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Bedminster adopts land-use changes to align with new state affordable-housing rules, approves related filings
Summary
The Bedminster Township Committee adopted Ordinance 2026-004 to incorporate recent New Jersey Administrative Code provisions on affordable housing and approved two companion resolutions to file the town’s amended housing element and an affordable-housing spending plan with the court. The measures were adopted by unanimous roll call.
The Bedminster Township Committee on March 2 adopted an amendment to the township’s land development code to incorporate specific New Jersey administrative-code sections related to affordable housing and approved filings intended to satisfy a Fair Share Housing Court consent process.
Township attorney John Lardo said the ordinance — numbered 2026-004 — adds references to the New Jersey Administrative Code (including cited sections 5:99-1.1 through 5:99-3.4 and 5:80-26.1 through 5:80-26.23) so the township’s rules track recently issued state regulations. “This is one of the three issues we’ll address tonight,” Lardo said, adding that, if adopted, his office would file the ordinance with the court the next morning as part of the court-directed process.
Lardo told the committee the filings are a step toward completing the municipality’s fourth-round housing obligations and toward securing a period of protection from builders’-remedy lawsuits once a final consent order is entered. “We are at the five-yard line about to get into the end zone,” he said.
Mayor Jacobs and Robin Ray, the township administrator, said the land-use board already reviewed and found the ordinance not inconsistent with the master plan. The committee then approved the ordinance by unanimous roll call.
Alongside the ordinance, the committee approved Resolution 2026-054 authorizing the township attorney to file the 2026 housing element and fair-share plan that the Land Use Board adopted, and Resolution 2026-055 adopting an affordable-housing spending plan consistent with the fourth-round fair-share plan. Lardo said the spending plan clarifies how the township may use affordable-housing funds under the new regulations and noted the package will be filed with the court per the schedule the court set.
All three measures passed by roll-call vote with each member voting "aye." The filings are expected to be submitted to the court in the coming days to advance the consent-order process and the town’s 10-year period of immunity that would cover the July 2025–July 2035 timeframe if the court signs off.
Votes at a glance
- Ordinance 2026-004 (land development: incorporate NJAC affordable-housing sections): Adopted, unanimous roll call. - Resolution 2026-054 (authorize filing of 2026 housing element/fair-share plan): Adopted, unanimous roll call. - Resolution 2026-055 (adopt affordable-housing spending plan): Adopted, unanimous roll call.
What happens next
Township attorney John Lardo said his office will file the ordinance and the two resolutions with the court as the next step in the Fair Share Housing process. The filings are intended to bring the township into compliance with recent state regulations and to move the court toward entering a final consent order.
