Hainesport City Zoning Code

Protect residential areas and land uses from potential adverse impacts of towers and antennas.

Facilitate the provision of wireless telecommunications services to the residents and businesses of the Township as well as to those individuals traveling through the Township.

Minimize the total number of towers throughout the community.

Minimize the adverse visual effects of towers through careful design and siting standards.

Require the use of existing tower sites (including electric power towers) or predesignated power properties as sites for new towers or predesignated existing buildings or structures as a primary option rather than construction of additional single-use towers.

Ensure such towers are sited, constructed and maintained in a manner which poses the fewest hazards to the general public as possible.

Provide for the timely removal of local communications facilities and restoration of the sites they occupied once they are abandoned or otherwise withdrawn from service; and in furtherance of these goals, the Township of Hainesport shall give due consideration to the Hainesport Township Master Plan, the Zoning Map and zoning ordinances, existing land uses and inventory map of existing towers and structures in environmentally sensitive areas in approving sites for the location of towers and antennas.

Permitted as conditional uses in nonresidential zones. Subject to the conditions set forth in this article and to site plan approval, except as otherwise provided below, new telecommunications towers and antennas shall be permitted as conditional uses in all nonresidential zoning districts within the Township of Hainesport. Telecommunications towers and antennas shall not be permitted in the R-1 Residential District, R-2 Residential District, R-3 Residential District, RR-5 Rural Residential District, BC Business Commercial with Residential Business Use District, PRD Planned Development District and SCOD Senior Citizen District.

Preexisting towers and antennas. Wireless telecommunications towers that existed on the date of the adoption of this article (nonconforming wireless telecommunications towers) are subject to the following provisions:

General requirements for towers and antennas.

Co-location policy.

Site location alternative analysis. Each application shall include a site location alternative analysis describing the location of other sites considered, the availability of those sites, the extent to which other sites do or do not meet the provider's service or engineering needs and the reason why the subject site was chosen. The analysis shall address the following issues:

State or federal requirements. All towers must meet or exceed current standards and regulations of the FAA, the FCC and any other agency of the state or federal government with the authority to regulate towers and antennas. If such standards and regulations are changed, the owners of the towers and antennas governed by this article shall bring such towers and antennas into compliance with such revised standards and regulations within six months of the effective date of such standards and regulations, unless a different compliance schedule is mandated by the controlling state or federal agency, in which case the latter scheduling will control. Failure to bring towers and antennas into compliance with such revised standards and regulations shall constitute grounds for the removal of the tower or antenna at the owner's expense.

Safety standards/building codes. To ensure the structural integrity of towers, the owner of a telecommunications facility shall ensure that it is maintained in compliance with standards contained in applicable local building codes and the applicable standards for such telecommunications facilities, as amended from time to time, and as may be published by the Electronics Industries Association or such other agency or association having expertise in the field. Owners of towers shall conduct periodic inspections of such facilities at least once every year to ensure structural integrity. Said inspection shall be conducted by a qualified, independent engineer licensed to practice in the State of New Jersey, and the results of such inspection shall be provided by way of written report to the Township Committee of the Township of Hainesport. Failure to undertake such inspection and/or provide the Township with the aforementioned report shall constitute grounds for the removal of the tower or antenna at the owner's expense.

Tower setbacks. The following setback requirements shall apply to all telecommunications towers and antennas; provided, however, that the Planning Board may reduce the standard setback requirements if the goals of this article would be better served thereby, and, in the event any of the following provisions conflict with one another, then the more strenuous and stringent standards shall apply:

Lot size. For purposes of determining whether the installation of a tower or antennas complies with district development regulations, including but not limited to setback requirements, lot coverage requirements and such other requirements, the dimensions of the entire lot shall control even though the antennas or towers may be located only on a portion of such lots.

Abandonment and removal.

Principal accessory and joint uses. Accessory structures used in direct support of a telecommunications tower shall be allowed but not used for offices, vehicle storage or other outdoor storage. Mobile or immobile equipment not used in direct support of a telecommunications facility shall not be stored or parked on the site of the telecommunications facility. Telecommunications towers may be located on sites containing another principal use in the same buildable area.

Monopole construction. Monopole tower construction shall be utilized in all cases except where it can be conclusively demonstrated that a monopole construction is not suitable for a specific location or application or that a different type pole is necessary for the co-location of additional antennas on the tower.

Additional submission requirements. A report from a qualified expert shall be submitted containing the following:

Cessation of use. A copy of the relevant portions of a signed lease which requires the applicant to remove the tower and associated facilities upon cessation of operations of the site shall be submitted at the time of the application.

Visual impact study. A visual impact study shall be submitted, graphically simulating through models, computer-enhanced graphics or similar techniques the appearance of any proposed tower and indicating its view from at least five locations around and within one mile of the proposed wireless telecommunications tower where the wireless telecommunications tower will be most visible. Aerial photographs of the impact area shall also be submitted.

Aesthetics. At a tower site, the design of the buildings and related structures shall, to the extent possible, use materials, colors, textures, screening and landscaping that will blend the tower and related facilities to the natural setting and surrounding environment. The tower itself shall be of a color appropriate to the tower's locational context so as to make it as unobtrusive as possible, unless otherwise required by the FAA. To the extent that any local communications facility or its supporting new tower extends above the height of the vegetation immediately surrounding it, it shall be painted in a light gray or light blue hue which blends with the sky.

Accessory utility buildings. All utility buildings and structures accessory to a tower shall be architecturally designed to blend in with the surrounding environment and shall meet the minimum setback requirements of the underlying zoning district. Ground-mounted equipment shall be screened from view by suitable vegetation except where a design of nonvegetative screening buffer reflects and complements the architectural character of the surrounding neighborhood. A landscape plan shall be submitted for review of proposed screening.

Landscaping.

Lighting. No lighting is permitted except as follows:

Height. The antenna and any supporting structure shall not exceed 200 feet in height, but, if a lesser height, the same shall be designed so that its height can be increased to 200 feet if necessary to accommodate other local communications facilities in the future.

Signs and advertising. No advertising is permitted on a telecommunications tower or accompanying facilities. Only signs for warning or equipment information shall be permitted on any portion of a tower or equipment building.

Fencing and other security devices. Telecommunications towers and equipment buildings in compounds shall be surrounded with a security fence, including an appropriate anti-climbing device or other similar protective device to prevent unauthorized access to the telecommunications facilities, and shall be further surrounded with a security fence. Additional safety devices shall be permitted or required as needed and as approved by the Board as may be necessary.

Noise. No equipment shall be operated so as to produce noise in excess of limits set by Chapter 121, Noise, of the Township Code except in emergency situations requiring the use of a backup generator.

Radio frequency emissions.

Application requirements.

Any person who attempts to erect or erects a telecommunications tower or antennas covered by this article without having first obtained the necessary approvals, variances or building permits in the manner provided in this article shall be deemed in violation of this article. Any responsible party or other persons convicted by a court of competent jurisdiction of violating any provision of this article shall be punished by a fine not to exceed $2,000 or by imprisonment not to exceed 90 days or by a sentence of community service not to exceed 90 days. If any structure is erected, constructed, reconstructed, altered, repaired, converted or maintained in violation of this article, or without obtaining the required approvals or permits, or if any building, structure or land is used in violation of this article, the Township Solicitor, in addition to any other remedies, may institute proceedings to prevent such unlawful erection, construction, reconstruction, alteration, conversion, maintenance or use or to correct or abate such violations. Each and every day that such unlawful erection, construction, reconstruction, alteration, conversion, maintenance or use continues shall be deemed a separate offense. In the event that the Township is successful in securing the judicial relief requested, then the owner and operator of the telecommunications tower shall be jointly and severally liable for the reasonable costs and attorneys fees incurred by the Township in the course of said action.

Where a fine in excess of $1,250 is sought to be imposed for a housing violation or for a zoning violation, the applicable owner and/or operator shall be provided a thirty-day period in which the owner and/or operator has an opportunity to cure or abate the condition prior to the scheduling of a hearing in Municipal Court. In the event that the objectionable activity or condition is not resolved to the satisfaction of the Township following said thirty-day period, then the owner/operator shall have an opportunity for a hearing before the Municipal Court. After the thirty-day period, the higher fine may be imposed if the Municipal Court has not determined that the abatement has been substantially completed.