There is hereby established a reserve in the Borough's other
trust fund, which shall be known and designated as the "Open Space,
Recreation, Farmland and Historic Preservation Trust Fund" (referred
to throughout this chapter as the "fund"). A separate bank account
shall be opened and maintained exclusively for this purpose.
The reserve for the fund shall be funded through the dedication
to the fund of an amount between $0.01 and $0.04 per $100 of assessed
valuation of real property of each annual tax levy commencing with
the year 2012. The amount to be funded shall be determined by resolution
annually by the Mayor and Borough Council. The Borough may also accept
donations and testamentary bequests for inclusion in the fund. All
interest accrued shall remain in the reserve for the fund and may
be used for the purposes thereof.
The moneys accumulated in the fund may be used as directed by
the Mayor and Borough Council to acquire, by gift, purchase or eminent
domain proceedings pursuant to N.J.S.A. 20:3-1 et seq., land, easements
and/or development rights for purposes of acquiring, developing or
maintaining lands for recreation and conservation, including protection
of wildlife habitats, drinking water sources and water quality of
streams; preserving farmland and historic sites; payment of ancillary
costs of acquisition; and/or payment of debt service on indebtedness
issued or incurred by the Borough for any of the foregoing purposes.
The fund may, as directed by the Mayor and Borough Council, be used
to acquire vacant land as well as land which has improvements on it
at time of acquisition; and, in the event the Mayor and Borough Council
shall find it appropriate to apportion the cost of acquisition between
open space and improvements, it may do so and charge the fund for
the approximate value that it deems appropriate relative to open space
and the Borough's other trust fund for the value that it determines
is attributable to improvements.
The Mayor and Borough Council will cause the fund to be audited
annually, with the report of same to be reviewed each year by the
Mayor and Borough Council and to be made available for public inspection.
In the event no property is acquired under this chapter for
a period of five consecutive years, then the Mayor and Borough Council
shall review the fund's activities and issue a report with recommendations
and conclusions concerning the fund.
Each clause, sentence, phrase, paragraph, or subsection of this
chapter is declared to be an independent clause, sentence, phrase,
paragraph, or subsection; and a finding or holding of any such portion
of this chapter to be unconstitutional, void, or ineffective for any
cause or reason shall not affect any other portion of this chapter.