ADU rules in Neptune Township

Ordinance No. 26-19, adopted July 13, 2026 and not yet codified on eCode360, added a new Land Development Ordinance section allowing one accessory dwelling unit, 'either attached to or detached from a primary dwelling', on a lot that otherwise holds one principal building. ADUs are permitted in the R-1, R-2, R-3 and R-4 single-family districts, and in Ocean Grove's HD-R-1 Historic District Single-Family Residential zone with the added approval of the Historic Preservation Commission. A detached unit may be up to 24 feet tall, must sit at least 5 feet from side and rear lot lines and behind the zone's front setback, and must complement the house's architectural style and materials. The R-5 multifamily district and Ocean Grove's HD-O oceanfront, HD-R-2 and HD-B-1 districts are not listed, and § LDO-401 prohibits every use the chapter does not expressly permit, so houses there cannot add one.

The same ordinance permits an ADU attached to the primary dwelling in R-1 to R-4 and, with Historic Preservation Commission approval, in HD-R-1; an attached unit may be no taller than the house and keeps the same 5-foot side and rear setbacks. The ordinance speaks only of attached and detached units and does not separately address an internal conversion such as a basement or attic unit, which reads as an attached unit. The codified 'accessory apartment' provisions are a different regime: § LDO-415.12 lets the Planning Board approve, as a conditional use, apartments on the second and third stories of buildings in the B-1 town commercial and HD-B-1 historic mixed-use districts whose ground floor holds a permitted use. No residential district lists two-family dwellings (Schedule A-1).

Ord. No. 26-19 C.1 caps the unit at the lesser of 800 square feet or half the primary dwelling's size (the ordinance does not say how size is measured), so a 1,200 sq ft house allows at most a 600 sq ft ADU. Subsection E sets height (24 feet detached, no higher than the house attached) and D sets 5-foot side and rear setbacks plus the zone's front-yard setback. § LDO-412.01 makes accessory buildings meet the bulk rules that govern the principal building, so the Schedule B building-coverage limits still bind the whole lot: 25% in R-1, 30% in R-2 and R-3, 50% in R-4 and 85% in HD-R-1. The codified caps on private garages (784 sq ft for a two-car garage, 16 ft tall) and sheds (175 sq ft, 15 ft) are written for those structures, and the ordinance does not say how they apply to a unit in or over a garage.

Ord. No. 26-19 B.1 requires that either the primary dwelling or the ADU be owner-occupied, and B.2 bars selling the ADU separately from the primary dwelling. The rule is written as a continuing condition of the use, not an application-time test; the application must include proof of ownership (G.2), but the ordinance creates no deed restriction, affidavit or annual certification to enforce occupancy. New Jersey has no statewide ADU statute, so nothing preempts the requirement.

Ord. No. 26-19 F.1 requires one additional off-street space for the ADU 'unless waived in specific situations', giving proximity within half a mile of an NJ Transit rail or bus rapid transit station as its example; it names no other waiver criteria and no official who grants the waiver. Outside the historic districts the LDO defers residential parking to the state Residential Site Improvement Standards (§ LDO-412.17, Table 4.2), whose Table 4.4 sets the most spaces local reviewers may require and lets them allow fewer where transit access or other factors warrant (N.J.A.C. 5:21-4.14(c)); RSIS has no ADU category. In HD-R-1, § LDO-412.06G prohibits new driveways in all historic zone districts, Table 4.2 says 'No off-street parking permitted or required' for uses in historic zone districts, and § LDO-517 takes the Ocean Grove Historic District out of the RSIS parking counts, so in Ocean Grove the space F.1 requires collides with rules that bar new driveways and off-street parking, and the ordinance does not say which controls.

ADUs are a permitted use in the listed zones, not a conditional use, but approval runs through the Planning Board: owners must submit an ADU application to the Board with site plans, building plans and proof of ownership (G), and 'ADUs shall be subject to administrative review and approval by the Planning Board' (H.1), with a conditional use permit possibly required 'if additional variances are requested' (H.2). The ordinance sets no hearing, notice or decision deadline, the township posts no ADU application form, and no ADU application appeared on the Planning Board agendas posted for July 22, August 26 and October 28, 2026, so how the Board conducts this administrative review is untested. A zoning permit (§ LDO-1102A.3) and a construction permit follow. In HD-R-1 the Historic Preservation Commission must also approve the unit, and § LDO-900A bars any zoning permit in a historic zone district until the Commission issues a Certificate of Appropriateness (45-day decision clock, § LDO-904).

Ord. No. 26-19 restricts renting only through its owner-occupancy and no-separate-sale rules (B), so either unit may be leased while the owner occupies the other. Chapter 12 (§ 12-1.2jj, PM 902.1 to 903.2) requires a Code Enforcement Certificate of Inspection before any sale, lease, rental or occupancy ($150 per structure plus $75 per added unit for terms of 365 days or more). Ord. No. 24-32 (adopted 9-23-2024; never codified, so eCode360 still prints the text as last amended by Ord. 22-39 in 2022) restated PM 902.3: rentals under 365 days need a 2-night minimum and a Certificate of Inspection before each Summer (May 23 to September 30) and Winter season, 'Rooms and/or sections of occupied dwellings, units and apartments may not be rented separately', and the codified sentence barring the owner from occupying the premises during rental periods is gone; it added the property agent rule and the disorderly-conduct penalties (PM 905.1, 905.2). Rental units also carry an annual mercantile registration (the § 4-12 schedule lists $100 for one rental unit and $50 for short-term seasonal rental properties) and at least $500,000 of liability insurance ($300,000 for an owner-occupied home of four or fewer units) under § 4-3.12, while rent leveling (§ 4-30) exempts owner-occupied buildings and structures with four or fewer rental units.