Your Turn

Guest Column
Ted Korth
Board has duty to question
Pinelands development plan

The Jackson Planning Board is rightfully concerned about the impact the many developments now proposed for the Pinelands area of Jackson may have ("Environmental Concerns Raised in Pinelands Development Plans," Tri-Town News, June 26, 2003).

The resources of the Pinelands — the land, the water, the culture and the ecology — are not only locally important, but, as Congress found in creating the Pinelands National Reserve, are of great national interest as well. More to the point, the Pinelands area and its resources are finite; they’re not making any more, so gone means gone for good.

Your article indicates that there may be some confusion in regard to the role municipalities play in reviewing and approving development within the Pinelands. New Jersey has a long history as a "home rule" state: planning and zoning are generally controlled by localities and not by Trenton.

Faithful to the home rule concept, the mechanism established by Congress and the state to protect the Pinelands leaves decisions on land use and development design in the hands of municipalities. The state and federal rules set minimum requirements, but municipalities remain free to develop their own ordinances and conduct development review and approval.

The mechanism works like this: Municipalities located in the Pinelands may conform their ordinances to meet the basic land use and design standards required by the Pinelands Comprehensive Management Plan (CMP). If the ordinances conform, the municipality receives "certification" of its ordinances.

Before an application for development in the Pinelands may be reviewed by a certified municipality, the developer must make an application to the Pinelands Commission, and must receive a "Certi-ficate of Filing" from the commission.

However, issuance of a Certificate of Filing means only that the Pinelands application is complete, nothing more. A Certificate of Filing does not represent a final determination by the commission regarding compliance with mandatory standards. And, of course, the Pinelands Commission has no authority to determine whether or not a development complies with local standards; the Pinelands Com-mission is not a local approving authority.

Once a municipality receives a Certi-ficate of Filing, the municipality then begins its review of the proposed development under its ordinances. Municipal approval of the proposed development is subject to review by the Pinelands Com-mission, ensuring that the state’s minimum requirements are met, but Pinelands review does not replace the municipal review authority.

Further, the standards of the CMP are minimum standards. There is nothing in the Pinelands statute or regulation which prohibits a municipality from requiring more stringent development standards than those set out in the CMP.

So, Jackson, being a certified munici­pality, conducts its own, independent re­view of proposed developments for compliance with its ordinances. In doing so it may choose to be more rigorous in the protection of its Pinelands resources than may be contemplated by the CMP, but it can not be less rigorous. Receipt of a Certi-ficate of Filing in no way limits the township in the application of its ordi­nances during the development review process.

The area of Jackson that lies in the Pinelands, generally west of Tom’s River, contains several characteristic Pine Barrens habitats. Importantly, the area contains a significant amount of dry, forested uplands. Because dry uplands are more easily developed than lowlands, the­ses habitats are being impacted at an alarming rate.

Planning boards throughout the state regularly and rigorously apply develop­ment standards involving setbacks, road frontage, signage, access, buffers, tree-planting, recycling, lighting, and so on. And planning boards regularly question the impact a proposed development will have on the locality. Why wouldn’t a board require strict adherence to ordi­nances designed to protect the township’s stake in the Pinelands, a nationally impor­tant resource?

Further, the assertion that the Planning Board is somehow not being "objective" because it questions the impact develop­ment will have on the Pinelands resources is misguided. The citizens of Jackson have a right to rely on their ordinances to guide appropriate development, and should ex­pect their local boards to apply those ordi­nances.

Beyond Jackson, anyone who has an interest in the nationally recognized re­sources of the reserve may rightfully ex­pect the Planning Board to protect these resources and not offhandedly relinquish the resources to private development in­terests.

Rigorous implementation of the Jackson ordinances, ordinances which en­courage the best use of land and protect the resources of the Pinelands, is not only expected, but it is the duty of the board to require such. There is no lack of objectiv­ity on the part of a board that carries out its public duties.

Conversely, is seems just such a lack of objectivity would occur where a board chooses to ignore its duty to scrutinize a proposal from a developer who may have the resources to litigate the board’s deci­sions.

Ted Korth is the project manager for law and policy at the Pinelands Preser-vation Alliance, Pemberton.