Clark Pushes Back On State ADU Bill As NJ Towns Fight Trenton Housing Mandates

CLARK, NJ — The Clark Township Council voted Monday to formally oppose New Jersey Senate Bill S-1786, which would require lower-density municipalities to permit accessory dwelling units on residential properties. This state mandate, officials say, would gut local zoning authority and strain township infrastructure.

S-1786 would require municipalities with a population density of fewer than 9,000 persons per square mile to allow the construction of accessory dwelling units, which can include apartments above garages or additional units on existing residential lots.

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Mayor Angel Albanese said the township's opposition is rooted in the principle of home rule.

"We feel this really takes away from our municipalities — they have no alternative if the state starts to mandate what we have to build and not build or permit," Albanese said. "We would like to preempt that local land use authority."

Councilman Steven Hund, who also serves on the township's planning board, said the bill would effectively override existing zoning requirements and compound concerns residents have already raised about the scale of new construction in Clark.

"That totally does away with all of our zoning requirements," Hund said. "As we've heard numerous times, because being on the planning board, everybody is up in arms about the size of the houses that are being put on these properties. This will just add to it, and we'll have additional issues with additional people being able to live on those properties, park on the streets, and use the services."

Clark's resolution is part of a growing pattern of New Jersey municipalities formally opposing state housing legislation they argue bypasses local planning authority.

Jefferson Township voted this week on a separate resolution opposing S-1836, which would allow religious and nonprofit organizations to convert underutilized properties into mixed-use developments with only a 20 percent affordable housing set-aside. Jefferson's resolution called that bill "an egregious assault on municipal autonomy."

Both resolutions reflect mounting resistance from NJ towns to state-level housing mandates as Trenton pushes to address the state's affordable housing shortage through legislation that reduces local control over land use decisions.

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