State of New Jersey, Department of Environmental Protection, Plaintiff-Respondent v. M.J. Stavola, T/A Driftwood…

Summary

The Supreme Court of New Jersey reversed the Appellate Division, holding that the Department of Environmental Protection has implicit authority under the Coastal Area Facility Review Act to treat beach‑club cabanas as "dwelling units or equivalent," but that its existing regulations do not include such cabanas and that any regulation must be adopted through rulemaking rather than ad‑hoc adjudication. Justice Handler dissented, arguing that the lack of an explicit rule is not fatal to DEP's action.