New Law Sets 10-Day Turnaround for Zoning Permits

ATLANTIC CITY-It’s gotten progressively tougher for developers to build anything in New Jersey, everything from a handful of single-family homes to a major commercial project. A piece of legislation in the pipeline since the mid-90s has had municipalities, developers and environmentalists at loggerheads. When the dust cleared, Acting Governor Donald DiFrancesco, whose background is in real estate, came down on the side of the developers.

DiFrancesco chose the New Jersey Builders Association Convention, currently underway in this gaming mecca, to put his signature on Assembly Bill 2403, which amends current law by requiring municipalities to act on requests for zoning permits within 10 business days. Failure to act within the 10 days will result in automatic approval of a zoning request. The bill, which will take effect in early July, applies only to requests conforming to existing zoning that doesn’t require any variances. Before reaching the acting governor, the bill had substantial support in Trenton–it was approved by a 38-1 vote in the state senate and 68-2 in the state assembly.

“Ten days is a reasonable amount of time to make a decision,” DiFrancesco said as he signed the bill in front of hundreds of convention attendees. “It’s only fair that you get efficient turnaround on projects when more time means more expense.”