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Council tables NJDEP model stormwater ordinance and sends it to planning board
Summary
Facing potential litigation and a standard-model NJDEP ordinance, Hamilton Township Council voted to table second reading of a stormwater-control code amendment and refer the model ordinance to the planning board for review, postponing final action until July.
Hamilton Township Council on June 18 tabled second reading of Ordinance 3-24-025, a stormwater-control ordinance based on a model provided by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP), and voted to refer the model ordinance to the Hamilton Township Planning Board for review.
Town counsel and staff said the NJDEP model would ordinarily not require municipal review but attorneys had received correspondence from litigators and advised caution. The township attorney recommended tabling the second reading ‘‘in an abundance of caution and to avoid the cost of litigation to the taxpayers,’’ and the council voted to continue the second reading to the July 16 meeting pending planning-board review. The motion and tabling were recorded and passed on roll call.
The referral means the planning board will evaluate whether the model ordinance needs local modification to fit Hamilton’s land-use framework and to reduce exposure to likely legal challenge before the council resumes formal consideration.
Next steps: the planning board will review the NJDEP model ordinance and report back to the council for a second-reading vote scheduled for July 16.
