Our Firm
Legal Practice Areas
Attorney Profiles
Paralegal Staff
Firm News/Client Alerts
Articles
Newsletters
Frequently Asked Questions
Contact Us
 |
HIGH
COURT: TOWNS, DEVELOPERS MUST HEED
RESIDENTIAL SITE IMPROVEMENT STANDARDS
By Richard I. Clark, Esq.
Siding
with the state Department of Community Affairs, the New Jersey
State Supreme Court has held that Residential Site Improvement
Standards (RSIS) do not violate the principle of home rule
concept of local zoning and are enforceable. The Court, in
New Jersey State League of Municipalities v. Department of
Community Affairs, rejected a claim by the League that the
standards illegally usurped local prerogatives.
"The
[standards constitute] a major step by the Legislature toward
fostering uniformity and predictability in residential development,
and we have no reason to question the Legislature's finding
that uniform standards will serve the public interest by reducing
housing costs," the unanimous Court wrote in the spring.
What
does this mean for municipalities and developers? In a nutshell,
heed the standards promulgated by the Department of Community
Affairs (DCA), because they are the law of the land.
For
municipalities, this means eliminating local standards that
conflict with it. If the RSIS call for sidewalks that are
28 feet wide, for instance, and your local ordinance calls
for sidewalks that are 36 feet wide, modify the ordinance
so it conforms with the superseding state RSIS. There are,
of course, exceptions, and communities can apply for a waiver,
but the appeals process is costly and the likelihood of success
is limited. In the appeals process, you will be dealing with
a state agency, after all - not to mention that it's the agency
that promulgated the rules in the first place - and that is
always cumbersome, time-consuming, and expensive. In addition,
municipalities should not count on judicial relief - state
courts are unlikely to make themselves available on this issue.
Exemptions for special historic districts and rural preservation
areas may be applied for.
For
developers, this means using the RSIS as a model and pointing
to it to bolster their applications for municipal approvals.
In other words, builders should be prepared to argue that
RSIS regulations supersede conflicting land use ordinances
in residential applications. The law backs them on that point.
The
greatest concern of local zoning advocates is not so much
the state's residential standards - which are mostly technical
- but that the appeals process offers little hope. Further,
this appears to be the first in a series of steps of removing
zoning decisions, which have always been made at the local
level, from the municipalities in favor of the state. Stay
tuned.
Richard I. Clark
is a partner at Laddey, Clark & Ryan and maintains a specialty
in land use law. He is also assistant counsel to the New Jersey
Planning Officials. For more information on him and his practice,
click on the Our Attorneys section of this website.
Return To Previous Page |
