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SOMERSET COUNTY MUNICIPAL PLANNING PARTNERSHIP FY 2007 PROGRAM GUIDELINES
(UPDATED)
Freeholder Director Robert
Zaborowski
Freeholder Deputy Director Denise Coyle
Freeholder Peter S.
Palmer
Freeholder Rick
Fontana
Freeholder Jack M.
Ciattarelli
Purpose
The purpose of the Municipal Planning Partnership (MPP) program is to
provide funding assistance to municipalities pursuing planning projects
that coordinate municipal planning efforts with the County and adjacent
municipalities. These funds may also be used to help address the 50% match
required by the State’s Smart Growth Planning Grant Program, providing an
incentive for pursuing these grant funds. These funds can be used by
municipalities, or a group of municipalities, to address regional land use
issues, pursue inter-jurisdictional planning initiatives, and smart
growth/ growth management initiatives.
For 2007, a total of $200,000 is being made available for the MPP
program.
Primary Qualification Requirements
The Municipal Planning Partnership program
will only accept applications from municipalities who have executed the
Inter-Municipal Agreement on “Projects of Regional Significance”, or
will do so in conjunction with the Municipal Planning Partnership Program.
The Municipal Planning Partnership Program is only available for
municipalities in Somerset County.
ALSO NOTE: Municipalities that have not largely completed projects
that were funded from grant rounds prior to FY 2004 will not be
eligible to receive a grant for FY 2007. The only exception to this is
if a municipality with an open grant from prior to FY 2004 requests in
writing an extension for the open grant period to complete work necessary
to conform to the Highlands Regional Master Plan, meet NJ Office of Smart
Growth Plan Endorsement requirements or address the anticipated Council on
Affordable Housing (COAH) revised “Round 3” affordable housing rules. Such
requests for extensions shall abide by the “Emergency Extension”
requirements (see “Timeframe and Reimbursement” below). Qualifying
municipalities may apply for one MPP grant per year.
Funding
Levels and Review Criteria
Somerset County will provide up to a maximum
of $30,000 per municipality. For applications made jointly by two
or more municipalities for an inter-municipal planning project, a maximum
of up to $30,000 may be awarded per municipality. Funding priority
will be given to projects promoting inter-jurisdictional / inter-municipal
planning initiatives, regional planning, projects supporting Smart Growth
planning initiatives and/or NJ Smart Growth Planning Grant applications. A
detailed itemized budget must be presented with any request. Lump sum
requests without supporting documentation will not be accepted.
The level of funding awarded a project will be determined on the basis of
its relationship to major review criteria and the availability of
funding to meet application requests. Major review criteria include:
project support of multi-jurisdictional / regional cooperation, projects
of regional significance, smart growth projects / NJ Smart Growth Planning
Grant Program, demonstrated readiness to proceed and prior record of
performance. During review, increased emphasis will be placed on smart
growth strategic plans, sub-area and redevelopment plans, center-oriented
and site specific planning projects that promote smart growth principals.
Applications will also be reviewed on the basis of clarity and detail of
scope of work, anticipated final deliverable(s) and detailed budget
support. For 2007, matching funds are not required, however, these
should be listed where available, as the ability to leverage funding is
still part of the basic review criteria.
Types of
Projects
Eligible Projects
Grant applications shall describe the multi-jurisdictional, regional
planning initiative, growth management and/or land use issues that the
applicant is seeking to address and a set of specific deliverables
designed to address those issues. The deliverables may include, but are
not necessarily limited to the following: inter-jurisdictional master
plans, regional strategic plans, center-based plans, economic development
plans, redevelopment plans, open space plans, build-out analyses,
capacity-analyses or other planning studies and activities that support
the planning and implementation agendas of already designated centers or
endorsed plans. General individual municipal master plans will not be
funded unless these are being developed for submittal to the Office of
Smart Growth for Plan Endorsement, to conform to the Highlands Regional
Master Plan, to address the anticipated revised COAH Round 3 affordable
housing rules, or for the express purpose of supporting a specific smart
growth activity/project. Zoning/site plan ordinances may be considered
only where it can be demonstrated that they are necessary to implement
smart growth initiatives. A copy of other project examples is attached.
Ineligible Projects
·
Costs for any purpose
incurred prior to the date of the award of the grant
·
Purchase of equipment or
other capital expenditures
·
General Re-examination
reports
Application
and Approval Process
All applications shall follow the format outlined in the attached
2007 Somerset County Municipal Planning Partnership Grant Application
Form. Applications shall contain a purpose statement that will
describe how the proposal will further inter-jurisdictional planning,
smart growth concepts or regional planning initiatives as related to the
Inter-local Agreement on “Projects of Regional Significance” and/or the NJ
Smart Growth Planning Grant Program. It will also include a Scope of Work
that includes a specific description of deliverables along with a schedule
and set of milestones to be met towards the completion of those
deliverables.
Applicants must submit an original and ten (10) copies of the
proposal along with an authorizing resolution adopted by the governing
body to undertake the proposed project if such funds are awarded. A
copy of a sample authorizing resolution for illustrative purposes is also
attached.
Completed applications shall be submitted to the County Planning Board for
review by July 30, 2007, 4:00 PM. Applications will be reviewed by
the County Planning Board Master Plan
Committee with assistance from County Planning Board staff. The Master
Plan Committee will present their funding recommendations to the full
Planning Board at a regularly scheduled meeting. Recommendations may be
made for full funding, partial funding or no funding. These
recommendations will then be forwarded to the Somerset County Board of
Chosen Freeholders.
At the discretion of the Master Plan Committee, applicants may be required
to make a presentation summarizing their projects, the scope of work and
deliverables. Such presentations may be required where there are questions
regarding the scope of work content, deliverables, procedure or other
ambiguity in the application.
Timeframe and
Reimbursement
Somerset County will execute inter-local agreements for the approved
funding amount for projects receiving awards from this program. For
applications using NJ Smart Growth Planning Grant Funding, Inter-local
agreements for approved funding amounts will only be executed upon an
award of contract by the NJ Department of Community Affairs for Smart
Growth Planning Grants.
Quarterly progress reports will be submitted throughout project
development as a requirement of payment. Reimbursement for the first half
of the grant award will be made upon receipt of a progress report
indicating 50% or more of the project is complete. The balance will be
provided upon completion of the project and review by the County Planning
Board indicating satisfactory completion of the full scope of work.
Municipalities will have twenty-four (24) months from the
date of the execution of the Inter-local agreement to complete all
planning studies. Any project not initiated within six (6) months of
the date of agreement execution may result in a re-programming of the
grant award by Somerset County. Initiation will be established by the
receipt of a progress report demonstrating at least 10% of the project is
complete.
Emergency extensions of the 24-month time period may be granted at
the discretion of the County Planning Director. Such requests must be made
in writing and clearly outline the reasons for the requested extension.
Extensions of up to 6 months may be provided. Once a project is approved,
substantial changes in the nature of the approved project or deletions of
any scope of work item included in the original proposal shall require
approval by the County Planning Director.
This program is administered by the Somerset County Planning Board. For
grant application assistance, please contact Principal Community Planner
James Ruggieri at (908) 231-7021.
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