The Senate and Assembly considered A-3919 (Calabrese)/S-2346 (Sarlo), creating a new extension period under the Permit Extension Act of 2008 that covers permits in existence during the COVID-19 public health emergency or state of emergency period. The NJSBA urged amendments that would provide definitive deadlines to applications under the Municipal Land Use Law (MLUL) relative to permit applications before planning and zoning boards.
The bill proposes to toll the term of permits and approvals during the COVID-19 emergency period to prevent the abandonment of approved projects, to preserve public and private resources, and to provide an avenue to quickly resume these projects when it is safe to restart business and government activity. Specifically, the bill would extend certain time frames by which planning and zoning boards have to grant or deny applications pursuant to the MLUL in order to provide adequate time to evaluate projects already in the pipeline.
