposed development and a neighboring house. This has led to an anomaly in the application of the coastal regulations: new houses can be built as "infill" in an open space as large as 100 feet but cannot be built on a smaller lot due to the presence of a small, intervening lot located next to the permittee's lot despite the fact that buildings exist less than 100 feet away on either side of the permittee’s lot.

      This joint resolution will rectify the situation by removing the abutting lot criteria. Thus, in determining if a lot is infill the department may only consider whether or not there is a building on either side within 100 feet.

      As reported by the committee, this joint resolution is identical to Assembly Joint Resolution No. 53 of 1996 as also reported by the committee.