In This Issue

Municipal Regulatory
Powers in Category
One Stream Buffers
By John Thonet, Environmental
Planning and Design, Thonet
Associates Inc.
The New Jersey Department of
Environmental Protection’s (NJDEP’s)
stormwater regulations require municipalities
to pass stormwater ordinances
that include, at a minimum, the State’s
stormwater standards. One required
standard prohibits encroachment
within 300-foot Special Water Resource
Protection Areas (SWRPAs), or buffers,
on either side of Category One streams
unless the applicant demonstrates that
the functional value and overall
condition of the SWRPA would be
maintained to the maximum extent
practicable.
According to Larry Baier, Director of
NJDEP’s Division of Watershed
Management, “...a municipality may
disapprove any proposed encroachment
that it concludes does not satisfy
these regulatory requirements. A denial
of a special water resource protection
area encroachment by the municipal
authority is not subject to review and
approval by the (NJDEP).”
However, if the local board agrees to
permit encroachment into a SWRPA,
that approval is subject to further
review by the NJDEP. In this regard, the
NJDEP Commissioner’s January 3, 2007
Administrative Order directs that:
“Effective immediately, the Department
shall not approve any encroachment
into a special water resource
protection area...unless the applicant
demonstrates that the functional value
and overall condition of the special
water resource protection area will be
maintained to the maximum extent
practicable....”
Thus, the regulations prohibit both
the NJDEP and municipal boards from
permitting encroachments into the 300
foot SWRPAs unless the applicant
demonstrates that the SWRPA’s
functional value and overall condition
will be maintained to the maximum
extent practicable. Functional Value
Assessment guidance is available at:
www.nj.gov/dep/watershedmgt/DOCS/
FunctionalValueAnalysis1-2-07.pdf
State Plan Cross
Acceptance
Update
By Barbara Palmer,
ANJEC Land Use Planning
Project Director
“Of the 84 events that
need to happen to complete
Cross Acceptance, 72 have
successfully taken place,”
Acting Executive Director
Ben Spinelli of the Office of
Smart Growth (OSG)
reported at the April 18 State
Planning Commission
meeting, thanking his staff
and the State Planning
Commission members for
their efforts.
Cross Acceptance, the
process of comparing
municipal and county plans
with the State Plan and the
dialogue among the participants
to achieve consistency
among the plans, is indeed a
large undertaking. Every
municipality was asked to
report to their counties in
2004, the counties prepared extensive
reports for the state. Now the Office
of Smart Growth is holding four
meetings on each of these 21 county
reports. For each county there is an
internal OSG meeting, a meeting with
all the State Agencies involved, a
meeting with the county staff, and then
a local public hearing.
The public’s best opportunity to
comment on their county’s Cross
Acceptance negotiation with the State
is at the public hearing. A schedule of
the hearings is posted on the OSG web
site: www.nj.gov/dca/osg/plan/
crossacceptance.shtml: Essex, Warren,
Berge and Somerset scheduled in May;
Middlesex, Camden, Monmouth,
Morris, Mercer, Hunterdon, and Ocean
to come.
To prepare for a hearing, the
Office of Smart Growth posts
meeting materials on their
website (above) that include
the negotiation worksheets
of policy issues to be
resolved between the state
and the county, as well as
maps and other reports.
Municipalities should
review their final county
Cross-Acceptance report
to make sure it accurately
reflects the land use
plans of the municipality
and that it protects natural
resources. Any issues can
be raised at the
hearing, with each
speaker permitted 3
minutes to address the
state and county staff.
The public hearings
are the last step
before the release of
a draft new State
Plan. The draft State
B. PRETZ
Plan will reflect the
resolution of the
issues, but can be
commented on once
more at 6 hearings to be held around
the state, or in writing, before a final
State Development and Redevelopment
Plan is released.
ANJEC encourages all interested
parties to attend the public hearings.
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ANJEC REPORT - Spring 2007 15