TIMBER GLEN PHASE III, LLC AND JSM AT TIMBER GLEN, LLC VS. TOWNSHIP OF HAMILTON
A-1775-13T1
The parties disagree on the scope of municipal authority granted by N.J.S.A. 40:52-1 (the Licensing Act). Plaintiffs Timber Glen Phase III, LLC and JSM at Timber Glen, LLC appeal from the summary judgment dismissal of their complaint in lieu of prerogative writs that challenged an ordinance adopted by defendant Township of Hamilton, assessing an annual $100 licensing fee on residential apartment units.
Obligated as we are to seek an interpretation that will make the most consistent whole of the statute, we conclude the 1998 amendment adding subsection (n), permitting licensure of the "rental of real property for a term less than 175 consecutive days for residential purposes by a person having a permanent place of residence elsewhere," and the accompanying
bill statement serve as powerful evidence of an intention to limit licensing residential rentals and constrains the provisions of subsection (d), which includes "[h]otels, boardinghouses, lodging and rooming houses, . . . motels, furnished and unfurnished rented housing or living units" to refer to short term living arrangements.
