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RECENT NEWS
DEP Adopts New Site Cleanup Standards Affecting Brownfield Redevelopment Projects With Only Limited Grandfathering -
The DEP has adopted comprehensive new site cleanup standards governing all sites in the process of cleanup after
June 2, 2008. They include minimum soil cleanup standards for some contaminants that are an order-of-magnitude (10 times)
more stringent than the old standards. DEP’s new cleanup rules are a mixed blessing for brownfield redevelopment.
The good news is that DEP has adopted a “grandfathering” provision. The bad news is that the grandfathering protection
is very limited. The applicability of DEP’s new remediation standards to existing and future cleanup and redevelopment
projects is summarized in our linked Client Alert.
Click here for Link to the Client Alert.
Appellate Court Strikes Down Municipal Demands for Open Space Lands, Recreational Fees
– In a victory for property rights advocates, the Appellate Division released an opinion on June 23, 2008 invalidating
municipal demands that developers set aside land for common open space or recreation facilities. The court also invalidated
municipal demands that developers pay fees “in lieu” of providing such land or facilities. In the opinion captioned
New Jersey Shore Builders Association v. Township of Jackson (which also decided the case of
Builders League of South Jersey v. Egg Harbor Township), the court struck down two ordinances which imposed such
requirements on “conventional” subdivisions. In doing so, the court observed that the Municipal Land Use Law (MLUL)
allows for such open space/recreation exactions only in the case of “planned developments” (a term defined in the MLUL
to include "planned unit development, planned unit residential development, residential cluster, planned commercial
development or planned industrial development”). The court concluded that the MLUL is quite specific in limiting
municipal exaction powers to planned developments, and that any such municipal exactions in other contexts are beyond the
powers granted by the statutes and, therefore, unlawful. This case provides further authority for those opposing
any exactions (for any purpose) that are not permitted by the MLUL.
COAH Third Round: Hill Wallack LLP Calculates Fair Share Housing Obligations for
New Jersey Towns under Regulations Adopted May 6, 2008, and under Possible Changes in Housing Obligations
Pursuant to COAH’s Proposed Amendments -
Filling an important gap in public information, Hill Wallack LLP has calculated the fair share obligation for
each town in New Jersey established by the so-called “third round” regulations adopted by the New Jersey Council on
Affordable Housing (COAH) on May 6, 2008.
COAH’s May 6, 2008 regulations provide data pursuant to which one can calculate COAH’s new affordable housing
obligations for each town for the period 2004 to 2018. However, COAH has not made public the actual numbers
assigned to each town. Hill Wallack LLP has calculated the fair share obligation for each town under these legally
binding regulations. The linked chart shows the housing obligation for each town under the adopted regulations.
Click Here for Link to Chart.
COAH also proposed substantial rule amendments to its regulations on May 6, 2008 that, if adopted, would alter the
municipal housing obligations yet again. Similarly, those amendments provide data pursuant to which one can calculate
the affordable housing obligations for each town if those rule amendments are adopted, but COAH has not made public
the actual numbers that would be assigned to each town pursuant to those proposed rule amendments. To fill this gap,
Hill Wallack LLP has also calculated the fair share housing obligations for each town for the period 2004 to 2018
under the proposed rule amendments.
Click Here for Link to Chart.
Lastly, we have written an article summarizing COAH’s adopted rules and their proposed amendments, which was first
published by the New Jersey Builders Association in its
Dimensions magazine.
Click Here for Link to
Article
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IN MEMORIAM
Keith P. Jones, Esq.
(July 10, 1956 - June 28, 2008)
It is with profound sorrow that we
mourn the passing of our
partner and colleague
When can you rely on an NFA Letter? was the topic of remarks by Nielsen V. Lewis,
Hill Wallack LLP’s Partner-In-Charge of its Environmental Practice Group, during the 59th Annual Atlantic Builders
Convention in Atlantic City. The amount of protection against cleanup liability afforded by DEP’s No Further Action
Letters can vary from site to site for various reasons, which should be understood by all persons interested in the
acquisition and redevelopment of “brownfields” and other contaminated sites.
Click Here for Link to News and Publications and More Information.
The Sussex County League of Municipalities recently hosted Henry T. Chou, a partner of Hill Wallack LLP's Land Use
Application and Litigation Practice Groups, for a presentation on new affordable housing rule amendments proposed by the
New Jersey Council on Affordable Housing (COAH). In 2007, Hill Wallack LLP represented the New Jersey Builders Association
in its successful challenge to COAH's third round affordable housing rules.
At the New Jersey Association of Counties' Annual Convention on June 12, 2008, Henry T. Chou, Esq.
and Eric I. Abraham, Esq. of Hill Wallack participated in a seminar on new wastewater management regulations in New Jersey.
Mr. Chou and Mr. Abraham discussed the recent rule amendments adopted by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
(NJDEP) that will dramatically alter the obligations and responsibilities of county governments concerning regional wastewater
management planning. Their seminar provided insight on the new standards and requirements that have far-reaching implications
for county and municipal governments, all of which must implement NJDEP’s complex new policies within the next 12 months.
Hill Wallack LLP Partner Successfully Challenges Bid and Receives Re-Bid -
On April 9, 2008, Hill Wallack LLP partner, Maeve E. Cannon, successfully protested a Division of Purchase and Property
(“Division”) award of the State Contract for moving services. The RFP sought moving services on a multi-year
contract and prohibited pricing that increased more than 4% from one year to the next. A violation of the price escalation
prohibition was to result in rejection of the bid.
Hill Wallack LLP protested the award on the basis that nearly every awardee had violated the price escalation prohibition,
some by hundreds of percent. The Division agreed and ordered a re-bid as soon as practicable of the multi-year contract.
The protest by Hill Wallack LLP partner, Maeve E. Cannon, included written arguments of both Ms. Cannon and associate,
Megan McGeehin Schwartz. Further information about this matter can be obtained from either
Maeve E. Cannon or
Megan McGeehin Schwartz.
State Proposes Both New Growth and New Batch of Anti-Growth Regulations -
The State of New Jersey has unveiled some rather ambitious housing proposals. For example, Governor Corzine has pledged
to provide for 100,000 affordable housing units. Similarly, the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) has proposed a
new set of “third round” regulations, which also propose substantial numbers of affordable housing units along with the
market rate housing units, and nonresidential development, that would accompany such lower income housing construction.
The State also has ambitious dreams concerning the redevelopment of our depressed urban areas. However, while
certain branches of the government are calling for such ambitious development and redevelopment, other branches are
proposing new regulations that would render all that envisioned development largely impossible.
Click here to read more.
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