New Jersey-2010-A2014-Introduced

An Act concerning the regional impacts of converting federal military housing at Earle Naval Weapons Station to civilian housing.

Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

1. a. The State Treasurer shall be responsible for preparing a report on the impact of converting military housing to civilian housing at the Earle Naval Weapons Station. The report shall contain the following impact statements:

(1) The Department of the Treasury shall prepare an economic impact statement including a cost benefit analysis of the increased housing units and their impact on educational costs and local services costs that may be borne by local taxpayers.

(2) The New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness, in consultation with the New Jersey State Police and the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, shall prepare a security analysis addressing any security issues on surrounding municipalities that may reasonably be anticipated from housing civilians on a military base.

(3) The Center for Government Services at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, shall prepare an impact statement on the adequacy of present school and municipal infrastructure to handle the increased demands resulting from the conversion to civilian housing and shall estimate the increased school district and municipal costs that will be required to adequately address the anticipated increased infrastructure requirements.

b. The entities responsible for preparing the various impact statements required by subsection a. of this section are authorized to obtain essential information from, and enlist the cooperation of, other State agencies.

c. The report required by subsection a. of this section shall be filed with the Governor and the Legislature pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, c.164 (C.52:14-19.1) on or before the first day of the seventh month next following enactment of this act, with a copy sent to the following entities:

The Department of Environmental Protection;

The Department of Transportation;

The Department of Education;

The Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders;

The Monmouth County Executive County Superintendent;

The municipal clerks and board of education secretaries of:

Colts Neck Township;

Englishtown Borough;

Farmingdale Borough;

Freehold Borough;

Freehold Township;

Holmdel Township;

Howell Township;

Manalapan Township;

Marlboro Township;

Middletown Township;

Tinton Falls Borough;

The Freehold Regional High School District;

The Monmouth Regional High School District.

2. a. The Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Transportation shall not issue any permits or approve any plans pertaining to the conversion of military housing to civilian housing at the Earle Naval Weapons Station until the report required in section 1 of this act has been filed.

b. Any determination by the Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Transportation on issuing a permit or approving a plan pertaining to the conversion of military housing to civilian housing at the Earle Naval Weapons Station shall take into consideration the findings of that report required in section 1 of this act.

c. Notwithstanding any provision of law, rule or regulation to the contrary, an application to the Department of Environmental Protection or to the Department of Transportation for any permit or for the approval of any plans pertaining to the conversion of military housing to civilian housing at the Earle Naval Weapons Station, including but not limited to an application for a construction permit as defined in section 1 of P.L.1975, c.232 (C.13:1D-29), shall not be complete until the report required in section 1 of this act has been received by that department. An application pertaining to the conversion of military housing to civilian housing at the Earle Naval Weapons Station, including an application for a construction permit as defined in section 1 of P.L.1975, c.232 (C.13:1D-29), that has been determined to be complete but not approved, conditioned, or disapproved prior to the effective date of this act shall not be deemed to have been approved by operation of law, and any time period set forth in statute, including the 90-day time period specified in sections 3 and 4 of P.L.1975, c.232 (C.13:1D-31 and 13:1D-32), shall be extended for a period of time determined to be necessary by the department in order to take into consideration the findings of the report required in section 1 of this act.

3. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

This bill would require the State Treasurer to prepare a report detailing various regional impacts caused by the conversion of federal military housing to civilian housing at the Earle Naval Weapons Station located in parts of Colts Neck Township and Middletown Township in Monmouth County. Specifically, the report would examine the economic impact of the military to civilian housing conversion on the local county, municipal, and school district taxpayers, with a cost benefit analysis of the additional housing units related to any increased school district and municipal services costs; the security impact on surrounding municipalities of housing civilians on a military base; and the increased school district and municipal costs that will be required to adequately address any anticipated increased infrastructure requirements. On or before the first day of the seventh month following enactment, the report is to be distributed to the Governor, the Legislature, the Departments of Education, Environmental Protection and Transportation, and various local school and government officials so that these policy makers have sufficient information to properly plan for the conversion. During the period of time that the report is being prepared, the Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Transportation would be prohibited from issuing any permits or approving any plans associated with the housing conversion. After the report is issued, the decisions of these departments relating to the issuance of permits and approval of plans would have to be informed by the findings of the report.

The bill states that applications to DEP and DOT pertaining to the conversion of housing at the Earle Naval Weapons Station would not be "complete" until the report is received by that department. The bill provides that an application pertaining to the conversion of housing at Earle, which application has been determined to be complete but has not yet been approved, conditioned or disapproved prior to the bill's effective date, would not be deemed to have been approved by operation of law. Finally, the bill provides that any time period set forth in a statute, including the 90-day time period specified in sections 3 and 4 of P.L.1975, c.232 (C.13:1D-31 and 13:1D-32), would be extended for a period of time the department deems necessary for it to take into consideration the findings of the report