ADU rules in Deal

Deal's Development Regulations (Chapter 30) contain no accessory dwelling unit provision, and the residential district rules leave no room for a backyard unit. In the R-1, R-2, R-3 and R-4 districts the only permitted principal use is 'Single family dwellings' (§ 30-86.2a), and the permitted accessory uses are a closed list of garages, patios, porches, driveways, tennis courts, swimming pools, flagpoles, freestanding antennas, uses customarily associated with them and one greenhouse, each serving only the principal use (§ 30-86.3a). § 30-86.5c adds that no one may use a garage 'as living or sleeping quarters' or 'locate a dwelling or housekeeping unit in a garage,' § 30-50 allows no more than one principal use and one principal building per lot (a lot is a parcel 'occupied by only one building and its accessories' under § 30-6), and § 30-83 prohibits every use not expressly permitted. A cottage, pool-house suite or apartment over a garage 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 or multiple dwelling at all. § 30-6 defines a single-family dwelling as 'a detached building containing one dwelling unit' and a dwelling unit as rooms with living, cooking, sleeping and sanitary facilities occupied by one housekeeping unit, so a basement, attic or addition apartment would turn the house into a multiple dwelling ('a building containing two or more dwelling units'), a use no district lists: the Commercial district permits shops, services, offices, restaurants and places of worship but no dwellings, and the Open Space/Recreation zone a golf course and playground. An accessory building attached to the house becomes part of the principal building (§ 30-34), and the real property transfer inspection required before any sale must report the number of kitchens and 'any physical barriers, walls or doorways that could be used for the separation of a unit or units into additional dwelling units' (§ 12-4.2b). The R-4 purpose clause speaks of 'a variety of housing responsive to market needs,' but its only permitted principal use is still single family dwellings.

Chapter 30 recognizes no ADU, so it sets no accessory-unit size cap, and it has no square-foot cap on accessory buildings either; the envelope comes from Schedule B, Standards for Accessory Uses (amended 6-12-2019 by Ord. No. 1195). Garages must stand in the rear yard at least 25 ft from the street, greenhouses 75 ft, and all other accessory uses anywhere in the rear yard; each may cover no more than 35% of the required rear-yard area and must sit 10 ft from side and rear lot lines at 10 ft of height, with one more foot of setback for each added foot, up to 18 ft (20 ft for greenhouses), and regrading a lot to lower an accessory's measured height is barred. Chapter 24 (as amended 6-6-2025 by Ord. No. 2025-16) lets gazebos, pool houses and other pool accessories stand in a side yard at least 30 ft from the side line or in the rear yard 10 ft from the lot lines, again at 35% coverage and 18 ft. Building coverage is capped at 20% of the lot in R-1 to R-3 and 25% in R-4, counting accessory buildings only in R-3 and R-4 (Schedule A notes 5 and 6), and impervious coverage at 40% in every district.

Deal authorizes no ADU, so there is no accessory-unit owner-occupancy rule, and nothing in Chapter 30 conditions a house on the owner living there. The nearest provisions are the definition of the household a dwelling unit must hold, one or more persons living and cooking together 'on a permanent basis or for an indefinite nonseasonal period of time' (§ 30-6), the annual registration every landlord of a single-family or two-family residential unit must file with Code Enforcement ($150 the first year, $75 renewals due March 1, § 13-3.1), and the state landlord identity registration statement (N.J.A.C. 5:29-1.1), which the borough posts as its landlord registration form and which must be filed with the clerk for rented single-unit dwellings and for two-unit dwellings that are not owner-occupied.

§ 30-88, rewritten for dwellings by Ord. No. 2025-24 (introduced 8-5-2025, adopted 9-2-2025), requires 'A minimum of two spaces per dwelling unit with three bedrooms or less' and 'A minimum of three spaces per dwelling unit with four bedrooms or more'; at both readings the Mayor described it as a per-house rule that cannot be retroactive. Front-yard driveways may be no wider than 20 ft and cover no more than 35% of the required front yard, side-yard paving may cover no more than 50% of each required side yard (§ 30-86.6a, b), and a residential garage may store no more than five vehicles (§ 30-86.3c). The state Residential Site Improvement Standards govern residential subdivision, site plan, variance and other residential development approvals (N.J.A.C. 5:21-1.5(a)) and make Table 4.4 'the maximum number of parking spaces planning boards and other local reviewers shall require' (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, with each unit of a two-family dwelling counted at the same values. Deal's local minimums therefore exceed the state maximum for two- and four-bedroom houses, and the code does not say how permit review reconciles the two.

No district lists an accessory dwelling, a two-family dwelling or any second unit as a permitted or conditional use: the only conditional uses are nonprofit schools and nonprofit golf courses in R-1, none in R-2 and R-3, and churches or other places of worship in R-4 (§ 30-86.4). A second unit is therefore 'a use or principal structure in a district restricted against such use,' which only a use variance can allow, granted 'only by an affirmative vote of at least five members' of the Board of Adjustment (§ 30-8.2b4(a), N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70(d)); in Deal the nine-member Planning Board sits as the Board of Adjustment and its Class I and Class III members may not take part in d relief (§ 30-8c), any interested party may appeal an approval to the Board of Commissioners within 10 days of publication (§ 30-9), and a variance lapses unless a building permit follows within one year (§ 30-8.6). Ordinary accessory structures need a zoning permit from the Zoning Officer (the Code Enforcement Officer) before any building permit (§§ 30-98.1, 30-99b); the borough's April 2026 application form promises a decision within 10 business days, and Ord. No. 26-009 (adopted 6-22-2026, not yet codified) set the fees at $100, $200 for applications needing engineering escrow and $100 per re-inspection, although the codified § 30-99d still prints a $10 zoning permit fee.

§ 13-4.2 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, as defined herein, for a period of sixty (60) days or less,' § 13-4.4 bans advertising such stays, and § 13-4.5 treats a violation as a nuisance per se with fines up to $1,250 a day; only non-paying house guests of the owner's household are exempt (§ 13-4.3). Longer rentals need a Rental Permit from the Construction Official, applied for within 10 days of signing a lease and issued after an inspection under the sidewalk, building, housing, fire and pool codes; a summer seasonal permit runs May 1 to September 30, and otherwise a permit lasts until the tenants change or three years pass (§§ 13-2.1, 13-2.2, 13-2.5). The codified § 13-2.3 still prints a $125 residential application fee, while § 11-3.5 (Ord. No. 2025-14, 5-9-2025) and the borough's 2025 Rental/Resale Certificate of Inspection application charge $200 for a single- or two-family home, plus $45 to $161 for the smoke and carbon monoxide certificate depending on lead time. Landlords of single- and two-family units also register annually with Code Enforcement (§ 13-3.1), pre-1978 rentals need lead-based paint inspections at tenant turnover except single- and two-family seasonal rentals of under six months a year (§§ 11-9.3, 11-9.6), and a landlord whose seasonal tenants draw two disorderly-conduct convictions within two years can be ordered to post a $500 to $5,000 bond for four years (§ 13-1.3).