[HISTORY: Adopted by the City Council of the City of Atlantic
City as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Air pollution — See Ch. 71.
Beach protection and erosion control — See Ch. 92.
Flood damage prevention — See Ch. 132.
Hazardous materials — See Ch. 146.
Land use development — See Ch. 163.
Emergency shore protection — See Ch. 217.
Stormwater management — See Ch. 223.
[Adopted 7-10-2013 by Ord. No. 40-2013]
A.Â
Every Atlantic City resident has an equal right to a healthy and
safe environment. This requires that our air, water, land, and food
be of a sufficiently high standard that individuals and communities
can live healthy, fulfilling, and dignified lives. The duty to enhance,
protect and preserve Atlantic City's environment rests on the
shoulders of government, residents, citizen groups and businesses
alike.
B.Â
Historically, environmentally harmful activities have only been stopped
after they have manifested extreme environmental degradation or exposed
people to harm. In the case of PCBs, DDT, lead, and asbestos, for
instance, regulatory action took place only after disaster had struck.
The delay between first knowledge of harm and appropriate action to
deal with it can be measured in human lives cut short.
C.Â
Atlantic City is a leader in making choices based on the least environmentally
harmful alternatives, thereby challenging traditional assumptions
about risk management. The City will implement numerous ordinances
which will include the Integrated Pest Management Ordinance, the Resource
Efficient Building Ordinance, the Healthy Air Ordinance, the Resource
Conservation Ordinance, and the Environmentally Preferable Purchasing
Ordinance in order to obtain a precautionary approach to specific
City purchases and activities. Internationally, this model is called
the Precautionary Principle.
D.Â
As the City builds a framework for future legislation, the Precautionary
Principle approach will serve as a policy framework to develop and
implement laws for a healthier and more just Atlantic City. In this
way, the City will create and maintain a healthy, viable community
environment for current and future generations, and will become a
model of sustainability.
E.Â
Science and technology are creating new solutions to prevent or mitigate
environmental problems. However, science is also creating new compounds
and chemicals that are already finding their way into mother's
milk and causing other new problems. New legislation may be required
to address these situations, and the Precautionary Principle is intended
as a tool to help promote environmentally healthy alternatives while
weeding out the negative and often unintended consequences of new
technologies.
F.Â
A central element of the precautionary approach is the careful assessment
of available alternatives using the best available science. An alternatives
assessment examines a broad range of options in order to present the
public with the consequences of each approach. The process takes short-term
versus long-term effects or costs into consideration, and evaluates
and compares the adverse or potentially adverse effects of each option,
giving preference to those options with fewer potential hazards. This
process allows fundamental questions to be asked: "Is this potentially
hazardous activity necessary?" "What less hazardous options are available?"
and "How little damage is possible?"
G.Â
The alternatives assessment is also a public process because, locally
or internationally, the public bears the ecological and health consequences
of environmental decisions. A government's course of action is
necessarily enriched by broadly based public participation when a
full range of alternatives is considered based on input from diverse
individuals and groups. The public should be able to determine the
range of specific alternatives to be examined. For each alternative,
the public should consider both immediate and long-term consequences,
as well as possible impacts to the local economy.
H.Â
This form of open decisionmaking is in line with Atlantic City's
historic Sunshine Act,[1] which allows citizens to have full view of the legislative
process. One of the goals of the Precautionary Principle is to include
citizens as equal partners in decisions affecting their health and
environment.
[1]
Editor's Note: See N.J.S.A. 10:4-6 et seq.
I.Â
Atlantic City looks forward to the time when the City's power
is generated from renewable sources, when all our waste is recycled,
when our vehicles produce only potable water as emissions, when the
area is free from toxins, and the oceans are free from pollutants.
The Precautionary Principle provides a means to help us attain these
goals as we evaluate future laws and policies in such areas as transportation,
construction, land use, planning, water, energy, health care, recreation,
purchasing, and public expenditure.
J.Â
Transforming our society to realize these goals and achieving a society
living respectfully within the bounds of nature will take a behavioral
as well as technological revolution. The precautionary approach to
decisionmaking will help Atlantic City speed this process of change
by moving beyond finding cures for environmental ills to preventing
the ills before they can do harm.
The following shall constitute the City's Precautionary
Principle policy. All officers, boards, commissions, and departments
of the City shall implement the Precautionary Principle in conducting
the City's affairs: The Precautionary Principle requires a thorough
exploration and a careful analysis of a wide range of alternatives.
Based on the best available science, the Precautionary Principle requires
the selection of the alternative that presents the least potential
threat to human health and the City's natural systems. Public
participation and an open and transparent decisionmaking process are
critical to finding and selecting alternatives. Where threats of serious
or irreversible damage to people or nature exist, lack of full scientific
certainty about cause and effect shall not be viewed as sufficient
reason for the City to postpone cost-effective measures to prevent
the degradation of the environment or protect the health of its citizens.
Any gaps in scientific data uncovered by the examination of alternatives
will provide a guidepost for future research, but will not prevent
the City from taking protective action. As new scientific data become
available, the City will review its decisions and make adjustments
when warranted. Where there are reasonable grounds for concern, the
precautionary approach to decisionmaking is meant to help reduce harm
by triggering a process to select the least potential threat. The
key elements of the Precautionary Principle approach to decisionmaking
include:
A.Â
Anticipatory action: There is a duty to take anticipatory action
to prevent harm. Government, business, and community groups, as well
as the general public, share this responsibility.
B.Â
Right to know: The community has a right to know complete and accurate
information on potential human health and environmental impacts associated
with the selection of products, services, operations or plans. The
burden to supply this information lies with the proponent, not with
the general public.
C.Â
Alternatives assessment: An obligation exists to examine a full range
of alternatives and select the alternative with the least potential
impact on human health and the environment, including the alternative
of doing nothing.
D.Â
Full cost accounting: When evaluating potential alternatives, there
is a duty to consider all the reasonably foreseeable costs, including
raw materials, manufacturing, transportation, Precautionary Principle
Policy statement use, cleanup, eventual disposal, and health costs
even if such costs are not reflected in the initial price. Short-
and long-term benefits and time thresholds should be considered when
making decisions.
E.Â
Participatory decision process: Decisions applying the Precautionary
Principle must be transparent, participatory, and informed by the
best available science and other relevant information.
No later than three years from the effective date of this article,
and after a public hearing, the Department of Planning and Development
shall submit a report to the City Council on the effectiveness of
the Precautionary Principle policy.
The Business Administrator shall produce and maintain a list
of all City ordinances and resolutions which affect or relate to the
environment and shall post this list on the City website.
The City Council of the City of Atlantic City encourages all
City employees and officials to take the Precautionary Principle into
consideration and evaluate alternatives when taking actions that could
impact health and the environment, especially where those actions
could pose threats of serious harm or irreversible damage. This article
does not impose specific duties upon any City employee or official
to take specific actions. In adopting and undertaking the enforcement
of this article, the City of Atlantic City is assuming an undertaking
only to promote the general welfare. It is not assuming, nor is it
imposing on its officers and employees, an obligation for breach of
which it is liable in money damages to any person who claims that
such breach proximately caused injury nor may this article provide
any basis for any other judicial relief, including, but not limited
to, a writ of mandamus or an injunction. In adopting this article,
City Council does not intend to authorize or require the disclosure
to the public of any proprietary information protected under the laws
of the State of New Jersey.