Aberdeen Township City Zoning Code
§ 25-4.6
"HC" Highway Commercial.
[Ord. No. 20-1982; Ord. No. 18-1996; Ord. No. 22-1998 §§ 1,2; Ord. No. 3-2006 § 2; 6-6-2019 by Ord. No. 11-2019; 3-6-2025 by Ord. No. 4-2025]
Purpose. The purpose of the "HC" district is to provide those uses serving a regional as well as a local function. The areas are located along Routes 34 and 35 for regional accessibility and for rendering services to the traveling public. In all circumstances, the site planning and building designs are intended to be completed in a compatible manner with an overall plan for the development of all lands so zoned in order to coordinate traffic flow, parking needs, building orientation, landscaping, drainage and similar factors which have a relationship to development, whether implemented cumulatively over a period of years or in one (1) major development program.
Principal Permitted Uses on the Land and in Buildings.
Retail sales of goods and services.
Restaurants, bars, taverns and nightclubs.
Banks, including drive-in facilities.
Offices and office buildings.
Theaters.
Department stores.
Shopping centers which shall include only those uses enumerated above and which shall be developed as a single architectural scheme, whether constructed all at one time or in stages over a period of time.
Garden centers engaging in the retail sale of plant material. Outside storage, sale or display areas shall not exceed four (4) times the building coverage and shall be used only for storage, sale and display of living plant material.
Bowling alleys.
Automobile sales whose principal use is the sale of new automobiles through franchised dealers. The sale of used automobiles shall be accessory to and incidental to the principal permitted use.
Public purpose uses.
Storage yards for towed inoperable vehicles as Conditional Uses under N.J.S.A. 40:55D-67. (See subsection 25-6.6i for standards.)
Wireless communication antennas on new wireless communication towers in accordance with the conditions, standards and limitations specified in subsection 25-6.10 of this chapter.
Medical walk-in facilities and medical services as licensed by the State of New Jersey to include physician's offices that provide:
Urgent, ambulatory and outpatient surgical facilities;
Well-care visits and/or emergency visits for illness or accidents;
Accept Medicare, Medicaid, private insurance and/or personal billing in associated reception/office/filing areas;
Outpatient physical, occupational and speech therapy, cardiac rehabilitation by licensed professionals, including CV profile and nuclear imaging by licensed professionals;
Sleep center testing by licensed professionals, to include autonomic nervous system testing and urodynamics;
Pain management by licensed professionals;
Diagnostic ultrasound, x-rays, lab work by licensed professionals, including by not limited to ultrasound, allergy testing, CV profile, neurodiagnostics, pharmacogenetics testing, blood work, nerve conduction studies, dizziness and balance testing;
Outpatient surgical by licensed professionals as licensed by the State of New Jersey;
For treatment of a variety of ailments or medical needs such as, but not limited to, podiatry, orthopedics, allergy, oncology, dialysis, colds, pneumonia, well visits, etc.
Dental clinics with dental services as listed:
All dental work required to be done by a licensed dentist or his staff, including but not limited to x-rays, drilling, cleaning, extractions, implants, dentures, lab on premises, and any specialty associated with dental care, e.g., orthodontics, periodontal;
Accepts Medicare, Medicaid, private insurance or personal billing in associated reception/office/filing areas.
Adult medical day care as licensed by the State of New Jersey:
Part-time/full-time (no overnight) residents (i.e. part-time can be either morning or afternoon; full-time is the entire day);
Services to include active and passive recreation, personal needs (hair dresser, nail trimming), meals and snacks; all recreation to be indoors. Patients may not leave the building unsupervised;
No meals prepared on site; meals provided by outside service to adult day care patrons;
Residents may be driven to facility or transportation to be provided by facility;
At least one licensed professional and one aide to be on site during hours of operation;
Accepts Medicare, Medicaid, private insurance or personal billing in associated offices/reception/filing areas.
One Class 5 cannabis retail establishment as a conditional use (see § 25-6.6), subject to the following specific conditions:
The cannabis retailer shall hold a Class 5 cannabis retailer license issued by the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission and shall maintain such license in good standing.
The Class 5 cannabis retail establishments shall have frontage on a county road or state highway. The provisions of this subsection do not substitute for or supersede any approvals required by or regulation of the State of New Jersey as applied to a state highway or Monmouth County as applied to a county road.
No Class 5 cannabis retail establishment shall be located on any lot wherein any portion of such lot abuts or is within an exclusion zone measured 1,000 linear feet along a county route or state highway from a lot that hosts another cannabis dispensing facility of any class.
The Class 5 cannabis retail establishments shall be located in freestanding, single-use buildings and not part of a multi-use building with internal partition walls. There shall be only one building per lot.
Vehicular access to the lot hosting the Class 5 cannabis retail establishment shall not be from a residential street.
No Class 5 cannabis retail establishment shall be located on any lot where any portion of such lot is closer than 300 feet to any portion of a ("CR") Conservation/Recreation Zone.
No Class 5 cannabis retail establishment shall be located on any lot where any portion of such lot is closer than 500 feet, measured lot line to lot line, to any lot or portion of a lot which hosts:
A place of worship or lands contiguous to a place of worship that is owned by such contiguous place of worship;
A public or parochial school, private school or child-care center, or lands contiguous to a public or parochial school, private school or child-care center;
A public park or recreation center, or lands contiguous to a public park or recreation center.
On-site sales of food or beverages, alcohol or tobacco products are prohibited at any Class 5 cannabis retail establishment.
On-site consumption of food, alcohol, tobacco, or cannabis products is prohibited at any Class 5 cannabis retail establishment.
No cannabis products or paraphernalia shall be displayed or visible from the exterior of any Class 5 cannabis retail establishment.
Hours of public operation for any Class 5 cannabis retail establishment shall be limited to 8:00 a.m. through 10:00 p.m. daily. No Class 5 cannabis retail establishment shall be open to the public between the hours of 10:01 p.m. and 7:59 a.m. on any day.
Minimum off-street parking requirements. Class 5 cannabis retail establishments shall conform to the requirements of subsection 25-5.12 (Off-Street Parking, Loading and Driveways), including, but not limited to, a minimum off-street parking requirement of one space for everyone 1,000 square feet of gross floor area.
Signage. Class 5 cannabis retail establishments shall conform to the requirements of subsection 25-5.18 (Signs), and the following:
No sign shall contain any visual representation of cannabis or associated paraphernalia.
No Class 5 cannabis retail establishment shall display on the exterior of the facility advertisements for marijuana or cannabis or any analog thereof, marijuana or cannabis paraphernalia or any analog thereof, or any brand name except for the purposes of identifying the building by the permitted name.
Sandwich board signs are prohibited.
Safety and security plan. Prior to obtaining a final certificate of occupancy, all Class 5 cannabis retail establishments shall submit to the Township's Chief of Police for review and approval a detailed safety and security plan, which shall address measures and procedures designed to protect both the operators and patrons of the establishment from criminal activity, unsafe conditions and incidents of nuisance/harassment. Any approval granted may be rescinded at any time if such actual operations fail to comply with the approved procedures of the security plan, or if such plan fails to provide adequate security and safety for operators and patrons. The proposed security plan shall include, at a minimum:
A map of all points of public entry and a description of all security measures (e.g., locks, alarms, access keypads, security cameras, foot patrols) to restrict access by unauthorized persons;
Procedures for maintaining records which shall include the date and a detailed description of all incidents of suspected criminal activity/unlawful behavior, unauthorized access, assaults, threatening conduct or harassment and a detailed description of the action taken in response to each complaint;
Procedures for maintaining records of regular audits to ensure that the security plan is current and that procedures are being followed;
Procedures to ensure that patrons do not congregate, loiter or wait in line outside of a Class 5 cannabis retail establishment while waiting to be serviced. The safety and security plan shall include a call system should interior capacity be exceeded.
Accessory Uses Permitted.
Garages to house delivery trucks or other commercial vehicles.
Storage yards for towed inoperable vehicles as Conditional Uses under N.J.S.A. 40:55D-67. (See subsection 25-6.6i for standards.)
Temporary Construction. Temporary construction trailers and one (1) sign not exceeding one hundred (100) square feet, advertising the prime contractor, subcontractor(s), architect, financing institution and similar data for the period of construction beginning with the issuance of a Certificate of Occupancy or one (1) year, whichever is less, provided said trailer and sign are on the site where construction is taking place.
Maximum Building Height. No building shall exceed thirty-five (35) feet in height except as allowed in subsection 25-6.5.
Area and Yard Requirements.
Individual Commercial Uses | Shopping Center | |
|---|---|---|
Principal Building | ||
Minimum | ||
Lot area | 40,000 sq. ft. | 120,000 sq. ft. |
Lot frontage | 150 ft. | 250 ft. |
Lot width | 150 ft. | 250 ft. |
Lot depth | 150 ft. | 200 ft. |
Side yard (each) | 20 ft. | 50 ft. |
Front yard | 50 ft. | 75 ft. |
Rear yard | 30 ft. | 50 ft. |
Accessory Building | ||
Minimum | ||
Distance to side line | 20 ft. | 50 ft. |
Distance to rear line | 30 ft. | 50 ft. |
Distance to other building | 15 ft. | 15 ft. |
Maximum | ||
Building Coverage of principal building | 25% | 20% |
Building Coverage of accessory building(s) | 5% | 5% |
Gross Floor Area Minimums. The minimum gross floor area shall be three thousand (3,000) square feet.
General Requirements.
One (1) building may contain more than one (1) use provided that the total building coverage of the combined uses does not exceed the maximum building coverage specified for the district.
A shopping center may contain more than one (1) principal building, provided that the total building coverage specified for the district is not exceeded and the following building separation requirements are met:
All principal buildings shall be separated* by a minimum of twenty-five (25) feet, provided such separation is to be used solely for pedestrian circulation.
All principal buildings shall be separated* by a minimum of fifty (50) feet when such separation is to be used for parking or vehicular circulation.
*Note: The separation requirements should not be construed to prohibit covered pedestrian walkways when the roof or covering of such walkway extends between the principal buildings.
At least the first twenty (20) feet adjacent to any street line and ten (10) feet adjacent to any lot line shall not be used for parking and shall be planted and maintained in lawn area, ground cover, or landscaped with evergreen shrubbery, and separated from the parking area by poured concrete curbing.
Except for garden centers as allowed under subsection 25-4.7b8, no merchandise or similar material shall be displayed outside beyond five (5) feet of any building. No waste or equipment shall be stored outside.
All buildings shall be compatibly designed whether constructed all at one time or in stages over a period of time. Where a side or front exterior wall in excess of fifty (50) feet is proposed, variations in design shall be used to provide attractiveness to the building which shall include changing roof lines and roof designs, altering building heights, varying facade treatment or staggering the building setback. Wherever practicable and feasible, buildings shall be oriented so as to promote the conservation of energy and the use of renewable energy resources. All building walls visible from any street or residential district shall be suitably finished for aesthetic purposes which shall not include unpainted or painted cinder block or concrete block walls.
All portions of the property not utilized by buildings or paved surfaces shall be landscaped utilizing combinations such as landscaped fencing, shrubbery, lawn area, ground cover, rock formations, contours, existing foliage and the planting of conifers and/or deciduous trees native to the area, in order to either maintain or re-establish the tone of the vegetation in the area and lessen the visual impact of the structures and paved areas. The established grades on any site shall be planned for both aesthetic and drainage purposes. The grading plan, drainage facilities and landscaping shall be coordinated to prevent erosion and silting as well as assuring that the capacity of any natural or man-made drainage system is sufficient to handle the water generated and anticipated, both from the site and contributing upstream areas.