In This Issue

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for direct State legal representation
on behalf of the municipality.
Council on Affordable Housing
(COAH) Obligations: The Highlands
Act provides that COAH must
consider the RMP prior to making
third-round determinations for all 88
Highlands municipalities. The State
protects existing COAH certification
agreements with towns. COAH and
the Highlands Council have agreed
to work together to examine projects
impacted by the Act’s Preservation
Area standards.
Note: The Department of Community Affairs
is appealing a recent court decision that
overturned portions of the current COAH rules.
What impact this litigation will have on
the Highlands affordable housing process
remains unclear.
Regional Master Plan Enforcement:
The Highlands Act authorizes the
Highlands Council to take enforcement
actions for any RMP violation
within Preservation and Planning
Area municipalities that have
conformed with the plan.
Stricter Land Use Provisions: The
requirements of the Highlands Act
and the RMP are considered to be
minimums. Conforming municipalities
are free to adopt more stringent
master plans and development
regulations than those required.
State Plan Endorsement: After the
Council adopts the final RMP, the
State Planning Commission will
endorse the plan. Municipal master
plans and development regulations
approved by the Council will be
deemed equivalent to having those
plans endorsed by the Commission.
Model Land Use Ordinances and
Technical Guidance: During the
conformance process, the Council
will provide technical assistance to
municipalities in environmental
science, planning and Geographic
Information System (GIS) services as
well as model ordinances.
Financial Incentives
Bringing municipal master plans and
development ordinances into conformance
with the RMP will entail costs.
The Highlands Council is providing
several helpful elements to assist towns.
● Highlands Council Planning
Grants, Smart Growth Grants and
Technical Aid: The Highlands Act
authorizes the Council to provide
grants for “reasonable expenses”
Sparta Mountain
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associated with preparing conforming
master plans and land use
ordinances, and provides automatic
qualification for State aid as well
as possible planning and technical
assistance for Smart Growth
projects offered by the Office of
Smart Growth.
Tax Stabilization Funding: If your
municipality can demonstrate a
decline in vacant land aggregate true
value due to the Highlands Act, it
may be eligible for tax stabilization
funding administered by the Tax
Stabilization Board established by
the Highlands Act.
Transfer of Development Rights
(TDR), Impact Fees and Enhanced
Planning Grants: Municipalities that
explore establishing a TDR receiving
zone, will be eligible for an “enhanced
planning grant” up to
$250,000 to reimburse costs incurred
in amending local ordinances.
Municipalities that establish TDR
receiving zones will also qualify to
collect “impact fees” up to $15,000
per unit and receive priority for
available infrastructure funding.
Priority for Green Acres and
Farmland Preservation Funding:
The protection of open space
through fee acquisition, the purchase
of conservation easements or
farmland development rights is
popular at the municipal level.
Preservation Area municipalities and
conforming municipalities in the
PHOTO BY DWIGHT HISCANO
Planning Area that have adopted
TDR ordinances will receive priority
for funding from Green Acres and
the farmland preservation program.
The Conformance Process:
What Municipalities Need to Know
The conformance period will follow
the adoption of the final version of the
Regional Master Plan, now expected in
the fall of 2007. The Council will
prepare a Conformance Schedule,
outlining the expected order for
municipalities to begin examining
their planning and zoning policies to
adjust to the RMP requirements.
Successful RMP implementation will
depend on the active participation of
the Highlands region’s 88 municipalities
and seven counties during the
Conformance Process. The Highlands
Council will ask municipalities and
counties to bring their master plans,
development regulations and other
planning and management policies
into agreement with the RMP. The
mutual exchange of information
between the Council, Highlands
municipalities and counties will be
beneficial to all.
Plan conformance is mandatory
within the Preservation Area. This
includes the entire area of five municipalities
in Hunterdon and Passaic
counties and partial portions of 47
municipalities in, Hunterdon, Morris,
Passaic, Somerset, Sussex and Warren
counties. Conformance is voluntary for
36 municipalities in Hunterdon,
Morris, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex and
Warren counties wholly within the
Planning Area (www.anjec.org/html/
reg_highlands.htm).
Municipalities need to understand
the conformance process. The Highlands
Council has outlined the needed
process in the
● Draft RMP’s Implementation
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Framework section; and the
Highlands Technical Paper, Draft
Plan Conformance Guidelines,
January 2007.
Both documents are available on the
Highlands Council web site
(www.highlands.state.nj.us/). In addition,
ANJEC’s municipal guidance
document, Highlands Regional
Master Plan: Conformance Steps
(www.anjec.org/html/reg_highlands.htm)
outlines the process and offers advice.
4 ANJEC REPORT - Spring 2007