ADU rules in Beach Haven

Beach Haven's zoning chapter (Chapter 212) has no accessory dwelling unit, accessory apartment, guest house or garage apartment provision, and it rules out a backyard unit directly: § 212-20D, titled "Second dwelling prohibited," allows no more than one residential building on each subdivision lot of record. A residential accessory building may have "No interior finishing or plumbing," is limited to one story and 264 square feet, and only one is allowed plus a shed (§ 212-3B, as amended by Ord. No. 2025-6C on 4-14-2025); a detached garage's attic may be used only for storage, a garage built under the lot-coverage exception may have electricity but no plumbing (§ 212-21F(4)), and a shed may have no interior finish, electric or plumbing. Every residential district lists the single-family dwelling as its only housing type except RB, which allows two-family dwellings only within a single building, and the districts prohibit any use not listed (§§ 212-9C, 212-10, 212-17B(9)); living in a trailer, camper or parked RV is also unlawful (§§ 189-2, 189-3B(3)). At its June 1, 2026 meeting the Land Use Board heard 223 Pelham Avenue, where keeping a historic rear cottage of about 880 square feet as a second home for the owner's mother required d variances plus a variance "to allow a second dwelling on a lot where only 1 is permitted"; the application was carried, never returned to an agenda, and its escrow was listed for return on 10-5-2026.

A basement, ground-level, internal or attached apartment is ruled out by the dwelling definitions and use lists. A single-family dwelling is one "designed for or occupied by one family only, providing one kitchen or cooking facility" (§ 212-3B), so a second unit inside or onto a house makes it a two-family dwelling, which the code permits only in the RB Two-Family Residential District ("two family dwellings within a single building are permitted," § 212-10) and in the MC district, which allows the RB and RA uses (§ 212-14A(1)); § 212-6B bars altering any building "to accommodate or house a greater number of families" than the district allows. Even in RB, Schedule 1 sets a duplex lot at 10,000 square feet and 100 feet wide against 4,000 square feet and 40 feet for a single-family lot, so a conversion is a duplex project rather than an ADU, and the 2025 rewrite of the use regulations (Ord. No. 2025-22C) added no accessory unit. A ground-floor apartment under an elevated house is separately barred: "No habitable area may be below the base flood elevation" (§ 212-20M), and enclosed space below the lowest floor may be used only for parking, building access or storage (§ 101-15B(1)(e), (2)(e)). Anywhere else a second unit needs a use variance (see permit type).

Because Chapter 212 authorizes no accessory dwelling, it sets no ADU floor-area, percentage or bedroom cap. Residential accessory buildings count toward building coverage, are capped at 264 square feet and one story, and "Any deviation requires Land Use Board approval" (§ 212-3B); § 212-20E keeps them out of required front yards and at least 2 feet from other buildings on the lot and caps them at one story or 35 feet, while the garage definition caps detached garages at one story and 18 feet above street grade. Schedule 1 sets accessory-building setbacks of 5 feet from side and rear lot lines in the RA, RNA, RSA, RB and BBO districts, 35 percent building coverage and a 0.50 residential floor area ratio, and § 212-27B(3)(a) caps impervious coverage at 60 percent. A detached garage of up to 264 square feet (12 by 22 feet) and 15 feet may exceed the 35 percent coverage only where the lot has no other garage and the house's ground floor is no higher than base flood elevation plus two feet (§ 212-21F). Principal buildings are limited to 35 feet and three stories, and Schedule 1 sets minimum first-floor areas of 720 to 1,500 square feet by district, a floor rather than a cap.

Chapter 212 attaches no owner-occupancy condition to any accessory unit because it authorizes none, so the directory records not-applicable rather than no. The nearest owner-related rules: a bed-and-breakfast in the BBO overlay must be "an owner- or manager-occupied dwelling" with no more than 12 guest rooms (§ 212-13A(1), B); home occupations must be conducted by members of the family residing in the dwelling plus at most one outside employee (§ 212-9A(5)); and under the rental chapter an owner-occupied home of four or fewer units may carry $300,000 of liability insurance instead of $500,000, while owner-occupied premises with no more than two rental units are exempt from filing the state landlord registration form (§ 155-3A(1), (3)). New Jersey has no statewide ADU statute that would impose or preempt an owner-occupancy rule.

§ 212-23A applies to "all new and substantially improved buildings": every space must be at least 9 by 18 feet (162 square feet), accessible from a public way and "located outside the vertical plane of the outside walls of any building," so spaces under an elevated house do not count, and the residential schedule requires two spaces for a single-family dwelling with fewer than five bedrooms, three with five or more, four for a two-family dwelling, and two per unit plus one more for each five-bedroom unit in a larger duplex. At the June 1, 2026 hearing on 223 Pelham Avenue the applicant's planner testified that only 2 of 4 proposed spaces counted because 2 sat under the house, which triggered a parking variance. This is a local bedroom rule, not the state standard: the Residential Site Improvement Standards govern site improvements in connection with residential development approvals and are "the maximum that may be required" (N.J.A.C. 5:21-1.5(a), (b)), and Table 4.4 sets "the maximum number of parking spaces planning boards and other local reviewers shall require" (5:21-4.14(c)) at 1.5 spaces for a two-bedroom house, 2.0 for three, 2.5 for four and 3.0 for five, with the same values for each duplex unit, so the borough's minimums exceed the state maximum for two-bedroom houses and small duplex units and fall below it for four-bedroom houses. The Council discussed raising the requirement for homes with five or more bedrooms on 7-30-2026 as part of a Chapter 212 rewrite, with no ordinance introduced through 10-28-2026.

There is no ADU permit path. A zoning permit from the Zoning Official must precede any building permit or change of use (§ 212-18B(2); $250 for a new single-family house, $150 for a single-family or duplex addition and $100 for an accessory building under § 212-18.1), "In no case shall a permit be granted for the construction or alteration of any building where the proposed construction, alteration or use thereof would be in violation of any provision in this chapter" (§ 212-18A), and before any transfer of title the Zoning Official inspects the property for a certificate of continued occupancy to "determine the proper use and habitability" (§ 212-18B(6)(a)). A second dwelling unit would need a use variance for "a use or principal structure in a district restricted against such use or principal structure" under N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70(d), granted only by at least five affirmative votes of the nine-member Land Use Board, which holds both planning board and zoning board powers (§ 19-1) and whose Class I (mayor) and Class III (council) members may not take part in d variance cases (N.J.S.A. 40:55D-25(c)(1)); the fee is $100 plus a $2,000 escrow (§ 90-4, as amended by Ord. No. 2026-3C), and any interested party may appeal a granted d variance to the Borough Council within 10 days of publication (§ 19-9A). Adding a dwelling unit to an existing residential structure also triggers the affordable housing development fee of 1.5 percent of the added equalized assessed value (§ 43-21C(1)(a)).

Chapter 155, rewritten by Ord. No. 2026-4C (3-9-2026) and amended by Ord. No. 2026-10C (7-13-2026), requires every rental property to be registered with the Borough Clerk "prior to tenant occupancy, upon the change of tenant for long-term rentals, and, for seasonal rentals, one-time annually prior to May 31," where a long-term rental runs 126 or more consecutive days with the same tenant and a seasonal rental 125 days or less, with a $250 to $1,200 penalty for an occupied unregistered rental (§§ 155-1, 155-2). Registration requires proof of $500,000 liability insurance ($300,000 for an owner-occupied home of four or fewer units), a current Borough-issued smoke alarm, carbon monoxide alarm and fire extinguisher certificate (inspected at each long-term tenant change and yearly before May 31 for seasonal rentals, §§ 95-97, 95-98) and, unless the premises are owner-occupied with no more than two rental units, the state landlord registration form (§ 155-3). Occupancy is capped by bedroom floor area (70 square feet for one sleeper, 50 per occupant when shared) and posted on a register in the unit, decks are limited to one person per nine square feet, and a landlord can be made to post a $500 to $5,000 bond after two substantiated convictions for disorderly conduct or ordinance violations at the premises within 24 months (§§ 155-4 to 155-6). Pre-1978 rental units need a lead-based paint inspection every three years or at long-term tenant turnover, with single- and two-family seasonal rentals of under six months a year exempt (§ 74-21), and stays of less than 90 consecutive days booked through a transient space marketplace or in a professionally managed unit carry a 3 percent municipal occupancy tax (§ 111-2.1, Ord. No. 2024-20C). Code-wide searches on 2026-10-28 found no short-term-rental license, ban or minimum stay.