This morning, the New Jersey Supreme Court affirmed a decision by the Appellate Division striking down ordinances in Jackson Township and Egg Harbor. The court held that the Municipal Land Use Law does not empower municipal governments to require developers to set aside land for common open space or recreational areas and facilities (or to make payments in lieu of those set-asides), except with regard to applications for planned developments. The court’s reasoning is summarized concisely in the Clerks Syllabus:
The MLUL is a carefully constructed and comprehensive framework governing the powers of municipalities relating to land use and development. As the Court has previously held, municipalities must exercise their powers relating to zoning and land use in a manner that will strictly conform with that statute’s provisions. The Legislature, although recognizing the benefits to be derived from open space, and although including its preservation among the enumerated purposes of the MLUL, limited the manner in which municipalities may demand that it be made available. That is, the Legislature did not include in the MLUL a general mechanism for effectuation of those stated goals but created specific means through which the municipalities are empowered to achieve the Act’s purposes. Although open space is a laudable goal, the Court cannot interpret the plain wording of the MLUL to authorize municipalities to achieve it in a manner that the Legislature has not permitted.
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