ADU rules in Lavallette

Lavallette's Zoning Ordinance (Chapter 90) has no accessory dwelling unit category and bars living space in any accessory building. All four residential districts (Residence A, the bulk of the borough; B, West Point Island; C, Westmont Shores; D, Bay Beach Way) permit nothing but a single-family dwelling: no building 'shall be constructed unless designed, arranged and intended to be used exclusively for a single-family dwelling,' and that dwelling 'shall contain only one kitchen' (§§ 90-22, 90-35, 90-42, 90-49). Accessory buildings outside the Business District are limited to 'a garage or an attached utility room or toolshed' for storage, and 'No accessory building shall be used in whole or in part as living or sleeping or housekeeping quarters' (§ 90-8C and D); a detached garage must stay one story with no exterior wall above the first story, no rooftop windows and an 18-foot cap (§ 90-24B and C). The chapter is exclusive: any use not expressly designated 'is hereby expressly prohibited unless a variance for same is granted' (§§ 90-6, 90-17A), as the council restated in adopting Ord. No. 2026-15 on 7-6-2026. The Planning Board treats a second dwelling on a residential lot as a nonconforming two-family use: on 6-25-2025 it voted 2-6 to deny a certificate of nonconformity that would have kept a rear cottage at 115 Magee Avenue (Residence A) as a second home.

No district allows a second unit inside or attached to a house. A single-family dwelling is 'A detached building designed for or used exclusively as one dwelling unit' with one kitchen, a kitchen being 'a room having a sink and stove or other cooking facilities that may not be located in any other room' (§§ 90-5, 90-22); a half story 'shall not be used for living space nor shall it contain any plumbing fixtures,' a cellar 'shall not be used as living quarters,' and living space 'shall be limited to the first and second stories' (§ 90-5). Two-family dwellings have been barred from Residence A since a 1985 amendment (the § 90-22 history lists Ord. No. 577 of 7-5-1985, and the Planning Board treated 1985 as the cutoff in the 115 Magee Avenue case), so older duplexes there survive only as nonconforming uses. The only lawful second units are in the Business District along Grand Central Avenue (Route 35 North): B-1 permits 'A single-family dwelling or two-family dwelling' and a second-floor apartment over a commercial use, one per 5,000 sq ft of land, while B-2 Downtown allows apartments only above ground-floor commerce and no residential-only building (§§ 90-55A(1)(b), 90-56A(1)). Those are two-family or mixed-use dwellings, not ADUs. In the mapped flood hazard areas, enclosed space below the lowest floor of a new or substantially improved house may be used 'solely for parking of vehicles, building access, or storage,' so a ground-level apartment under an elevated home is barred as well (§§ 31-58D, 31-59D).

Chapter 90 sets no ADU size because it allows none; the binding envelope is the residential bulk code. A house may rise '2 1/2 stories or 30 feet, whichever is less, and shall contain no more than two floors, over each other, of living area,' with the half story limited to storage or mechanical equipment, and a house elevated or rebuilt to the flood elevation is capped at 2 1/2 stories or 28 feet of habitable height measured from the sill plate or lowest horizontal structural member (§ 90-24C(1) and (3)); Ord. No. 2025-16 (adopted 7-7-2025, not yet codified) clarifies, in the borough attorney's words at adoption, that 'there will be no development above the second floor anywhere in town.' Structure coverage (everything 18 inches or more above the curb) may not exceed 37% of the lot, or 38% for elevated buildings, and total coverage 57% (§ 90-24D). A detached private garage must have at least 200 sq ft, three-foot side and rear yards (five feet in Residence B), 10 feet of separation from other buildings, no wall above the first story and no more than 18 feet of height (§§ 90-24B and C, 90-37B); detached sheds are capped at 100 sq ft and nine feet to the plate, one per 3,400 sq ft of lot (§ 90-8E). The Schedule of Area, Yard and Building Requirements sets 5,000 sq ft lots (50 by 100 ft) in Residence A, 5,000 sq ft in B, 3,400 sq ft in C, 4,000 sq ft in D and 5,000 sq ft with 50 ft of width in both business districts.

Lavallette authorizes no ADU, so there is no accessory-unit owner-occupancy rule, and Chapter 90 conditions no house, duplex or apartment on the owner living there. Owner residence appears only in rental administration: the rental insurance registry requires $500,000 of liability coverage for a rental unit but $300,000 for 'a multifamily home which is four or fewer units, one of which must be owner-occupied' (§ 15-23A and B), and the Seasonal Rentals chapter's landlord definition expressly reaches 'owner-occupied two-unit premises' (§ 51-2). A bed-and-breakfast, a conditional use in B-1, lodges guests 'plus the owner/operator' (§ 90-57G). Residential parking permits go only to owner residents (§ 56-47E).

Chapter 90 has no ADU parking rule. Each residential district requires that 'A lot improved with a single-family residential dwelling shall have provided thereon indoor or outdoor parking facilities for at least two cars' (§§ 90-29, 90-40, 90-47, 90-53), and the off-street schedule sets 'Single-family dwellings: two spaces' and 'Two-family dwellings: four spaces' (§ 90-74A and B); in B-1 and B-2 each second-floor apartment needs two spaces on top of the commercial use's own (§§ 90-55A(1)(b)[1], 90-56A(1)(b)[1]). Ord. No. 2025-13 (introduced 5-19-2025, adopted 6-0 on 7-7-2025) amended § 90-15 to raise the residential requirement with bedroom count because, the sponsor said, houses and townhomes keep adding bedrooms; it is not codified and its text is not posted online, so its per-bedroom figures were not read. The Residential Site Improvement Standards are 'the maximum that may be required in connection with residential development' (N.J.A.C. 5:21-1.5(b)), and Table 4.4 sets 1.5 spaces for a two-bedroom house, 2.0 for three, 2.5 for four (also the default when bedrooms are unstated) and 3.0 for five, applies those values to each unit of a two-family dwelling, and counts a one-car garage with driveway as 2.0 spaces and a two-car one as 3.5 (5:21-4.14(b) to (d)), so a local figure above the Table 4.4 value for the bedrooms proposed (two spaces for a two-bedroom house, four for a duplex of two-bedroom units) binds only where the designer and reviewer agree to exceed it and the developer notifies DCA (5:21-4.14(c)3).

No district lists an accessory dwelling as a permitted or conditional use (the conditional uses are apartment houses, hotels, motels, boardinghouses and bed-and-breakfasts in B-1, plus service stations and public garages), so there is no ADU permit path. Where a second unit is lawful (a two-family dwelling in B-1, or a second-floor apartment over a commercial use in B-1 or B-2), the Construction Code Official first sends the applicant to the Zoning Officer, who issues a zoning permit only if the plans conform 'in all respects' to the land use ordinances (§ 90-79B; $200 for new construction, § 90-79C(1)), and no site plan is needed for 'a single-family dwelling unit or two-family dwelling unit(s) on individual lots' (§ 53A-6). Anything else, such as a second house, garage apartment, basement unit or attic unit in Residence A to D, needs a d(1) use variance from the nine-member Planning Board, which holds all Zoning Board of Adjustment powers (§§ 37-1, 37-7I) and may grant it 'only by affirmative vote of at least five members' (N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70(d)); an interested party may appeal a use-variance approval to the Borough Council within 10 days of publication (§ 37-23). Enlarging an existing nonconforming second dwelling is a d(2) variance (the Board approved one 7-0 on 4-23-2025 to add air conditioning to a nonconforming two-family at 118 New Brunswick Avenue), and an owner claiming a pre-1985 second unit must win a certificate of nonconformity (denied 2-6 for 115 Magee Avenue on 6-25-2025).

Rental rules sit outside zoning and none targets short stays. Every 'single family residence, apartment, studio, condominium and/or other dwelling' rented or offered 'for one or more nights in a calendar year' is a residential rental unit whose owner 'shall annually register a certificate of insurance' showing $500,000 of liability coverage, or $300,000 for an owner-occupied building of four or fewer units, for a $50 fee, with $500 to $5,000 summary fines for failing to file (§§ 15-22 to 15-25, Ord. No. 2022-20). Chapter 51 defines a seasonal rental as 'Any rental of residential accommodations for a term of less than one year and including any part of the period extending from May 15 to September 15' and lets the borough make a landlord post a $500 to $5,000 bond, held four years, after three substantiated disorderly, indecent, tumultuous or riotous incidents by tenants in one year (§§ 51-2, 51-3, under N.J.S.A. 40:48-2.12n). Single-family, two-family and multiple rental dwellings need a lead-based paint inspection ($200 by the borough's inspector) at tenant turnover or every three years, unless the unit was built in 1978 or later, is a single- or two-family seasonal rental let for under six months a year, or holds another exemption (§ 48A-30.1B and D), and any residential sale needs a transfer certificate of occupancy ($100 per unit, §§ 17-1B, 17-2B). Bed-and-breakfast guests may stay no more than 60 consecutive or cumulative days a year (§ 90-57G). The ordinance committee's 2022 discussion of a seven-day minimum for summer rentals (council minutes 3-7-2022) never became law: the code has no minimum-stay or short-term-rental text, and no 2025 or 2026 ordinance touches rentals.