Bill > S1658

Introduced Session

This bill makes changes to portions of the "Municipal Land Use Law" applicable to residential site improvement standards for storm water management to allow municipalities to adopt municipal development ordinances that establish more stringent residential site improvement standards for storm water management for residential developments. The bill specifies that Statewide storm water management recommendations and established regulations are to include minimum standards for all residential developments. The bill requires the Commissioner of Community Affairs to revise the existing Statewide site improvement standards to conform with the requirements of the bill. The bill further specifies that, for any project that is a residential development, a municipality may by ordinance adopt site improvement standards for storm water management that are more stringent than the Statewide minimum standards adopted by the Commissioner of Community Affairs. New Jersey adopted storm water management regulations pursuant to P.L.1981, c.32 (C.40:55D-93 et seq.) as part of the "Municipal Land Use Law," P.L.1975, c.291 (C.40:55D-1 et seq.). At the time New Jersey adopted this law, the "Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972," as amended by the "Clean Water Act of 1977" (33 U.S.C. s.1344) (CWA), did not require states or their political subdivisions to regulate storm water except for combined sewer systems. As a result of amendments to the CWA and subsequent regulations, in 1990 and 1999 in particular, New Jersey and its political subdivisions were required to issue Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NJPDES) permits for the control and regulation of polluted storm water discharges. Because New Jersey has been required since 1999 to regulate its storm water discharges through the use of NJPDES permits, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has issued Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) permits to municipalities. Storm water is no longer regulated as a land use practice but as a pollutant. Therefore, continuing the limitations enacted with the Residential Site Improvement Standards is no longer appropriate.

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Andrew Zwicker (D)*, 

Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee (on 01/13/2026)

Official Document