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A4011
ASSEMBLY, No. 4011
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
222nd LEGISLATURE
�
INTRODUCED FEBRUARY 5, 2026
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman� ALEX SAUICKIE
District 12 (Burlington, Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean)
SYNOPSIS
���� Provides that certain developments at commercial
farms would not constitute major developments for stormwater management
purposes.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
���� As introduced.
��
An Act
c
oncerning stormwater management at certain
commercial farms and supplementing Title 58 of the Revised Statutes.
����
Be It
Enacted
by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey:
���� 1.� a.� As used in this
section:
���� �Commercial farm� means the
same as that term is defined in section 3 of P.L.1983, c.31 (C.4:1C-3).
���� �Department� means the
Department of Environmental Protection.
���� �Development� means the
division of a parcel of land into two or more parcels, the construction,
reconstruction, conversion, structural alteration, relocation, or enlargement
of any building or structure, any mining excavation or landfill, and any use or
change in the use of any building or other structure, or land or extension of
use of land, for which permission is required under the �Municipal Land Use
Law,� P.L.1975, c.291 (C.40:55D-1 et seq.). �In the case of development on
agricultural land, �development� means any activity that requires a State
permit, any activity reviewed by a County Agricultural Board and the State
Agricultural Development Committee, and municipal review of any activity not
exempted by the �Right to Farm Act,� P.L.1983, c.31 (C.4:1C-1 et al.).
���� �Major development� means an
individual development, as well as multiple developments that individually or
collectively result in: (1) the disturbance of one or more acres of land since
February 2, 2004; (2) the creation of one-quarter acre or more of regulated
impervious surface since February 2, 2004; (3) the creation of one-quarter acre
or more of regulated motor vehicle surface since March 2, 2021; or (4) a
combination of the creation of regulated impervious surface and regulated motor
vehicle surface that totals an area of one-quarter acre or more.� �Major
development� shall not include a development at a commercial farm that creates
1.25 acres or less of regulated impervious surface or regulated motor vehicle
surface, or a combination thereof.
���� �New stormwater conveyance
system� means a stormwater conveyance system that is constructed where one did
not exist immediately prior to its construction or an existing system for which
a new discharge location is created.
���� �Regulated impervious surface�
means any of the following, alone or in combination: (1) a net increase of
impervious surface; (2) the total area of impervious surface collected by a new
stormwater conveyance system; (3) the total area of impervious surface proposed
to be newly collected by an existing stormwater conveyance system; and (4) the
total area of impervious surface collected by an existing stormwater conveyance
system where the capacity of that conveyance system is increased.
���� �Regulated motor vehicle
surface� means any of the following, alone or in combination: (1) a net
increase in motor vehicle surface; and (2) the total area of motor vehicle
surface that is currently receiving water quality treatment either by
vegetation or soil, by an existing stormwater management measure, or by
treatment at a wastewater treatment plant, where the water quality treatment
will be modified or removed.
���� b.� Notwithstanding the
provisions of any law, rule regulation, or municipal ordinance to the contrary,
a development at a commercial farm that creates 1.25 acres or less of regulated
impervious surface, regulated motor vehicle surface, or a combination thereof,
shall not be considered a major development and therefore, shall not be subject
to the requirements or permitting fees associated with a major development,
under the department�s stormwater management rules at N.J.A.C.7:8-1.1 et seq.,
or any successor regulations adopted by the department.
���� c.� The department may, in
accordance with the �Administrative Procedure Act,� P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1
et seq.), adopt rules and regulations establishing new standards and
requirements for commercial farms that create 1.25 acres or less of regulated
impervious surface or regulated motor vehicle surface, or a combination
thereof, so long as the rules and regulations are less stringent than those for
major developments.
���� 2.� This act shall take effect
immediately.
STATEMENT
���� This bill would provide that a
development at a commercial farm that creates 1.25 acres or less of regulated
impervious surface, regulated motor vehicle surface, or a combination thereof,
would not be considered a major development and therefore, that a commercial
farm would not be subject to the requirements or permitting fees associated
with a major development under the Department of Environmental Protection�s
(DEP) stormwater management rules at N.J.A.C.7:8-1.1 et seq.� The bill would
also permit, but not require, the DEP to adopt rules and regulations
establishing new standards and requirements for commercial farms that create
1.25 acres or less of regulated impervious surface or regulated motor vehicle
surface, or a combination thereof, so long as the rules and regulations are
less stringent than those for major developments.
���� It is the view of the sponsor
that existing State laws and regulations concerning stormwater management,
which consider development at commercial farms to be a �major development,�
impose excessive requirements and permitting fees that are disproportionate to
the relative lack of risk of stormwater management runoff at commercial farms.�
The sponsor notes that in the specific case of a development to construct a hay
barn at a particular commercial farm, the costs of compliance with existing
State laws and regulations concerning stormwater management, including the
creation of a basin, engineering costs, and permitting fees, doubled the cost
of the original development from $250,000 to $500,000.