Bernards Township, New Jersey
Each issue has its own page: where it stands, what happens next, and every dated event, explainer, document and meeting recording behind it, each linked to the township's own record.
Applications, redevelopment areas and the Master Plan: what is being proposed and built across the township.
On Nov. 11, 2025 the Township Committee voted 3-2 to have the Planning Board study whether the former Lord Stirling School at 99 Lord Stirling Road and the lot at 25 Sherwood Drive are an area in need of redevelopment, without eminent domain. The Board opened its hearing on the study on Oct. 20, 2026 and carried it to Dec. 8.
131 Morristown Rd LLC asked the Zoning Board for use and floor-area variances to replace an office complex on Route 202 with age-restricted townhouses: 119 units, then 131, then 125. On Oct. 28, 2026 the motion to approve drew four votes to three; a "d" variance needs five.
Ord. #2603 sets exterior upkeep rules for properties not used as homes (blight, overgrown landscaping, refuse, inoperable vehicles, peeling paint or siding), with fines up to $2,000 a day and township clean-up charged as a tax lien. Introduced 5-0 on Aug. 11, 2026; adopted 4-0 on Aug. 25 after six people spoke.
The Zoning Board denied Signature Acquisitions' plan for two light-manufacturing and office buildings at 150 Allen Road, 6-0, in November 2024. The owner sued, and on Sept. 29, 2026 a Superior Court judge sent the case back for the Board to consider its reconsideration request and revised plan, Patch and TAPinto reported.
The register of other land-use matters before Bernards' boards from November 2025 to October 2026: Amzak's amended plan for its 280-unit Mountain View Boulevard site (approved 5-1), Millington Baptist Church's parking lot, Fellowship Village's extension and others, plus the zoning ordinances the Committee adopted and the Planning Board's new online portal.
How the township is run: appointments, contracts, policing policy and public notice.
The township's police department has 40 full-time officers in the 2026 budget. In 2026 the Committee hired eight patrol officers, approved promotions, placed Class III officers in the schools and accepted an $835,000 federal grant for new police radios.
Two volunteer fire companies, one with a first aid squad, protect Bernards, funded through the municipal budget and capital fund rather than fire districts. Since December 2025 the Committee has approved two Motorola radio orders of about $500,000 each and $1.22 million of 2026 fire, EMS and emergency-management capital.
Farmland and open-space preservation, wildlife, streams and the Sourland Mountain.
The township asked for $1,840,125 in federal Community Project Funding for a culvert and paths at Pleasant Valley Park; Rep. Tom Kean, Jr. says the money is in a House appropriations bill, which has not been enacted. In 2026 the township replaced Mountain Park's turf fields ($960,826), resurfaced 12 courts and began a cricket pitch.
Bernards is in the Highlands Planning Area, where a town may choose to conform its master plan to the regional Highlands plan; it has not. The township hosted a Highlands Council presentation on Sept. 23, 2026, and on Oct. 13 Committee members stated differing views, NJ Hills reported. No resolution has been introduced.
Bernards runs a community-based deer management program under a volunteer advisory committee and a state Division of Fish and Wildlife permit. On July 28, 2026 the Township Committee continued it for the 2026-2027 season, 5-0. The 2026 budget carries $38,125 for the Deer Task Force.
The township is redoing its state-required MS4 stormwater mapping after rescinding a 2025 award (Boswell, up to $94,000), studying the Culberson Road storm sewer (due Nov. 27, 2026) and seeking $250,000 in federal money for stormwater planning. It accepted eight conservation and drainage easements by ordinance.
Property taxes, the township budget, assessments and tax appeals.
The Township Committee adopted a $49.77 million 2026 municipal budget 5-0 on April 28, 2026. The municipal tax rate is 0.246 per $100 of assessed value (0.253 in 2025) within a total 2026 rate of 1.661 (1.688 in 2025); the township reports no municipal debt and pays for capital work in cash.
The Fourth Round housing plan, the court case behind it, and the developments that carry it.
Bernards' 2025-2035 obligation is 24 homes to rehabilitate and 198 new affordable homes, a figure the Committee accepted in a 3-2 mediation vote in March 2025. The court certified the township's plan in April 2026, giving protection from builder's-remedy suits through June 30, 2035; Ridge Oak IV's 29 senior units won site plan approval in May 2026.
The townwide ban on data centers and detention centers, and the lawsuit against it.
Ord. #2599 defines data centers, including cryptocurrency mining, and lists them as prohibited in every zone, removing "data processing centers" from the uses allowed in the E-1 to E-5 office zones. The Committee introduced it 5-0 on May 26, 2026 and adopted it, as amended, 4-0 on June 23.
Road projects, sidewalks, sewer and water, power and cell coverage.
After a resident died from being struck in an Allen Road crosswalk in October 2025, residents spoke about Allen Road 17 times at four Township Committee meetings. Allen Road is a county road (CR 652). The Mayor said in January 2026 that county and township engineering studies were under way; no result appears in the record LocalWhy has reviewed.
The township rejected every bid for its 2026 road paving program twice, in August and September 2026, as over the amount allocated; the resolution cites record diesel and asphalt prices. The $1,410,317.80 Lake Road path and repaving project is under construction, with completion moved to Nov. 10, 2026.
Somerset County collects Bernards' curbside recycling under a 2026 agreement at $28.16 per household; the 2026 budget carries $306,690.56 for it. The township also took a $72,394.53 state Clean Communities grant and pays for air monitoring at the closed Pill Hill landfill.
The Bernards Township Sewerage Authority, a separate public body that runs the sewer system and the Harrison Brook treatment plant, will hold a hearing on Nov. 24, 2026 to set 2027 sewer usage rates and connection fees. Its audit for the year ended Nov. 30, 2025 shows no debt and $28.7 million in unrestricted cash.