As used in this subchapter, the following words and terms shall have the following meanings:
"Agricultural Advisory Committee" (AAC) means the committee established pursuant to N.J.S.A. 4:1C-43.1.
"An application for the sale of a development easement" means a standard form, as developed and identified by the Committee, to be submitted to the county from a landowner interested in selling his or her development easement, in which the landowner shall provide parcel-specific information to the county.
"Annual planning application" means the formal submission of a planning incentive grant program application by the board to the Committee. The application shall include a copy of the county's adopted comprehensive farmland preservation plan and a project area inventory for each project area submitted for approval, and other information required by the Committee.
"Base grant" means the minimum amount of SADC funding that will be allocated to each county that has received approval of an annual planning application submitted pursuant to N.J.A.C. 2:76-17.7.
"Board" means a county agriculture development board established pursuant to N.J.S.A. 4:1C-14 or a sub-regional agricultural retention board established pursuant to N.J.S.A. 4:1C-12.
"Committee" or "SADC" means the State Agriculture Development Committee established pursuant to 4:1C-4.
"Competitive grant fund" means an amount of money identified by the Committee each funding cycle, which the SADC may award on a competitive basis to counties that have received approval of an annual planning application and obligated all of their previously allocated base grant funding.
"County" means a body corporate and politic of the State of New Jersey governed by a board of chosen freeholders.
"Eligible farm" means a targeted farm that qualified for grant funding under this subchapter by achieving an individual rank score pursuant to N.J.A.C. 2:76-6.16that is equal to or greater than 70 percent of the county's average quality score of all farms granted preliminary approval by the Committee through the county easement purchase program and/or the county planning incentive grant program within the previous three funding cycles, as determined by the Committee, and which meets the criteria set forth at N.J.A.C. 2:76-6.20.
"Funding cycle" means the time period beginning on the date the Committee receives an appropriation for the county planning incentive grant program and ending on the date the Committee receives a subsequent appropriation for the county planning incentive grant program.
"Garden State Preservation Trust" means the public body created pursuant to 13:8C-1 et seq., P.L. 1999, c. 152.
"Individual farm application" means a standard form, as developed and identified by the Committee, to be submitted to the board from a landowner interested in selling his or her development easement.
"Project area" means a discrete area a board identifies within the county's farmland preservation plan that constitutes a separate, significant area of reasonably contiguous farmland that will promote the long-term viability of agriculture as an industry in the county, and which consists of the following lands, and lands that are within one mile of any of the following lands:
1. Targeted farms located within an ADA;
2. Lands for which an individual farm application has been granted final approval by the municipality, board, and/or the Committee pursuant to the Agriculture Retention and Development Act, as amended, and the Garden State Preservation Trust Act;
3. Lands from which development easements have already been purchased;
4. Other land permanently deed restricted for agricultural use;
5. Lands enrolled in a term farmland preservation program or municipally approved farmland preservation programs; or
6. Other permanently preserved lands dedicated for open space purposes that are compatible with agriculture, as approved by the Committee.
"Targeted farm" means a specific property contained within an approved project area that a board may seek to solicit for preservation through the county planning incentive grant program. In the event that a landowner requests such, the board shall remove his or her land from consideration as a targeted farm.
N.J. Admin. Code § 2:76-17.2