New Jersey would check local zoning before licensing vertical-flight facilities

Applicants must get a municipal official’s affidavit showing the facility has required local land-use approvals before the state issues, renews, extends, reinstates, or materially changes its license or certificate. This applies to covered facilities used for helicopters and other aircraft that take off or land vertically, including heliports, helipads, and vertiports. The affidavit cannot be waived. The state cannot issue or renew a license without it unless a court or other qualified tribunal reverses the municipality’s determination. A municipality’s annual certification cannot impose a new land-use restriction, and it cannot regulate matters reserved to federal aviation authority. The requirement applies to initial applications pending or filed when the act takes effect, later applications to change or transfer a license, and renewals filed on or after that date.

Renewal applicants must give the municipality information reasonably needed to check for unauthorized material changes, and facility owners or operators must keep records supporting that information. Covered facilities must report relevant activity and physical or ground-side changes, such as changes to landing areas, passenger activity, or charging facilities. Information may be used only to decide whether the facility had a material alteration; the process does not authorize local regulation of aircraft operations or flight paths. Knowingly providing materially false or misleading information can lead to license denial, suspension, or revocation. Owners and operators must keep the supporting records for at least five years.

Applicants must obtain additional local land-use approvals before a material alteration, and the state cannot issue or renew the facility’s license until those approvals are obtained. This applies when a covered facility’s actual or planned use materially changes the nature, scale, or intensity of the land use already approved. Material alterations can include expanding landing or terminal areas, changing from private use to public or commercial transportation, or substantially changing the facility’s ground-side activity. A lawfully existing nonconforming facility does not have to obtain approvals under this section unless its use has changed in a way that requires them. The additional approvals must be obtained before the material alteration is authorized.

When a municipality reports a material violation or unauthorized alteration, or the department finds a violation after a complaint, the commissioner must begin appropriate enforcement proceedings; the department may impose conditions, suspend, or revoke a license. The process concerns covered facilities operating under state licenses or certificates and alleged violations of local land-use approvals. A license holder must receive the notice and opportunity to be heard required by law and may show that the violation was fixed, approvals were obtained, or the municipality’s determination was reversed. Any person or municipality may file a written complaint, without proving a special personal injury. Complaints may be filed at any time during a license or certificate term.