**Webmasters Note: The following is a non-codified amendment. The amendment will be integrated upon codification.
AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND CHAPTER 190 OF THE CODE OF THE TOWNSHIP OF PEMBERTON, ENTITLED ZONING AND TO AMEND THE ZONING MAP OF THE TOWNSHIP TO REZONE CERTAIN PROPERTIES FROM THE R-I INFILL SINGLE-FAMILY RESIDENTIAL DISTRICT TO THE AR AGRICULTURAL RESIDENTIAL DISTRICT
WHEREAS, by Resolution 50-1998, the Township Council adopted a Resolution supporting the efforts of the Burlington County Board of Chosen Freeholders, through its Burlington County Agricultural Development Board (CADB) to enroll two Pemberton Township farms in the Countys Farmland Preservation Program, which farms included the Potts Farm, Block 812, Lot 17, and the Cocelli Farm, Block 812, Lot 10; and
WHEREAS, pursuant to said Resolution, the Township made it clear to both the potential enrollees, and to the County, that it did not have sufficient funds to make any municipal cost sharing arrangements regarding the program; and
WHEREAS, the County does require municipal cost sharing in order for the farms to be enrolled in the program, but the Township is unable to finance same: and
WHEREAS, however, a situation has arisen in Tabernacle Township which may assist the Township in facilitating the enrollment of these farms, notwithstanding the inability of Pemberton Township to finance the municipal cost sharing, which situation is described in the following clauses; and
WHEREAS public referendum of December 1997 approved a site on Caranza Road in Tabernacle Township (the high school site) for the construction of the Lenape Regional High School District (Lenape) of a fourth regional high school and
WHEREAS, Tabernancle Township has undertaken to rezone the hi school site from Agricultural Production and Rural Development to Regional Growth-Residential-Regional High School to permit the regional high school at the high school site; and
WHEREAS, for purposes of consistency with the Pinelands Comprehensive Management Plan, lands must be redesignated from the Regional Growth Area to the Agricultural Production Area in an amount which is at least equivalent to that being rezoned to the Regional Growth- Residential-Regional High School District for the high school site in Tabernacle Township; and
WHEREAS, the aforementioned Potts and Cocelli Farms, currently zoned Regional Growth/P I Infill Single Family Residential under the Pemberton Township Zoning Ordinance, and are appropriate and desirable properties for farmland preservation through the purchase of easements; and
WHEREAS, to facilitate enrolling the Potts and the Cocelli Farm in the Farmland Preservation Program, Lenape has agreed to fund Pemberton Townships municipal cost sharing responsibility or these properties; and
WHEREAS; the Potts Farm and the Cocelli Farm were originally designated as Agricultural Production Area by the Pinelands Comprehensive Management Plan; and
WHEREAS, rezoning the Potts Farm and the Cocelli Farm from the A-I Zone in the Regional Growth Area to the AR Agricultural Residential Zone in the Agricultural Production Area would sufficiently balance the redesignation of the high school site in Tabernacle Township in terms of total acreage; and
WHEREAS, such a rezoning would result in the elimination of a significant number of opportunities for the use of Pinelands Development Credits in Pemberton land
WHEREAS, Pinelands Development Credits are allocated to property owners with limited development potential in Pemberton and throughout the Pinelands Area and allow such property owners to financially benefit from the development opportunities afforded elsewhere the Pinelands area; and
WHEREAS, Lenape will be required by the Pinelands Commission to purchase Pinelands Development Credits prior to obtaining development approval for the high school in order to offset the cumulative effect of these rezonings on the Pinelands Development Credit program and
WHEREAS the Township Council has undertaken a study to determine whether or not there will be any negative impact to the Township s future planning strategies were these farms to be removed from the R I Zone and reclassified as AR Agricultural Residential Zones in an Agricultural Production Area an the Township has determined following said analysis that there is no negative impact to the Township and that there are no other properties in the Township which serve as reasonable candidates for an intra-municipal reclassification, such that allowing the reclassification to apply to the lands in the Tabernacle Township for which permission is sought to build a new high school, does not have a negative impact upon Pemberton Township; and
WHEREAS the Township Council finds that it is appropriate and in the public interest to rezone the Potts Farm and the Cocelli Farm to the AR Agricultural !: Residential Zone.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED AND ENACTED by the Township Council of the Township of Pemberton in the County of Burlington and State of New Jersey, follows:
A. REPEALER. Any and all Ordinances inconsistent with the provisions of this Ordinance be and; the same are hereby repealed to the extent of any such inconsistencies.
B. SEVERABILITY. In the event any Section or part of this Ordinance shall be declared to be unconstitutional, invalid, or inoperative, in whole or in part, by a Court of competent jurisdiction, said Section or part shall, to the extent that it is unconstitutional, invalid, or inoperative, shall be of no force and effect but no such determination shall be deemed to invalidate or affect the remaining Sections or parts of this Ordinance or the Ordinance as a whole.
C. EFFECTIVE DATE. This Ordinance shall take effect upon proper passage in accordance with the law and shall be subject to certification by the New Jersey Pinelands Commission of both this Ordinance and companion Ordinance(s) of the Township of Tabernacle and upon the filing of a copy of this Ordinance with the Burlington County Planning Board.
**Webmasters Note: Paragraph C has been amended as per Ordinance No. 19-1999.
