Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 18, September 16, 2024
(a) The
Department shall submit the Project Priority Award List of recommended watershed
management grant projects developed under 7:15-6.2 to the Legislature for
consideration and approval.
(b) The
Department shall post a notice on the Department's Grants and Loans Webpage at
http://www.nj.gov/dep/grantandloanprograms/
of those projects recommended to the Legislature for approval in the Project
Priority Award List.
(c) For all
watershed management grant applications included on the Project Priority Award List
and approved by the Legislature, the Department shall transmit to the applicant for
execution a grant agreement specifying the terms and conditions of the grant,
including the scope of work, the approved budget, and the schedule for completion.
The applicant shall execute the grant agreement in the manner specified by the
Department and shall return the grant agreement to the Department within 60 days,
unless the applicant has requested and received from the Department an extension of
the 60-day period. If the grant agreement is not returned by the deadline, the
Department reserves the right to award the grant monies to the next highest ranked
eligible project.
(d) Funds under a
watershed management grant shall be released only after a grant agreement has been
executed by both the applicant and the Department.
(e) The budget in the grant agreement shall
specify the items eligible for funding under this subchapter, which may include, for
example:
1. Costs of materials, supplies, and
reproduction for reports, policy recommendations, draft ordinances, publications,
maps, diagrams, and other similar documents;
2. Project implementation costs, including costs
for travel, materials, tools, and disposal costs for debris;
3. Equipment purchases such as computers and
global position satellite units may be eligible for grant funding. However, upon
completion of the grant commitments, these purchases are subject to the Department's
procedures for the disposition of equipment purchased with State funds;
4. Contractual costs for services necessary to
implement the grant;
5. Costs of
acquisition of real property, including administrative costs, where such property
must be acquired as a site for the construction or implementation of nonstructural
stormwater management, nonpoint source pollution controls, or best management
practices, including but not limited to, real property to be used for buffers or to
protect aquifer recharge areas; and
6.
The acquisition of land, as a means of avoiding new pollutant inputs or water body
degradation, may be made eligible, if included in the notice of availability, but
shall have a lower priority for watershed management grants than implementation
projects that mitigate current stresses or prevent future stresses to water and
water-related resources in ways other than land acquisition.
(f) The following items are not eligible for
funding under this subchapter:
1. Building
construction or other kinds of real property improvements;
2. Bonus payments, charges for contingency
reserves, deficits, or overdrafts, costs of discounts not taken, and interest
expenses;
3. Costs of services,
materials, or equipment obtained under any other State or Federal grant or loan
program;
4. Costs of fund raising and
lobbying;
5. Work performed at the
direction of a county or municipal government which has not been awarded in
compliance with the Local Public Contracts Law, 40A:1-1 et seq.;
6. Costs associated with the compliance with
permit conditions or enforcement orders; and
7. Any additional item(s) specified by the
Department in the notice of availability and the grant agreement as not eligible for
funding.
