ADU rules in Sea Bright

Sea Bright's Land Use chapter (Chapter 130) allows no detached accessory dwelling: 'No accessory building in any zone shall be habitable' (§ 130-38D(1)(f)), accessory buildings are confined to uses 'incidental and subordinate' to the principal use (§ 130-5), and § 130-29A allows one principal structure per lot and one principal use per structure, so a backyard cottage cannot be a second house either. The R-1, R-2 and R-3 residence zones permit as principal uses only a single-family dwelling unit, 'A detached building containing only a single dwelling unit and no other use' (§ 130-38B(1)(a)), and public parks, and § 130-38G declares any use not enumerated in the zone schedules a prohibited use. A garage may not even be turned into living space unless its required parking is replaced elsewhere on the lot (§ 130-32A). A cottage, carriage house or apartment over a garage therefore needs a d(1) use variance from the Unified Planning/Zoning Board. The Board's 2026 practice runs the same way: its planner recommended that a storage room in the five-duplex 1 Peninsula Avenue project never be used as living space (7-14-2026) and that 2 Badminton Court's first floor carry a deed restriction against livable space (9-8-2026).

No zone lets a homeowner add a second unit inside or attached to a house. A dwelling unit is any 'building, or part thereof, having cooking and sanitary facilities' occupied by one family (§ 130-5), the single-family dwelling that R-1, R-2 and R-3 permit may contain 'only a single dwelling unit and no other use', and the two-unit building type, Multifamily A ('A detached building containing not more than two residential dwelling units', § 130-38B(1)(b)), appears in no residence zone, so a basement, ground-floor or in-law apartment with its own kitchen is a prohibited use (§ 130-38G) that needs a d(1) use variance. R-3's use schedule (added by Ord. No. 1-2009) did list 'Multifamily (provided minimum lot sizes are met)' as a conditional use, and the Board approved a two-family duplex at 4 Center Street under it on 1-27-2026, but Ord. No. 10-2026 (adopted 4-21-2026, carrying out the 2017 Master Plan) deleted that use; existing two-family homes continue only as nonconforming uses. Chapter 130 does define 'accessory apartments' in its Fourth Round affordable housing article (§ 130-112, Ord. No. 03-2026, adopted 3-11-2026: DCA model text covering units within, attached to or detached from the house, 'also referred to as "accessory dwelling units"'), but that is affordable-housing administration: § 130-116 lists only supportive housing and group homes, the 2025 Housing Element and Fair Share Plan relies on the Havens riverfront project, the North Pointe condominiums, a mandatory set-aside and the RO overlay, and DCA's 7-1-26 status report lists no accessory apartment program. Two-unit buildings remain a permitted principal use only in the B-2 Riverfront Business and BR Business Residential zones (and the three-lot RO overlay), and B-1 allows apartments only above ground-floor business uses, which makes a duplex or a mixed-use building, not an accessory unit.

Because Chapter 130 recognizes no ADU, it sets no accessory-unit size; the binding envelope for anything built behind a house is § 130-38D(1) and the Schedule of Lot and Building Requirements. Accessory buildings may not occupy more than 35 percent of a required rear or side yard or exceed 500 square feet or 15 feet, must stay out of the front yard and at least five feet from every lot line (three feet for sheds under 100 square feet) and five feet from the house in residential zones, and may never be habitable (§ 130-38D(1)(c) to (f)); accessory structures up to 500 square feet on an already developed lot skip site plan review (§ 130-3B(2)(f)). Houses are capped at 35 feet and 2 1/2 stories, rising to 38 feet when built or raised at least three feet above base flood elevation and up to 42 feet by design waiver where an existing building needs it to reach that elevation (§ 130-39A(6)). R-1 lots need 7,500 square feet with 30 percent building coverage, 50 percent lot coverage and a 1,200 square foot minimum floor area, while R-2 (4,000 square feet) and R-3 (1,800 square feet) allow 50 percent building coverage, 70 percent lot coverage and an 880 square foot minimum (Schedule of Lot and Building Requirements). A 'story' counts only livable space and excludes a ground floor garage or storage area (§ 130-5), but in flood hazard areas that enclosed ground level may be used solely for parking, building access or storage (§ 115-77A(5) and B(5)).

Sea Bright authorizes no ADU, so there is no accessory-unit owner-occupancy rule, and nothing in Chapter 130's residential district rules conditions a house on its owner living there (the 'owner occupied' qualifiers in the R-1 and R-3 conditional-use lists attach to professional offices, not dwellings). The nearest owner-related rules are in the 2022 short-term rental chapter: its 'owner-occupied' definition reaches 'the principal residential unit with which the STRP is associated on the same lot', one unit of a two-family dwelling may be rented short term only while the owner occupies the other as a principal residence, up to two units of a multifamily dwelling only where the owner lives in another unit, and only the owner (never a tenant) may hold the permit (§§ 164-2, 164-3B(3) and (4), 164-7J). Owner-occupied short-term rentals on permit-parking streets receive one resident parking pass plus one short-term rental pass (§ 201-28K(2)), and an owner-occupied building of four or fewer units may carry $300,000 rather than $500,000 of rental liability insurance (§ 74-2B). New Jersey has no ADU statute, so no state rule would bar an owner-occupancy condition if the borough adopted one.

The § 130-32E Schedule of Minimum Parking Requirements requires 2.0 spaces per dwelling unit for one-family, Multifamily A and Multifamily B dwellings (plus 3/4 of a guest space per unit in Multifamily B), on the same lot and within 150 feet of the use (§ 130-32A and C(3)), and § 130-32A adds that 'Existing garages may not be eliminated in any case or converted to living space unless the parking requirement is met in another location on the subject property' (Ord. No. 1-2009). A parking space is 9 by 18 feet (§ 130-5), boats and vehicles may not be kept in any setback except vehicles on a driveway (§ 130-29F), and a house may be raised to put its required parking underneath so long as building coverage and floor area grow only by that parking and the height limit holds (§ 130-29N). The state Residential Site Improvement Standards govern site improvements for residential development approvals (N.J.A.C. 5:21-1.5(a)), are 'the maximum that may be required in connection with residential development' (5:21-1.5(b)), 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 spaces for a two-bedroom single-family house, 2.0 for three, 2.5 for four and 3.0 for five, with each duplex unit at the single-family values. The borough's flat 2.0 therefore exceeds the state ceiling for a two-bedroom house, and the R-4 MFH and AHO-1 zone sections defer to RSIS outright (§§ 130-41D(1), 130-42.2E(1)). On the summer residential-permit streets (May 1 to October 1) a dwelling unit gets at most two permits and a short-term rental one renters' pass (§§ 201-28I and K, 201-31).

No zone lists an accessory dwelling as a permitted or conditional use; the residence-zone conditional uses are professional and real estate offices (owner-occupied in R-1 and R-3), public buildings, schools and one helistop (§ 130-38C(1) to (3)), and the R-3 multifamily conditional use was deleted by Ord. No. 10-2026 on 4-21-2026. A second unit on a house lot is therefore 'a use or principal structure in a district restricted against such use or principal structure', a d(1) use variance that may be granted 'only by affirmative vote of at least five members' (N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70d), heard by the nine-member Unified Planning/Zoning Board, which exercises the Board of Adjustment's powers because the borough has 2,500 or fewer residents, with the Class I (Mayor) and Class III (council) members barred from d variance cases (§ 130-6B). The fee is $350 plus a $500 escrow for a single- or two-family use variance (§ 130-74E), notice goes to owners within 200 feet (§ 130-18F), and an approval with variances lapses unless construction starts within two years, with one one-year extension (§ 130-26C(6)). The Board's 2026 agendas (January 13 through October 13) list bulk variances, a two-family duplex under the since-deleted R-3 conditional use, five duplexes in a mixed-use zone, an affordable conversion at 2 Badminton Court and a wireless use variance, and no request for an accessory unit. A conforming addition or accessory structure needs only a zoning permit ($100 for a new house, addition, alteration or lift, $50 for minor work; valid one year) and a construction permit, since construction related to single-family or two-family detached dwellings is exempt from site plan review (§§ 130-3B(2)(a), 130-69B, 130-74E).

Rental rules sit outside zoning. Chapter 164 (Ord. No. 10-2022, adopted 11-14-2022 and unamended since; the borough's owner letter applied it to rental occupancy from 1-1-2023) defines a short-term rental as occupancy by someone other than the owner or permanent resident 'for a period of 90 days or less consecutive days' with 'a minimum stay period of seven consecutive days', and allows them in condominium units whose association permits them, single-family residences, one unit of an owner-occupied two-family dwelling and up to two units of a multifamily dwelling where the owner lives in another unit, never in a room sharing a kitchen and bath with a non-owner occupant (§§ 164-2, 164-3). The owner (never a tenant) needs an annual $500 permit and a rental certificate of occupancy from the Municipal Clerk, a zoning compliance certificate, $500,000 of liability insurance ($300,000 for an owner-occupied building of four or fewer units), inspections every three months, the permit number in every listing, occupant reports at each change, one contract at a time, a primary occupant over 18 and one vehicle per four occupants; platform bookings owe a 3 percent municipal tax, and violations run from a warning to $2,000 and revocation (§§ 164-4 to 164-9), while on permit-parking streets a short-term rental gets one renters' parking pass (§ 201-28K). Every rental or sale also needs a certificate of occupancy from the Code Enforcement Officer that 'shall apply only to the occupancy for which it is issued' ($50 per rental unit, $25 reinspection), with floor-area occupancy limits (450 square feet for an efficiency for two, 750 for a two-bedroom for four) and one full bathroom per two occupants where the unit is not owner-occupied or not occupied by one family (§§ 130-73A, 130-74E, 130-79B and F). Owners file an annual insurance certificate (§ 74-3, as amended by Ord. No. 04-2026), pre-1978 rentals need lead-based paint inspections at turnover or every three years with a seasonal exception (§§ 161-4, 161-5, 161-7D), and rooming and boarding houses, cooperative sober living residences included, remain prohibited in every zone (§ 69-16).