3. As used in this act, the following words and terms shall have the following meanings, unless the context indicates or requires another or different meaning or intent:

(a) “Commission” means the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission created by this act or any board, body, commission, department or officer succeeding to the principal functions thereof or to whom the powers and duties conferred upon the commission by this act shall be given by law;

(b) “Bonds” means any bonds, notes, interim certificates, debentures, or other obligations, issued by the commission pursuant to this act;

(c) “Claimant” means a person holding or occupying riparian lands within meadowlands under color of title;

(d) “School fund” means the fund for the support of free public schools, as provided by the New Jersey Constitution, Article VIII, Section IV;

(e) “Riparian lands” are those lands now, formerly or hereafter flowed by mean high tide, except where such tidal flow is caused by artificially produced changes in land or water elevation;

(f) “Person” means and shall include all individuals, partnerships, associations, private or municipal corporations and all political subdivisions of the State;

(g) “Owner” means and shall include all persons having any title or interest in any property, rights, easements and interests authorized to be acquired, assessed or regulated by this act;

(h) “Constituent municipality” means a municipality with lands in the district;

(i) “District” means the Hackensack Meadowlands District, the area within the jurisdiction of the commission described in section 4 of this act;

(j) “Hackensack meadowlands” means all those meadowlands lying within the municipalities of Carlstadt, East Rutherford, Little Ferry, Lyndhurst, Moonachie, North Arlington, Ridgefield, Rutherford, South Hackensack and Teterboro all in Bergen county; and Jersey City, Kearny, North Bergen and Secaucus, all in Hudson county;

(k) “Master plan” means the comprehensive plan for the district prepared and adopted in accordance with article 5 of this act;

(l) “Renewal area” means an area designated by the commission pursuant to article 5 of this act whose redevelopment is necessary to effectuate the public purposes declared in this act. A renewal area may contain lands, buildings or improvements which of themselves are not detrimental to the public health, safety or welfare, but whose inclusion is found necessary, with or without change in their condition, for the effective redevelopment of the area of which they are a part;

(m) “Project area” means all or a portion of a renewal area;

(n) “Project” means any plan, work or undertaking by the commission or by a redeveloper under contract to the commission, pursuant to the master plan or a redevelopment plan. Such undertaking may include the reclamation and improvement of meadowlands, any buildings, land (including demolition, clearance or removal of buildings from land), equipment, facilities, or other real or personal properties, which are necessary, convenient or desirable appurtenances, including but not limited to, streets, water systems, sewer systems, utilities, parks, site preparation, landscaping, and administrative, community, health, recreational, educational and welfare facilities, and buildings and structures in renewal areas for industrial, commercial or residential use;

(o) “Redeveloper” means any person, firm, corporation or public or private agency that shall enter into or propose to enter into a contract with the commission for the reclamation, development, redevelopment or improvement of an area or any part thereof under the provisions of this act, or for the construction of any project pursuant to the master plan or redevelopment plan;

(p) “Improvement” means (1) the laying out, opening, construction, widening, straightening, enlargement, extension, alteration, changing of location, grading, paving or otherwise improving, a street, alley or public highway; (2) curbing or guttering of a sidewalk along a street, alley or highway; (3) construction and improvement of bridges and viaducts; (4) construction, enlargement or extension of a sewer or drain or of a sewerage or drainage system including, but not limited to, such systems under streets, alleys, or public highways or systems for drainage of marshes and wet lowlands; or works for the sanitary disposal of sewerage or drainage; (5) the installation of service connections to water, and other utility works including the laying, construction, or placing of mains, conduits, or cables under or along a street, alley or highway; (6) the construction, enlargement, or extension of water mains or water distribution works; (7) the construction, enlargement, or extension of sanitary landfills or incinerators or other facilities for the disposal of solid wastes; (8) the installation of lighting standards, appliances and appurtenances required for the illumination of streets; (9) widening, deepening, or improvement of, the removal of obstructions in, and the construction, enlargement and extension of any waterway, or of enclosing walls, or of a pipe or conduit along a water course; (10) the reclaiming, filling and improving and bulkheading lands under tidal or other water and lands adjacent to such reclaimed or filled lands, and the dredging of channels and improvement of harbor approaches in waters abounding the lands to be reclaimed, filled and improved, or bulkheaded and filled; (11) the development and improvement of parks and recreational facilities; and (12) the construction of buildings and other structures;

(q) “Redevelopment” means a program for renewal through reclamation, clearance, replanning, development and redevelopment; the rehabilitation of any improvements; conservation or rehabilitation work; the construction and provision for construction of projects; and the grant or dedication of spaces as may be appropriate or necessary in the interest of the general welfare for such projects or other public purposes incidental or appurtenant thereto, in accordance with the master plan or any part thereof, or a redevelopment plan;

(r) “Redevelopment plan” means a plan as it exists from time to time for a redevelopment project or projects in all or any part of the district, which plan shall conform to the master plan and shall be sufficiently complete to indicate such land acquisition, demolition and removal of structures, improvements, conservation or rehabilitation work as may be proposed to be carried out in the area of the project, existing and proposed land uses, building requirements, maximum densities, zoning and planning changes, if any, public transportation and utilities, recreational and community facilities and other public improvements, and to indicate the relationship of the plan to definite regional objectives;

(s) “Site plan” means a plan for an existing lot or plot or a subdivided lot on which is shown topography, location of all existing or proposed buildings, structures, drainage facilities, roads, rights-of-way, easements, parking areas, together with any other information, and at such a scale as may be required by a commission site plan review and approval resolution;

(t) “Subdivision” means the division of a lot, tract or parcel of land into two or more lots, sites or other divisions of land for the purpose, whether immediate or future, of sale or building development except that the following divisions shall not be considered subdivisions within the meaning of this act; provided, however, that no new streets or roads are involved; divisions of land for agricultural purposes where the resulting parcels are three acres or larger in size, divisions of property by testamentary or intestate provisions, or divisions of property pursuant to court order;

(u) “Cost,” in addition to the usual meanings thereof, means the cost of acquisition or construction of all or any part of an improvement and of all or any property, rights, easements, privileges, agreements and franchises deemed by the commission to be necessary or useful and convenient therefor or in connection therewith, including interest or discount on bonds, cost of issuance of bonds; engineering and inspection costs and legal expenses; cost of financial, professional and other estimates and advice; organization, administration, operation and other expenses of the commission prior to and during such acquisition or construction; and all such other expenses as may be necessary or incident to the financing, acquisition, construction and completion of said improvement or part thereof and the placing of same in operation; and also such provision or reserves for working capital, operating or maintenance or replacement expenses, or for payment or security of principal of or interest on bonds during or after such acquisition or construction; and also reimbursements to the commission or any county, municipality or other person of any moneys theretofore expended for the purpose of the commission or in connection with such improvements;

(v) “Special assessment” means an assessment for benefits accruing from the construction of improvements by or at the direction of the commission;

(w) “Committee” means the Hackensack Meadowlands Municipal Committee established pursuant to article 4 of this act;

(x) “Solid waste” shall mean any refuse matter, trash or garbage from residences, hotels, apartments or any other public or private building, but shall not include water-carried wastes or the kinds of wastes usually collected, carried away and disposed of by a sewerage system;

(y) “Solid waste disposal facilities” shall mean the plants, structures and other real and personal property acquired, constructed or operated, or to be acquired, constructed or operated by the commission, as hereinafter provided, including incinerators, sanitary landfills or other plants or facilities for the treatment and disposal of solid waste.

L.1968,c.404,s.3; amended 2001, c.232, s.1.