[HISTORY: Adopted by the Mayor and Council of the Borough
of Woodstown 3-14-06 as Ord. No. 2006-621. Amendments noted where applicable.]
Be it ordained by the Borough Council of Woodstown Borough,
County of Salem, State of New Jersey, as follows:
A.
There is hereby established a "Municipal Open space, Recreation,
Farmland and Historic Preservation Trust Fund," (hereafter referred
as Open Space Fund) which fund shall be administered by the Woodstown
Borough Council.
B.
The Borough Council is authorized, by majority vote, to select, acquire,
develop, and/or maintain specified lands, easements and/or development
rights to open space within the borough in the manner it deems appropriate
within the limits set forth below under Section 66-2D., Use of Funds.
The Borough Council shall determine the amount of funds to be allocated
for each of the various purposes.
A.
A special tax levy shall be added to the total borough tax rate in
the amount not to exceed two cents ($.02) per $100 of net valuation
taxable through local purpose taxation. The tax rate shall be established
annually prior to adoption of the budget. The revenue from the levy
shall be deposited into the Open Space Fund. A separate bank account
shall be opened and maintained for this purpose. Any and all interest
accruing shall remain in the Fund and may be utilized for the above
described purposes.
B.
The Borough Council may, in its discretion, deposit additional municipal,
state, and federal monies into the Open Space Fund, which deposits
shall then be subject to all of the provisions governing the Open
Space Fund.
C.
The Open Space Fund shall be permitted to accept donations and testamentary
bequests.
D.
Use of funds. Funds accumulated with the Open Space Fund shall be
utilized for preservation of open space, creation and maintenance
of recreation areas and/or for public historic preservation within
Woodstown Borough. The funds may also be spent for the creation of
greenways and trails to promote passive recreation opportunities for
the residents of Woodstown Borough as provided in N.J.S.A. 40:12-15.7.
No property or interest in land acquired with funds from the
Open Space Fund shall be leased, sold or otherwise disposed of by
the borough unless it is needed for another public use or otherwise
furthers the purposes of the Open Space Fund. If such a sale, lease
or conveyance is made, the Borough Council shall be required to place
the monies received into the Open Space Fund as provided in N.J.S.A.
40:12-15.9.
There is hereby established a Open Space Advisory Committee
to review and recommend parcels of land and interests therein that
could benefit from the Open Space Funds for the public good. The word
"Committee" when used by itself in this chapter refers to the Open
Space Advisory Committee.
A.
Appointment, membership, term.
(1)
The Open Space Advisory Committee shall consist of five members and
one alternate member who shall be residents of the borough.
(2)
The term of office of all members shall be one year which appointments
shall be made annually at the borough's reorganization meeting.
(3)
In making appointments to the Committee, the Mayor and Borough Council
shall attempt, but shall not be required, to select individuals who
have an interest in promoting the purposes of this chapter and to
create a distribution of membership which, as nearly as possible,
should include one member from the following categories: Joint Environmental
Commission, Planning Board, Recreation Committee, Borough Council,
Sewerage Authority. The Borough Council may fill any vacancy or make
any new appointment from within any of the categories without regard
to the category to which the former member belonged.
B.
Duties and functions.
(1)
The Open Space Advisory Committee shall annually prepare and submit
to the Borough Council an Open Space Plan for the Borough of Woodstown.
It shall develop an inventory of open space properties within the
borough and evaluate and prioritize such open space properties through
the development of appropriate criteria. Such plan shall consist of
a parcel ranking, as well as recommendations concerning the nature
of the interest in such real estate to be acquired, if any, and the
purposes of which such land should be utilized.
(2)
The Committee shall assist the borough in the establishment of an
Open Space Tracking Program to catalog the state of privately owned
open space in the borough and record the borough's progress with
respect to open space preservation.
(3)
The Committee shall provide guidance and support to the borough and
Planning Board on issues and matters of open space.
(4)
The Committee shall periodically review its functions and submit
a recommendation to the Borough Council as to whether additional duties
should be assigned or delegated to the Committee.
(5)
The Committee shall have such other duties as the Borough Council
may assign to it from time to time.
In the event that no property is acquired or financed under
this chapter for a period of five consecutive years, then the Borough
Council shall conduct a review and issue a report with recommendations
and conclusions concerning the continuation of the Open Space Trust
Fund.
If any section, subsection, sentence, clause or phrase of this
chapter is for any reason held to be unconstitutional or invalid,
such decision shall not affect the remaining portions of this chapter.
This chapter shall take effect immediately after publication
according to law.
