New Jersey Builders Association v. Bernards Township
New Jersey Supreme Court
528 A.2d 555 (1987)
Bernards Township (defendant), a rapidly developing municipality, launched a 20-year, $20 million road-improvement program to address growth-driven traffic and passed an ordinance requiring new developers to pay a pro-rata share of that overall cost under a state enabling statute. The New Jersey Builders Association (plaintiff) sued, arguing the ordinance exceeded the township's statutory authority because it did not tie developer payments to improvements caused by their own specific projects. The trial court and the appellate court both ruled for the Builders Association, and the township appealed.
Whether a municipality may charge developers a pro-rata share of townwide road-improvement costs under a statute permitting charges for offsite improvements necessitated by a developer's own project.