Author: Cameron W. MacLeod

Sweeping Affordable Housing Reform Signed Into Law in New Jersey

On March 20, 2024, Governor Phil Murphy signed what could be the most significant and impactful affordable housing reform legislation in New Jersey since the original enactment of the Fair Housing Act (FHA) in 1985 in A4/S50 (the “Law”). After the New Jersey Supreme Court declared the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) “moribund” in 2015, municipalities and developers, as well as interested advocacy groups, have been engaged in constitutional compliance litigation in an attempt to determine how best to create realistic opportunities for the construction of affordable housing. These various cases resulted in a large number of settlements across the state, with some very public and prolonged litigation still pending.

NJDEP Posts List of Approvals Extended by Permit Extension Act of 2020

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP), in its function as the repository for registering approval extensions under the Permit Extension Act of 2020 (“PEA2020”), codified at N.J.S.A. 40:55D-136.7, has posted the list of approvals which were registered by the October 8, 2020 deadline. There are actually two separate lists available from NJDEP, one consisting of permits issued by the NJDEP, and the other consisting of approvals issued by all other agencies. The second list encompasses a broad array of approvals including municipal and county planning board approvals, health department approvals, highway access permits, road opening permits, redevelopment agreements, soil conservation district certification, and a host of others. Both lists provide the name of the permittee, permitting agency, type of permit, and permit number. They are searchable by keyword. It appears that these lists are only inclusive of the approvals that have been granted extensions, and developers and permitted parties should review them carefully to confirm whether their approvals have been included. As reported previously, PEA2020 authorizes the extension of a wide variety of approvals, including, but not limited to, soil conservation district approvals, waterfront development permits, wetlands permits, CAFRA permits and center designations, septic approvals, municipal utility authority approvals, county and municipal planning board approvals, and a host of other municipal, county, regional,...

Permit Extensions: Looming Deadline and Best Practices

The period within which to register development approvals for tolling or extension under the Permit Extension Act of 2020 (“Act”) concludes on October 8, 2020. Permits and approvals which are not timely registered by that date may expire without receiving the benefit of tolling afforded by the Act. We have detailed both the Permit Extension Act of 2020 and the recently published notices from various state agencies on our website. While the language of the Act as adopted, and the accompanying notices from the various state agencies, are not fully consistent with respect to what approvals are required to be registered, we wanted to pass along two key suggestions regarding how to best take advantage of the Act: Register All Approvals. We suggest to err on the side of registering all approvals – this means not only State agency permits, but also municipal land use approvals, agreements for sewerage capacity, water permits, construction permits, plan endorsements under the State Planning Act, and any approval for permits related to any development application. While the statutory language seemed to suggest that it was only state level permitting that would be subject to registration, it appears that NJDEP will be serving as a database and repository for all approvals – not just those of state agencies – and...

Permits to Be Extended Under Permit Extension Act of 2020 Must Be Registered by October 8, 2020

We previously reported on the adoption of the Permit Extension Act of 2020, which provided a mechanism for tolling or extension of permits and approvals during the public health emergency associated with COVID-19, and extending those approvals for “at least six months beyond the conclusion” of the associated extension period. Under the Permit Extension Act of 2020, all approvals that are subject to tolling or extension were required to be registered “with the department” within 30 days of the publication of a notice in the New Jersey Register. That registration deadline has now been established as October 8, 2020. Regardless of whether your permit or approval expires in the next few months or late next year, it may be prudent to register now, particularly given the differences between the prior iterations of the Permit Extension Act and the present statutory language, and the lack of a clear end of the present public health emergency. The Department of Environmental Protection published a notice in the New Jersey Register on September 8, 2020, announcing that the registration period for approvals has begun. Notably, the notice provides that “[t]his registration requirement applies to specified permits, approvals, and deadlines from a broad range of State and local entities – not just the Department.” It is not clear under the...

Permit Extension Act of 2020 Alters Timing for Applications for Development, and Extends Certain Existing Approvals During COVID-19 Public Health Emergency

On July 1, 2020, Governor Murphy signed the Permit Extension Act of 2020, enacted as P.L. 2020, c. 53, a stand-alone piece of legislation modifying timelines for review of applications for development before the land use boards of the State of New Jersey and tolling existing development approvals that have been adversely affected by the COVID-19 public health emergency. This legislation ends a saga that saw the proposal of an amendment to the Permit Extension Act of 2008, which was enacted following the Great Recession; a conditional veto of that legislation; and the concurrence of both houses of the New Jersey legislature with the language of the conditional veto message. This new law will provide significant help to developers throughout New Jersey who were forced, whether by governmental order or economic infeasibility, to put projects on hold during the course of the present public health emergency. However, there are potential pitfalls of which developers should be aware, as set forth below, including a requirement that all state-level permits that developers wish to have extended be registered. The Permit Extension Act of 2020 provides as follows: Scope: Much like the original Permit Extension Act, this law serves to extend a wide variety of permits, including, but not limited to, soil conservation district approvals, waterfront development permits,...

Governor’s New Executive Order Halts Non-Essential Construction Projects Throughout New Jersey

On April 8, 2020, Governor Murphy issued Executive Order 122 (EO 122), which further limited non-essential business operations throughout the state during the COVID-19 pandemic. This Executive Order halts all non-essential construction as of 8:00 PM on Friday, April 10, 2020. The Executive Order expressly identifies those limited projects that may continue construction during the state of emergency. Of note, these include: Projects necessary for the delivery of healthcare services, including, but not limited to, hospitals, other healthcare facilities, and pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities Transportation projects, including roads, bridges, and mass transit facilities or physical infrastructure, including work done at airports/seaports Utility projects, including those necessary for energy and electricity production and transmission, and any decommissioning of facilities used for electricity generation Residential projects that are exclusively designated as affordable housing Schools projects Projects involving single-family homes that are under contract, or a project underway on a single-family home or single apartment where an individual already resides Projects involving facilities for the manufacture, distribution, storage, or servicing of goods sold by online retailers or essential retailers Projects involving data centers or facilities that are “critical” to a business’s ability to function Projects necessary for the delivery of essential social services, including homeless shelters Projects necessary to support law enforcement agencies or first responder units in response...

Legislative Update: NJ Assembly Passes Proposed Legislation Extending Municipal Land Use Deadlines

The New Jersey Assembly on March 25 unanimously passed Assembly Bill No A-3902, which proposes to vest in the Director of Local Government Services the ability to extend the deadlines under the Municipal Land Use Law and other statutes that require certain municipal action before a given deadline during a declared state of emergency or public health emergency. This would effectively suspend all timeframes for determining completeness or requiring a vote by the zoning or planning board on a given application. This legislation now moves to the Senate for consideration, and we will continue to monitor various legislative and regulatory updates.

Non-Residential Development Fees – How Much Do I Pay and When?

The Statewide Non-Residential Development Fee Act (the “Act”) has been in full effect for the past three years. Yet, there remains confusion as to how the fee is calculated and when it is required to be paid. There shouldn’t be. Before the Act, both residential and non-residential development fees were governed by the Council on Affordable Housing’s (“COAH”) regulations, and municipalities adopted a form ordinance provided by COAH. COAH’s regulations, for instance, permitted all development fees to be collected with up to 50% due at the issuance of a building permit and 50% due at the issuance of a certificate of occupancy. The same regulations permitted municipalities to collect the full fee at the issuance of a certificate of occupancy. The current Act makes it crystal clear that “the payment of non-residential development fees … shall be made prior to the issuance of a certificate of occupancy for each development.” The Act also lays out a process for preliminary and final assessments of fees, including a notice required upon issuance of a construction permit to the tax assessor to conduct an initial evaluation of the fee. Thus, any requirement for the payment of a development fee as a condition of the issuance of a construction permit would be inconsistent with the Act. The Act provides...

Recap: IRS Convenes Public Hearing on Proposed Regulations for Opportunity Zones

Jason J. Redd, a Director in the Gibbons Government & Regulatory Affairs Department attended an overflowing public hearing on February 14 convened by the Internal Revenue Service for the purpose of obtaining input from stakeholders concerning the initial proposed regulations for Opportunity Zones (OZ) issued in October. The IRS is reviewing comments on the first round of proposed rules and is expected to issue the next round of proposed regulations in March, with the potential for final regulations to be issued in late spring. Witnesses at the packed hearing included state cabinet officials, as well as representatives from state economic development groups, small businesses, community reinvestment coalitions, investment funds, and technology and planning organizations, among others. Testimony focused on ensuring that program regulations maximize investment and economic growth by generating new development, capital, and jobs in the distressed communities where OZs are located. There was also a clear call, by all in attendance, for clarity and flexibility in the next round of rules. Suggestions included: (i) modifying the rules to provide more flexibility to investors when exiting Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF) investments, which is currently limited to a sale of the QOF investment itself; (ii) minimizing sourcing and location rules for OZ business income; and (iii) allowing QOFs to reinvest interim gains within a reasonable...

NJ Appellate Division Announces Evidentiary Standards for Condemnations “Necessary” for a Redevelopment Project

At what point is a piece of property “necessary” for a redevelopment project? On January 7, 2019, the New Jersey Appellate Division published a decision in Borough of Glassboro v. Jack Grossman, Matthew Roche, and Dan Desilvio, — N.J. Super. — (App. Div. 2019) (slip op. at 2) that – for the first time – clarifies the phrase “necessary for the redevelopment project” as stated in the Local Redevelopment and Housing Law (LRHL) at N.J.S.A. 40A:12A-8(c). The three-judge panel addressed the question of whether a showing of necessity is required by a condemning authority beyond the designation of the area as one in need of redevelopment, and, what showing it must make in order to condemn a parcel of land located with a redevelopment area. Existing case law required the taking to be “reasonably necessary,” but had never clarified what standards should be used to evaluate how necessary a given property might be to a given redevelopment project. This decision now requires that when a landowner within a redevelopment area contests the necessity of a condemnation, the condemning authority must articulate a definitive need to acquire the parcel for an identified redevelopment project. In Grossman, the defendants owned or were purchasing a parcel located within a redevelopment area in the Borough of Glassboro. The area...