54:4-3.54a1 Findings, declarations relative to tax exemptions for certain historic site real property.

1. The Legislature finds and declares:

a. The decision of the New Jersey Supreme Court on May 30, 2007, in University Cottage Club of Princeton New Jersey Corp. v. New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the Borough of Princeton, 191 N.J. 38 (2007), which effectively granted to the University Cottage Club real property tax exempt status under the historic site real property tax exemption law, P.L.1962, c.92 (C.54:4-3.52 et seq.), and determined that revised requirements for an historic site real property tax exemption contained in a supplementary law to the 1962 historic site real property tax exemption law, approved by the Legislature and enacted as P.L.2004, c.183 (C.54:4-3.54a et seq.) on December 22, 2004, did not apply to the University Cottage Club, requires the Legislature to clarify its intent in approving that act.

b. The court's interpretation of intended effect of P.L.2004, c.183 is contrary to the intent of the Legislature and as a result, corrective legislation removing any question regarding the intent, scope and applicability of that act is necessary and appropriate.

c. The Legislature intended to preserve the tax exempt status of historic sites that had received tax exempt status from the Commissioner of Environmental Protection prior to enactment of the 2004 law because the owners of those properties relied upon the tax exemption, and municipalities had already removed those properties from their tax rolls. The Legislature intended to apply the standards set forth in P.L.2004, c.183 to historic sites that were not previously certified as tax exempt by the Commissioner of Environmental Protection.

d. It is also important to clarify and expand upon the Legislature's intent to require significant public access to any historic site determined to be eligible for an historic site real property tax exemption, and to require that the nonprofit corporation that owns the historic site must have a primary mission as an historical organization to research, preserve and interpret history and architectural history. It was the Legislature's intent in 2004, and remains the Legislature's intent today, that the granting of property tax exempt status to an historic site, which imposes an additional property tax burden on the residents of the taxing district in which the historic site is located, because the budgetary needs of the taxing district must be fulfilled regardless of the number of taxpaying properties located in the taxing district, must be contingent on the public's ability to regularly use and enjoy the historic site and also understand the history of the historic site through the research, preservation and interpretation of the history of the site, including the site's architectural history, prepared by its nonprofit corporate owner. It was not the intent of the Legislature in 2004, and it is not the intent of the Legislature today, that historic site real property tax exemptions be granted to private clubs and organizations that provide such minimal access and benefit to the public that financially support them that the access and benefit is of nominal or insignificant value to the public.

e. The Commissioner of Environmental Protection erred significantly in relying on informal standards rather than rules and regulations promulgated under the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), to award real property tax exemptions to historic sites; therefore, the Legislature is transferring all authority over the historic site real property tax exemption approval and certification process to the Director of the Division of Taxation in the Department of the Treasury, who has the expertise to administer this real property tax exemption along with the input and participation of municipal tax assessors.

f. It is important to preserve the integrity of the historic site real property tax exemption and so it is necessary and proper to amend the effective date of P.L.2004, c.183 to clarify that the 2004 act is applicable to properties designated as historic sites after July 1, 1999. Of the over 35,000 properties designated as historic sites in New Jersey, only two property owners, applied for real property historic site tax exempt status after July 1, 1999. In P.L.2004, c.183 the Legislature intended that the stricter public access requirements should apply to any historic site that had not been certified to be real property tax exempt prior to the effective date of the law, December 22, 2004.

L.2007, c.157, s.1.