FINAL MS4 PERMITS ISSUED
New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) has issued its Final Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) New Jersey Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NJPDES) Master General Permit. The Final Master Permit Effective as of 1/1/2023 can be found Here. All previously designated Tier B municipalities must now comply with the new Tier A permit. The Schedule for Compliance with all New Permit Rules can be Found Here
This new permit will bring about several changes in the standards for towns, including:
New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) has issued its Final Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) New Jersey Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NJPDES) Master General Permit. The Final Master Permit Effective as of 1/1/2023 can be found Here. All previously designated Tier B municipalities must now comply with the new Tier A permit. The Schedule for Compliance with all New Permit Rules can be Found Here
This new permit will bring about several changes in the standards for towns, including:
- Creation of Watershed Improvement Plans
- TMDLs (Total Maximum Daily Loads – pollution budgets created to reduce the amount of pollution entering a waterway)
- Evaluation of overburdened community impact and prioritization of projects in these communities
- Passage of ordinances to address issues like, salt storage and tree protection
- Creation of a municipal stormwater webpage
NJ To Issue Guidance on Siting Warehouses for Municipalities - See Draft Guidance HERE
The guidance aims to:
These guidance documents go into how municipalities can achieve these aims across eleven related areas of focus. Local governing bodies and planners can utilize some or all of these areas, as they choose, to address the challenges they face.
- Facilitate a proactive, rather than a reactive, approach;
- Provide municipal factors to consider when developing or updating a Master Plan and reviewing applications and requirements;
- Encourage a regional approach to planning, siting, and facilitating the logistics facilities.
These guidance documents go into how municipalities can achieve these aims across eleven related areas of focus. Local governing bodies and planners can utilize some or all of these areas, as they choose, to address the challenges they face.
Resilient NJ - A Guide for Municipalities to Integrate Climate Vulnerability Assessment Into Their Land Use Planning - See the Guide Here
Decisions by local and regional governments about zoning, redevelopment, housing, open space, and capital investment will have dramatic implications for the vulnerability of the natural and built environments. Integrating climate change into these decisions and all planning efforts will put your community on the track to resilience by making sure investments made today withstand the conditions of tomorrow and make it easier to adapt as the climate continues to change.
May 4th - Plastic Bag Ban Goes Into Effect
Credit to Burlington County Clean Community for Graphic
Resolve to Use Less Salt in the New Year
Roads in New Jersey will become slipperier as winter brings colder temperatures and snowstorms. Road salts and deicers are used to clear ice-covered streets, improve traffic conditions, and reduce accidents. While making our roads safer to drive on, road salts also have been shown to affect water quality by raising the salinity (‘saltiness’) of freshwater rivers, streams, and groundwater (Kaushal et al. 2018). Large rivers, such as the Passaic River (Ophori et al. 2019), and even coastal waters like the Barnegat Bay (Goodrow et al. 2017) are seeing increased salinity.
Increasing amounts of salts in the environment can have many effects on our day-to-day lives. Human health can be impacted as drinking water supplies become unusable. Pets and wildlife can have their paws burnt by excess deicers on sidewalks and driveways or become sick from ingesting salts. Roadside vegetation and landscape plants can experience leaf burn. Many commercially important shellfish, like oysters and clams, can only spawn and grow in a lower range of salinity and may become scarce due to increased salinity. Soils may become too salty for certain native plants to grow, allowing invasive vegetation to take over natural areas.
References:
Goodrow, SM et al. 2017. ‘Long-Term Temporal Water-Quality Trends within the Barnegat Bay Watershed, New Jersey’. Journal of Coastal Research.
https://meridian.allenpress.com/jcr/article/doi/10.2112/SI78-003.1/204316/Long-Term-Temporal-Water-Quality-Trends-within-the
Kaushal, SS et al. 2018. ‘Freshwater salinization syndrome on a continental scale’. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
https://www.pnas.org/content/115/4/E574
Ophori, D. 2019. ‘Impact of road deicing salts on the Upper Passaic River Basin, New Jersey: a geochemical analysis of the major ions in groundwater’. Environmental Earth Sciences.
https://faculty.uml.edu/nelson_eby/89.315/Professional%20Papers/Ophori2019_Article_ImpactOfRoadDeicingSaltsOnTheU.pdf
Increasing amounts of salts in the environment can have many effects on our day-to-day lives. Human health can be impacted as drinking water supplies become unusable. Pets and wildlife can have their paws burnt by excess deicers on sidewalks and driveways or become sick from ingesting salts. Roadside vegetation and landscape plants can experience leaf burn. Many commercially important shellfish, like oysters and clams, can only spawn and grow in a lower range of salinity and may become scarce due to increased salinity. Soils may become too salty for certain native plants to grow, allowing invasive vegetation to take over natural areas.
References:
Goodrow, SM et al. 2017. ‘Long-Term Temporal Water-Quality Trends within the Barnegat Bay Watershed, New Jersey’. Journal of Coastal Research.
https://meridian.allenpress.com/jcr/article/doi/10.2112/SI78-003.1/204316/Long-Term-Temporal-Water-Quality-Trends-within-the
Kaushal, SS et al. 2018. ‘Freshwater salinization syndrome on a continental scale’. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
https://www.pnas.org/content/115/4/E574
Ophori, D. 2019. ‘Impact of road deicing salts on the Upper Passaic River Basin, New Jersey: a geochemical analysis of the major ions in groundwater’. Environmental Earth Sciences.
https://faculty.uml.edu/nelson_eby/89.315/Professional%20Papers/Ophori2019_Article_ImpactOfRoadDeicingSaltsOnTheU.pdf
Local Operational Guidance- Covid-19: Guidance for
Remote Public Meetings in New Jersey
.Given the recent attention to the potential impacts of coronavirus, the Division issues this notice as a general precaution and to remind local units of options available to ensure the continued regular operation of government.
The Division of Local Government Services reminds local units that, in accordance with N.J.S.A. 10:4-6, et seq., (the “Open Public Meetings Act,” or “Act”), public meetings may be held in person or by means of communication equipment, N.J.S.A. 10:4-8(b), to include streaming services and other online meeting platforms. All meetings, including those held using communications equipment, must be noticed in a manner consistent with the requirements of the Act, unless the meeting is for emergent circumstances and held in a manner consistent with the requirements set forth at N.J.S.A. 10:4-9(b). Local units should also provide guidance to the public for remotely accessing and providing comment at a meeting. Local units should still have an advertised meeting place, which, is connected to the meeting through communications equipment, unless otherwise directed by state or local emergency management or health officials, consistent with Executive Order 103 (Murphy 3/9/2020).
This mechanism has been used by local governments during weather events and other circumstances that render in-person meetings less than optimal.
Local units are reminded that they are required to provide a means of public comment even if a meeting is held remotely. Further, if a local unit currently records the audio or video of its meetings, we recommend that it continue to record a remote meeting.
Local units holding meetings remotely are advised to avoid entering executive or closed session unless the topic of concern is urgent, directly affects the health, safety, or welfare of residents, and is an allowed exception as listed in N.J.S.A 10:4-12, given the difficulty of ensuring only appropriate individuals are on the line during a separate session. If an executive or closed session is necessary, local units must use a mechanism that ensures the confidentiality of closed session. To this end, after announcing the executive or closed session at the public portion of the meeting consistent with the Act, a local unit may consider using a separate, non-public, dial-in mechanism for the executive or closed portion of the meeting.
In preparation for upcoming community events and meetings of public bodies, local units are encouraged to coordinate with legal counsel and local offices of emergency management to ensure continued compliance with N.J.S.A. 10:4-6 and other statutory obligations.
For more information, email: DLGS@dca.nj.gov
The Division of Local Government Services reminds local units that, in accordance with N.J.S.A. 10:4-6, et seq., (the “Open Public Meetings Act,” or “Act”), public meetings may be held in person or by means of communication equipment, N.J.S.A. 10:4-8(b), to include streaming services and other online meeting platforms. All meetings, including those held using communications equipment, must be noticed in a manner consistent with the requirements of the Act, unless the meeting is for emergent circumstances and held in a manner consistent with the requirements set forth at N.J.S.A. 10:4-9(b). Local units should also provide guidance to the public for remotely accessing and providing comment at a meeting. Local units should still have an advertised meeting place, which, is connected to the meeting through communications equipment, unless otherwise directed by state or local emergency management or health officials, consistent with Executive Order 103 (Murphy 3/9/2020).
This mechanism has been used by local governments during weather events and other circumstances that render in-person meetings less than optimal.
Local units are reminded that they are required to provide a means of public comment even if a meeting is held remotely. Further, if a local unit currently records the audio or video of its meetings, we recommend that it continue to record a remote meeting.
Local units holding meetings remotely are advised to avoid entering executive or closed session unless the topic of concern is urgent, directly affects the health, safety, or welfare of residents, and is an allowed exception as listed in N.J.S.A 10:4-12, given the difficulty of ensuring only appropriate individuals are on the line during a separate session. If an executive or closed session is necessary, local units must use a mechanism that ensures the confidentiality of closed session. To this end, after announcing the executive or closed session at the public portion of the meeting consistent with the Act, a local unit may consider using a separate, non-public, dial-in mechanism for the executive or closed portion of the meeting.
In preparation for upcoming community events and meetings of public bodies, local units are encouraged to coordinate with legal counsel and local offices of emergency management to ensure continued compliance with N.J.S.A. 10:4-6 and other statutory obligations.
For more information, email: DLGS@dca.nj.gov
