Opinion ID: 2263467
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Minimum house size requirements

Text: As of 1970, 92% of the land in the Department of Community Affairs study area [3] zoned for single family housing was covered by some minimum house size requirement. More than 65% was zoned for houses with 1,000 square feet or more of floor space, and 38.9% for houses of 1,200 square feet or more. By contract, the controversial case of Lionshead Lake v. Wayne Tp., 10 N.J. 165 (1953), appeal dismissed 344 U.S. 919, 73 S.Ct. 386, 97 L.Ed. 708 (1953), upheld a minimum of 768 square feet in all districts. There is wide variation from county to county and within the various counties. [4] In the so-called outer-ring counties in northern New Jersey  Morris, Somerset, Middlesex, and Monmouth [5]  houses of less than 1,000 square feet may be built on only about 10% of the land zoned for single family dwellings. On 77% of the land zoned for single family dwellings, houses must have 1,200 square feet or more of floor space. In the South Jersey outer-ring counties, Burlington, Camden, and Gloucester, the figures are 31.9% and 43.5% respectively. The effect on the cost of housing of such requirements is obvious. If one assumes construction costs of $20 per square foot of floor space, [6] a 1,000 square foot minimum imposes a corresponding minimum figure of $20,000 upon the portion of the cost of a new house attributable to construction. A recent study of housing costs indicates that floor space is the single most important factor contributing to differences in prices for new housing, even more important than the socio-economic status of the municipality. Sagalyn & Sternlieb, supra at 48.