Beyond Inherently Beneficial: Monarch, Sica, and the New Negative Criteria Burden in New Jersey

Short summary

The New Jersey Supreme Court in Monarch Communities, LLC v. Township of Montville revised the Sica test for use-variance applications involving inherently beneficial uses to align with the 1997 Amendment to the Municipal Land Use Law. The Court added a requirement that applicants must show the variance will not substantially impair the intent and purpose of the zone plan and zoning ordinance before balancing positive and negative criteria. This means developers can no longer rely solely on the inherently beneficial label to secure a variance without analyzing impacts on local zoning.

• •NJ Supreme Court revised the Sica four-step test for inherently beneficial use variances
• •Applicants must now show no substantial impairment to zone plan before balancing test
• •Inherently beneficial label alone is insufficient to satisfy negative criteria

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