New Jersey Administrative Code › Title 7 - ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION › Chapter 50 - PINELANDS COMPREHENSIVE MANAGEMENT PLAN › Subchapter 5 - MINIMUM STANDARDS FOR LAND USES AND INTENSITIES › Part III - MINIMUM STANDARDS FOR LAND USE DISTRIBUTION AND INTENSITIES › Section 7:50-5.30 - Development transfer programs in Forest Areas and Rural Development Areas

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 14, July 15, 2024
(a) Each municipality with land in either a Forest Area or a Rural Development Area shall establish within said area or areas a program which permits residential development on otherwise undersized lots if other land, equivalent to that needed to meet the assigned density, is protected through a permanent deed restriction.
(b) The density transfer programs shall adhere to the following minimum standards:
1. No lot less than one acre can be developed;
2. All parcels involved in the density transfer shall be located within the same Pinelands management area;
3. The total acreage of the parcels involved in the density transfer shall at least equal the density required for that zoning district; and
4. Any parcel whose acreage is being utilized to meet the density requirement but which will not be developed shall be permanently protected through recordation of a deed of restriction.
i. Such restriction shall be in favor of the parcel to be developed and, if provided by municipal ordinance, the municipality or another public agency or a non profit conservation organization. In all cases, such restriction shall be expressly enforceable by the Pinelands Commission;
ii. Such deed of restriction shall permit the parcel to be managed for low intensity recreation, ecological management and forestry, provided that no more than five percent of the parcel may be cleared, no more than one percent of the parcel may be covered with impervious surfaces and any such uses or activities are approved and conducted in accordance with the requirements of this Plan, including any municipal ordinance certified pursuant thereto;
iii. Where agricultural use exists on a parcel to be protected as of April 6, 2009, the deed of restriction may provide for the continuation of agricultural uses, and the expansion of the area of agricultural use by up to 50 percent;
iv. Where agricultural use was established on the parcel to be protected after April 6, 2009, the deed of restriction may provide for the continuation of agricultural uses, provided the agricultural use has been in existence for a period of at least five years prior to submission of an application for development pursuant to the development transfer program and N.J.A.C. 7:50-4;
v. Where agricultural use was established on the parcel to be protected after April 6, 2009 that does not meet the standards of (b)4iv above, the deed of restriction shall permit the land to be managed only in accordance with (b)4ii above and shall not provide for continuation of any agricultural use on the parcel; and
vi. The deed of restriction to be recorded pursuant to (b)4iii or iv above shall provided that impervious surface may not exceed that which currently exists or three percent, whichever is greater, unless a Resource Management System Plan has been prepared. Before these impervious surface may be exceeded, the Resource Management System Plan must be approved by the Pinelands Commission and, if the deed of restriction is in favor of the county or the State Agriculture Development Committee, by such agency; and
5. The municipal ordinance may set forth reasonable conditions or requirements governing ownership of the parcel to be protected.