Town guide

Filming in Clark Township, New Jersey

A production guide to Clark’s filming law, Chapter 358 of the Township Code, adopted in 2023 and amended twice since, most recently in May 2026. Three things set it apart: the permit is issued by the Zoning Officer rather than the Clerk, the insurance limits are the highest in the area, and setup and break-down days carry their own per-day fee.

Clark is a Film Ready certified locality in Union County. Its expedited-fee clause is also the only intact version of a sentence that is broken in three neighbouring ordinances.

Everything below is read from the enacted text of Chapter 358 as currently codified. Where the chapter cross-references a fee schedule in another chapter we say so and do not invent the number, and where it names an official who appears nowhere else we quote it rather than tidying it up.

Information checked August 26, 2026

Checked Aug 26 2026

County: Union County
Film Ready status: Film Ready certified locality. Clark appears on the NJ Motion Picture & Television Commission’s current certified-localities list, checked August 26, 2026. Certification does not guarantee approval, property access or location availability
Controlling ordinance: Township Code Chapter 358 “Motion Pictures”, § 358-1 to § 358-11, adopted October 16, 2023 by Ord. No. 23-29, amended May 19, 2025 by Ord. No. 25-15 and May 4, 2026 by Ord. No. 26-15
Where the permit comes from: The office of the Zoning Officer, not the Clerk. Clark is the only municipality in this group that routes film permits through Zoning
Where objections go: The Municipal Clerk
Where proof of neighbour notice goes: The Construction Official
Where an appeal is filed: The Township Clerk, for hearing by the Township Council
Municipal Building: 430 Westfield Avenue, Clark, NJ 07066 · 732-388-3600 · Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Acting Municipal Clerk: Nicole Castellucci · 430 Westfield Avenue, Room 28 · 732-388-3669
Decision-maker: The Mayor or Business Administrator refuses permits, grants waivers and is the person whose decision is appealed
Application: Applied for and obtained from the office of the Zoning Officer during normal business hours, with the fee attached. No downloadable form is published
Standard lead time: At least four days before the requested shooting date. The Mayor or Business Administrator may waive the four-day period
Expedited filing floor: No fewer than 24 hours before the filming date. Clark is the one town in this group whose expedited clause states this coherently
Basic permit fee: $100
Expedited permit fee: $150
Daily filming on public property: Not to exceed $150 per day, in addition to the basic permit
Daily filming, major motion picture: Not to exceed $500 per day, in addition to the basic permit
Setup and breakdown fee: Not to exceed $150 per day, charged in addition to the basic permit and the daily filming fee. Not to exceed $500 per day for a major motion picture
Nonprofit, educational and student films: $25, with no daily rate required
Filming entirely on private property: No daily filming fee is imposed
Major motion picture threshold: A budget of at least $20,000,000, or financing or distribution by a listed studio, or any major streaming service, such as Netflix, Hulu or Amazon Prime Video, or recurrent weekly television series programming
Public-lands insurance: The highest limits in this group. Bodily injury $1,000,000 to any one person and $2,000,000 aggregate per occurrence; property damage $500,000 aggregate per occurrence
Indemnity: Indemnify, defend and save harmless the Township from all liability, cost and expense including reasonable counsel fees
Off-duty police: At the discretion of the Police Department, under an agreed Public Safety Plan. Not automatic
Fire inspections: A fire official may have to be hired to inspect the site and equipment. Fire prevention inspections can cover tents, generators, occupancy, food setup and cooking, food trucks, and electrical, battery, gasoline or propane storage
Filming hours: Not fixed by the chapter, but the permit itself must state the hours during the approved day or dates that filming will take place
Neighbour notice: Written notice at least three days before the requested shooting date to affected businesses, merchants or residents
Appeals: To the Township Council. Filed within 10 days, hearing within 30 days, and if the Council does not adopt a resolution in time the decision is deemed reversed
Penalties: Fine up to $2,000, up to 90 days in the county jail, or up to 90 days of community service, or any combination. Each day is a separate violation
Last verified: August 26, 2026

Three different offices, one permit

The single most useful thing to know about filming in Clark is which door to knock on, because Chapter 358 sends you to three different ones and does not warn you.

Read this before you make the first call

What you are doing	Which office the chapter names
Applying for and collecting the permit	The Zoning Officer (§ 358-2A, B and C)
Filing an objection to someone else’s shoot	The Municipal Clerk (§ 358-4B)
Filing your proof of service of neighbour notice	The Construction Official (§ 358-4B)
Appealing a refusal or revocation	The Township Clerk, heard by the Township Council (§ 358-6A)
Asking for a waiver of the filing period or any other requirement	The Mayor or Business Administrator (§ 358-3A, § 358-7)

Clark is the only municipality in this group that routes film permits through Zoning rather than the Clerk. In Roseland, Florence Township, Pompton Lakes and Garwood the Clerk is the front door. Here the Clerk handles objections and appeals while Zoning issues the permit.

Practical consequence: a call to the Clerk’s office asking for a film permit application may get bounced, and a proof of service sent to the Clerk instead of the Construction Official is filed in the wrong place. Confirm the routing on your first call and note who told you.

The clause that explains three other towns

Across this batch of New Jersey research we kept meeting the same broken sentence. Gloucester Township, Roseland and Florence Township each price an expedited permit by reference to a provision “requiring expedited processing of a permit application within 24 hours of the filming date”, when the section cited contains no 24-hour rule at all. The sentence reads as though something had been cut out of it.

Clark has the version that makes sense

Section 358-10A reads: “Where an applicant requests a waiver of the provision of § 358-3A which requires that the application be made at least 4 days before the requested shooting date, necessitating expedited processing of a permit application but no fewer than 24 hours before the filming date, the basic filming permit fee for processing the application on an expedited basis shall be $150.”

Read that way, the 24 hours is a floor on how late an expedited application may be filed, not a promise about processing speed. In Clark, an expedited application must still be in more than 24 hours before you shoot.

We report this as what Clark’s ordinance says. We are not going to assert that the other three towns mean the same thing, because their enacted text does not say it. But if you have wondered what that sentence was supposed to be, here it is with the missing clause still attached.

The filing rule itself. Section 358-3A: no permit will be issued unless applied for at least four days before the requested shooting date. The Mayor or Business Administrator may, in his or her judgment, waive the four-day period where the applicant has obtained all related approvals and adjacent property owners or tenants do not need to be notified.

The chapter says four days. It does not say four business days, and we are not going to convert it for you. For contrast, Garwood’s § 162-3A says four business days expressly.

How to begin

Filming in Clark starts at the office of the Zoning Officer, at the Municipal Building, during normal business hours. The application is accompanied by the § 358-10 permit fee.

Township of Clark Municipal Building, 430 Westfield Avenue, Clark, NJ 07066 · 732-388-3600
Hours: Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Nicole Castellucci, Acting Municipal Clerk · Room 28 · 732-388-3669, for objections and appeals

No Zoning Officer is named on the Township’s Zoning page and the chapter names the office rather than a person, so ask for the Zoning Officer by title on the main number.

What triggers a permit. Section 358-2A reaches filming on public property, and filming on private property where the filming involves the use of public property for the operation, placement or temporary storage of vehicles or equipment, including any temporary structure, barricade or device intended to restrict or block off pedestrian or vehicular traffic. A truck at the curb is enough to bring a private-property shoot inside the chapter.

The permit states your hours. Unlike most filming ordinances, § 358-2A requires the permit to set out the approved location, the approved duration by specific reference to day or dates, and the hours during that day or those dates that filming will take place. The permit must be readily available for inspection by Township officials at all times at the site.

Filming is defined broadly and currently. Section 358-1 covers still or motion pictures on film, videotape or a similar medium, for commercial or educational purposes intended for viewing on television, on computers, on other electronic devices, in theatres or for institutional uses. News stories filmed within the municipality are expressly outside the chapter.

If the weather turns, § 358-2C is unusually firm in the applicant’s favour: at the applicant’s request the Zoning Officer shall issue a new permit for other dates, subject to full compliance with everything else, and no additional fee is paid. Most towns say the official may.

Fees, including a setup and breakdown charge most towns do not have

Item	Fee
Basic filming permit	$100
Basic permit processed on an expedited basis, filed no fewer than 24 hours before the filming date	$150
Daily filming fee on public property, in addition to the basic permit	Not to exceed $150 per day
Daily filming fee on public property, major motion picture, in addition to the basic permit	Not to exceed $500 per day
Setup and breakdown fee on public property, in addition to the basic permit and the filming fee	Not to exceed $150 per day
Setup and breakdown fee, major motion picture, in addition to the basic permit and the filming fee	Not to exceed $500 per day
Nonprofit applicants filming for educational purposes, including student films	$25, no daily rate required
Filming entirely on private property	No daily filming fee imposed

Sections 358-10D and 358-10E

Clark charges separately for setup and breakdown days.

Sections 358-10D and 358-10E create a per-day charge for setup and break-down on public property that is payable in addition to both the basic permit and the filming fee. Most New Jersey towns either fold prep into the filming day or, like Roseland and Pompton Lakes, let an official convert prep days into filming days for a major motion picture. Clark simply prices them.

Budget the real number. A two-day shoot on public property with one prep day and one strike day is $100 plus two filming days at up to $150 plus two setup and breakdown days at up to $150, so up to $700. The same pattern on a major motion picture is $100 plus $1,000 plus $1,000, so up to $2,100.

The daily lines are capped, not posted. Sections 358-10B through E all read “not to exceed”. The basic permit at $100, the expedited permit at $150 and the nonprofit fee at $25 are stated flat. Ask which amount will actually be charged for your application.

Major motion picture includes the streamers by name. Section 358-1 lists the traditional studios and then adds “any major streaming service, such as Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime Video”, alongside a $20,000,000 budget test and recurrent weekly television series programming. A streamer-financed project pays the top rate here regardless of budget.

Section 358-9 sits on top of every fee. In addition to any other fees or costs, you reimburse the Township for any lost revenue, cost or expense, such as parking meter revenue or other revenue the Township was prevented from earning because of filming, or repairs to public property.

Insurance, police and fire

Section 358-3B(1)

Clark asks for the highest insurance limits of any town in this group.

Bodily injury: $1,000,000 to any one person and $2,000,000 aggregate for any occurrence
Property damage: $500,000 aggregate for each occurrence

For comparison, Roseland and Garwood both sit at $500,000 per person, $1,000,000 aggregate and $300,000 property damage. Clark is double on two of those three lines. Check your certificate against these numbers before you file rather than after.

The indemnity is broader too. Section 358-3B(2) requires a written agreement to indemnify, defend and save harmless the municipality from any and all liability, cost and expense including without limitation reasonable counsel fees, costs and expenses, claim, action and damages resulting from the use of public lands. A duty to defend is a different and larger obligation than a duty to indemnify. Have someone read it before you sign.

Police are discretionary here. Section 358-3B(3) requires an off-duty officer at the discretion of the Police Department, and pursuant to the agreed-upon Public Safety Plan, for the times indicated on the permit, cross-referencing § 145-3E of the Township Code. That makes your public safety plan the document that decides your police line, so bring a real one: crew and vehicle counts, where trucks sit, sidewalk impact, traffic impact, and any firearms, effects or stunts.

Section 358-5B separately reserves the Township’s right to require one or more on-site patrolmen where the production may impede the proper flow of traffic, pursuant to the agreed Public Safety Plan, at your cost. Where existing electrical power lines will be used, an on-site licensed electrician may be required if the production company does not have one on staff, also at your cost.

Fire is a real line item in Clark, and it is itemised

Section 358-3C may require the hiring of a fire official to inspect the site and the equipment, for the times indicated on the permit, cross-referencing § 161-48.

Section 358-10F then lists what fire prevention inspections can cover: tents, generators, occupancy, food setup including cooking and food trucks, and electrical, battery, gasoline and propane storage, with fees assessed under § 161-47 and Article VII, Enforcement of the Uniform Fire Safety Act.

That is an unusually explicit list, and most of it describes an ordinary crew catering and lighting setup. The rates live in § 161-47, not in Chapter 358, and we have not read that section, so no figure is published here. Ask the Fire Prevention Bureau early.

Copies of the approved permit go to the Police and Fire Departments before filming and to the New Jersey Film Commission at njfilm@njeda.gov. You must permit the Fire Prevention Bureau or other Township inspectors to inspect the site and equipment where deemed necessary and comply with all safety instructions issued.

Hours, notice, refusal and appeals

Hours. Chapter 358 sets no residential window, no wrap time and no weekend rule. But it does not leave hours unaddressed the way Garwood does: § 358-2A requires the permit itself to state the hours during the approved day or dates that filming will take place, and § 358-7(4) makes “the proposed hours for filming” one of the six factors in any waiver decision.

In practice that means your hours are negotiated into the permit rather than read off the ordinance. Put the hours you actually need in the application, including prep and strike, and get them written into the permit.

Neighbour notice. Where the production will directly involve or affect any businesses, merchants or residents, § 358-4B requires written notice at least three days before the requested shooting date, telling them that objections may be filed with the Municipal Clerk. Those objections form part of your application and are considered in reviewing it. Proof of service goes to the Construction Official, and is due “within two days of the requested shooting date” without the section saying before or after. Filing early is the safe reading either way.

Refusal. Under § 358-5A the Mayor or Business Administrator may refuse a permit on the basis of objective facts, after reviewing the application and a report from the Police Department and other Township agencies involved with the proposed site, where filming at that location or time would violate any law or ordinance, unreasonably interfere with the use and enjoyment of adjoining properties, unreasonably impede traffic or pedestrians, or otherwise endanger public health, safety or welfare.

The appeal, and the clause that names an official who is not in the chapter

Section 358-6 sends an appeal to the Township Council. Written notice of appeal is filed with the Township Clerk within 10 days of the decision, and the Council sets a hearing within 30 days. The Council decides by resolution supporting or reversing the Mayor or Business Administrator at its first regularly scheduled public meeting after the hearing, unless you agree in writing to a later date.

Then § 358-6B provides that if such a resolution is not adopted within the time required, “the decision of the Manager shall be deemed to be reversed”, and a permit shall be issued in conformity with the application, or the relief shall be deemed denied.

No Manager appears anywhere else in Chapter 358. Every other reference is to the Mayor or Business Administrator. The sentence is quoted here as enacted rather than corrected. Do not plan a schedule around a deemed reversal; resolve problems at the application stage.

Penalties. A fine not exceeding $2,000, imprisonment in the county jail for up to 90 days, or a period of community service up to 90 days, or any combination, as the Municipal Court Judge determines. Each day a violation exists is a separate and distinct violation.

What we are not publishing for Clark

Stated plainly rather than guessed at:

A named Zoning Officer. The Township’s Zoning page names none and the chapter names the office. Ask by title on the main number.
Any police rate. Section 358-3B(3) cross-references § 145-3E of the Township Code, which we did not read this pass. No rate is asserted.
Any fire inspection charge. Sections 358-3C and 358-10F cross-reference § 161-48 and § 161-47. Neither was read this pass.
Fixed daily fees. Sections 358-10B through E are capped, not posted.
Filming hours. The chapter sets none; the permit sets yours.
A downloadable application. None is published.
A named Film Ready Liaison or Film Permit Representative. No official source names one.
Any location or its availability. Nothing on this page asserts that a Township street, park, building or private property is available to film.

Chapter 358 reaches land within the Township’s jurisdiction and control. Union County roads and parks, State highways, the Garden State Parkway, the rail corridor and privately held land each have their own controlling authority, and a Township permit does not reach them.

Common questions

Who issues film permits in Clark, NJ?

The office of the Zoning Officer, not the Clerk. Section 358-2 requires applications to be made to and permits obtained from the Zoning Officer during normal business hours. The Municipal Clerk receives neighbour objections, the Construction Official receives proof of service of neighbour notice, an appeal is filed with the Township Clerk, and the Mayor or Business Administrator refuses permits and grants waivers. Confirm the routing on your first call to the Municipal Building at 732-388-3600.

How much does a film permit cost in Clark?

The basic permit is $100, or $150 processed on an expedited basis. Daily filming on public property is capped at $150 per day, or $500 per day for a major motion picture. Clark also charges a separate setup and break-down fee on public property, capped at $150 per day or $500 for a major motion picture, payable in addition to both the basic permit and the filming fee. Nonprofit, educational and student films are $25 with no daily rate, and filming entirely on private property carries no daily fee.

How far in advance do I need a film permit in Clark?

At least four days before the requested shooting date under section 358-3A. The chapter says four days, not four business days. The Mayor or Business Administrator may waive that period where all related approvals are in hand and adjacent owners or tenants do not need notice, and section 358-10A prices that waiver at $150 while requiring the application to be filed no fewer than 24 hours before the filming date.

What insurance does Clark require for filming?

For filming on public lands, bodily injury coverage of $1,000,000 to any one person and $2,000,000 in the aggregate for any occurrence, plus property damage of $500,000 in the aggregate for each occurrence. Those are the highest limits among the nearby towns we have read. Section 358-3B(2) also requires a written agreement to indemnify, defend and save harmless the Township, including reasonable counsel fees, which is a broader obligation than indemnity alone.

What are the filming hours in Clark?

Chapter 358 does not fix any. Instead section 358-2A requires the permit itself to state the hours during the approved day or dates that filming will take place, and the proposed hours are one of six factors the Mayor or Business Administrator weighs under section 358-7. So your hours are set in the permit rather than read off the ordinance. Put the hours you actually need, including prep and strike, in the application.

Does a streaming production count as a major motion picture in Clark?

Yes. Section 358-1 lists the traditional studios and then adds any major streaming service, such as Netflix, Hulu or Amazon Prime Video, alongside a budget test of at least $20,000,000 and recurrent weekly television series programming. A streamer-financed project therefore pays the higher daily and setup rates regardless of its budget.

Official sources

Checked August 26, 2026 against Chapter 358 of the Township of Clark Code read in full through the eCode print view under code root CL2905, the Township Clerk staff directory, the Township Zoning page and the State certified-localities list. No prior research existed for Clark in this project; this is a first full pass on the primary sources Report a correction or updated permit requirement.

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Reviewed by Sam Moskowitz, producer & director of photography

This guide is researched and reviewed by Sam Moskowitz, a New Jersey-based producer and DP who runs BLL Films. Sam’s production and cinematography credits include work for Netflix, History Channel, Hulu, the NFL and Google. Every changing fact on this page carries a verification date; see how this site is researched for the full process.

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