Town guide

Filming in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey

A production guide to Pompton Lakes’ filming law, Chapter 28 of the Borough Code, adopted in 2022 and amended in 2023 and again in September 2025. Three things set it apart: an insurance schedule that runs to four separate policies, four situations where off-duty police are mandatory whatever else you are doing, and residential hours that end at dusk when dusk comes first.

Pompton Lakes is a Film Ready certified locality in Passaic County. It is also the one town in this research batch that repaired the defective expedited-fee clause its neighbours still carry.

Everything below is read from the enacted text of Chapter 28 as currently codified. Where the chapter is ambiguous we quote it and say so rather than tidying it up, and where a cost is required but never priced we say that too.

Information checked August 26, 2026

Checked Aug 26 2026

County: Passaic County
Film Ready status: Film Ready certified locality. Pompton Lakes 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: Borough Code Chapter 28 “Television and Movie Filming”, § 28-1 to § 28-15, added August 17, 2022 by Ord. No. 22-16, amended May 24, 2023 by Ord. No. 23-19 and September 24, 2025 by Ord. No. 25-27
Municipal starting point: Office of the Borough Clerk
Borough Clerk: Elizabeth Brandsness · 973-835-0143 ext. 238 · fax 973-839-8132. The Borough’s Clerk’s Office page identifies her as both Municipal Clerk and Deputy Administrator
Clerk’s Office: 25 Lenox Avenue, Pompton Lakes, NJ 07442 · Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Application: A form approved by the office of the Clerk, applied for and obtained during normal business hours, with the fee and supporting documents. No downloadable form is published
Standard lead time: Apply prior to five days before the requested shooting date. The Borough Administrator may waive the five-day period, and if it is waived the expedited fee applies
Basic permit fee: $150
Expedited permit fee: $250
Daily filming fee: $500 per day, in addition to the basic permit
Major motion picture daily fee: $1,500 per day, in addition to the basic permit
Overnight parking on public property: $500 per day for use of publicly owned property or right-of-way. $50 per day for a nonprofit applicant
Nonprofit: $25
Students: All fees waived for a student in a grade school, middle school, high school, college, university or other bona fide educational institution, on written certification from a teacher or administrator that the filming is educational and not intended for commercial use
Major motion picture threshold: A budget of at least $5,000,000, or recurrent weekly television series programming, or financing or distribution by a listed studio. The list expressly includes HBO and other cable network providers and their subsidiaries or affiliates, and Lionsgate
Insurance: Four separate policies, each at $1,000,000: commercial general liability, automobile liability, umbrella or excess, and workers’ compensation with employers’ liability. Borough named as additional insured on the first three, with a waiver of subrogation on all policies
Cash deposit: $500, drawn on if the site is not left debris-free and the condition is unabated more than 24 hours after notice. The Borough may pursue costs beyond the $500, including reasonable attorney’s fees
Off-duty police: Required on public lands, in such number as the Pompton Lakes Police Department requires, and separately mandatory in four listed situations. See the police section
Residential filming hours: Monday to Friday 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., or dusk, whichever is earlier. Weekends 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., or dusk, whichever is earlier. Setup, production and breakdown are all included
48-hour notice to emergency services: You must notify the Police Department and Fire Department 48 hours before filming, and permit them to inspect the site and equipment
Neighbour notice: Written notice at least three days before the requested shooting date to affected businesses, merchants or residents, who may file objections that become part of your application
Appeals: To the Borough Administrator, not the Council. Filed within 10 calendar days, decided on the written record unless a hearing is requested, decision within 45 days, final and appealable to the Superior Court of New Jersey
Penalties: Fine up to $2,000 per day, or up to 90 days in the county jail, or both. Where the owner of the premises is not the applicant, the owner and the applicant are each liable
Last verified: August 26, 2026

The town that fixed the clause everyone else copied

If you have read our Gloucester Township, Roseland or Florence Township guides, you have met a broken sentence. All three price an expedited permit by reference to a rule requiring processing “within 24 hours of the filming date” that none of their ordinances actually contains. It is model language that travelled between New Jersey municipalities with the error intact.

Section 28-3A, as amended 2025

Pompton Lakes repaired it.

Ordinance 25-27, adopted September 24, 2025, rewrote § 28-3A so that the expedited fee attaches to the thing that actually happens. The section now reads: no permit issues unless applied for prior to five days before the requested shooting date, the Borough Administrator may waive the five-day period if all related approvals are in hand and adjacent owners or tenants do not need notice, and “If waived, the expedited film permit fee will be applied.”

So in Pompton Lakes the answer to “what happens if I file late” is written down: you ask the Administrator for a waiver, and if you get one you pay $250 instead of $150. No phone call needed to find out.

We flag this because it is the one point in this batch of research where an ordinance got clearer rather than vaguer. If you are comparing towns, that is worth something on a compressed schedule.

How to begin

Filming in Pompton Lakes runs through the Office of the Borough Clerk. Section 28-2A requires the permit to be applied for and obtained during normal business hours, on a form the Clerk’s office approves, with the fee and the supporting documents attached. The permit itself states the approved location and the approved duration by specific reference to day or dates.

Elizabeth Brandsness, Borough Clerk · 973-835-0143 ext. 238
Clerk’s Office, 25 Lenox Avenue, Pompton Lakes, NJ 07442 · fax 973-839-8132
Hours: Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

One thing to confirm on that first call. The Borough’s Clerk’s Office page identifies Elizabeth Brandsness as the Municipal Clerk in its contact block and as the Deputy Administrator in its body copy. Both are published by the Borough. Section 28-5 sends an appeal from a Clerk decision to the Borough Administrator, so if you ever need that route, ask who will actually decide it.

Section 28-2B wants six things in the application: the filming locations; the proposed duration including dates and hours, subject to the Clerk’s final approval of the schedule; the amount of space required on public streets, highways and sidewalks; contact information including the on-site person; the estimated number of film crew members expected on site; and, if filming is conducted on private property, proof of the property owner’s consent.

If the weather turns, § 28-2C lets the Borough Clerk issue a new permit for other dates at your request, subject to full compliance with everything else, and no additional fee is paid.

Film crew member is defined very broadly in § 28-1: directors, actors, set and costume designers, camera, lighting and sound crew, boom operators, pyrotechnic experts, stunt performers, extras, stagehands, security, production and personal assistants, contractors and subcontractors, photographers, interns whether paid or unpaid, and agents. Count all of them when you give the Clerk a headcount.

Who is exempt, and the private-property question

Section 28-15 exempts three categories outright, which is more generous and more specific than most New Jersey filming chapters:

News. Filming of news stories within the Borough by individuals or legitimate entities or organizations for journalism or news reporting
One person with a hand-held camera. Filming by one individual using a hand-held camera without the assistance of other persons, and filming by one or more individuals for weddings, religious occasions and other family or social private parties, occasions, events or functions
Municipal purposes authorised by the Borough Council or the Borough Administrator

The hand-held exemption is narrow in a way that is easy to misread. It is one individual, with no assistance from other persons. Bring a second person to hold a reflector and you are outside it.

Where the chapter is less clear

Section 28-2A prohibits filming on public property without a permit. That is the trigger. But § 28-2B(6) then requires, as part of the application, proof of the property owner’s consent where filming is conducted on private property, which only makes sense if private-property filming can come within a permit.

We are not going to resolve that for you by asserting a rule the chapter does not state. If your shoot is entirely on private property with no public footprint, ask the Clerk in writing whether a permit is required and keep the answer. Note that § 28-13 makes the property owner liable alongside the applicant, so the owner has a direct interest in that answer too.

Insurance: four policies, not one

Most New Jersey filming ordinances ask for a single liability certificate. Section 28-3B(1) asks for four, and specifies them in a level of detail that is worth handing straight to your broker.

Coverage	Minimum limits	Notes
Commercial general liability	$1,000,000 combined single limit, occurrence form	Comprehensive form including products and completed operations. Covers bodily injury, property damage, personal injury and advertising injury, including death. Borough named as additional insured
Automobile liability	$1,000,000 per accident combined single limit	Comprehensive, covering owned, non-owned, hired and leased vehicles. Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage at not less than $1,000,000. Borough named as additional insured
Umbrella or excess liability	$1,000,000 per occurrence	In excess of general liability, automobile liability and employers’ liability, and no more restrictive than the primary policies. Borough named as additional insured
Workers’ compensation and employers’ liability	Statutory, plus $1,000,000 each accident, $1,000,000 each employee and $1,000,000 policy limit	Must comply with New Jersey statutes and the law of every state where work is performed. USL&H Act and Jones Act coverage if applicable

Two additional coverages are flagged conditionally rather than required: Railroad Protective Liability, where work is on or near a railroad right-of-way, and Abuse and Molestation coverage, which the section says may be recommended for organizations with higher exposure to vulnerable populations. If you are shooting near the rail line or working with minors, raise both early.

A waiver of subrogation applies to all policies in favour of the Borough, and § 28-3B(2) requires a written release, indemnity and hold-harmless running to the Borough and its employees, officers, agents and elected or appointed officials, covering attorney fees and defence costs.

If you operate as a sole proprietorship, partnership, LLP or LLC, the certificate of insurance must state, where applicable, that the self-employed persons, partners or members have elected to be deemed employees of the business and are therefore covered. Small production companies get caught by this one. Tell your broker before the certificate is issued, not after.

The $500 cash deposit under § 28-3B(3) ensures the location is left debris-free and consistent with the Borough Code. If it is not, and the condition remains unabated more than 24 hours after the Borough notifies you, the Borough may draw on the deposit, and may pursue you for costs above it including reasonable attorney’s fees.

Police: two separate requirements, one unpriced

The baseline. Section 28-3B(4) makes the hiring of off-duty Pompton Lakes police officers a precondition of any public-lands permit, in such number as required by the Pompton Lakes Police Department. The number is the Department’s call, not yours.

Read this at prep, not at the truck

Section 28-3E adds four situations where officers are mandatory regardless.

Firearms, pyrotechnics or other hazardous materials are to be used
Any actor or crew member is wearing a costume that resembles the uniform of any type of public personnel
Any street or lane is to be closed
The filming involves activities where a police presence is necessary to protect the health, safety or welfare of Borough residents

The costume trigger is the one productions miss. A police, fire or EMS uniform on a background actor pulls officers onto your call sheet in Pompton Lakes even if you are shooting entirely on a private lawn with no street work.

And a third layer. Section 28-4B reserves the Borough’s right to require one or more on-site officers where the production may impede the proper flow of traffic, at your cost as a cost of production. 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.

None of it is priced in the chapter. Ask the Clerk for the current off-duty rate, the expected officer count for your specific scenario, and the electrician arrangement, before you build a budget. Do not read the absence of a published rate as an indication that any of this is free.

Parking is its own arrangement. Section 28-3F requires an applicant to arrange with the parking authority for the use of a municipal lot or metered spaces. That is separate from the $500 per day overnight parking fee in § 28-9F, and separate again from the § 28-11 obligation to reimburse the Borough for lost parking meter revenue.

Emergency services get 48 hours. Under § 28-6, the Clerk sends copies of the approved permit to the Police and Fire Departments before filming and to the New Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission, and you must notify the Police and Fire Departments 48 hours before filming and let them, or another designated Borough inspector, inspect the site and the equipment.

Fees

Item	Fee
Basic filming permit	$150
Expedited filming permit	$250
Daily filming fee, in addition to the basic permit	$500 per day
Daily filming fee, major motion picture, in addition to the basic permit	$1,500 per day
Overnight parking on publicly owned property or right-of-way	$500 per day
Overnight parking, nonprofit applicant	$50 per day
Nonprofit organization	$25
Student filming for educational purposes	All fees waived, on written certification

A two-day shoot with one overnight park on Borough property is $150 plus two days at $500 plus $500, so $1,650 before police, the $500 refundable deposit and any § 28-11 reimbursement. The same two days for a major motion picture is $150 plus $3,000 plus $500, so $3,650.

The $5,000,000 threshold, and what else is inside it

Section 28-1 defines a major motion picture as any film financed or distributed by a listed studio, any film with a budget of at least $5,000,000, or any recurrent weekly television series programming.

The studio list here is broader than the one in most towns. It names Lionsgate, and it names “HBO and other cable network providers and their subsidiaries or affiliates”. A premium-cable or streamer-affiliated production can land on the $1,500 daily rate through that limb without ever reaching a $5,000,000 budget.

For comparison, Roseland uses the same $5,000,000 line, while Florence Township and Gloucester Township sit at $20,000,000.

Prep days can count. Section 28-12 provides that days used for setup and preparation for a major motion picture shall be counted as a filming day where the setup is anticipated to involve traffic congestion, questions about your ability to remove film-related vehicles off the public streets, restrictions on public streets or public parking, or the nature of the shoot itself.

Section 28-11 sits on top of every fee. In addition to any other fees or costs in the chapter, you reimburse the Borough for lost revenue such as parking meter revenue, repairs to public property, or other revenue the Borough was prevented from earning because of the filming.

Hours: the dusk limb changes your winter day

Plan the schedule around sunset, not the clock

Section 28-8 sets two different residential windows, and both end early.

Monday to Friday: 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. or dusk, whichever is earlier
Weekends: 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. or dusk, whichever is earlier
Setup, production and breakdown are all included in those hours

“Or dusk, whichever is earlier” is doing most of the work here. For much of the New Jersey year, dusk arrives long before 9:00 p.m. A December shoot in a Pompton Lakes residential zone is closer to a 7:00 a.m. to late-afternoon day than to a fourteen-hour one, and the tail of that window is your breakdown, not your last shot.

Night scenes must be approved in the permit. Put them in the application rather than raising them later, and note that a night shoot is very likely to sit inside the § 28-14 waiver process rather than the ordinary permit.

Section 28-14 lets the Borough Administrator waive any requirement, provision or restriction of the chapter, where that can be done without endangering public health, safety and welfare. The factors are:

Potential traffic congestion at the location
Your ability to remove your vehicles and equipment from public streets or other public property
The extent to which you are requesting restrictions on public streets or public parking facilities during filming
The nature of the filming, including indoors or outdoors and the proposed hours
The extent to which the filming may affect adjoining and nearby property owners and occupants
The Borough’s prior experience with you, if any

That last factor rewards a clean first shoot. It is the same consideration that appears in several other New Jersey chapters, and it is real: how you leave a street is on the record the next time you apply.

Notice, refusal, appeals and who is liable

Neighbour notice. Where the production will directly involve or affect any businesses, merchants or residents, written notice is due at least three days before the requested shooting date, telling them that objections may be filed with the Clerk. Those objections form part of your application and are considered in reviewing it. The requirement appears twice, at § 28-3D and again at § 28-7B, in materially identical terms.

The proof-of-service deadline is ambiguous in the enacted text. Both § 28-3D and § 28-7B require proof of service to be submitted to the Clerk “within two days of the requested shooting date” without saying before or after. The identical wording appears in Gloucester Township and Florence Township. Filing the proof early is the safe reading either way.

Refusal. Under § 28-4A the Borough may refuse a permit on the basis of objective facts, after reviewing the application and a written report from the Police Department and the Borough departments involved, where filming at that location or time would violate any law or ordinance, unreasonably interfere with the use and enjoyment of adjoining properties, or in the Police Department’s opinion unreasonably impede traffic or pedestrians or otherwise endanger public health, safety or welfare.

The appeal route is unusually short, and it ends in court

Section 28-5 sends an appeal from a Clerk denial or revocation to the Borough Administrator, not to the Council. Written notice of appeal is filed with the Borough Clerk within 10 calendar days of the denial or revocation.

The Administrator decides on the written record unless a hearing is requested. Any hearing is conducted informally and the formal rules of evidence do not apply. The decision issues within 45 days of the notice of appeal, and is final and appealable to the Superior Court of New Jersey.

Practical consequence: 45 days is longer than most shooting schedules. If a permit matters to a locked date, resolve the problem at the application stage.

Both the owner and the applicant are liable. Section 28-13 says so expressly where the owner of the premises is not the applicant. The penalty is a fine not exceeding $2,000 per day, or imprisonment in the county jail for up to 90 days, or both, and a separate offence is committed on each day a violation occurs or continues. If you are securing a private location, the owner needs to understand that before they sign.

What we are not publishing for Pompton Lakes

Stated plainly rather than guessed at:

A downloadable application. None is published. Section 28-2A says the form is one approved by the office of the Clerk.
Any off-duty officer rate, or the officer count for your shoot. Both are set by the Police Department and neither is priced in the chapter.
Any electrician rate.
Any parking authority charge for the § 28-3F municipal lot or metered spaces. The $500 per day figure in § 28-9F is the overnight fee for publicly owned property or right-of-way, which is a different thing.
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 Borough street, park, building, lake frontage or private property is available to film.

Chapter 28 reaches land within the Borough’s jurisdiction and control. Passaic County roads and parks, State highways, railroad property and privately held land each have their own controlling authority, and a Borough permit does not reach them.

Common questions

How far in advance do I need a film permit in Pompton Lakes, NJ?

Section 28-3A requires the application prior to five days before the requested shooting date. The Borough Administrator may waive that period where all related approvals are in hand and adjacent owners or tenants do not need notice, and the ordinance is explicit that if the period is waived the expedited fee applies, which is $250 instead of $150. Neighbour notice is separately due at least three days before the shooting date, and Police and Fire must be notified 48 hours before filming.

How much does a film permit cost in Pompton Lakes?

The basic permit is $150, or $250 expedited. The daily filming fee is $500 per day on top of the basic permit, rising to $1,500 per day for a major motion picture. Overnight parking on publicly owned property or right-of-way is $500 per day, or $50 for a nonprofit. A nonprofit organization pays $25. Student filming for educational purposes is fully waived on written certification from a teacher or administrator. A $500 refundable cash deposit and section 28-11 reimbursement of lost Borough revenue sit on top.

When do I have to hire police for filming in Pompton Lakes?

Off-duty Pompton Lakes officers are a precondition of any public-lands permit, in whatever number the Police Department requires. Section 28-3E then makes officers mandatory in four situations regardless: firearms, pyrotechnics or other hazardous materials; any actor or crew member in a costume resembling the uniform of any type of public personnel; any street or lane closure; or filming where a police presence is necessary to protect public health, safety or welfare. The chapter does not publish a rate, so ask the Clerk.

What are the filming hours in Pompton Lakes residential zones?

Monday to Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. or dusk, whichever is earlier, and weekends from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. or dusk, whichever is earlier. Setup, production and breakdown are all included in those hours. The dusk limb matters: for much of the year dusk arrives well before 9:00 p.m., so schedule against sunset rather than the clock. Night scenes must be approved in the permit.

What insurance does Pompton Lakes require for filming?

Four policies, each at $1,000,000: commercial general liability on an occurrence form with a combined single limit, automobile liability per accident including uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, umbrella or excess liability, and workers' compensation with employers' liability at $1,000,000 each accident, each employee and policy limit. The Borough must be named as additional insured and a waiver of subrogation applies to all policies. Railroad Protective Liability may be needed near a rail right-of-way, and if you operate as a sole proprietorship, partnership, LLP or LLC the certificate must state that the principals have elected to be deemed employees.

Is a small shoot exempt from the Pompton Lakes film permit?

Section 28-15 exempts news filming, filming for authorised municipal purposes, and filming by one individual using a hand-held camera without the assistance of other persons, along with filming for weddings, religious occasions and other family or social private events. The hand-held exemption is narrow: it is one person, with no assistance from anyone else. A second person holding a light or a reflector takes you outside it.

Official sources

Checked August 26, 2026 against Chapter 28 of the Borough of Pompton Lakes Code read in full through the eCode print view under code root PO0300, the Borough Clerk’s Office page and the State certified-localities list. This closes a prior hold. Two eCode URLs stored in the earlier research package for this chapter did not resolve to it; the working chapter node was re-derived from the code root this pass 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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