Howell, NJ Landscaping Rules: Native Plants (2026)

The native-plant mandate sits in § 188-86.3H(6), added 10-20-2009 by Ord. No. O-09-52, and it applies only to a multipurpose recreation and sports complex, a use allowed solely in an SED Zone District. The stated reasons are to reinforce a sense of place and for ecological benefit. At least 50% of all plantings must be native to the region, and a maximum of 50% can be non-native, noninvasive species. Fertilization and maintenance must be as ecologically sustainable as possible, by engaged organic methods and low-spray or no-spray and toxicity protocols wherever feasible.

The rule sits inside a larger landscape package in the same subsection. The reviewing board approves the landscaping. Decorative foundation landscaping is required on all street frontages and public view facades. A landscaped buffer of a minimum width of 50 feet runs along any tract boundary, dropping to not less than 15 feet where the boundary abuts a roadway frontage, public open space or lands to be dedicated as open space. Parking adjacent to a public right-of-way gets a fifteen-foot-wide landscape buffer. The development application must include plans for water irrigation of all landscaping, buffering and lawn areas as the Planning Board determines necessary, and the developer or subsequent owner constructs, installs and maintains the approved irrigation plan.

Native species also appear elsewhere in Chapter 188. In the Planned Retirement Community District, stormwater facilities are screened with perimeter plantings and, to the extent possible, water-tolerant plants and native plant species are incorporated in the basin interior (§ 188-86G(4)). In § 188-34, a major subdivision whose stream corridor buffer was disturbed by prior land use such as agriculture must revegetate with native tree and plant species under a plan approved by the Township-certified tree expert, and the "Native Plant Guide for Planting Along Streams and Ponds," published by the National Resource Conservation Service, USDA, is made part of the chapter.