ADU rules in Allenhurst

Allenhurst's Development Regulations (Chapter 26) contain no accessory dwelling unit provision. In both residential districts 'No building shall be used for other than a one (1) family dwelling house with attached or detached garage' (§§ 26-4.2, 26-4.3a), an accessory building is by definition one 'not used for occupancy for residential or commercial purposes' (§ 26-2.1), private garages may not hold cooking facilities (§ 26-4.4g5), other accessory structures are capped at 5 ft and 40 sq ft (§ 26-5.13), and § 26-4.1g prohibits every use not expressly permitted. The Borough Attorney told the Board of Commissioners on 9-22-2026 that the R-1 zone has been limited to single-family properties since 1984 and that garage apartments are prohibited, and when the Planning Board allowed bedrooms in a detached garage at 309 Spier Avenue in June 2026 it found the space needed a variance and required a deed restriction to relatives of the owner, no rent and no kitchen. A backyard cottage or garage apartment with a kitchen can therefore only be reached through a d(1) use variance.

No district permits a second unit inside or attached to a house, and none permits a two-family dwelling. R-1 and R-2 allow only a one-family dwelling house (R-2's only conditional use is houses of worship), the C-1 to C-3, B-1 and B-2 districts list shops, offices and similar uses but no dwellings, and multi-family housing is allowed only on the listed lots of the Main Street Commercial District Inclusionary Overlay (§ 26-4.10). A detached dwelling is one 'occupied or intended to be occupied for residence purposes by one (1) housekeeping unit' and a family is 'a single, bonafide, nonprofit housekeeping unit' (§ 26-2.1), so a basement, attic or addition apartment would create a second unit that no district lists, which § 26-4.1g prohibits. Finished basements and attics count as 'livable space' treated as bedrooms for egress (§ 26-2.1, Ord. No. 2021-04), and the borough's rental certificate of occupancy application warns that each adult may have to certify membership in 'the bona-fide single family unit which will occupy the premises.'

Chapter 26 recognizes no ADU, so it sets no accessory-unit size cap. A garage must measure at least 12 by 20 ft outside with an 11 by 19 ft clear interior and a door no wider than 10 ft (§ 26-4.4g4), garage area counts against 35% of the required rear yard, which must itself be at least 20% of the lot depth (§ 26-4.4e, g3), and no accessory structure may stand in a front yard or accessory building in the side yard of a corner lot (§§ 26-5.13, 26-4.4f). Building coverage applies to the principal building only (§ 26-4.4i), but the definition of building coverage also counts 'any detached garage with living space,' and livable space in a cellar or attic is not habitable floor area (§ 26-2.1, Ord. No. 2021-04). In R-2, lots of 4,000 to 4,999 sq ft get 1,800 sq ft of habitable floor area and lots of 5,000 sq ft or more 2,250 sq ft, each plus 42 sq ft per additional 100 sq ft of lot (§ 26-4.3b, Ord. No. 2021-04); R-1 sets only minimum house sizes. No dwelling may have habitable floor area on more than three stories (§ 26-4.4a).

Allenhurst authorizes no ADU, so there is no accessory-unit owner-occupancy rule, and nothing in Chapter 26 conditions a house on the owner living there. The nearest rules are the definition of a family as a housekeeping unit living together 'as a stable and permanent living unit' (§ 26-2.1) and the Planning Board's 2026 conditions on garage living space: at 309 Spier Avenue the deed restriction limits the space to 'relatives of the owner' with no rent and no kitchen (Resolution No. 7-29-2026 (1), condition 14), and at 13 Corlies Avenue the owner agreed the new garage loft would never be used or rented as living space (Resolution No. 6-17-2026 (3)). Rental licenses require the owner to certify that each adult tenant 'maintains a permanent residence elsewhere' (§ 9-4.1d), a seasonal-rental test rather than an owner-occupancy rule.

§ 26-4.4k requires each residential dwelling to 'accommodate on-site parking within a driveway' and excludes the stretch between the street and the front of the house from the count; every newly built or rebuilt dwelling also needs a completely enclosed private garage, detached within the borough-wide Historic District (§ 26-4.4g1), and every driveway must run directly to a garage, 9 to 10 ft wide, with common driveways prohibited (§ 26-5.4, amended 3-8-2022 by Ord. No. 2022-04). The section ends: 'In the event of any conflict between the Allenhurst Land Use and Development Ordinance and the Residential Site Improvement Standards ("RSIS"), the provision of RSIS shall control the off-street parking requirements for residential dwellings within the municipality.' RSIS Table 4.4 sets 'the maximum number of parking spaces planning boards and other local reviewers shall require' (N.J.A.C. 5:21-4.14(c)): 1.5 spaces for a two-bedroom single-family detached house, 2.0 for three, 2.5 for four and 3.0 for five, and a one-car garage with an 18 ft driveway counts as 2.0 spaces (5:21-4.14(d)). The local table therefore exceeds the state maximum for two- and four-bedroom houses, where RSIS governs by the code's own terms; multi-family units in the Main Street overlay need 1.5 spaces each (§ 26-4.10h).

No district lists an accessory dwelling, a two-family dwelling or any second unit as a permitted or conditional use (the only residential conditional use is houses of worship in R-2, § 26-4.3a1), so a second unit is 'a use or principal structure in a district restricted against such use,' which only a d(1) use variance can allow, 'granted only by affirmative vote of at least five members' (§ 25-3.9d, N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70(d)). The nine-member Planning Board exercises every Zoning Board of Adjustment power (§§ 25-3.1, 25-3.10), but the Mayor (Class I) and the Commissioner member (Class III) may not take part in d relief (§ 25-3.8k). Every application starts with the Zoning Officer's zoning permit and impervious coverage determination (the borough's application form promises a decision within ten business days of a complete application), and because the Historic District is coterminous with the borough (§ 26-11.3), any addition, new construction or exterior change also needs a Planning Board Certificate of Appropriateness (§ 26-11.8). Ord. No. 2026-02 (adopted 2-3-2026, not yet codified) sets a use variance at a $500 application fee plus a $2,000 escrow, the same as a Certificate of Appropriateness, and a variance lapses unless work starts within one year of the published decision (§ 25-3.19).

§ 9-8.2 makes it unlawful to take consideration for 'soliciting, advertising, offering, and/or permitting, allowing, or failing to discontinue the use or occupancy of any Dwelling Unit ... for a period of less than thirty (30) days,' while rentals of 30 days or more remain lawful (§ 9-8.2b) and only non-paying guests of the owner's housekeeping unit are exempt (§ 9-8.3); each day of violation is a separate offense with fines up to $2,500 (§ 9-8.4). Under the borough's amendments to the International Property Maintenance Code (Section 307 in § 9-3.3), no dwelling unit may be sold, rented or leased without a certificate of occupancy from the Code Official, granted or denied within ten days, at $125 per house or $100 per apartment plus a base $35 smoke and carbon monoxide detector inspection fee and $35 to $125 more depending on how far ahead the request is made; the borough's application covers summer, winter and yearly rentals. Rental licenses state a maximum occupancy, with a $265 first-violation fine for each tenant when it is exceeded (§§ 9-4.1, 9-4.2), landlords whose seasonal tenants draw two disorderly-conduct convictions within 12 months can be ordered to post a $500 to $5,000 'Animal House' bond for two to four years (§ 9-5.2), and every rental dwelling must be registered and inspected for lead-based paint at tenant turnover or every three years (§ 19-2.4, Ord. No. 2025-25). The Borough Attorney told the Board of Commissioners on 6-23-2026 that the current ordinance prohibits garage rentals and on 9-22-2026 that a garage rented before 1984 could be a grandfathered nonconforming use, adding that no list of such properties exists.