Permit Extension Act and Environmentally Sensitive Areas

March 15, 2010 | 5 Comments
Posted by Marc Policastro

The Permit Extension Act (PEA) extends the expiration date of  most local, county and state permits, including many environmental permits, to December 31, 2012.  Depending on the facts of each case, certain permits may be extended further, to June 30, 2013.  However, the PEA excludes permit extensions for permits issued for properties located in “environmentally sensitive areas”.  The PEA defines environmentally sensitive areas to include, among several categories, areas designated under the State Plan as “Planning Area 4B (Rural/Environmentally Sensitive), Planning Area 5 (Environmentally Sensitive), or a critical environmental site”.  Properties in “Highlands Regions” which are not areas as “growth” areas under the Highlands legislation.  Non-growth Pineland areas are also generally deemed to be outside of the PEA’s protections.  In assessing the applicability of many of these categories, referencing the State’s iMap sytem represents a good starting point to confirm whether a particular property is within the ambit of the environmentally sensitive exception.   The State’s iMap website can be accessed at: http://www.state.nj.us/dep/gis/depsplash.htm.

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