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Lebanon urges lawmakers to defeat S-1836, says bill would bypass local planning
Summary
The Township Committee adopted a resolution opposing S-1836, citing concerns the bill would preempt local master planning by enabling conversions to inclusionary developments by religious or nonprofit organizations with limited affordable-unit requirements and inadequate local input.
Lebanon Township’s Committee on May 13 adopted Resolution No. 84-2026 urging the New Jersey Legislature to defeat S-1836, a bill that the committee said would undermine municipal master-planning and local zoning authority.
The resolution argues that municipalities should control land-use decisions through their master plans and that the proposed state legislation would allow religious and nonprofit entities to convert certain nonresidential property into inclusionary developments with only 20% affordable housing, leaving 80% at market rate. Committee members said the measure would bypass local review, increase density and height without local input, and duplicate or undermine changes municipalities are implementing to meet 4th Round affordable-housing obligations.
The resolution states that Lebanon Township has invested in master-plan reexamination and that municipal planning is the appropriate forum to balance infrastructure, public safety and local character needs. It calls on state lawmakers to defeat S-1836 and asked the township administration to forward copies to Senator Douglas Steinhardt, Assemblymen John DiMaio and Erik Peterson, Governor Phil Murphy and the New Jersey State League of Municipalities.
The resolution passed by unanimous vote. Committee members said they support affordable housing but want it sited and scaled through local planning processes rather than by legislative overrides.
The township clerk will forward the resolution to the named state officials and the League of Municipalities.
