On Monday, the Senate Economic Growth Committee amended and favorably reported S-116, and the Assembly counterpart, A-2623, which permits certain home-based businesses as accessory uses.
For more than 25 years, the League has opposed this type of legislation as an infringement on municipal planning and that illegal home businesses would now be permitted as a preexisting nonconforming use for municipalities that do not have specific prohibitions for home-based businesses.
As amended, this legislation provides guardrails to ensure that the activity is compatible with the residential use, including the volume of visitors, prohibition of outside appearance of a home business including signage, no equipment in use that creates noise or odors, and the volume of deliveries is compatible with the area.
A municipality may by ordinance establish standards to apply to home businesses within residential districts but is limited to the volume of visitors, the volume of deliveries, and parking acceptable for home businesses in a residential area.
While the League is still opposed to this legislation, we are grateful to the Senate sponsor, Senator Cruz-Perez, for listening to our concerns and addressing them with the amended version that delays the implementation by one year so that municipalities that do not have a specific prohibition can examine whether an ordinance is appropriate.
The Assembly passed this legislation earlier this session and will have to agree to the Senate version. We will keep you updated as this legislation progresses.
Contact: Paul Penna, Director of Government Affairs, ppenna@njlm.org, 609-695-3481, x110.