Maurice River City Zoning Code
ARTICLE 35
6 Application of Regulations
§ 35-6.1 USE REGULATIONS.
[Ord. No. 620 § 3]
No use or occupancy of any building, structure or land shall hereafter be changed to a different use or occupancy and no building or structure or part thereof shall hereafter be erected, constructed, reconstructed, moved or structurally altered unless in conformity with all of the regulations herein specified for the district in which it is located, except as hereinafter provided.
No more than one (1) principal use shall be located on one (1) lot, except for forestry, agriculture, horticulture, fish and wildlife management, wetlands management, recreational development on agricultural lands, and local telecommunications facilities as permitted by Section 35-9.22.
§ 35-6.2 AREA REGULATIONS.
[Section 35-6.2 amended by Ordinance No. 539;; Ord. No. 620 § 4]
No building or other structure shall hereafter be erected or altered to exceed the height, to accommodate or house a greater number of families or persons, to occupy a greater percentage of lot area, or to have a narrower or smaller rear yard, front yard, side yards or other open spaces than are herein required, or in any other matter contrary to the provisions of this chapter, except as hereinafter provided.
A.
Wetlands use in calculation of building and lot coverage. Wetlands use in calculation of building and lot coverage due to environmental considerations and/or public health and safety factors, the Township will not allow consideration of wetlands in determining permissible building coverage calculations. The Land Use Board may at its discretion, allow wetlands areas to be considered in total lot coverage calculations, after determination that the increased lot coverage will have no adverse environmental, health or safety impact on the community or adjacent lands. The maximum percentage of lot coverage set forth in the Schedules of District Regulations may be extended by the Board, provided the lot(s) in question is/are served by an approved public or private sanitary sewer and potable water supply facilities.
For all new lots of ten (10) acres or less, regardless of the Zoning District or location within the Township, fifty percent (50%) of the lot area require for a lot, by use, in that Zoning District must be determined to be usable land. As an example, if the minimum District lot size is five (5) acres for a single-family, detached dwelling and the actual lot size is six (6) acres then two and one-half (2.5) acres of land in question must be classified as not having environmental sensitivity such as wetlands, steep slopes or other natural conditions which preclude development. The term "usable" as applicable to this subsection refers to lands which are able to be used as opposed to lands which have environmental considerations or other natural conditions and are thereby regulated against or deemed unfit for supporting development. The requirements of this section shall not apply to residential cluster developments in the PR, PC, PRDA-R and PRDA-C Districts which comply with the standards of Section 35-9.34.
B.
Minimum lot area in Pinelands Protection Area. Within the Pinelands Protection Area, no residential dwelling unit or nonresidential dwelling unit shall be located on a parcel of less than one acre unless served by a centralized wastewater treatment plant.
§ 35-6.3 OVERLAPPING REQUIRED SPACE.
No part of a yard or other open space or off-street parking or loading space required about or in connection with any building for the purpose of complying with this chapter, shall be included as part of a yard, open space or off-street parking or loading space similarly required for any other buildings, except as hereinafter provided.
§ 35-6.4 YARD REDUCTIONS.
A.
No yard or lot existing at the time of passage of this chapter shall be reduced in size or area below the minimum requirements set forth herein. Yards or lots created after the effective date of this chapter shall meet at least the minimum requirements established by this chapter.
B.
Within each district the regulations set by this chapter shall be minimum regulations and shall apply uniformly to each class or kind of structure or land.
§ 35-6.5 PERMITTED MODIFICATIONS AND EXCEPTIONS.
A.
Outside the Pinelands Protection Area. The height limitations of this chapter shall not apply to silos, belfries, cupolas and domes not used for human occupancy, nor chimneys, ventilators, skylights, water tanks, communications towers, similar necessary mechanical appurtenances usually carried above the roof level. Such features however, shall be erected only to such height as necessary to accomplish the purpose they are intended to serve. The provisions of this chapter shall not apply to prevent the erection above the building height limit of a parapet, wall or cornice for ornament (and without windows) extending above such limit not more than five (5) feet. Public and quasi-public buildings and other similar permitted uses shall increase the required front, rear and side yards by one (1) foot for each foot by which such building exceeds the height limit herein established for such zone in which it is located, and further provided that in no case shall any building have a height greater than thirty-five (35) feet overall within the Pinelands Protection Area or fifty (50) feet overall outside the Pinelands Protection Area unless it is specifically permitted by the Schedule of District Regulations.
B.
Height Limitation in the Pinelands Area.
2.
The height limitations in Subsection B1 above shall not apply to any of the following structures, provided that such structures are compatible with uses in the immediate vicinity and conform with the objectives of N.J.A.C. 7:50-6, Part X: antennas which do not exceed a height of two hundred (200) feet and which are accessory to an otherwise permitted use, silos, barns and other agricultural structures, church spires, cupolas, domes, monuments, water towers, fire observation towers, electric transmission lines and supporting structures, windmills, smokestacks, derricks, conveyors, flag poles and masts, or aerials, solar energy facilities, chimneys and similar structures to be placed above the roof level and not intended for human occupancy.
§ 35-6.6 EXISTING LOTS.
A lot which is of public record and in single and separate ownership and not of continuous frontage with other lots in the same ownership at the time of enactment of this chapter may be used for a permitted use in the district in which it is located even though such lot fails to meet the requirements for area or width, or both, that are generally applicable in the district, provided the improved road frontage is not less than fifty (50) feet and further provided, that yard dimensions or other requirements not involving area or width shall conform or a variance for such yard dimensions or other requirements be obtained from the Land Use Board. The provisions of this section shall not apply to lots within the Pinelands Protection Area, which lots shall comply with area requirements as provided herein this chapter.
The owner of an existing lot within a PR Pinelands Residential or R-5 Residential Zoning Districts showing on the Township of Maurice River Tax Maps prior to 1985, which lot is also shown on the current Township Tax Maps as being less than five (5) acres in size due to measuring of the lot area to the exclusion of road right-of-way from the lot area calculation, may apply to the Zoning Officer for permission to develop a single-family dwelling on said lot subject to approval, where applicable, of the Pinelands Commission, provided the lot meets all other requirements for the district in which it is located. The portion of the property which lies in the road right-of-way may be credited to the lot area, provided that the area lying in the designated roadway right-of-way shall not exceed ten percent (10%) of the property, only ten percent (10%) may be attributed to the applicant for purposes of determining the lot area.
§ 35-6.7 CONTIGUOUS LOTS.
If two (2) or more lots or combinations of lots or portions of lots with continuous frontage in single ownership are of record at the time of passage or amendment of this chapter, and if all or part of the lots do not meet the requirements for the lot width and area as established by this chapter, the lands involved shall be considered to be an undivided parcel for the purpose of this chapter, unless approval for such lots has been obtained under provisions for Township subdivision and site plan review; and no portion of said parcel shall be used or sold which does not meet lot width and area requirements established by this chapter.
§ 35-6.8 PUBLIC STREET FRONTAGE.
Every principal building shall be built upon a lot having frontage on a public street either improved to Township requirements or standards or for which such improvements have been ensured by posting of a sufficient performance guaranty pursuant to the provisions of Article 35-12 of this chapter.
§ 35-6.9 FRONTAGE ON STREETS PROPOSED FOR WIDENING.
Where a building lot has frontage upon a street which is shown on the adopted Master Plan or Official Map of the Township of Maurice River or the County of Cumberland and which street is proposed for right-of-way widening, the required front yard shall be measured from such proposed right-of-way lines.
§ 35-6.10 VISIBILITY AT INTERSECTIONS.
Nothing shall be erected placed or allowed to grow in such a manner as to materially impede vision between a height of thirty (30) inches and ten (10) feet above the center-line grade of the abutting streets or driveways within the triangular area formed by the intersecting street and driveway lines. Such sight triangle areas at all such intersections shall be as established or defined in accordance with the provisions of the A Policy of Geometric Design of Highways, published by the American Association of State Highway Officials, latest version.
§ 35-6.11 IRREGULARLY SHAPED LOTS.
In the case of irregularly shaped lots on a cul-de-sac or curved street sections, the minimum lot width specified in the Schedules of District Regulations shall be measured at the building setback, provided that in no case shall a distance between side lot lines be reduced to less than seventy-five percent (75%) of the minimum lot width requirement at the street line.