New Jersey Administrative Code › Title 7 - ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION › Chapter 38 - HIGHLANDS WATER PROTECTION AND PLANNING ACT RULES › Subchapter 9 - APPLICATION CONTENTS › Section 7:38-9.5 - Additional application requirements for a Highlands Preservation Area Approval (HPAA)

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 14, July 15, 2024
(a) In addition to the basic information required for all applications under 7:38-9.3, to be deemed administratively complete, an application for a Highlands Preservation Area Approval (HPAA) shall include all of the following:
1. A completed copy of the Highlands Preservation Area Approval checklist;
2. A completed LURP-1 application form, completed in accordance with the directions on the form;
3. Proof that the public notice requirements below have been met. To prove that a document has been sent to a person, the applicant shall submit either the white postal receipt bearing the recipient's name, address, the date material was sent by certified mail and the cost to the sender, or the green certified mail return receipt card. If a project is located in more than one municipality or county, the notice requirements below must be met for each municipality and county in which the site is located:
i. Proof that the municipal clerk was sent a copy of the entire application and supporting documentation submitted to the Department;
ii. Proof that the Highlands Council was sent a copy of the entire application and supporting documentation submitted to the Department;
iii. Proof that a completed copy of the notice letter (Attachment A on the application form) has been sent to:
(1) The municipal environmental commission (if one exists);
(2) The municipal planning board;
(3) The municipal construction official;
(4) The county planning board;
(5) The county mosquito control agency (if proposing encroachment in a Highlands open water); and
(6) The county environmental commission (if one exists);
iv. Proof that neighboring landowners within 200 feet of the boundary of the site have been notified. The application shall also submit a certified list of all landowners within 200 feet of the boundaries of the site, that is less than 90 days old and obtained from the municipality. If the proposed project is a linear development, as defined at 7:38-1.4, which is greater than one-half mile long, an applicant may satisfy this requirement to notify neighboring landowners by sending a notice complying to all owners of land within 200 feet of any proposed above surface structure (not including conveyance lines suspended above the ground or small utility support structures such as telephone poles) related to the linear facility, such as an access road, power substation, grade separated interchange or similar structure and publishing a display advertisement. The advertisement shall be:
(1) At least four column inches in size;
(2) Published in the newspaper of record for each municipality in which the site is located; and
(3) Published in a newspaper with regional circulation in the region in which the site is located.
v. For proposed activities in a Highlands open water that is also a flood hazard area as defined at 7:38-3.7(a), notification shall also be provided to:
(1) The Municipal Engineer;
(2) The County Engineer;
(3) The local County Soil Conservation District; and
(4) The municipal clerk, planning board, and construction official for the municipality on the other site of the watercourse from the site and within one mile downstream on both sides of the waterway; and
vi. For proposed activities in a Highlands open water that is also a freshwater wetland in accordance with N.J.A.C. 7:7A:
(1) Proof that a display advertisement has been published in the newspaper of record for the municipality in which the site is located. The advertisement shall be at least four column inches in size and shall include all of the information required in the notice letter in Attachment B. The applicant shall provide the Department with a copy of the advertisement and an affidavit of publication from the newspaper, identifying the dates on which the advertisement was published; and
(2) If the project involves more than 10 acres of disturbance, an affidavit of publication proof that the notice in Attachment B was published in a newspaper with regional circulation;
4. A copy of the Highlands Applicability Determination issued by the Department, or, in the case where an applicant does not have an applicability determination because he or she stipulated under 7:38-2.4(a)  that the proposed activity is subject to the Highlands Act, the information required at 7:38-9.2(b)3  and 4, and 9.2(c);
5. The following information on the location of Highlands resource areas on the site:
i. An HRAD, if one has been issued for the site; or
ii. If no HRAD has been issued, and the site is larger than one acre, the applicant shall submit all of the information required for an application for a boundary verification HRAD. The delineation of Highlands open waters with 300-foot buffers, forests, slopes between 10 and 20 percent and those greater than or equal to 20 percent required by the HRAD application checklist shall be drawn onto the site plan required in 7:38-9.4(a). A formal boundary report is not required. However, the application must include the data sheets and supporting information used to record the information on soils and vegetation which formed the basis for the boundary determination. In addition, if the method at 7:38-3.9(c)  was used to identify forest, all data sheets shall be provided;
(1) If the applicant has a currently valid approved Freshwater Wetlands letter of interpretation (LOI), issued by the Department for the site under N.J.A.C. 7:7A-3, this may be submitted instead of an HRAD so long as the applicant also provides information regarding any additional Highlands resource areas not previously identified in the LOI;
(2) If no Freshwater wetlands LOI or HRAD has been issued and the site does not contain Highlands open waters, no delineation or other information is required;
6. Six copies of a detailed project description including:
i. The purpose and intended use of the proposed project;
ii. A description of the regulated activities necessary to complete and operate or occupy the proposed project;
iii. A description of any structures to be erected, and how they will be used;
iv. A schedule for the progress and completion of the proposed project;
v. The total area of Highlands open waters and Highlands open waters buffers proposed to be disturbed (if any);
vi. The total area of upland forest area on the site and the total area of upland forest area that will be disturbed or destroyed as a result of the proposed activities;
vii. The amount of pre-development impervious surface on the site and the total aggregate amount of impervious surface on the site following completion of the proposed activities;
viii. A description of slopes between 10 and 20 percent and 20 percent or greater present on the site and all proposed activities that will disturb these slopes;
ix. An evaluation of whether and how rare, threatened or endangered animal or plant species or ecological communities will be affected by the proposed activities;
x. An architectural or Phase I archaeological survey for applicants proposing work that will impact historic structures in accordance with 7:38-3.10(c)  or archaeological resources in accordance with 7:38-3.10(d);
xi. A Phase II archaeological survey for applicants that discover archaeological features resources as a result of the Phase I archaeological survey as described at 7:38-3.10(e); and
xii. The name, address and professional qualifications of the used to prepare the detailed project description or any other portion of the application; and
7. A compliance statement and the basis for the findings describing how the proposed project meets all standards set forth at N.J.A.C. 7:38-3 and 6.