a. “Agricultural or horticultural purposes” or “agricultural or horticultural use” means any production of plants or animals useful to man, including but not limited to: forages or sod crops; grains and feed crops; dairy animals and dairy products; poultry and poultry products; livestock, including beef cattle, sheep, swine, horses, ponies, mules or goats, and including the breeding and grazing of any or all of such animals; bees and apiary products; fur animals; aquatic organisms as part of aquaculture; trees and forest products; fruits of all kinds, including grapes, nuts and berries; vegetables; nursery, floral, ornamental and greenhouse products; or any land devoted to and meeting the requirements and qualifications for payments or other compensation pursuant to a soil conservation program under an agency of the Federal Government;

b. “Application for development” means the application form and all accompanying documents required by municipal ordinance for approval of a subdivision plat, site plan, planned development, conditional use, zoning variance or other permit as provided in the “Municipal Land Use Law,” P.L.1975, c. 291 (C. 40:55D-1 et seq.), for any use, development or construction other than the improvement, expansion or reconstruction of any single-family dwelling unit or appurtenance thereto, or the improvement, expansion, construction or reconstruction of any structure used exclusively for agricultural or horticultural purposes;

c. “Commission” means the Pinelands Commission created by section 4 of this act;

d. “Comprehensive management plan” means the plan prepared and adopted by the commission pursuant to section 7 of this act;

e. “Council” means the Pinelands Municipal Council created by section 6.1 of this act;

f. “Federal Act” means section 502 of the “National Parks and Recreation Act of 1978” (Pub.L. 95-625);

g. “Major development” means any division or subdivision of land into five or more parcels; any construction or expansion of any housing development of five or more dwelling units; any construction or expansion of any commercial or industrial use or structure on a site of more than three acres; or any grading, clearing or disturbance of any area in excess of 5,000 square feet for other than agricultural or horticultural purposes;

h. “Pinelands area” means that area so designated by subsection a. of section 10 of this act;

i. “Pinelands National Reserve” means the approximately 1,000,000 acre area so designated by the Federal Act and generally depicted on the map entitled “Pinelands National Reserve Boundary Map” numbered NPS/80,011A and dated September, 1978;

j. “Preservation area” means that portion of the pinelands area so designated by subsection b. of section 10 of this act;

k. “Protection area” means that portion of the pinelands area not included within the preservation area;

l. “Aquaculture” means the propagation, rearing, and subsequent harvesting of aquatic organisms in controlled or selected environments, and the subsequent processing, packaging and marketing and shall include but need not be limited to, activities to intervene in the rearing process to increase production such as stocking, feeding, transplanting and providing for protection from predators. “Aquaculture” shall not include the construction of facilities and appurtenant structures that might otherwise be regulated pursuant to any other State or federal law or regulation;

m. “Aquatic organism ” means and includes, but need not be limited to, finfish, mollusks, crustaceans, and aquatic plants which are the property of a person engaged in aquaculture.

L.1979,c.111,s.3; amended 1997, c.236, s.35.