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Township of Boonton, NJ
Morris County
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents
[HISTORY: Adopted by the Township Committee of the Township of Boonton 3-25-1991 by Ord. No. 448; amended in its entirety 11-27-2000 by Ord. No. 617. Subsequent amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Officers and employees — See Ch. 21.
[Amended 3-13-2006 by Ord. No. 716]
There is hereby established an Open Space, Recreation and Farmland and Historic Preservation Committee which shall consist of seven members whose terms and powers are hereinafter set forth.
The Open Space, Recreation and Farmland and Historic Preservation Committee shall be comprised of the following persons:
A. 
One member of the Township Committee of the Township of Boonton appointed by the Township Committee.
B. 
Six citizens of the Township appointed by the Township Committee.
[Amended 3-13-2006 by Ord. No. 716]
A. 
The member of the Township Committee appointed to the Open Space, Recreation and Farmland and Historic Preservation Committee shall have a term of one year.
B. 
The terms of the citizen members shall be for three years, except that the terms of not more than two citizen members shall expire in any one year; provided, however, that the terms of two citizen members first appointed shall not exceed one and two years, respectively, and the term of the fifth citizen member appointed shall not exceed two years.
[Amended 3-13-2006 by Ord. No. 716]
[Amended 12-8-2008 by Ord. No. 762]
A. 
The Open Space, Recreation and Farmland and Historic Preservation Committee shall, from time to time, submit written recommendations to the Township Committee as to:
(1) 
Which parcels of land should be acquired for recreation and conservation purposes and whether such parcels should be acquired in fee or only by acquisition of development rights.
(2) 
Which farmland should be acquired for farmland preservation purposes and whether such farmland should be acquired in fee or only by acquisition of development rights.
(3) 
Which historic properties, structures, facilities, sites, areas or objects should be acquired for historic preservation purposes.
(4) 
Which of the lands acquired for recreation and conservation purposes should be developed and/or maintained.
B. 
The Open Space, Recreation and Farmland Preservation Committee shall submit to the Township Committee a prioritized list of properties:
(1) 
Which it recommends that the Township acquire; and/or
(2) 
From which it recommends that development rights should be acquired; and/or
(3) 
That are historic properties, structures, facilities, sites, areas or objects that the Committee recommends be preserved or acquired for historic preservation purposes; and/or
(4) 
Which the Township has acquired and which the Committee recommends be developed and/or maintained for recreation and conservation purposes.
C. 
After selection of the properties to be acquired, developed, maintained or preserved referred to in Subsections A and B above, the Township may proceed to acquire by gift, purchase or by eminent domain proceedings, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 20:3-1 et seq., or to develop, maintain or preserve, the identified parcels within the financial constraints established by the Township Committee.
The Open Space, Recreation and Farmland and Historic Preservation Committee shall hold public meetings, which public meetings shall be held in accordance with the Open Public Meetings Act,[1] and the Committee shall give appropriate notification of said meetings.
[1]
Editor's Note: See N.J.S.A. 10:4-6 et seq.
The Open Space, Recreation and Farmland and Historic Preservation Committee shall select from among its members a Chairman and a Vice Chairman to serve as the Presiding officer in the absence of the Chairman. The Committee shall also select a Secretary whose function shall be to maintain minutes of the Committee's meeting and records of the proceedings of the Committee.
The Open Space, Recreation and Farmland and Historic Preservation Committee shall hold its initial organization meeting shortly after this chapter takes effect.
[Amended 12-8-2008 by Ord. No. 762]
A. 
There is hereby established a reserve in the general capital fund, which shall be known and designated as the "Open Space, Recreation and Farmland and Historic Preservation Trust Fund" (hereinafter the "Trust Fund"). A separate bank account shall be opened and maintained for this purpose. Funds from the Trust Fund may, as directed by the Township Committee, be utilized to acquire vacant land, as well as land which has improvements upon it at the time of acquisition where the purpose of the acquisition is for recreation and conservation purposes, for farmland preservation or for historic preservation purposes. In the event that the Township Committee shall find it appropriate to apportion the cost of acquisition between land and improvements, it may do so and charge the Trust Fund for the approximate value that it deems appropriate relative to land and the Township's capital account for the value that it determines shall be attributed to improvements. Trust funds may also, as directed by the Township Committee, be used for the development and maintenance of lands acquired for recreation or conservation purposes, provided that such expenditures do not exceed 15% of the total funds collected in a given fiscal year, and/or for historic preservation or acquisition of historic properties, structures, facilities, sites, areas or objects and/or for the payment of debt service on indebtedness issued or incurred by the Township for any of the above purposes.
B. 
The Trust Fund shall be funded through the dedication to the fund of an amount not to exceed $0.04 per $100 of assessed valuation of each annual tax levy. The Trust Fund shall also be permitted to accept donations and testamentary bequests. The funds accumulated within the Trust Fund may be utilized for the acquisition of land or development rights in land or as a down payment for the issuance of bonds for the same purpose or for any other purpose established herein at the discretion of the Township Committee. Any and all interest accruing shall remain in the Trust Fund and may be utilized for the above-described purposes.
No property acquired with funds from the trust fund shall be leased or sold until the sale or lease of the same has been authorized by an ordinance adopted by the Township Committee and provided that the Township Committee shall replace any land conveyed under this section with land of at least equal fair market value and of reasonably equivalent usefulness, size, quality and location to the land conveyed. Any moneys derived from the conveyance shall be deposited into the trust fund and used for the purposes authorized by this section. Any such conveyance shall be made in the manner prescribed by law.
In the event that no property is acquired under this chapter for a period of five consecutive years, then the Township Committee shall review the activities of the Open Space, Recreation and Farmland and Historic Preservation Committee and issue a report with recommendations and conclusions concerning the reserve for open space acquisition.