ADU rules in Surf City

Surf City's zoning chapter permits one detached accessory dwelling, the garage apartment, which the RA Residential Zone lists among its accessory uses and buildings "when built in conjunction with single-family dwellings", with a ground floor no larger than 75 percent of the main building's, on a plot of at least 10,000 square feet with at least 100 feet of frontage (§ 30-6.2g(3)); § 30-3 defines it as "a two story building" with vehicle storage below and a dwelling above. The lot gate is what bites: the standard lot is 50 by 100 feet, and on the state's MOD-IV parcel layer only about 1 percent of residential tax parcels reach 10,000 square feet, though adjoining lots in one ownership count together as a "plot" (§ 30-3). The RA zone covers most of the borough (§ 30-4.1b) and residential plots in the Business Zone follow RA rules (§ 30-5.2a), but the RAA Residential Zone at Lazy Point allows only single detached one-family dwellings with garages, greenhouses and incidental structures (§§ 30-7.2, 30-7.3). A second detached dwelling in any other form counts as a duplex ("a structure or structures located on a single lot designed for two separate residences", § 30-3) and faces the same 10,000-square-foot test (§ 30-6.2b), while the "guest house" and "accessory dwelling" that § 30-3 defines appear in no district list and are barred as unlisted uses (§ 30-6.3a, § 27-2.11). No plot may hold more than two dwellings (§ 30-11.1b), and the two-story form collides with the one-story accessory height cap (see max size).

There is no attached, internal or basement accessory unit provision. A second unit inside or added onto a house makes it a duplex, which § 30-3 defines as two residences each with "a separate entrance, separate cooking facilities and separate complete bathroom facilities", and which the RA zone permits as a principal use only where "the plot on which the duplex dwelling is erected has a minimum area of 10,000 square feet of upland ground with a minimum frontage of 100 feet" (§ 30-6.2b); the Business Zone bars a duplex on any lot under 10,000 square feet and limits mixed-use lots to one commercial establishment and one living unit (§§ 30-5.3b, 30-5.2d), and the RAA zone allows no two-family use at all. That is a two-family conversion rather than an ADU, so the directory records no. On smaller lots the Land Use Board treats the lot test as a conditional-use standard: it denied a d(3) special reasons variance to raise and expand an existing duplex on a 4,000-square-foot lot (Res. 2026-06, memorialized 3-25-2026, 112 N. 16th Street), and § 30-12.8d makes anyone seeking d relief for a nonpermitted duplex produce utility bills for each unit. Flood rules also rule out a ground-level apartment under a raised house, since enclosed space below the lowest floor may hold only parking, building access or storage (§ 21-15.2a5).

§ 30-6.2g(3) limits the garage apartment's ground floor to 75 percent of the ground floor area of the main building, matching the unused § 30-3 "accessory dwelling" definition (no more than 3/4 of the main building's area), and sets no separate floor-area, bedroom or occupancy cap for the apartment itself. All buildings on an RA plot together may cover at most 35 percent of it (§ 30-6.4e), accessory buildings may not intrude on the required yards of 10 feet in front, 5 and 10 feet at the sides and 5 feet at the rear (§ 30-6.5), and no building may stand within 20 feet of a bulkhead (§ 30-8.2b4). Height is unresolved: § 30-6.4d, as amended by Ord. 2007-5 (4-11-2007), says "The maximum height of any accessory building in this zone shall be one story on [sic] 15 feet at the center peak", with a continuous roof slope, no dormers and sidewalls no higher than 10 feet above the basic street grade, while a garage apartment is by definition "a two story building". The code offers no exception, the 2017 compiled code prints the same two provisions, and Land Use Board records from 2023 through September 2026 show no garage apartment application, so whether the Zoning Officer applies the cap (sending the project to the Board for a bulk variance) or treats the specific garage apartment clause as controlling is unsettled. The apartment floor must also sit at or above the Local Design Flood Elevation (§ 21-15.2a3).

Neither the garage apartment clause (§ 30-6.2g(3)) nor the duplex permission (§ 30-6.2b) ties occupancy to the owner, and no other section of the code does; the requirement that a garage apartment be "built in conjunction with single-family dwellings" pairs it with a house but says nothing about who lives in either. New Jersey has no ADU statute that would impose or preempt an owner-occupancy rule. The only owner-occupancy distinction in the borough's rental administration is the insurance tier its Zoning page describes under N.J.S.A. 40A:10A-1: $300,000 of liability coverage for a multi-family home of four or fewer units, one of which is owner-occupied, against $500,000 for other rental owners, with the certificate registered every year under § 5-10.

§ 30-6.6a requires, "at the time of erection or enlargement of any principal building or structure", "Two parking spaces for each dwelling unit on the plot" in the RA zone (the RAA rule in § 30-7.6a is the same, and residential plots in the Business Zone follow RA requirements under § 30-5.2a); each space is 9 by 20 feet (§ 30-3) and any part of a required yard may be used for parking (§ 30-11.1a). The 2019 Master Plan Reexamination notes that one of a house's two required spaces may be in the garage, which suits the garage-below form, and the code offers no transit, ADU or affordable-unit reduction. The state Residential Site Improvement Standards govern site improvements "in connection with any other residential development approval" (N.J.A.C. 5:21-1.5(a)), are "the maximum that may be required" (5:21-1.5(b)), and Table 4.4 "specifies the maximum number of parking spaces planning boards and other local reviewers shall require" (5:21-4.14(c)): single-family values of 1.5 spaces for two bedrooms up to 3.0 for five, applied to each unit of a two-family dwelling, with no one-bedroom row. Under both texts a typical three-bedroom house needs 2.0, while a small apartment is held to 2 locally against a state maximum of 1.5.

On the code's text a garage apartment that meets § 30-6.2g(3) is a listed accessory use approved ministerially: the Zoning Officer issues zoning permits "in accordance with the provisions of this chapter" (§ 30-15.2b) for a $75 fee (§ 30-15.4c), the owner must first file a notarized affidavit declaring the 10,000-square-foot parcel one buildable lot (§ 30-6.2j), taxes must be current (§ 30-15.4d), and the Construction Official issues the construction permits and the certificate of occupancy (§ 30-15.4b); unlike marinas and service stations, the clause is not labeled a conditional use. Two things can send an application to the nine-member Land Use Board, which also holds the zoning board's powers (§ 27-2.9): the accessory height cap a two-story garage apartment cannot meet, a bulk variance under N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70(c) because subsection (d)(6) covers only principal structures, and any shortfall in plot area or frontage. The Board treated the parallel duplex condition as a conditional-use standard needing a d(3) special reasons variance, which takes at least five affirmative votes, when it denied Res. 2026-06 (memorialized 3-25-2026), and would likely read the garage apartment's lot condition the same way; a guest house or other accessory dwelling the use list does not name would need a d(1) use variance. An approval of a d variance may be appealed to the Borough Council within 10 days of publication (§ 27-5), and a variance lapses unless construction starts within a year (§ 27-2.10).

Nothing in the code limits the term for which a garage apartment or duplex unit may be rented: quoted eCode360 searches on 2026-10-28 for "short-term rental", "short-term rentals", "short term rental" and "occupancy tax" found nothing in the code or the New Laws bank. Before any lease begins, § 13-2a requires a smoke alarm, carbon monoxide alarm and portable fire extinguisher inspection and Certificate of Compliance, renewed annually for seasonal rentals, with fees of $45 (more than 10 business days ahead) to $161 (fewer than four days) under § 13-2b, which the Zoning page restates as $45 for a single-family home and $90 for a duplex. Owners of rental units must register a certificate of liability insurance with the Municipal Clerk by January 1 each year ($5; fines of $500 to $5,000) under § 5-10. Chapter 14 defines a seasonal rental as a term under 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 two to four years, after three substantiated disorderly-conduct convictions in a year, with an injunction against new leases until it is posted (§§ 14-1.2 to 14-1.8); § 4-10 requires adult supervision, police registration and an adult-signed lease before a group including three or more minors may rent. Renting rooms as a boarding or rooming house is prohibited in the RA zone (§ 30-6.3b).