Section 52:27D-310.1 - Computing municipal adjustment, exclusionsAny municipality that receives an adjustment of its prospective need obligations for the fourth round or subsequent rounds based on a lack of vacant land shall, as part of the process of adopting and implementing its housing element and fair share plan, identify sufficient parcels likely to redevelop during the current round of obligations to address at least 25 percent of the prospective need obligation that has been adjusted and adopt realistic zoning that allows for such adjusted obligation, or demonstrate why the municipality is unable to do so. When computing a municipal adjustment regarding available land resources as part of the determination of a municipality's fair share of affordable housing, the municipality, in filing a housing element and fair share plan pursuant to subsection f. of section 3 of P.L.2024, c.2 (C.52:27D-304.1), shall exclude from designating, and the process set forth pursuant to section 3 of P.L.2024, c.2 (C.52:27D-304.1) and section 13 of P.L.1985, c.222 (C.52:27D-313) shall confirm was correctly excluded, as vacant land:
(a) any land that is owned by a local government entity that as of January 1, 1997, has adopted, prior to the institution of a lawsuit seeking a builder's remedy or prior to the filing of a petition for substantive certification of a housing element and fair share plan, a resolution authorizing an execution of agreement that the land be utilized for a public purpose other than housing;(b) any land listed on a master plan of a municipality as being dedicated, by easement or otherwise, for purposes of conservation, park lands or open space and which is owned, leased, licensed, or in any manner operated by a county, municipality or tax-exempt, nonprofit organization including a local board of education, or by more than one municipality by joint agreement pursuant to P.L.1964, c.185 (C.40:61-35.1 et seq.), for so long as the entity maintains such ownership, lease, license, or operational control of such land;(c) any vacant contiguous parcels of land in private ownership of a size which would accommodate fewer than five housing units based on appropriate standards pertaining to housing density;(d) historic and architecturally important sites listed on the State Register of Historic Places or National Register of Historic Places prior to the date of filing a housing element and fair share plan pursuant to section 3 of P.L.2024, c.2 (C.52:27D-304.1) or initiation of an action pursuant to section 13 of P.L.1985, c.222 (C.52:27D-313);(e) agricultural lands when the development rights to these lands have been purchased or restricted by covenant;(f) sites designated for active recreation that are designated for recreational purposes in the municipal master plan; and(g) environmentally sensitive lands where development is prohibited by any State or federal agency, including, but not limited to, the Highlands Water Protection and Planning Council, established pursuant to section 4 of P.L. 2004, c. 120 (C.13:20-4), for lands in the Highlands Preservation Area, and lands in the Highlands Planning Area for Highlands-conforming municipalities. No municipality shall be required to utilize for affordable housing purposes land that is excluded from being designated as vacant land.
Amended by L. 2024, c. 2,s. 23, eff. 3/20/2024.Amended by L. 2008, c. 46,s. 39, eff. 7/17/2008.L.1995, c.231, s.1; amended 1997 c. 49.