Municipal Land Use Law
Fighting for What We Believe In. Together.

Applications should advance Municipal Land Use Law (MLUL)

​

Highlights of MLUL are below:

    Purpose of the act.  It is the intent and purpose of this act:
   a.   To encourage municipal action to guide the appropriate use or development of all lands in this State, in a manner which will promote the public health, safety, morals, and general welfare;
   b.   To secure safety from fire, flood, panic and other natural and man-made disasters;
   c.   To provide adequate light, air and open space;
   d.   To ensure that the development of individual municipalities does not conflict with the development and general welfare of neighboring municipalities, the county and the State as a whole;   e.   To promote the establishment of appropriate population densities and concentrations that will contribute to the well-being of persons, neighborhoods, communities and regions and preservation of the environment;   f.   To encourage the appropriate and efficient expenditure of public funds by the coordination of public development with land use policies;   g.   To provide sufficient space in appropriate locations for a variety of agricultural, residential, recreational, commercial and industrial uses and open space, both public and private, according to their respective 

environmental requirements in order to meet the needs of all New Jersey citizens;
   h.   To encourage the location and design of transportation routes which will promote the free flow of traffic while discouraging location of such facilities and routes which result in congestion or blight;
   i.   To promote a desirable visual environment through creative development techniques and good civic design and arrangement;
   j.   To promote the conservation of historic sites and districts, open space, energy resources and valuable natural resources in the State and to prevent urban sprawl and degradation of the environment through improper use of land;
   k.   To encourage planned unit developments which incorporate the best features of design and relate the type, design and layout of residential, commercial, industrial and recreational development to the particular site;
   l.   To encourage senior citizen community housing construction;
   m.   To encourage coordination of the various public and private procedures and activities shaping land development with a view of lessening the cost of such development and to the more efficient use of land;
   n.   To promote utilization of renewable energy resources; and
   o.   To promote the maximum practicable recovery and recycling of recyclable materials from municipal solid waste through the use of planning practices designed to incorporate the State Recycling Plan goals and to complement municipal recycling programs.

​

The applicant has a responsibility to prove why the application is beneficial.

​

Objectors should review the law and word their objections in such a way that it becomes clear the variances requested do not advance MLUL.

​

Examples of objections include:

​

This application does not promote public health, safety and general welfare because it creates a traffic hazard (modified points of access/egress from Rt. 70, a busy state highway, encroaching on established neighborhood (Kingston & Barclay) streets, which increase the potential for accidents and exponentially increases the number of turns both in and out of the property.

This application does not promote public health, safety and general welfare because the addition of illuminated signs above permitted height results in increased light pollution, disrupting sleep cycles of adjacent residents, and increased noise levels, impacting the quiet enjoyment of one’s home. Noise and light pollution have been proven to negatively impact health and well-being.

​

This application does not secure safety from fire, flood, panic and other natural and man-made disasters as the introduction of gasoline pumps in close proximity to a residential area increases potential harm to people, pets and property in nearby homes. The vast expanse of impervious surfaces also increases the potential for toxic oil and gasoline-ridden stormwater runoff and flooding to affect the yards of nearby properties, the sewer system and the intermittent creek which feeds into the south branch of the Cooper River via the Cooperskill Rd. viaduct.

This application does not promote the establishment of appropriate population densities and concentrations that will contribute to the well-being of persons, neighborhoods, communities and regions and preservation of the environment. It deprives adjacent homeowners of their privacy, increases noise and light pollution, creates a flooding and safety hazard, disrupts their well-being, and negatively impacts the overall neighborhood by increasing traffic in the already congested West Gate Drive entrance to Barclay Farms and Kingston Drive entrance to Kingston Estates and Greenhaven.

This application does not encourage the location and design of transportation routes which will promote the free flow of traffic, instead it promotes the location of such facilities and routes which result in congestion or blight, specifically the addition of a driveway on a plot of land that was a residence and professional office, located almost directly opposite a church parking lot and playground.

This application does not promote a desirable visual environment, in fact it removes landscaped medians bearing neighborhood signs and replaces them with paved turning lanes, thus eroding civic values and denigrating the neighborhoods.

This application does not promote the conservation of open space, energy resources and valuable natural resources in the State nor prevent urban sprawl, instead it degrades the environment through improper use of land by removing landscaped medians, introducing a driveway where once a home stood and increasing noise and light pollution.  

​