New Jersey Municipal Land Use Law — ADU Permissive Framework (NJ)
Tracked preemption from the New Jersey overlay bundle.
Overview
← All state preemptionsNew Jersey overlay roll-upNew Jersey zoning wikiNew Jersey building codesFederal overlaysGlossaryFederal-conflict: Not flagged
Effective
1976-01-14
Sunset
—
Authority
state
Scope
state:NJ
Other New Jersey preemptions
New Jersey A4 / S50 — Affordable Housing Act of 2024New Jersey S3442 — Office-to-Residential Conversion By-RightNew Jersey Highlands — Preservation Area Council PreemptionNew Jersey Transit Village Program — TOD Incentive OverlayNew Jersey Fair Housing Act — Statutory Fair Share FrameworkNew Jersey Urban Enterprise Zone Program — Economic Incentive OverlayNew Jersey Pinelands — Comprehensive Management Plan PreemptionNew Jersey Mount Laurel Doctrine — Constitutional Fair Share Obligation
Trigger predicate
When this evaluates true for a parcel, the law's preempted fields take precedence over base zoning.
parcel.base_zone_category ∈ {res_sf, res_mf, res_th, mu}Preempted fields
1 field on the base district schema is rewritten when the trigger fires.
| Field | Op | Value | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
base_districts[category=res_sf].allowed_uses | add | adu | NJ does not yet have a blanket statewide ADU mandate comparable to CA §66411.7 — ADU enablement depends on adopted municipal ordinances and the MLUL authorization in NJSA 40:55D-65.1 (accessory apartment provisions) |
Citation
Authority source
NJSA 40:55D-1 et seq. (Municipal Land Use Law); specifically NJSA 40:55D-65 (permissive ADU authorization)
§ NJSA 40:55D-65
Research notes
MLUL authorizes but does not mandate ADUs. Listed here because MLUL is the statutory ceiling on municipal zoning authority: any municipal ADU prohibition must be consistent with MLUL purposes (housing supply, efficient land use). Active 2024–2026 legislative proposals (A1495 etc.) would create a true statewide ADU mandate but had not been enacted as of this review. Include this overlay as informational; evaluator marks applies_conditionally: true pending municipal adoption.