3. As used in the provisions of P.L.1974, c.80 (C. 34:1B-1 et seq.), P.L.1979, c.303 (C. 34:1B-5.1 et seq.), sections 50 through 54 of P.L.2000, c.72 (C. 34:1B-5.5 through 34:1B-5.9), P.L.1981, c.505 (C. 34:1B-7.1 et seq.), P.L.1986, c.127 (C. 34:1B-7.7 et seq.), P.L.1992, c.16 (C. 34:1B-7.10 et al.), section 6 of P.L.2001, c.401 (C. 34:1B-4.1), and P.L.2007, c.137 (C. 52:18A-235 et al.), unless a different meaning clearly appears from the context:

“Authority” means the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, created by section 4 of P.L.1974, c.80 (C. 34:1B-4).

“Bonds” means bonds or other obligations issued by the authority pursuant to P.L.1974, c.80 (C. 34:1B-1 et seq.), “Economic Recovery Bonds or Notes” issued pursuant to P.L.1992, c.16 (C. 34:1B-7.10 et al.), or bonds, notes, other obligations and refunding bonds issued by the authority pursuant to P.L.2000, c.72 (C. 18A:7G-1 et al.) and P.L.2007, c.137 (C. 52:18A-235 et al.).

“Cost” means the cost of the acquisition, construction, reconstruction, repair, alteration, improvement and extension of any building, structure, facility including water transmission facilities, or other improvement; the cost of machinery and equipment; the cost of acquisition, construction, reconstruction, repair, alteration, improvement and extension of energy saving improvements or pollution control devices, equipment or facilities; the cost of lands, rights-in-lands, easements, privileges, agreements, franchises, utility extensions, disposal facilities, access roads and site development deemed by the authority to be necessary or useful and convenient for any project or school facilities project or in connection therewith; discount on bonds; cost of issuance of bonds; engineering and inspection costs; costs of financial, legal, professional and other estimates and advice; organization, administrative, insurance, operating and other expenses of the authority or any person prior to and during any acquisition or construction, and all such expenses as may be necessary or incident to the financing, acquisition, construction or completion of any project or school facilities project or part thereof, and also such provision for reserves for payment or security of principal of or interest on bonds during or after such acquisition or construction as the authority may determine.

“County” means any county of any class.

“County solid waste facility” means a solid waste facility that is designated by a public authority or county in its adopted district solid waste management plan as approved by the department prior to November 10, 1997 as the in-county facility to which solid waste generated within the boundaries of the county is transported for final disposal, or transfer for transportation to an offsite solid waste facility or designated out-of-district disposal site for disposal, as appropriate, pursuant to interdistrict or intradistrict waste flow orders issued by the department, regardless of whether the county solid waste facility was acquired, constructed, operated, abandoned or canceled.

“Department” means the Department of Environmental Protection.

“Development property” means any real or personal property, interest therein, improvements thereon, appurtenances thereto and air or other rights in connection therewith, including land, buildings, plants, structures, systems, works, machinery and equipment acquired or to be acquired by purchase, gift or otherwise by the authority within an urban growth zone.

“Person” means any person, including individuals, firms, partnerships, associations, societies, trusts, public or private corporations, or other legal entities, including public or governmental bodies, as well as natural persons. “Person” shall include the plural as well as the singular.

“Pollution control project” means any device, equipment, improvement, structure or facility, or any land and any building, structure, facility or other improvement thereon, or any combination thereof, whether or not in existence or under construction, or the refinancing thereof in order to facilitate improvements or additions thereto or upgrading thereof, and all real and personal property deemed necessary thereto, having to do with or the end purpose of which is the control, abatement or prevention of land, sewer, water, air, noise or general environmental pollution, including, but not limited to, any air pollution control facility, noise abatement facility, water management facility, thermal pollution control facility, radiation contamination control facility, wastewater collection system, wastewater treatment works, sewage treatment works system, sewage treatment system or solid waste facility or site; provided that the authority shall have received from the Commissioner of the State Department of Environmental Protection or the commissioner’s duly authorized representative a certificate stating the opinion that, based upon information, facts and circumstances available to the State Department of Environmental Protection and any other pertinent data, (1) the pollution control facilities do not conflict with, overlap or duplicate any other planned or existing pollution control facilities undertaken or planned by another public agency or authority within any political subdivision, and (2) the facilities, as designed, will be a pollution control project as defined in the provisions of P.L.1974, c.80 (C. 34:1B-1 et seq.) and are in furtherance of the purpose of abating or controlling pollution.

“Project” means: (1) (a) acquisition, construction, reconstruction, repair, alteration, improvement and extension of any building, structure, facility, including water transmission facilities or other improvement, whether or not in existence or under construction, (b) purchase and installation of equipment and machinery, (c) acquisition and improvement of real estate and the extension or provision of utilities, access roads and other appurtenant facilities; and (2) (a) the acquisition, financing, or refinancing of inventory, raw materials, supplies, work in process, or stock in trade, or (b) the financing, refinancing or consolidation of secured or unsecured debt, borrowings, or obligations, or (c) the provision of financing for any other expense incurred in the ordinary course of business; all of which are to be used or occupied by any person in any enterprise promoting employment, either for the manufacturing, processing or assembly of materials or products, or for research or office purposes, including, but not limited to, medical and other professional facilities, or for industrial, recreational, hotel or motel facilities, public utility and warehousing, or for commercial and service purposes, including, but not limited to, retail outlets, retail shopping centers, restaurant and retail food outlets, and any and all other employment promoting enterprises, including, but not limited to, motion picture and television studios and facilities and commercial fishing facilities, commercial facilities for recreational fishermen, fishing vessels, aquaculture facilities and marketing facilities for fish and fish products and (d) acquisition of an equity interest in, including capital stock of, any corporation; or any combination of the above, which the authority determines will: (i) tend to maintain or provide gainful employment opportunities within and for the people of the State, or (ii) aid, assist and encourage the economic development or redevelopment of any political subdivision of the State, or (iii) maintain or increase the tax base of the State or of any political subdivision of the State, or (iv) maintain or diversify and expand employment promoting enterprises within the State; and (3) the cost of acquisition, construction, reconstruction, repair, alteration, improvement and extension of an energy saving improvement or pollution control project which the authority determines will tend to reduce the consumption in a building devoted to industrial or commercial purposes, or in an office building, of nonrenewable sources of energy or to reduce, abate or prevent environmental pollution within the State; and (4) the acquisition, construction, reconstruction, repair, alteration, improvement, extension, development, financing or refinancing of infrastructure, including parking facilities or structures, and transportation facilities or improvements related to economic development and of cultural, recreational and tourism facilities or improvements related to economic development and of capital facilities for primary and secondary schools and of mixed use projects consisting of housing and commercial development; and (5) the establishment, acquisition, construction, rehabilitation, improvement, and ownership of port facilities as defined in section 3 of P.L.1997, c.150 (C. 34:1B-146). Project may also include: (i) reimbursement to any person for costs in connection with any project, or the refinancing of any project or portion thereof, if determined by the authority as necessary and in the public interest to maintain employment and the tax base of any political subdivision and will facilitate improvements thereto or the completion thereof, and (ii) development property and any construction, reconstruction, improvement, alteration, equipment or maintenance or repair, or planning and designing in connection therewith. For the purpose of carrying out mixed use projects consisting of both housing and commercial development, the authority may enter into agreements with the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency for loan guarantees for any such project in accordance with the provisions of P.L.1995, c.359 (C. 55:14K-64 et al.), and for that purpose shall allocate to the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency, under such agreements, funding available pursuant to subsection a. of section 4 of P.L.1992, c.16 (C. 34:1B-7.13). Project shall not include a school facilities project.

“Public authority” means a municipal or county utilities authority created pursuant to the “municipal and county utilities authorities law,” P.L.1957, c.183 (C. 40:14B-1 et seq.); a county improvement authority created pursuant to the “county improvement authorities law,” P.L.1960, c.183 (C. 40:37A-44 et seq.); or a pollution control financing authority created pursuant to the “New Jersey Pollution Control Financing Law,” P.L.1973, c.376 (C. 40:37C-1 et seq.) that has issued solid waste facility bonds or that has been designated by the county pursuant to section 12 of P.L.1975, c.326 (C. 13:1E-21) to supervise the implementation of the district solid waste management plan.

“Revenues” means receipts, fees, rentals or other payments to be received on account of lease, mortgage, conditional sale, or sale, and payments and any other income derived from the lease, sale or other disposition of a project, moneys in such reserve and insurance funds or accounts or other funds and accounts, and income from the investment thereof, established in connection with the issuance of bonds or notes for a project or projects, and fees, charges or other moneys to be received by the authority in respect of projects or school facilities projects and contracts with persons.

“Resolution” means any resolution adopted or trust agreement executed by the authority, pursuant to which bonds of the authority are authorized to be issued.

“Solid waste” means garbage, refuse, and other discarded materials resulting from industrial, commercial and agricultural operations, and from domestic and community activities, and shall include all other waste materials including liquids, except for source separated recyclable materials or source separated food waste collected by livestock producers approved by the State Department of Agriculture to collect, prepare and feed such wastes to livestock on their own farms.

“Solid waste disposal” means the storage, treatment, utilization, processing, or final disposal of solid waste.

“Solid waste facility bonds” means the bonds, notes or other evidences of financial indebtedness issued by, or on behalf of, any public authority or county related to the planning, design, acquisition, construction, renovation, installation, operation or management of a county solid waste facility.

“Solid waste facilities” means, and includes, the plants, structures and other real and personal property acquired, constructed or operated by, or on behalf of, any county or public authority pursuant to the provisions of the “Solid Waste Management Act,” P.L.1970, c.39 (C. 13:1E-1 et seq.) or any other act, including transfer stations, incinerators, resource recovery facilities, including co-composting facilities, sanitary landfill facilities or other plants for the disposal of solid waste, and all vehicles, equipment and other real and personal property and rights therein and appurtenances necessary or useful and convenient for the collection or disposal of solid waste in a sanitary manner.

“Energy saving improvement” means the construction, purchase and installation in a building devoted to industrial or commercial purposes of any of the following, designed to reduce the amount of energy from nonrenewable sources needed for heating and cooling that building: insulation, replacement burners, replacement high efficiency heating and air conditioning units, including modular boilers and furnaces, water heaters, central air conditioners with or without heat recovery to make hot water for industrial or commercial purposes or in office buildings, and any solar heating or cooling system improvement, including any system which captures solar radiation to heat a fluid which passes over or through the collector element of that system and then transfers that fluid to a point within the system where the heat is withdrawn from the fluid for direct usage or storage. These systems shall include, but not necessarily be limited to, systems incorporating flat plate, evacuated tube or focusing solar collectors. The foregoing list shall not be construed to be exhaustive, and shall not serve to exclude other improvements consistent with the legislative intent of the provisions of P.L.1983, c.282.

“Urban growth zone” means any area within a municipality receiving State aid pursuant to the provisions of P.L.1978, c.14 (C. 52:27D-178 et seq.) or a municipality certified by the Commissioner of Community Affairs to qualify under such law in every respect except population, which area has been so designated pursuant to an ordinance of the governing body of such municipality.

“District” means a local or regional school district established pursuant to chapter 8 or chapter 13 of Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes, a county special services school district established pursuant to article 8 of chapter 46 of Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes, a county vocational school district established pursuant to article 3 of chapter 54 of Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes, and a school district under full State intervention pursuant to P.L.1987, c.399 (C. 18A:7A-34 et al.).

“Local unit” means a county, municipality, board of education or any other political entity authorized to construct, operate and maintain a school facilities project and to borrow money for those purposes pursuant to law.

“Other facilities” means athletic stadiums, swimming pools, any associated structures or related equipment tied to such facilities including, but not limited to, grandstands and night field lights, greenhouses, facilities used for non-instructional or non-educational purposes, and any structure, building, or facility used solely for school administration.

“Refunding bonds” means bonds, notes or other obligations issued to refinance bonds previously issued by the authority pursuant to P.L.1974, c.80 (C. 34:1B-1 et seq.), P.L.2000, c.72 (C. 18A:7G-1 et al.) and P.L.2007, c.137 (C. 52:18A-235 et al.).

“School facilities project” means the planning, acquisition, demolition, construction, improvement, alteration, modernization, renovation, reconstruction or capital maintenance of all or any part of a school facility or of any other personal property necessary for, or ancillary to, any school facility, and shall include fixtures, furnishings and equipment, and shall also include, but is not limited to, site acquisition, site development, the services of design professionals, such as engineers and architects, construction management, legal services, financing costs and administrative costs and expenses incurred in connection with the project.

“School facility” means and includes any structure, building or facility used wholly or in part for educational purposes by a district and facilities that physically support such structures, buildings, and facilities such as district wastewater treatment facilities, power generating facilities, and steam generating facilities, but shall exclude other facilities.

L.1974, c.80, s.3; amended 1975, c.32, s.2; 1975, c.253, s.2; 1977, c.43; 1977, c.393, s.2; 1978, c.20, s.1; 1979, c.199, s.11; 1983, c.282, s.2; 1992, c.16, s.11; 1995, c.359, s.8; 1997, c.150, s.22; 2000, c.72, s.44; 2001, c.401, s.1; 2007, c.137, s.52; 2009, c.57, s.1.