[HISTORY: Adopted by the City Council of the City of Estell Manor by Ord. No. 66-8; amended by Ord. No. 77-1 (Ch. VIII, Sec. 8-3, of the 1974 Revised General Ordinances). Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Amended by Ord. No. 82-12; Ord. No. 84-3; Ord. No. 89-6]
In addition to the definitions contained in Chapter 380, Zoning, § 380-3, of this Code, the following shall apply:
COMMERCIAL PURPOSE
Refers to the sale or commercial use of the sand or other product which is excavated as distinguished from personal use of the product by the owner of the ground at the place where the same is excavated.
EXCAVATION
Includes digging or mining and applies to all topsoil, sand, gravel, solid or mineral products of the soil.
RESOURCE EXTRACTION
The dredging, digging, extraction, mining and quarrying of sand, gravel, clay or ilmenite for commercial purposes, not including, however, the private or agricultural extraction and use of extracted material by a landowner.
ROAD OR HIGHWAY
Refers to all state, county, city or local roads, but has no reference to private roads or private rights-of-way.
A. 
In their interpretation and application, the provisions of this section shall be held to be for the promotion of the public health, morals and general welfare, for the elimination of dust and noise, for the elimination of danger from deep pits in the close proximity to highways, for the conservation of the soil and for the betterment of the community.
B. 
The provisions and requirements of this section shall be held paramount to any corresponding or similar provision of any existing law, ordinance, rule or regulation.
[Amended by Ord. No. 82-12; Ord. No. 86-3; Ord. No. 86-12; Ord. No. 89-6]
No excavating, dredging, digging or mining of topsoil, sand or gravel may be done for commercial purposes in the City without first obtaining a permit therefor from the City Council in the manner as hereinafter set forth. No more than two permits for private mining operations shall be issued hereunder in the City of Estell Manor. Except as otherwise authorized in this chapter or in Chapter 380, Zoning, of the Code of the City of Estell Manor, the extraction or mining of mineral resources other than sand, gravel, clay and ilmenite is prohibited in the Pinelands Area.
[Amended by Ord. No. 81-3; Ord. No. 82-12; Ord. No. 84-3; Ord. No. 86-3; Ord. No. 89-6]
Applications for permits for excavating, dredging, digging or mining of topsoil, sand or gravel in the City shall be made to the City Clerk, and no permit shall be issued by the City Council unless the following have been complied with:
A. 
A deposit of $250 shall accompany the application for the purpose of paying the costs of engineering fees necessary in making an investigation of the license application, and the applicant shall generally be responsible for payment of all engineering fees and costs incurred in connection with any application or permit hereunder.
B. 
Attached to the application shall be a survey or blueprint drawn by a licensed engineer, which shall show the area proposed to be excavated, dug or mined. The survey shall indicate the distance to the closest highway, road or property line. In addition, the application shall include all information required by § 380-61A of the Code of the City of Estell Manor.
C. 
No permit shall be issued by the City Council if the survey indicates that the proposed excavating, digging or mining shall be within 200 feet of a public road or any road shown on the Tax Map, 50 feet from any property line or within 200 feet of any church, schoolhouse or public building, or any residential or commercial building which is not related to the operation. In the Pinelands Area, the applicant shall adhere to the requirements of § 315-8 of this chapter.
D. 
The City Council shall grant the permit subject to the applicant's filing with the City Clerk a bond executed by the applicant and owners of the lands as principals and a satisfactory surety company specifically conditioned that the applicant will reclaim the area excavated in accordance with requirements of this chapter and without cost to the City.
E. 
No permit shall be issued hereunder by the City Council without prior certification by the Cape Atlantic Soil Conservation District of a plan for soil erosion and sediment control pursuant to N.J.S.A. 4:24-43, and in the Pinelands Area, a certificate of filing from the Pinelands Commission pursuant to § 380-78 of the Code of the City of Estell Manor.
F. 
Within the Pinelands Area, no permit shall authorize excavation for a period exceeding two years following the issuance of a permit.
[Amended by Ord. No. 80-1; Ord. No. 86-3; at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. III)]
Licenses for excavating, digging or mining of topsoil, sand or gravel in the City for commercial purposes shall have a two-year term effective on June 1 of the year of issuance. The license fee shall be as provided in Chapter 185, Fees, Article III, Fees for City Services, payable in advance.
A. 
Where, by reason of exceptional conditions, the strict applications of any regulation enacted under this section would result in difficulties and undue hardship upon the owner, the owner may appeal to the City Council, relating to the property, for a variance so as to relieve such difficulties and hardships.
B. 
No relief may be granted or action taken under terms of this section unless the relief can be granted without substantial detriment to the public good and will not substantially impair the intent and purpose of this section.
C. 
In the event that such relief may be granted by the City Council as aforesaid, the person to whom or to which the relief may be granted shall not excavate, dig or mine so that the slope shall be in excess of one foot vertical excavation for every two feet horizontal, and further provided that the person shall keep and maintain the excavated, dug or mined area free of water deposits.
[Added by Ord. No. 82-12; amended by Ord. No. 89-6]
A. 
Notice of all applications for permits for resources extraction operations, all meetings or hearings regarding such applications and all approvals and denials of such applications shall be provided to the Pinelands Commission in accordance with § 380-77D of the Code of the City of Estell Manor.
B. 
Any soil removal permit issued in the Pinelands Area which is subject to Pinelands Commission notification shall take effect 15 days after receipt of such notification by the Pinelands Commission or when the provisions of the New Jersey Administrative Code have been met, whichever is later. If the Commission disapproves of the final plan, the same shall be deemed to be rejected within 30 days of the Commission's action. If the Commission fails to approve said final plan because of the failure of the applicant to provide information deemed sufficient to it, the applicant shall, within 10 days after a request is made of it by the Commission, provide said information to the Commission, during which period the above time limitation is suspended. If the Pinelands Commission approves the proposed development subject to conditions, the City Council may within 30 days modify its final approval to include some or all of said conditions. If the City Council does not accept all of the conditions so imposed, the application shall be considered to have been rejected.
[Added by Ord. No. 82-12; amended by Ord. No. 89-6; Ord. No. 97-3]
The following standards shall be applicable to all operations hereunder located within the Pinelands Area:
A. 
The operation shall comply with the requirements of Chapter 380, Zoning, of this Code.
B. 
The operation shall be designed so that no area of excavation, sedimentation pond, storage area equipment or machinery or other structure or facility is closer than:
(1) 
Two hundred feet to any property line.
(2) 
Five hundred feet to any residential or nonresource-extraction-related commercial use which is in existence on the date the permit is issued.
C. 
The operation shall be located on a parcel of land at least 20 acres in size.
D. 
The plan shall provide that all topsoil that is necessary for restoration will be stored on the site and will be protected from wind or water erosion.
E. 
The property shall be fenced or blocked so as to prevent unauthorized entry into the resource extraction operation through access roads.
F. 
Ingress and egress to the resource extraction area from public roads shall be by way of gravel or porous paved roadways.
G. 
The plan shall be so designed that the surface runoff will be maintained on the parcel in a manner that will provide for on-site recharge to groundwater.
H. 
Excavation shall not be allowed below the seasonal high water table, as determined by the Municipal Engineer, unless the excavation will serve as a recreational resource in connection with major subdivision approval or a water reservoir for public or agricultural use, provided that in no case shall excavation have a depth exceeding 15 feet below the natural surface of the ground existing prior to excavation unless it can be demonstrated that a depth greater than 15 feet will result in no significant adverse impact relative to the proposed final use or on- or off-site areas.
I. 
The operation shall be carried out in accordance with an extraction schedule which depicts the anticipated sequence as well as anticipated length of time that each portion of the parcel proposed for extraction will be worked.
J. 
The operation shall not involve clearing adjacent to ponds in excess of 20 acres or an area necessary to complete scheduled operations or will not involve unreclaimed clearing exceeding 100 acres or 50% of the area to be mined, whichever is less, for surface excavation at any time.
K. 
The plan will provide for restoration of disturbed areas at the completion of the recourse extraction operation in accordance with the following requirements:
(1) 
Restoration shall be a continuous process and each portion of the parcel shall be restored such that the ground cover be established within two years and tree cover established within three years after resource extraction is completed for each portion of the site mined.
(2) 
Restoration shall proceed in the same sequence and time frame set out in the extraction schedule required in Subsection I above.
(3) 
All restored areas shall be graded so as to conform to the natural contours of the parcel to the maximum extent practical; grading techniques that help to control erosion and foster revegetation shall be utilized; and the slope of the surface of restored surfaces shall not exceed one foot vertical to three feet horizontal except as provided in Subsection K hereof.
(4) 
All topsoil shall be restored in approximately the same quality and quantity as existed at the time the resource extraction operation was initiated. All topsoil removed shall be stockpiled and used for the next area to be restored, unless it is immediately reused for reclamation that is currently underway.
(5) 
Drainage flows, including direction and volume, shall be restored to the maximum extent practical to those flows existing at the time the resource extraction operation was initiated.
(6) 
Any body of water created by the resource extraction operation shall have a shoreline not less than three feet above and three feet below the projected average water table elevation. The shoreline both above and below the surface water elevation shall have a slope of not less than five feet horizontal to one foot vertical. This requirement shall apply to any water body or portion of a water body created after December 5, 1994. For any water body or portion of a water body created prior to December 5, 1994, this requirement shall apply to the extent that it does not require grading of areas which have not been disturbed by mining activities. Where grading would require such disturbance, a reduction in the distance of the graded shoreline above and below the average water table elevation shall be permitted.
(7) 
All equipment, machinery and structures, except for structures that are usable for recreational purposes or any other use authorized in the area, shall be removed within six months after the resource extraction operation is terminated and restoration is completed.
(8) 
Reclamation shall to the maximum extent practical result in the reestablishment of the vegetation association which existed prior to the extraction activity and shall include:
(a) 
Stabilization of exposed areas by establishing ground cover vegetation; and
(b) 
Reestablishment of the composition of the natural forest and shrub types that existed prior to the extraction activity through one of the following:
[1] 
The planting of a minimum of 1,000 one-year-old pitch pine seedlings or other native Pinelands tree species per acre in a random pattern;
[2] 
Cluster planting of characteristic Pinelands oak species, such as blackjack oak, bear oak, chestnut oak and black oak, and shrubs such as black huckleberry, sheep laurel and mountain laurel, at a spacing sufficient to ensure establishment of these species;
[3] 
A combination of the planting techniques set forth in Subsections K(8)(b)[1] and [2] above; or
[4] 
The use of other planting techniques or native Pinelands species as may be necessary to restore the vegetation association which existed prior to the extraction activity.
(9) 
Slopes beyond a water body's shoreline shall be permitted at the natural angle of repose to the bottom of the pond.
(10) 
The letter of credit, surety bond or other guaranty of performance which secures restoration of each section shall be released after the City has determined that the requirements of Subsection K(1) through (9) above are being met and the guarantee of performance is replaced with a maintenance guaranty for a period of two years.
(11) 
The operation shall not result in a substantial adverse impact upon those significant resources depicted in the Special Areas Map appearing as Figure 7.1 in the Pinelands Comprehensive Management Plan.
[Amended by Ord. No. 82-12]
As of January 14, 1981, all existing sand and gravel pits shall be operated as provided under this chapter, and in the event there are any deviations now existing and not in accordance with this chapter, then such deviations shall not be enlarged upon.
[Amended by Ord. No. 82-12]
This chapter shall be administered and enforced by the City Council or any other public official who shall be designated by the City Council, and who shall in no case grant any permit unless this chapter shall have been fully complied with.
[Added at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. III)]
Any violations of this chapter shall be subject to the general penalty provision of Chapter 1, Article II, General Penalty, of the Code of the City of Estell Manor.