ADU rules in Mantoloking

Mantoloking's Land Use Regulations (Chapter 30) allow no detached accessory dwelling. Every residential zone (R-1 through R-6B) permits only a 'Single-family detached dwelling; minimum floor area 1,500 square feet,' and since Ord. No. 2026-10 (adopted 5-0 on 5-19-2026) § 30-5A(1) adds that 'Separate dwelling units are not permitted above detached and/or attached garages'; § 30-3A allows 'no more than one principal building or use per lot,' and every unlisted use is prohibited in the residential zones (§§ 30-3D, 30-5A(3)). The accessory rules close the remaining routes: 'No accessory structure shall be used in whole or in part as living or sleeping or housekeeping quarters' (§ 30-3N(2)(a)), a detached accessory structure may not contain toilets or urinals (§ 30-3N(2)(f)), a garage 'may not be constructed or utilized for habitation,' and an accessory use is by definition one 'other than for living space' (§ 30-2C). A backyard cottage, pool-house suite or garage apartment could only come through a d(1) use variance from the nine-member Planning Board, which exercises the Board of Adjustment's powers (§§ 30-16, 30-18A(4)(a)), and § 30-11A may bar even that (see permit type).

No residential zone permits a second unit inside or attached to a house. The only permitted dwelling is a single-family detached dwelling, 'A building designed for or containing one dwelling unit,' and a dwelling unit is space with its own 'cooking, sleeping and sanitary facilities designed for or occupied by one family' (§ 30-2C), so a separated suite with its own kitchen would make the house a two-family dwelling, a use the residential zones do not list (§ 30-5A(1) and (3)). Ord. No. 2026-10 (5-19-2026) also rewrote the attached-garage rules: space above an attached garage may be lived in only as part of the house, and where it forms a discernible wing it may not have 'Any kitchen/cooking facilities,' 'Any separate utility meters' or stairs or elevators running directly outside or into the garage (§ 30-3S(2) and (3)), while § 30-5A(1) bars separate dwelling units above attached garages. Cellars may not be used for habitation (§ 30-2C, Cellar; Habitation), and the flood chapter confines enclosed space below an elevated house to parking, building access and storage, with a recorded deed restriction against habitation when the enclosure is taller than six feet (§ 16-15.2A(5) and B(5)). The borough's only second-unit route is a two-family dwelling, a permitted principal use in the small Business (B) Zone at Bay and Downer Avenues on 6,000 sq ft lots (§ 30-6A(2); Appendix B), which is a duplex rather than an accessory unit.

Because Chapter 30 recognizes no ADU, it sets no accessory-unit size; the binding envelope for anything built beside a house is § 30-3N and Appendix B. A lot or combined lots may hold no more than two roofed accessory buildings (§ 30-3N(2)(c)), each no taller than 15 feet above the surrounding grade (§ 30-3N(2)(d); a private garage is also held to 15 feet, § 30-3N(1)(a)) and set back at least 10 feet from side lot lines (15 feet in R-1), 10 or 25 feet from the rear line and 10 to 25 feet from a street depending on the zone, and 25 feet from the bay (Appendix B, Accessory Structure columns), and accessory uses may not 'occupy a lot area in excess of 50% of the floor area of a dwelling on the lot or in excess of the floor area of the first floor of a dwelling having more than one floor' (§ 30-3N(1)(a)). The house itself must have at least 1,500 square feet of floor area (§ 30-5A(1)) and is limited to 2.5 habitable stories, a vertical building envelope of 30 or 32 feet from the finished first floor to the ridge, and a second habitable floor no larger than 80 percent of the first (Appendix B; § 30-2C, Vertical building envelope). Lot coverage is 30 percent of the first 12,000 square feet plus 12 percent of the next 8,000 and 14 percent beyond, capped at 6,500 square feet, within 45 percent total impervious coverage (Appendix B Notes 1 and 2), on lots of 5,000 square feet in R-6A and R-6B up to 25,000 in R-1, and 6,000 in the Business Zone.

Mantoloking allows no ADU of any form, so Chapter 30 attaches no owner-occupancy condition to an accessory unit, and the directory records not-applicable rather than no. Nothing in the chapter ties any dwelling to owner residence: the Business Zone's 'Combined residential use with professional services' (§ 30-6B) carries no residency test, and the only occupancy rule for houses is the family definition, under which a dwelling unit serves 'one family,' meaning persons living together 'as a bona fide single non-profit housekeeping unit' rather than 'an assemblage of persons organized and existing principally to share the expense of occupancy' (§ 30-2C). New Jersey has no ADU statute that imposes or preempts an owner-occupancy rule, and S1786 as reported (R1, 6-1-2026) contains none; the committee struck the introduced bill's 'personal purpose' limit.

§ 30-36D(1) requires 'one and one-half (1.5) spaces for each single-family dwelling with no more than two (2) bedrooms; two (2) spaces for each single-family dwelling with up to three (3) bedrooms, two and one-half (2.5) spaces for each four (4) bedroom single-family dwelling; and three (3) spaces for each dwelling of five (5) bedrooms or more,' each 9 by 18 feet and 'located on the same lot as the use to which such spaces are accessory' (§ 30-36A and B), while § 30-36D(2) asks only 'one (1) space for each unit in two (2) family dwellings' in the Business Zone. A garage may hold cars but 'may not be constructed or utilized for habitation' (§ 30-2C). The state 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, 'the maximum number of parking spaces planning boards and other local reviewers shall require' (5:21-4.14(c)), gives a detached house exactly the borough's values (1.5, 2.0, 2.5 and 3.0 by bedrooms, 2.5 when bedrooms are not stated) and applies them to each unit of a two-family dwelling, so the local rule matches the state ceiling for houses and stays below it for Business Zone duplexes. S1786 as reported would bar any added off-street parking for an ADU (section 3.c(6)).

There is no ADU permit path: no district lists an accessory dwelling as a permitted or conditional use, and the conditional-use lists are reserved (§§ 30-5A(4), 30-6C, 30-10). Conforming work on a house needs a zoning permit from the Zoning Officer, who must act within 10 business days or the permit is deemed approved (§ 30-13C(3); $125, or $250 for a new home, Appendix C), and then a building permit (§ 30-14C(1)). A second unit on a residential lot would need a d(1) use variance for 'A use or principal structure in a zone restricted against such use or principal structure' (§ 30-18A(4)(a)) from the nine-member Planning Board, which exercises the Board of Adjustment's powers (§ 30-16); the Mayor (Class I) and the council member (Class III) may not take part (N.J.S.A. 40:55D-25c(1)), five affirmative votes are required (N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70(d)), the fee is $850 plus a $1,500 escrow (Appendix C) and a grant lapses after two years without substantial construction (§ 30-18B). § 30-11A adds that the board 'shall not grant any variance which would permit a use in any zone if the use is designated in this chapter as "prohibited,"' and § 30-5A(3) calls every unlisted residential use prohibited, a combination no board decision has tested; the board's 2025 and 2026 resolutions include no use-variance application. In the Business Zone a two-family dwelling is a permitted principal use that needs only the zoning permit (§ 30-6A(2)).

Mantoloking has no rental licensing, registration or short-term rental chapter: quoted code searches on 2026-10-28 for 'short-term', 'short term', 'rentals', 'rental unit', 'summer rental', 'rental certificate', 'occupancy tax' and 'bed and breakfast' return nothing, as does Airbnb. The rules that reach rentals are inspections. The borough's Transfer/Sale & Rental Application (updated 3/2026) covers summer, winter, monthly and annual rentals as well as sales, charges $100 plus $25 per reinspection, must be 'received 15 days prior to premises being occupied,' requires every open permit to be closed before a sale or rental is approved, and warns that failing to obtain 'a certification of inspection for each dwelling is punishable by a fine not to exceed $1000.00'; the code sets the same fees for the 'State required fire inspection upon rental or transfer' (§ 13-2.5C(12)). Under § 15-4 (Ord. No. 2024-31) the borough inspects every single-family, two-family or multiple rental dwelling unit for lead-based paint at tenant turnover or every three years, whichever is earlier ($200 per inspection, $50 to file a lead-safe certification), unless it was built in 1978 or later, is certified lead-free, or is 'a single-family or two-family seasonal rental dwelling which is rented for less than six months duration each year by tenants that do not have consecutive lease renewals.' Group rentals are bounded by the family definition, which excludes 'an assemblage of persons organized and existing principally to share the expense of occupancy' (§ 30-2C), and S1786 as reported would bar rentals shorter than 30 days for ADUs built after enactment.