[Amended 4-4-2007 by Ord. No. 5-2007; 2-20-2008 by Ord. No.
2-2008]
There is hereby established an Open Space Committee
which shall consist of nine members whose terms and powers are set
forth below.
[Amended 4-4-2007 by Ord. No. 5-2007]
The Open Space Committee shall be comprised
of the following persons to be appointed by the Mayor and Borough
Council:
A. The Mayor of the Borough of Hopatcong.
B. One member of the Borough Council.
C. Two members from the Borough Land Use Board.
[Amended 9-5-2012 by Ord. No. 22-2012]
D. One member of the Borough Environmental Commission.
E. One member of the Borough Recreation Commission.
F. Three citizens of the Borough holding no other elected,
appointed or employment position, one to be appointed by the Mayor
and two to be appointed by the Borough Council.
[Amended 2-20-2008 by Ord. No. 2-2008]
[Amended 4-4-2007 by Ord. No. 5-2007; 2-20-2008 by Ord. No.
2-2008]
All members of the Open Space Committee shall
have a term of office of two years (or, term of Mayor and Councilperson
would coincide with their respective term of office).
[Amended 4-4-2007 by Ord. No. 5-2007]
A. 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. In the event of a tie vote, the Chairman’s
vote shall be counted twice to break the tie. 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.
B. The Open Space Committee shall hold public meetings,
which public meetings shall be held in accordance with the Open Public
Meetings Act, and the Committee shall give appropriate notification
of said meetings.
C. The Open Space Committee shall prepare an Open Space
and Recreation Plan (the "plan") to be used in conjunction with applications
for participation in the green trust planning incentive funding category
and submitted to other sources of funding to fulfill the purposes
for which the Open Space Trust Fund was created.
D. The Open Space Committee shall also make a determination
of properties which it recommends that the Borough acquire and/or
properties for which it recommends that development rights should
be acquired, developed and/or maintained for open space and/or recreation
purposes.
E. The Open Space Committee shall submit a prioritized
list of those properties to the Borough Council, which shall review
the list 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, development, maintenance and/or
preservation.
F. After selection of the properties referred to in Subsections
D and
E above, the Borough 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 Borough Council.
The Open Space Committee shall hold its initial
organization meeting within 30 days of the effective date of this
article or appointment of the Committee, whichever occurs last.
There is hereby established an account to be
known and designated as the "Open Space and Recreation Fund" (the
"fund") which shall be maintained in accordance with N.J.S.A. 40A:4-1
and N.J.S.A. 40A:5-1. Funds from the fund may, as directed by the
Borough Council, be utilized to acquire or develop vacant land, as
well as land which has improvements upon it at the time of acquisition,
or to acquire development rights, where the principal purpose of the
acquisition is to preserve open space and recreation.
In the event that no property is acquired under
this article for a period of five consecutive years, then the Borough
Council shall review the activities of the Open Space Committee and
issue a report with recommendations and conclusions concerning the
fund.