Township of Hampton, NJ Open Space Committee

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.

§ 17-4 Powers and duties.

The Open Space Committee shall initially prepare a report recommending which parcels of land should be acquired in fee and/or those parcels of land from which the township should acquire development rights only.

The Open Space Committee shall submit to the Township Committee a prioritized list of properties which it recommends that the township acquire and/or properties from which it recommends that development rights should be acquired. The Township Committee shall review the list as submitted and make a determination as to which properties are to be acquired and shall state the amount of funds that the Committee shall make available for such acquisition.

After selection of the properties to be acquired 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., the identified parcels within the financial constraints established by the Township Committee.

The Open Space 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 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 meetings and records of the proceedings of the Committee.

§ 17-5 Organization meeting.

The Open Space Committee shall hold its initial organization meeting shortly after this chapter takes effect.

§ 17-6 Fund for open space acquisition.

There is hereby established a reserve in the general capital fund which shall be known and designated as the "Reserve for Open Space Acquisition." A separate bank account shall be opened and maintained for this purpose. Funds from the Reserve for Open Space Acquisition 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 principal purpose of the acquisition is to preserve open space, recreation, farmland preservation and/or historic preservation. In the event that the Township Committee shall find it appropriate to apportion the cost of acquisition between open space and improvements, it may do so and charge the Reserve for Open Space Acquisition for the approximate value that it deems appropriate relative to open space and the township's capital account for the value that it determines shall be attributed to improvements.

§ 17-7 Funding of the Reserve for Open Space Acquisition; interest.

The Reserve for Open Space Acquisition shall be funded through the dedication to the fund in an amount not to exceed $0.03 per $100 of assessed valuation of each annual tax levy commencing with the year 1999. The amount to be funded shall be determined by resolution annually by the Township Committee. The reserve shall also be permitted to accept donations and testamentary bequests. The funds accumulated within the reserve may be utilized for the acquisition of land or development rights in land or as a down payment of the issuance of bonds for the same purpose at the discretion of the Township Committee or for the payment of debt service of indebtedness issued or incurred by the township for any purpose contemplated by this chapter. Any and all interest accruing shall remain in the reserve and may be utilized for the above-described purposes.

§ 17-8 Sale of property.

No property acquired with these funds from the Reserve for Open Space Acquisition shall be leased or sold, until the sale or lease has been authorized by the Township Committee in the manner prescribed by law.

The Mayor and Township Committee, after at least one public hearing thereon, and upon a finding that the purposes of this chapter might otherwise be better served or that any land acquired by the township pursuant to this chapter is required for another public use, may by ordinance convey, through sale, exchange, transfer or other disposition, title to, or a letter of interest in, that land, provided that the township shall replace any land conveyed under this section by land of at least equal fair market value and reasonable equivalent usefulness, size, quality and location to the land conveyed. Any money derived from the conveyance shall be deposited into the fund created thereunder.

Any conveyance made pursuant to this section shall be made in strict accordance with the Local Lands and Buildings Law (N.J.S.A. 40A:12-1 et seq.). In the event of conveyance by exchange, the land or improvements thereon to be transferred to the trust shall be at least equal in fair market value and of reasonably equivalent usefulness, size, quality and location to the land or improvements transferred from the trust.

§ 17-9 Review.

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 Committee and issue a report with recommendations and conclusions concerning the Reserve for Open Space Acquisition.