ADU rules in Harvey Cedars

The borough's zoning chapter (Chapter 13) has no accessory dwelling unit, accessory apartment, garage apartment, guest house or cottage provision, and it bars a second home on a lot outright: § 13-7.12, titled "Second Dwelling - Prohibited" (Ord. No. 2007-13), provides that "There shall not be more than one principal structure or dwelling on any lot of record." The R-A district, whose rules the R-AA district adopts except for lot size and yards (§ 13-10.1), permits a single-family dwelling, "A detached residence designed for or occupied by one family only" (§ 13-3), as its only housing use (§ 13-9.1) and prohibits "Any uses and buildings not listed above in Subsections 13-9.1 and 13-9.2" (§ 13-9.5), and since 2025 the chapter adds that "All uses not expressly permitted in this Title are prohibited" (§ 13-8.5, Ord. No. 2025-05). Accessory buildings are capped at one story or 15 feet (§ 13-7.7c), and living in an RV, camper or trailer parked on any lot is unlawful (§ 8-3.9).

A basement, ground-level, internal or attached apartment is ruled out as well. A family is "One or more persons occupying a single housekeeping unit and using common cooking facilities" (§ 13-3), no building may be erected or altered "To accommodate or house a greater number of families" than the chapter allows (§ 13-4.2b(2)), and § 13-9.5 specifically prohibits "condominiums, cooperative apartments, garden apartments, Bed and Breakfast establishments, and other multifamily uses and buildings"; no district permits a two-family dwelling. Existing two-unit houses survive only as nonconforming uses that may not be enlarged, extended or structurally altered except toward a permitted use and that lapse after 12 consecutive months (or 24 months in any three years) of disuse (§ 13-5.8a, e); the Land Use Board hears their expansion as a use variance and has steered owners toward removing a kitchen and converting to a single-family home (Applications 2024:05, 12-19-2024, and 2025:08, 11-20-2025). The space under a raised house cannot become an apartment either: enclosures below the lowest floor may hold only parking, building access or storage (§ 24-15.2a5, b5) and "No separation of space is permitted" below the first-floor living space beyond a 100 square foot foyer and stairwell and a 100 square foot mechanical room (§ 24-15.2d), while buildings are capped at two stories of habitable area and attics may not be finished or heated (§ 13-7.2b; § 13-3, Attic).

Because Chapter 13 authorizes no accessory dwelling, it sets no ADU floor-area, percentage or bedroom cap. An accessory building must meet the district's area and yard rules, may not stand in a required front yard, "shall not exceed one story or 15 feet in height" and must sit at least five feet from any adjoining building, or it may be built as part of the principal building if that building meets its yards (§ 13-7.7). In R-A, R-AA, GB and LC all buildings may cover 33 percent of the lot, or 29 percent excluding decks and open porches, habitable area may not exceed 50 percent of the upland lot area, impervious surfaces 75 percent, and buildings plus a pool and its coping 43 percent (§ 13-7.3). No building may exceed three stories from grade or two stories of habitable areas, roofs are capped at 32 feet sloped (30 feet with nonconforming setbacks) or 28 feet flat, and a lot with 30 feet or less of frontage is held to 24 feet, gaining a foot for every two feet of added width (§ 13-7.2). R-A lots must be 5,000 square feet and 50 feet wide with a 20-foot front yard and 10-foot side and rear yards, R-AA subdivision lots 7,500 square feet with 25-foot front and 15-foot rear yards, and every new single-family building needs a first floor of at least 720 square feet (§§ 13-9.4, 13-9.7, 13-10.3).

Not applicable: Harvey Cedars allows no ADU of any form, so Chapter 13 attaches no owner-occupancy condition to any accessory unit, and the directory records not-applicable rather than no. The only owner and residency rules nearby: home occupations may be conducted only by members of the family residing in the dwelling plus one nonresident, entirely within the dwelling or an accessory building (§ 13-9.3a), and a model home allowed at the Planning Board's discretion may be occupied by no more than the owner and one employee (§ 13-9.2). New Jersey has no ADU statute that imposes or preempts an owner-occupancy rule, and the pending S1786 as reported (R1) contains none.

§ 13-9.6a applies "at the time of erection or enlargement of any principal building or structure" in R-A and R-AA and to residential uses in the business districts (§ 13-11.5a), with spaces of 10 by 18 feet reachable from a public way (§ 13-3), one driveway of up to 20 feet per 50 feet of lot width (§ 13-9.6c), and, since Ord. No. 2026-18 (adopted 6-16-2026, effective 7-6-2026, not yet codified), hardscape or concrete driveways that run to the pavement edge with a mountable curb. A home occupation adds two spaces "in addition to the two required for residential parking" (§ 13-9.3e, a stale cross-reference), and each residential unit in a GB, LC or MC mixed-use building needs two designated spaces (§ 13-11.2c4). This is a floor-area rule rather than the state's bedroom standard: the Residential Site Improvement Standards govern site improvements "in connection with any other residential development approval" and are "the maximum that may be required" (N.J.A.C. 5:21-1.5(a), (b)), and Table 4.4 caps a detached house at 1.5 spaces for two bedrooms up to 3.0 for five (2.5 when bedrooms are unstated), so the borough's four-space floor exceeds the state maximum for every house; both texts are recorded, and Chapter 13 cites no RSIS special area standard. S1786 (pending) would bar any added parking for an ADU.

There is no ADU permit path. A zoning permit from the Zoning Officer is "a condition precedent to the commencement of a use and/or change of use and all construction" and "shall confirm that such use, structure, building, and lot area comply with the provisions of the Borough Code and approvals granted by the Land Use Board" (§ 13-16.2a1 as replaced by Ord. No. 2026-12, adopted 4-20-2026, effective 5-11-2026), no permit may issue for construction or use that would violate Chapter 13 (§ 13-16.1), and a certificate of occupancy is required for every new use, every change in use ("broadly construed") and every sale (§ 13-16.2d). A second dwelling would need a use variance under N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70(d)(1), or (d)(2) to expand an existing nonconforming duplex, from the nine-member Land Use Board, which holds the zoning board's powers (§§ 14-3.1, 14-4.1) and on which the Mayor (Class I) and the commissioner member (Class III) may not sit for d-variance cases (§ 14-3.1). The statute requires the "affirmative vote of at least five members, in the case of a municipal board", while § 14-4.5d still prints the regional-board standard of "at least two-thirds of the full authorized membership of the board". The fee is $400 plus a $650 minimum escrow (§ 14-4.8b, c), and a granted variance lapses unless work starts within 24 months under Ord. No. 2026-11 (adopted 4-20-2026), which doubled the 12 months in § 14-4.6.

Harvey Cedars barely regulates rentals. § 3-3 bars renting any room, apartment, cottage or house "to, by or for any group of minors" (two or more people under 18) unless a parent, guardian or competent adult without a criminal record supervises them, registers with the police and signs the lease, with the same rules for sublets (§§ 3-3.1 to 3-3.4). A family may include no more than five persons unless all are related by blood or marriage (§ 13-3), which caps group rentals of a house. Under § 21-12 (Ord. No. 2023-09) the owner of every single-family, two-family or multiple-dwelling rental unit must have it inspected for lead-based paint hazards every three years or at tenant turnover, whichever is earlier, unless it was built in 1978 or later, is certified lead-free, or is a single- or two-family seasonal rental rented for less than six months a year without consecutive renewals; penalties reach $1,000 a week after a 30-day cure (§ 21-12.2). § 13-16.2d3 requires a new certificate of occupancy at any "sale, conveyance, transfer of ownership or change in occupancy", but the Zoning Office administers it as a $50-per-unit resale certificate for new owners and posts no rental certificate. Quoted code searches on 2026-10-28 found no short-term-rental, rental-registration or occupancy-tax provision; S1786 (pending) would bar rentals under 30 days for ADUs built after enactment.