Bill > A4553

Introduced Session

This bill would provide that the State Agriculture Development Committee (SADC), or a county agriculture development board (CADB) or nonprofit land preservation organization, with SADC approval, may sell back to a landowner the development rights for a limited area of land that were acquired from the landowner prior to June 30, 1999 in connection with a development easement conveyed to the SADC, CADB, or nonprofit land preservation organization pursuant to various farmland preservation programs in the State, provided that: 1) the total acreage of land preserved on the farm is not less than 100 acres; 2) the land for which the development rights are sold back is: a) not in agricultural production; b) limited to non-residential uses; and c) not more than 10 percent of the total acreage of preserved farmland on the farm. June 30, 1999 is the date of enactment of the "Garden State Preservation Trust Act," P.L.1999, c.152 (C.13:8C-1 et seq.), which is the implementing law for the constitutional amendment adopted in 1998 that established a stable source of funding for open space, farmland, and historic preservation in the State. Under the bill, the price per acre of the development rights to be sold back to a landowner would be the same as the average price per acre of the development easement for the entire parcel as paid by the SADC, CADB, or nonprofit land preservation organization, as the case may be, when it acquired the development easement for the entire parcel. The landowner would also be required to pay an administrative fee of up to five percent of the sale price, an additional surcharge of up to 10 percent of the sale price, and any other costs or fees incurred in filing a corrective deed of easement.

AI Summary

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Ronald Dancer (R)*, 

Introduced, Referred to Assembly Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee (on 01/30/2017)