58:10B-7 Awarding of financial assistance, grants, priorities.

29. a. A qualified applicant for financial assistance or a grant from the remediation fund shall be awarded financial assistance or a grant by the authority upon the availability of sufficient moneys in the remediation fund for the purpose of the financial assistance or grant. The authority shall award financial assistance and grants in the following order of priority:

(1) Sites on which there has been a discharge and the discharge poses an imminent and significant threat to a drinking water source, to human health, or to a sensitive or significant ecological area shall be given first priority;

(2) (Deleted by amendment, P.L.2017, c.353)

(3) Sites that are owned by a municipality in a brownfield development area shall be given second priority; and

(4) Sites in areas designated as Planning Area 1 (Metropolitan) and Planning Area 2 (Suburban) pursuant to the "State Planning Act," P.L.1985, c.398 (C.52:18A-196 et seq.), shall be given third priority.

The priority ranking of applicants within any priority category enumerated in this section for awarding financial assistance and grants from the remediation fund shall be based upon the date of receipt by the authority of an application from the applicant and on readiness to proceed with remediation as determined by the department and the authority. If an application is determined to be incomplete by the authority, an applicant shall have 30 days from receipt of written notice of incompleteness to file any additional information as may be required by the authority for a completed application. If an applicant fails to file the additional information within those 30 days, the filing date for that application for financial assistance or a grant for a site that is not within a priority category enumerated in this section, shall be the date that the additional information is received by the authority. An application shall be deemed complete when all the information required by the authority has been received in the required form.

b. Within 90 days, for a private entity, or 180 days for a municipality, county, or a redevelopment entity authorized to exercise redevelopment powers pursuant to section 4 of P.L.1992, c.79 (C.40A:12A-4), of notice of approval of a financial assistance or grant application, an applicant shall submit to the authority an executed contract for the remediation activities for which the financial assistance or grant application was made. The contract shall be consistent with the terms and conditions for which the financial assistance or grant was rendered. Failure to submit an executed contract within the time provided, without good cause, shall constitute grounds for the alteration of an applicant's priority ranking for the awarding of financial assistance or a grant.

L.1993, c.139, s.29; amended 1996, c.62, s.66; 2005, c.223, s.5; 2017, c.353, s.3.