Bernardsville planning board adopts updated housing element and fair share plan tied to Mount Laurel settlements

The Bernardsville Borough Planning Board voted unanimously to adopt an updated housing element and fair share plan that reflects settlement agreements reached with challengers, including the Fair Share Housing Center and JMF Properties, and to find two implementing ordinances consistent with the borough master plan.

The board’s planner, Jessica Caldwell, told the board that the planning board had previously adopted the housing element on June 26, 2025, and that three timely challenges were filed with the dispute resolution program. Caldwell said settlement negotiations with the challengers produced changes to the fair share plan and that, under an order referenced by counsel, the borough must adopt implementing ordinances by March 15, 2026 “in order to retain immunity from builders remedy lawsuits.”

Why it matters: The updated plan and the two ordinances are part of a Mount Laurel–style compliance framework; if the borough does not adopt the required implementing ordinances by the deadline, counsel warned it could lose legal protections intended to limit developer litigation remedies.

What the board approved: Caldwell summarized the substantive changes adopted in the fair share plan. Among them, the borough removed a disputed quarry inclusionary zone after a challenge from Fair Share Housing Center and instead relied more heavily on downtown inclusionary districts and mandatory set-aside requirements. The plan increases mandatory set-asides to 20% for residential developments in the covered zones (the presentation described previous set-aside language of 15% for rentals and 20% for for-sale units, with the new plan applying a 20% set-aside across tenures).

Caldwell also reviewed project- and zone-specific credits and yields that together addressed the borough’s fourth-round obligation. She said the Clarus redevelopment area’s unit total was increased slightly (from 94 to 96 units) to yield 19 affordable rental units, and that the I-2 Bernards Avenue inclusionary zone was revised to allow about 180 rental units with a 20% set-aside (roughly 36 affordable units). Extensions of expiring affordable controls in condominium complexes added additional creditable units (29 units pledged, with the potential to reach 35 if more owners opt in).

Board members questioned acreage, density, building height and slope constraints for specific sites. Caldwell answered procedural and technical questions, providing acreage figures (the Bernards Ave parcel was described in the presentation as approximately 6.14 acres) and noting the plan caps certain crediting at 25% of total project credits in some calculations.

Ordinances and vote: The board moved and seconded resolutions finding the two implementing ordinances consistent with the master plan and passed the resolutions by roll call. The roll call in the transcript recorded affirmative votes from the members present (transcribed as Miss Geller; Mister Graham; Mister Sato; Mister Trainer; and Mister Dolphyano), and the board carried the measures.

What this does not change: Caldwell emphasized that the housing element portion of the plan largely remained as adopted previously and that the updates are focused on fair-share mechanisms tied to settlement terms with specific challengers. She also noted that some zones were retained as inclusionary only where redevelopment potential or demonstrated developer interest exists.

Next steps: Counsel and staff will forward the adopted resolutions and the housing element/fair share plan to the appropriate state office and to the governing body for the ordinance introduction and final adoption steps. The board recorded the need for precise ordinance language (for example, how building height is measured) so as to avoid inadvertent substantive changes that could trigger reintroduction or affect the immunity calculations.