East Windsor City Zoning Code
§ 20-1
Objectives.
[Ord. 1976-21; Ord. 1980-54; Ord. 1981-13; Ord. 1982-16; Ord. 1998-6]
On December 16, 1971, the Planning Board of the Township of East Windsor adopted the "East Windsor Township Master Plan", setting forth a comprehensive plan for the development of the Township, on June 11, 1979, the Planning Board of East Windsor Township adopted a Master Plan Update in accordance with the Municipal Land Use Law (P.L. 1975, c. 291).
This zoning chapter is based upon that comprehensive plan and, in enacting it, the Township Council has taken into account the following:
20-1.1
The municipalities of the State are charged by the New Jersey Constitution and by law with enacting such building and land use regulations as will:
a.
Provide opportunity for the industrial expansion taking place within the State.
b.
Provide opportunity for adequate, safe and sanitary housing accommodations for all people at prices they can afford.
c.
Provide opportunity for the commercial, recreational, cultural and other facilities which are vital to the proper functioning of a community.
d.
Provide an environment which is not only healthful but conducive to happy living for the inhabitants of the community.
e.
Provide adequate light, air and open space.
f.
Secure safety from fire, flood, panic and other natural and man-made disasters.
g.
Provide development which does not conflict with the development and general welfare of neighboring municipalities, the county and the State as a whole.
h.
Promote establishment of proper population densities and concentrations that will contribute to the well-being of persons, neighborhoods, communities and regions.
i.
Encourage the appropriate and efficient expenditure of public funds by the coordination of public development with land use policies.
j.
Encourage the location and design of transportation routes which will promote the free flow of traffic while discouraging location of such facilities and routes which will result in congestion or blight.
k.
Promote a desirable visual environment through creative development techniques and good civic design and arrangement.
l.
Promote the conservation of open space and valuable natural resources and prevent urban sprawl and degradation of the land.
m.
Promote coordinated public and private activities shaping land development which will lessen the cost of such development and use land more efficiently.
n.
Otherwise promote the general health, safety, morals and general welfare not only of the individual community but of the region of which the community forms a part and of the State.
20-1.2
The State of New Jersey, located in the urbanized corridor that stretches between Boston, Massachusetts and Washington, D.C., is among the most densely populated in the Union.
20-1.3
The growth of the State of New Jersey has created extreme pressures upon the municipalities of the State in their endeavor simultaneously:
a.
To enact such building and land regulations as will meet the constitutional, statutory and judicial mandates hereinbefore set forth.
b.
To do so within the framework of a system of taxation that places upon the owners of land the burden of an inordinate proportion of the cost of both local and State mandated government services needed in the State.
c.
To absorb the impact of the further pressures resulting from the policy of the State and Federal governments to create and encourage major regional transportation facilities, (primarily in the form of superhighways), to link the various parts of the Washington-Boston urban corridor.
20-1.4
The pressures on East Windsor are particularly acute because:
a.
It lies midway between the New York and Philadelphia metropolitan regions.
b.
Its location is ideal for industrial expansion.
c.
It has been divided and redivided by major regional roadways and utility rights-of-way.
d.
It has, in the recent past, had a population growth greater than that of any other municipality in the State.
e.
Its local real property tax rate is approaching an intolerable level.
20-1.5
At the present time East Windsor has the following pertinent land use characteristics:
a.
Approximately 63% of the land in the Township is undeveloped or used for agriculture.
b.
The bulk of this undeveloped or agricultural land is to the east of the New Jersey Turnpike and to the south of Hightstown between Route 33 and the New Jersey Turnpike.
c.
Land development has not occurred in a sequential order and land has been developed when and where it has become available with little attention to or regard for long-range goals.
d.
There has been a general lack of continuity of development in the built-up areas. As a consequence, roads are incomplete, and large and small parcels of land in random locations have been left undeveloped throughout the Township.
e.
Land development has proceeded with little, if any, regard for water-courses and the wasteful and deleterious effects of construction in their flood plains.
f.
There is a definite lack of developed park land in close proximity to residential concentrations.
g.
East Windsor is physically bisected by several major highways dividing the Township into several definite geographic areas.
h.
Arterial and strip commercial development has been occurring along the major highways, especially along Route 130. Although this type of consumer exposure is considered desirable by the retailer, continued commercial growth of, this nature will cause serious traffic hazards as traffic volumes inevitably increase.
i.
New light industry has settled predominantly along Route 571 and, secondarily, to the east of the New Jersey Turnpike. It is predominantly industry that does not depend upon or look to rail traffic for movement of goods and supplies.
j.
Residential development has occurred in the form of large scale subdivisions, either as single family dwellings on one-half acre plots, or as garden apartment developments, all located in random fashion throughout the Township. Twin Rivers, a planned unit development, is a self-contained residential community, offering predominantly town house residential units. There are a substantial number of rural single-family residences in widely scattered areas throughout the Township.
20-1.6
It is the purpose and objective of this chapter to create a system of land use controls that, to the extent that it is possible for a single municipality to do so, will be responsive to the needs and pressures herein-before described. This chapter therefore has the following goals:
a.
To recognize the land as a prime community resource that is both finite and irreplaceable, and to take steps to protect the land from poor development practices and to conserve appropriate lands for permanent open space and actively seek practical methods for preserving farm lands.
b.
To establish the Township as a socially balanced and viable community by encouraging a full variety of housing types and a full range of job opportunities.
c.
To recognize Hightstown as an integral part of the East Windsor community although politically independent.
d.
To unify the Township through coordinated open space facilities and service needs by channeling new growth to infill areas containing infrastructure capacity so that it functions physically, socially and economically as an integral community rather than as an assemblage of large-scale developments.
e.
To encourage the Township's development as a subcenter of commercial trade, serving local and area-wide needs.
f.
To encourage the improvement and expansion of job opportunities for local and area residents.
g.
To encourage that type of development which does not produce an intolerable tax burden on itself and other members of the community; this would include not only industrial or commercial development, but higher density residential as well.
h.
To review and evaluate all development regardless of type of location, not only with regard to the physical character thereof, but in terms of the objectives set forth in this article as well.
20-1.7
With these goals in mind, it is the intention of this chapter:[1]
a.
To encourage appropriate industrial-office activities.
b.
To create a town center as a mixed use area permitting retailing, services, municipal activities, cultural and recreation facilities and residential and industrial uses.
c.
To permit and encourage automotive-oriented commercial service facilities at the interchanges of regional auto transportation arteries.
d.
To permit a limited amount of highway-oriented strip commercial development, but to minimize further proliferation of uses such as fast food restaurants which intensify traffic congestion and adversely affect existing traffic patterns on roads like U.S. 130 at peak traffic hours.
e.
To recognize the following residential categories:
f.
To preserve agricultural activities as part of the economic base of the Township.
[1]
Editor's Note: Ordinance No. 1982-16 provisions were deleted in view of a New Jersey Supreme Court decision which effectively invalidated this ordinance.