Bill Text: NJ A2623 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: "Home Business Jobs Creation Act"; classifies certain home businesses as permitted accessory uses.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 3-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-09 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Commerce, Economic Development and Agriculture Committee [A2623 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-A2623-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
221st LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2024 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman JAY WEBBER
District 26 (Morris and Passaic)
Co-Sponsored by:
Assemblymen DiMaio and Auth
SYNOPSIS
"Home Business Jobs Creation Act"; classifies certain home businesses as permitted accessory uses.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act concerning municipal land use and supplementing chapter 55D of Title 40 of the New Jersey Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Home-Based Jobs Creation Act."
2. The Legislature finds and declares:
a. Corporate restructuring and the rise of telecommunications have led to an increase in the number of individuals working out of their homes. According to the Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy, small businesses represent 99.7% of all United States employer firms and roughly 15 million small businesses across the country are operated from people's homes. Additionally, home businesses make up roughly 50% of all small businesses. In these economically challenging times, the need for home businesses can be expected to increase;
b. According to the United States Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics, approximately 25% of workers worked at home at least occasionally in 2017-2018, and 15% of wage and salary workers had days they worked only at home during that same period. Additionally, between 2005 and 2015, the number of American employees working remotely at least part of the time increased by 115%. The trend toward increased working from home has been accelerating for years. Furthermore, due to the recent SARS-CoV-2 novel coronavirus ("COVID-19") pandemic, which has resulted in an increase of office closures across the country, the need for increasing support and access to home businesses by the Legislature has never been more important;
c. Many of these home businesses are operating in violation of outmoded local ordinances. Many zoning ordinances permit home businesses of recognized professionals, such as doctors, lawyers, and accountants, but prohibit other for-profit home businesses under certain circumstances;
d. Most zoning ordinances enacted in the 1960s and 1970s were based on good intentions and focused on the protection of residential neighborhoods from the negative effects of industry; this occurred at a time when more than 75% of the working public then pursued businesses outside of the home;
e. One-third of all men and women who are downsized from their jobs start their own home businesses, which they thereafter work for one, two or more years, or until the economy improves. With the impact that current financial downsizing and COVID-19 are having on New Jersey employment, it is important to provide a safe-haven for the temporarily unemployed, to enable them to provide for their own financial stability and to lessen the load on government to provide for them;
f. About 25% of newly started home businesses grow to the point where they will become employers and move the business out of the home;
g. The nation's changing economic structure and technological development have catalyzed the development of home businesses. According to the Partnership for Work at Home, over 90% of such businesses do not create the traffic, pollution, noise, or the safety problems of other industries. New approaches in zoning are needed to ensure that this very important segment of the economy, which may lay the groundwork for the expansion of companies that later grow to "Fortune 100" or "Fortune 500" levels, and which generates many jobs and increased revenues to the State economy, is provided the opportunity for growth. Such growth cannot occur unless the Legislature ensures that home businesses that fall within certain prescribed criteria are permitted as accessory uses in residential zones of municipalities; and
h. This act is intended to establish State guidelines for municipalities to follow in their treatment of home businesses, in order to carefully balance the interests of home businesses with the needs of the residential area in which they operate.
3. For the purposes of this act:
"Home business" means any activity operated for pecuniary gain in, or directed from, a residential dwelling or unit by one or more persons residing within that dwelling or unit.
Notwithstanding any municipal ordinance to the contrary, upon the effective date of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), a home business within a residential zone shall be permitted as an accessory use, not requiring a use variance pursuant to section 57 of P.L.1975, c.291 (C.40:55D-70), provided that:
a. the activity is compatible with the residential use of the property and surrounding residential uses;
b. the volume of employees, invitees, or guests who visit the home business is not in excess of what is compatible with residential use in the neighborhood;
c. there is no outside appearance of a home business including, but not limited to, parking, signs, or lights;
d. the volume of deliveries, or truck and other vehicular traffic, or parking, is not in excess of what is normally associated with residential use in the neighborhood;
e. the activity uses no equipment or process that creates noise, vibration, glare, fumes, odors, or electrical or electronic interference, including interference with radio or television reception, detectable by any neighbors;
f. the activity does not generate any solid waste or sewage discharge, in volume or type, that is not normally associated with residential use in the neighborhood; and
g. the activity does not involve any illegal activity.
In the case of a dwelling unit that is part of a common interest ownership community, which is a community in which at least some of the property is owned in common by all of the residents, the provisions of this section shall not be deemed to supersede any deed restriction, covenant, agreement, master deed, by-laws, or other documents that prohibit a home business within a dwelling unit.
A municipality shall not be required to amend or modify an existing ordinance pertaining to home businesses so long as no portion of the ordinance is in conflict with the provisions of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).
4. In accordance with the purposes of this act, a municipality may establish, pursuant to ordinance:
a. standards to apply to home businesses within residential districts concerning the volume of invitees or guests;
b. standards for the volume of delivery or truck traffic and parking that will be deemed acceptable for home businesses in residential districts.
Any standards established for home businesses pursuant to this section shall apply to all similar home businesses within the district.
5. The provisions of this act shall not be construed as limiting in any manner the powers of a municipality to protect the health, safety and welfare of its residents, including the investigation and elimination of nuisances.
6. This act shall take effect on the first day of the sixth month next following enactment.
STATEMENT
This bill would permit a home business to exist in a residential zone as a permitted accessory use, provided that the following conditions are met:
(1) the activity is compatible with the residential use of the property and surrounding residential uses;
(2) the volume of invitees or guests who visit the residential dwelling or unit is not in excess of what is customary for residential use in the neighborhood;
(3) there is no outside appearance of a home business including, but not limited to, parking, signs or lights;
(4) the volume of deliveries or truck and other vehicular traffic is not in excess of what is normally associated with residential use in the neighborhood;
(5) the activity uses no equipment or process that creates noise, vibration, glare, fumes, odors, or electrical or electronic interference, including interference with radio or television reception, detectable by any neighbors;
(6) the activity does not generate any solid waste or sewage discharge, in volume or type, which is not normally associated with residential use in the neighborhood; and
(7) the activity does not involve any illegal activity.
The bill would not supersede provisions of the governing documents of a common interest ownership community that prohibit operation of a home business in a dwelling unit within the common interest ownership community.
The bill would not require a municipality to amend an existing ordinance pertaining to home businesses provided that the ordinance does not contradict the provisions of the bill.
The bill would allow a municipality, by ordinance, to establish standards for the customary volume of invitees or guests within residential districts, and standards for the volume of delivery or truck traffic that are acceptable within residential districts.
The bill would not limit the power of a municipality to protect the health, safety and welfare of its residents, including the investigation and elimination of nuisances.
