ADU rules in Long Beach Township

Long Beach Township's zoning chapter (Chapter 205) has no accessory dwelling unit, accessory apartment, guest house or garage apartment provision, and its definitions rule out a backyard unit outright: an accessory building is a subordinate structure "including garages and sheds," and "A detached accessory building shall not be used as a dwelling or bedroom unless specifically permitted" (§ 205-2B), which no section does. Every residential district (the R-10, R-10E, R-75, R-6 and R-50A Single-Family zones and the R-50, R-36 and R-35 "General Residential" zones) lists single-family detached dwellings as its only housing type alongside private garages and accessory uses or buildings, and § 205-2B adds that "No property shall be permitted more than one principal use." § 205-5B also provides that "Any loft area of any accessory building or garage may not be used for living quarters," and § 205-3B makes any use not permitted in the district unlawful.

A basement, ground-level, internal or attached apartment is ruled out by the same use lists. A one-family dwelling is "A detached building designed for or occupied exclusively by one family" and a dwelling unit is rooms "providing living facilities for one family, including equipment for cooking" (§ 205-2B), so a second unit inside or onto a house makes it a two-family dwelling, which no district permits: Ord. No. 87-32C deleted two-family dwellings from the R-50 and R-35 General Residential use lists in October 1987, and the districts prohibit any use not listed (for example § 205-55B). The only lawful two-unit lots are holdovers: under § 205-17D a lot whose multiple-family use appeared on the township's tax assessment and sewer records on January 1, 2001 may be rebuilt with no more than two dwelling units, and a recorded two-family use may be enlarged, if every bulk rule and the per-unit parking rule is met. Anything else needs a use variance (see permit type).

Because Chapter 205 authorizes no accessory dwelling, it sets no ADU floor-area, percentage or bedroom cap. § 205-5 keeps accessory buildings and structures out of front yards (pools on ocean, bay and lagoon lots excepted) and limits them to one story or 15 feet at the ridge with sidewalls of no more than 10 feet, and they must sit at least 8 feet from side and rear lot lines in R-10 and R-10E, 5 feet in R-75 and 4 feet in R-50, R-50A and R-35 (side lines in R-36). One storage shed of up to 10 by 10 feet and 10 feet high, with no utilities of any kind, is allowed on any lot with a house even where lot coverage is used up (§ 205-32). Every new dwelling unit must also meet a minimum living-space floor scaled to lot size (in R-10, 9 square feet of first-floor living space per 100 square feet of lot up to 10,000 square feet, or 14 square feet per 100 in total for a multistory house), a floor rather than a cap, and principal buildings are limited to 34 feet in AE and AO flood zones and on bay and lagoon lots and 36 feet in oceanfront VE zones (§ 205-10).

Chapter 205 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: § 205-34A gives owner-occupied homes and homes leased for a year or more the full range of residential uses (home occupations and home professional offices included), while units rented for less than a year are limited to dwelling, recreation and vacation use; home occupations must be carried on by members of the resident family (§ 205-2B); and Chapter 104 lets the owner of an owner-occupied home of four or fewer units carry $300,000 of liability insurance instead of the $500,000 required of other rental owners (§ 104-2). The § 205-17D rebuild of a grandfathered two-unit lot carries no owner-occupancy condition, and New Jersey has no statewide ADU statute that would impose or preempt one.

§ 205-51D, which every other residential district adopts by reference (for example § 205-55E, as amended by Ord. No. 23-16C on 5-9-2023), applies when a principal building is erected or substantially enlarged and sets the minimum "by the size of each dwelling unit at the property" as calculated for tax assessment: three spaces for 0 to 3,000 square feet, four for 3,001 to 4,000, five for 4,001 to 5,000 and six for 5,000 or more, each at least 18 by 9 feet, outside rights-of-way and easements and shown on the survey for zoning approval. A two-car or larger garage counts as one space, stacked spaces do not count except one car in front of a garage, home occupations add two spaces, and a rebuilt grandfathered two-unit lot must meet the requirement for each unit (§ 205-17D). This is a floor-area rule, not the bedroom-based state standard: the Residential Site Improvement Standards govern site improvements for 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 to 3.0 spaces for a detached house by bedrooms with the same values for each duplex unit, so the township's minimums exceed the state maximum for most homes, and Chapter 205 cites no RSIS special area standard. The residential districts offer no transit, ADU or affordable-unit reduction; only the 2026 Affordable Housing Overlay ties its parking to RSIS (Ord. No. 26-05C).

There is no ADU permit path. A zoning permit from the Zoning Officer ($100, § 82-27B) is a condition precedent to any new use, change of use or construction and must confirm that the use complies with the code (§ 205-73D), § 205-72 forbids any permit for construction or use that would violate Chapter 205, and a certificate of occupancy is required at every change or addition of use and every sale, after an inspection confirming the house is a permitted or valid nonconforming use (§ 64-7). A second dwelling unit on a single-family lot would need a use variance for "a use or principal structure in a district restricted against such use" under N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70(d), granted only by the affirmative vote of at least five members of the nine-member Land Use Board, which exercises the zoning board's powers (§ 18-1); the application fee is $500 plus $500 engineer and $500 attorney escrows (§ 82-4B), and a granted variance lapses after nine months unless the zoning and construction permits are approved (§ 18-8A(1)). The development fee ordinance adopted 5-4-2026 (Ord. No. 26-06C) lets the township charge 6 percent of equalized assessed value on each unit added by a density variance but says "Same, however, does not apply to accessory dwelling or apartments", the only mention of accessory dwellings in township law, and it grants no zoning permission.

§ 205-34A limits residential units "rented for a period of less than one year" to dwelling, recreation and "the traditional activities enjoyed by people on vacation", and § 205-34B bars renting, leasing or using any residential property for a for-profit, commercial or business-related purpose or event, with weddings allowed only for tenants of more than one year. Chapter 104 (Ord. No. 23-01C, implementing P.L. 2022, c. 92) requires every owner of a rental unit to carry $500,000 of liability insurance ($300,000 for an owner-occupied home of four or fewer units) and file the certificate with the Municipal Clerk each year for $100, which the township collects through its annual Business/Rental Registration form for leases both over and under 12 months, due by March 31. Chapter 148 defines a seasonal rental as a lease of less than one year that includes any part of May 15 to September 15 and lets a hearing officer require its landlord to post a $500 to $5,000 bond, held for four years, after three substantiated disorderly-conduct convictions at the premises within a year; it also requires adult supervision, police registration and an adult-signed lease before a group of minors may rent. Pre-1978 rental units need a lead-based paint inspection at tenant turnover or every three years, with single- and two-family seasonal rentals of under six months a year exempt (§ 108-2). A code-wide search on 2026-10-28 found no short-term-rental provision; the township's 2020 pandemic order banning rentals of 21 days or less lapsed by its own terms that spring.