Bergenfield, NJ Accessory Structures: Garage Conversions (2026)

1, added by Ordinance No. 18-2532 in 2018 and amended by Ordinance No. 25-2637 on February 4, 2025, sets Bergenfield's garage standards inside Chapter 186, Land Development. Subsection A requires every new one-family dwelling to provide at minimum a one-car garage measuring 12 feet by 20 feet, and Subsection B requires new two-family dwellings to provide at least a two-car garage measuring 22 feet by 20 feet. Subsection C states flatly that conversion of any new or existing garage into a living space is strictly prohibited, a rule the Borough repeats verbatim in the general off-street parking standards at § 186-49Y, underscoring that neither a homeowner turning a garage into a den nor a builder designing one out from the start can eliminate the required parking bay.

Subsection D backs that up on the demolition side: no new or existing garage may be removed without being immediately replaced, so a homeowner cannot tear down a garage and simply leave the space open or rebuild it as something else. Because the requirement sits inside the land development chapter rather than the construction code, it is enforced as a zoning standard tied to the certificate of occupancy and building permit process administered by the Construction Code Official and Zoning Officer, and a proposed conversion would need a use variance from the Zoning Board of Adjustment to proceed at all, since the ordinance itself allows no administrative exception.