Buildings and their environs should be designed to be attractive from all vantage points, including fences, storage areas, and rear entrances and elevations. All groups of related buildings shall be designed to harmonize architectural treatment and exterior materials.

Accessory structures should be architecturally coordinated with the principal structure.

All exterior storage areas and service yards, loading docks and ramps, electrical and mechanical equipment and enclosures, storage tanks and the like, should be screened from the public view, both within and from outside of the development, by a fence, wall or mature landscape materials, compatible with the exterior design of the building.

Colors, materials and finishes should be coordinated in all exterior elevations of buildings to achieve continuity of expression. All roof and wall projections, such as gutters, flues, louvers, utility boxes, vents, grills, downspouts, exposed flashing, overhead doors, shall be painted or installed with an anodized or acrylic finish in a color to match or complement adjacent surfaces.

All openings in the wall of a structure such as windows and doors should relate to each other on each elevation vertically and horizontally in an artful arrangement.

Roof planes or caps meeting the exterior facade should have overhangs or appropriate cornice and trim details.

Major entrances to buildings should be emphasized with appropriate architectural elements or details.

The fenestration and detailing of building facades should be arranged to promote a harmonious pattern of light and shade on the building face and provide a visually appealing surface.

Visual harmony should be created between new and older buildings.

Desirable features of a site should be considered and strengthened by, for example, framing or maintaining views or continuing particular design features or statements.

Building layout, access and parking areas should be arranged to relate to existing topography so as to minimize regrading and soil import or export.

Buildings should be designed to avoid long unbroken lines and monotony of expression. Building detail, forms and setback should be used to provide visual interest.

Buildings should be spaced to permit sufficient light and privacy and circulation.

Signage shall be coordinated with architectural design.

In shopping centers containing multiple store fronts, each storefront should maintain a coordinated design with respect to an overall plan for colors, doors, windows, signage and trim details.

Repetition of plant varieties, materials, screens, and sight breaks may be used to achieve compatibility between adjacent buildings of different architectural styles.

Roof shapes shall be coordinated to present a harmonious appearance.

Finish materials used shall be suitable to the use and design of the building.

Facade renovations shall preserve and protect desirable architectural details. All additions, alterations and accessory buildings shall be compatible with the principal building in design materials.

The use of unusual shapes, color and other characteristics which cause a new building to call excessive attention to itself and create a jarring disharmony with its surroundings should be avoided or reserved for structures of broad public significance.

Exposed basement or nondecorative block walls are unacceptable as facade or building treatments. Exposed basement walls shall be painted to relate to the building design.

The intent of the Limited Business District is to require architecturally coordinated buildings that maintain a compact arrangement, emphasize the pedestrian environment, and integrate into the design traditional architectural forms and materials as characterized by the inventory of Historic Structures of the Manalapan Township Master Plan. Nonresidential design within a Limited Business District shall not be arranged as a strip style shopping mall.

Building access shall be oriented to or clustered around courtyards, landscaped areas, or related amenities for the convenience of the pedestrian.

Residential design may be arranged in conventional, cluster or a combination of design as permitted by the Zone District Regulations.

Consideration shall be given to topographical conditions, privacy, building height, orientation, drainage, aesthetics in the placement of units, and the relationship to open space and circulation systems.

Residential units should front on lower-order streets.

Residential developments should create the appearance of individuality among housing units; however, units should be developed in harmony with each other and with existing and surrounding uses.

Easy access to outdoor space and parking from all residential units should be provided.

A safe, well-lighted residential environment, free from through traffic should be provided.

Site design should create a minimum amount of noise intrusion into the area.

Private and common open space should be clearly delineated. Recreation facilities should be designed and cited for the convenience of the users.

Buildings shall be designed to avoid long straight, unbroken lines. No principal building when viewed from any elevation shall be greater than 175 feet in length. Buildings shall have no more than two dwelling units in a line without setbacks or breaks in building elevations of at least six feet. Attached single-family dwelling units and townhouses shall have not less than four and no more than eight dwelling units in a continuous building.

A transition area shall be provided between residential units of different types, as well as between residential zone and all other zones. The transition area may consist of a natural feature, a park, a landscaped buffer or a gradual density change.

Unless provided otherwise by the zone district, the spacing of residential buildings shall adhere to the following minimums:

Courtyards. Courtyards bounded on three or more sides by wings of the same building shall have a minimum court width of two feet for each one foot in height of the tallest building or building wing.

Garages and/or carports, when not attached to a principal building, shall be located no closer than 25 feet to a facing wall of a principal building containing windows, nor closer than 15 feet to a facing wall of a principal building which does not contain windows.

A screened area or areas for storage of refuse and recyclables shall be located and arranged for ease of access and collection.

Minimum gross floor area requirements (unless a more restrictive standard is specified by the zone district).

Each single-family dwelling or two-family dwelling constructed on a lot (the subject lot) pursuant to the approval of a major subdivision shall be substantially different in exterior design and appearance from an existing or proposed neighboring dwelling situated on any lot on the same side of the street or on the facing lots on the opposite side of the street where said lots are within a distance of 100 feet of the subject lot. The one-hundred-foot distance shall be construed to mean the distance between the street property lines of the respective lots.

For a dwelling to be deemed substantially different, the building elevation facing the street must be different from the street elevations of its neighboring dwellings in at least three of the five following categories:

No development permit shall hereafter be issued for more than one dwelling in a major residential subdivision of single-family and/or two-family dwellings until the developer has provided to the Township Zoning Officer the basic house designs to be used in the development. Thereafter, the Zoning Officer shall, prior to the issuance of a development permit, review the specific lot(s) on the map of the subdivision on file with the Township as to the type and model of each dwelling for which a development permit has been or is being issued within the development and determine that the neighboring dwellings are substantially different in accordance with the provisions of these regulations.

The provisions, requirements, and standards of this section shall not be considered met if only minor changes are made which fail to substantially alter the building plans.