Bulletin Board Mag 2015 2nd Quarter

10-11 / 44

Bulletin Board | 10 | Bulletin Board | 9 |
State Legislative
State Legislative UPDATE
By Carol Ann Short, Esq., NJBA CEO
Permits Get Another Extension
Despite being told that another extension
would be extremely unlikely, NJBA worked
diligently over the last year conducting outreach
and meeting with the members of the Legislature
to build the case for another Permit Extension
Act. After successfully lobbying the legislature
to pass A3815/S2815 (Green, Burzichelli,
Singleton, Johnson/Sarlo, Kyrillos), Governor
Chris Christie signed the legislation into law
on December 26th as P.L.2014, c.84. The new
law extends for one year the expiration date
of state and local government approvals until
December 31, 2015 (with potential six month
tolling to June 30, 2016). With the exception
of the date change, all of the other provisions
of the legislation are virtually identical to the
2012 Permit Extension Act.
Fire Sprinkler Mandate
Conditionally Vetoed
NJBA also continues to work against unnecessary
and costly mandates. The most critical being
A1698/S2316 (Wisniewski/Whelan), which
would have required mandatory fire suppression
systems in new single and two family homes.
The bill received final legislative approval from
the Senate (22-13) in March and had previously
passed the Assembly (46-31-1). NJBA vehemently
opposed this bill and strongly urged the Governor
not to sign it into law. The Governor heard
our concerns and conditional vetoed the bill
on May 7th. However, the conditional veto
recommended the Legislature amend the bill
to require the DCA to undertake a review to
determine whether the Uniform Construction
Code should be amended to require the installation
of fire suppression systems in all newly
constructed townhouses.
MLUL Preliminary Approval Process
Reform Bill Introduced
After meeting monthly to discuss many of the
problems associated with New Jersey’s land use
procedures, NJBA Past President David Fisher’s
MLUL Reform Task Force was successful in
having Senator Jeff Van Drew introduce the
first in a series of proposals that will address
some of the onerous requirements of the
MLUL. S2818 would amend the MLUL by
simplifying and streamlining the application
and review process for preliminary site plan
and subdivision approval consistent with the
original intent of the MLUL. This bill would
create a (true) preliminary approval process
and checklist, as distinguished from a more
detailed final approval with all requisite
engineering documentation. It would also
extend the vesting period for a preliminary
approval from three to five years, to allow
sufficient time for completion of the detailed
engineering plans and outside agency approvals
associated with the final approval. NJBA is in
the process of meeting with various stakeholders
to build a coalition to support the legislation
and hopes to have a legislative hearing scheduled
in the next few weeks.
Land Use Court Legislation Introduced
Due to the complexities of land use law, an
experienced judiciary is critical to the efficient
operation of the system and achieving consistent
outcomes. Judges hearing land use cases should
by background and additional required training
be experts in the land use field. This would free
up judicial resources through greater efficiencies
in case management, since experienced judges
knowledgeable in land use matters will be able
to render decisions more rapidly, thus allowing
those judges to participate in more cases.
Additionally, unlike most areas of litigation,
a very high percentage of land use cases are
appealed. Land use expertise would result in
fewer appeals, thus improving the schedule of
and burden on the higher courts. As a result,
NJBA worked with Senator Ron Rice to draft
legislation that would establish a Land Use
Court to increase the efficiency of the judiciary
with respect to land use decisions. The bill,
S2847, has been introduced and has been
referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee
for consideration.
NJBA Continues to Develop FAIR Act
NJBA’s initiative, Fees for Application and
Inspection Reform Act (FAIR Act), to address
the serious abuses and problems associated
with development applications and the
inspection of development projects
continues to evolve internally.
Carol Ann Short,
Esq., NJBA CEO
A working group, which now includes
representatives of NJBA’s Mixed Use
Developers Affiliate (MXD), is refining
and finalizing the legislative concept and
a political strategy to bring the following
3 proposals to fruition:
• Standardizing application and escrow review
fees for development applications.
• Modifying the process by which performance
bond estimates are developed, how bonds
are reduced and released, and the function
of maintenance bonds.
• Limiting the improvements covered
by performance guarantees and the
improvements that would be subject
to inspection by the municipality.
Sewer & Water Service Charge
Reform Drafted
NJBA has drafted legislation that would address
the inequities that exist in certain water and
sewer usage charge calculation formulas and is
in the process of identifying legislative sponsors.
Under current law, the various statutes governing
water and sewer rates provide that user charges
can be based on any one of a number of factors.
As a result, in many municipalities, the annual
water and sewer service charges (user fees) are
the same for apartments and for single-family
homes. To correct this imbalance, NJBA’s draft
legislation would stipulate that water and sewer
charges be based on usage providing for a more
equitable method of calculating such charges
while putting water/sewer on the same footing
as other utilities, such as electric and telephone.
NJBA is working with an Assembly sponsor
and introduction of a bill is likely in the
near future.
“ NJBA worked diligently over the last year
conducting outreach and meeting with the members
of the Legislature to build the case for another
Permit Extension Act.”