New Jersey Land Use Law

The legislation, passed by the Senate and Assembly in March, would have allowed builders to essentially convert their developments as of right, as long as they substantially conform to the original development plans and agree to set aside a portion of the homes as affordable housing.

Mayors across the state lobbied against the legislation, arguing that it would result in an influx of families with children into their communities, which would in turn burden their school systems and increase property taxes.

In an effort to address the concerns of the mayors, Governor Corzine vetoed the legislation and represented that he would ultimately sign it if it were revised to include language that would give local land use boards the discretion to deny a conversion application if the converted development would result in substantial detriment to public interests and impair the intent of the town's zoning ordinance and master plan.

While the revisions proposed by Governor Corzine were aimed at placating the fear of municipalities, they will not in reality give local land use boards much discretion to deny conversion requests. Put otherwise, it would be difficult for a board to find that a converted development would be a substantial detriment to public interests and impair the intent of the zoning ordinance and master plan if it previously approved the same development plans. To do so would require boards to make the outlandish - and legally unsupported - determination that schoolchildren are a detriment to public interests.

It is anticipated that a revised bill will be considered by the Legislature in the next few months. In the meantime, it appears that municipal officials will continue to oppose any revised bill.