21. When the governing body of any county or municipality shall determine that all or any part of a tract of land, with or without improvements, owned by the county or municipality, is not then needed for county or municipal purposes, as the case may be, said governing body, by resolution or ordinance, may authorize a private sale and conveyance of the same, or any part thereof without compliance with any other law governing disposal of lands by counties and municipalities, for a consideration, which may be nominal, and containing a limitation that such lands or buildings shall be used only for the purposes of such organization or association, and to render such services or to provide such facilities as may be agreed upon, and except as provided in subsection (n) of this section not for commercial business, trade or manufacture, and that, unless waived, released, modified, or subordinated pursuant to P.L.1943, c.33 (C. 40:60-51.2), if said lands or buildings are not used in accordance with said limitation, title thereto shall revert to the county or municipality without any entry or reentry made thereon on behalf of such county or municipality, to

(a) A duly incorporated volunteer fire company or board of fire commissioners or first aid and emergency or volunteer ambulance or rescue squad association of a municipality within the county, in the case of a county, or of the municipality, in the case of a municipality, for the construction thereon of a firehouse or fire school or a first aid and emergency or volunteer ambulance or rescue squad building or for the use of any existing building for any or all of said purposes and any such land or building sold to any duly incorporated volunteer fire company may be leased by such fire company to any volunteer firemen’s association for the use thereof for fire school purposes for the benefit of the members of such association, or

(b) Any nationally chartered organization or association of veterans of any war, in which the United States has or shall have been engaged, by a conveyance for consideration, a part of which may be an agreement by the organization or association to render service or to provide facilities for the general public of the county or municipality, of a kind which the county or municipality may furnish to its citizens and to the general public, or

(c) A duly incorporated nonprofit hospital association for the construction or maintenance thereon of a general hospital, or

(d) Any veteran with paraplegia, that is to say, any officer, soldier, sailor, marine, nurse or other person, regularly enlisted or inducted, who was or shall have been in the active military or naval forces of the United States in any war in which the United States was engaged, including any member of the American Merchant Marine during World War II who is declared by the United States Department of Defense to be eligible for federal veterans’ benefits, and who, at the time the veteran was commissioned, enlisted, inducted, appointed or mustered into such military or naval service, was a resident of and who continues to reside in this State, and who has paraplegia and permanent paralysis of both legs or the lower parts of the body resulting from injuries sustained through enemy action or accident while in such active military or naval service, for the construction of a home to domicile the veteran, or to any organization or association of veterans, for the construction of a home or homes to domicile veterans with paraplegia, with powers to convey said lands and premises to the veteran or veterans with paraplegia on whose behalf said organization or association shall acquire title to said land, or

(e) Any duly incorporated nonprofit association or any regional commission or authority composed of one or more municipalities or one or more counties for the construction or maintenance thereon of an animal shelter, or

(f) Any duly incorporated nonprofit historical society for the acquisition of publicly owned historic sites for their restoration, preservation, improvement, and utilization for the benefit of the general public, or

(g) Any duly incorporated nonprofit cemetery organization or association serving the residents of the municipality or county, or

(h) Any duly incorporated nonprofit organization for the principal purpose of the education or treatment of persons with developmental disabilities including cerebral palsy, or

(i) Any county or municipal sewerage authority serving the residents of the county or municipality, for the use thereof for sewerage authority purposes, or

(j) Any duly incorporated nonprofit organization for the purpose of building or rehabilitating residential property for resale. Any profits from the resale of the property shall be applied by the nonprofit organization to the costs of acquiring and rehabilitating other residential property in need of rehabilitation owned by the county or municipality, or

(k) Any duly incorporated nonprofit organization or association, other than a political, partisan, sectarian, denominational, or religious organization or association, which includes among its principal purposes the provision of educational, gardening, recreational, medical, or social services to the general public, including residents of the county or municipality, or

(l) Any duly incorporated urban renewal corporation organized pursuant to P.L.1991, c.431 (C. 40A:20-1 et seq.) for the purpose of constructing housing for low or moderate income persons or families or persons with disabilities, or

(m) Any duly incorporated nonprofit hospice organization whose principal purpose is to provide hospice services to persons with terminal illnesses, or

(n) Any duly incorporated nonprofit organization or association for the cultivation and sale of fresh fruits and vegetables on a tract of land of less than five acres within a municipality, provided that the nonprofit organization or association is not controlled, directly or indirectly, by any agricultural, commercial, or other business. The nonprofit organization or association shall be authorized to sell fresh fruits and vegetables either on the land that was conveyed, off that land, or both, provided, that the sales are related and incidental to the non-profit purposes of the organization or association and the net proceeds received by the nonprofit organization or association are used to further the non-profit purposes of the organization or association.

Whenever a sale of property is proposed pursuant to subsection (k), for gardening, or subsection (n) of this section, the county or municipality shall comply with all notice requirements for an application for development under section 7.1 of P.L.1975, c.291 (C. 40:55D-12).

The provisions of this section shall not be deemed to restrict land banking agreements undertaken pursuant to P.L.2019, c.159 (C. 40A:12A-74 et al.).

L.1971, c.199, s.21; amended 1973, c.343; 1974, c.175; 1977, c.87; 1979, c.305; 1981, c.440, s.1; 1985, c.412; 1987, c.84; 1987, c.212, s.1; 1991, c.389, s.25; 1995, c.88; 2005, c.52, s.2; 2011, c.35, s.3; 2011, c.171, s.3; 2017, c.131, s.175; 2019, c.159, s.18.