Recognizing that certain uses, activities and structures are necessary to serve the needs and to provide for the convenience of the citizens of the City and at the same time appreciating the fact that they or any one of them may be or may become inimical to the public health, safety and general welfare of the community or located without due consideration to existing surrounding conditions , such uses are designated as "conditional uses" subject to the standards and regulations hereby established. These standards and regulations are intended to provide the municipal agency with a guide for reviewing applications for conditional uses as provided for by this chapter. As a result of the review procedure, the applicant may be required to meet additional standards and regulations imposed by the municipal agency during site plan review which are in keeping with and will further the intent of these standards and regulations. Such standards and regulations shall be provided for and maintained as a condition of the establishment and maintenance of any use to which they are a condition of approval.

In acting upon an application for conditional use approval, the municipal agency shall be guided by the following standards and principles:

The premises on which the mechanical amusement devices within the arcade are located shall be permitted on the first floor of the premises only and shall be so arranged as to permit a clear view of the interior from the exterior at all times and shall have sufficient glass frontage to permit a clear view of the interior of the premises by a code official or law enforcement officer viewing the interior from the exterior of the premises.

The arcade shall not be permitted to operate between the hours of 12:00 midnight and 9:00 a.m. If said arcade is located within a shopping center or mall or cluster of stores, the arcade shall not be permitted to operate later than the latest established closing time for the surrounding stores, and in no event shall be permitted to operate after 12:00 midnight. Further, every operator of an arcade shall comply with the provisions of Chapter 140, Curfew, of the Code of the City of Northfield, establishing a curfew for minors, and shall not permit any minor who has not attained his/her 16th birthday, unaccompanied by a parent, guardian, or other adult person, to participate in activities within the arcade after the hour of 9:45 p.m.

Each machine shall be licensed in accordance with the mercantile license of the City of Northfield, and the license shall be conspicuously displayed on the premises. No machine which would otherwise be unauthorized by this chapter shall be permitted to be licensed by the Clerk of the City of Northfield.

There shall be conspicuously displayed on the premises in capital letters six inches in height a notice stating:

There shall be a buffer area 200 feet in width, and within said two-hundred-foot buffer no arcade shall be permitted to be constructed, erected, maintained, or created. A portion of the lot on which an arcade may be constructed or erected may be within the two-hundred-foot buffer zone. However, no portion of the building area nor parking area shall be permitted within said two-hundred-foot buffer. In addition, no arcade and no mechanical amusement device within an arcade shall be permitted within 500 feet of a church or other religious institution nor within 2,500 feet of any public or private school, and there shall not be permitted any more than one arcade facility containing mechanical amusement devices located within 800 feet of any other arcade, the distance to be measured from building line to building line at their closest points.

Erection and installation of coin-operated or non-coin-operated mechanical amusement devices as permitted within an arcade shall comply with all local, state and federal fire and safety regulations, statutes and codes. In addition, for each one square foot of floor space occupied, taken up or covered by a machine (to be measured at its widest, deepest and longest points, whether touching the surface of the floor or not), there must be three square feet of open space and space for the unobstructed flow of customers. If machines are located along an aisleway, the minimum width of aisles between the machines shall be 13 feet. In computing "open space" as used in the section, any and all interior sections of the structure reserved for office, rest room, operation, storage, or other facilities shall be deducted and only the actual open unobstructed floor space shall be considered "open" for purposes of this calculation.

A minimum of two rest rooms must be provided within the arcade or immediately adjacent thereto, one to be designated for each gender.

During the hours of operation, the arcade must be supervised at all times by at least one responsible adult individual who shall be an employee of the owner or operator of the premises and who shall be responsible for the supervision, maintenance and operation of the premises. At least one such individual shall be visibly present on the premises during all hours of operation.

There shall be one automobile parking space provided for each four mechanical amusement devices and two bicycle parking spaces provided for each five mechanical amusement devices. The bicycle parking facility shall be affixed to the ground and constructed of steel pipe in a manner approved by the City Engineer.

No operator shall permit any activity or the operation of any machine which is illegal, immoral or which creates an undue amount of noise or danger of a breach of the peace to occur on the premises.

Exterior lighting shall be provided on the exterior of the arcade as approved by the appropriate Board of the City of Northfield. Each light shall provide a minimum of 10 footcandles of white light. The building or premises to be used for arcade purposes shall be designed and constructed and sufficiently insulated to provide noise elimination permitting a maximum of 50 dBA of noise measured 25 feet from the arcade, and certification verifying the appropriate insulation rating to establish such decibel maximums shall be submitted to the appropriate board as a condition precedent to granting of conditional approval for the use of the premises as an arcade.

No operator or owner shall offer or permit to be offered within the premises any prizes or awards, whether in cash or otherwise.

No operator shall knowingly permit any person convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude to be associated within the ownership, management or operation of the business.

No gambling devices of any kind whatsoever, including but not limited to any device that dispenses any kind of payoff or reward or any device that has been judicially determined to be a gambling device or declared to be a gambling device under any law of the State of New Jersey, shall be permitted.

No occupation, other than operation of coin- or non-coin-operated mechanical amusement devices, shall be permitted to be carried on within the premises of the arcade and the arcade shall not be an accessory use to any other occupation or activity permitted within the City of Northfield. This includes, but shall not be limited to, operation of coin- or non-coin-operated vending machines which shall dispense food, beverage, or other commodities. No such vending machine shall be permitted within the arcade.

In order to obtain approval of the conditional use of the arcade, a site plan must be filed with the application establishing applicant's compliance with Subsections E, F, I, and K, indicating the location of proposed parking for both bicycle and automobile; lighting; compliance with the noise level requirements; distance to the nearest public or private school or religious institution; compliance with all applicable buffer zones; distance to any other existing arcade; and such other requirements as may be imposed by other sections of this chapter.

An automobile service station is an area of land, including structures thereon, that is used for the retail sale and direct delivery to motor vehicles of gasoline and lubricating oil, and the making of minor repairs, but not auto body work, welding or painting, nor any repair work in the open. Said use shall be subject to the following regulations.

No part of any entrance to or exit from any filling station which is capable of accommodating more than five vehicles shall be connected with a public street within 150 feet of any entrance to or exit from public or private grounds, fronting on the same street, road or highway, which grounds are used as a theater, auditorium, church, hospital, school, college, institution for dependents or children, parks, playgrounds, library, museum or other similar place of public assembly.

No part of any building used as an automobile service station and no filling pumps, car lifts, greasing mechanisms or other service appliances used to service or supply motor vehicles shall be erected within 100 feet of any boundary line of any residential zone. All such car lifts and greasing mechanisms shall be located within an enclosed building.

No gasoline or oil pump and no other service appliances installed for use in connection with any automobile service shall be so installed or located within 25 feet of any lot line.

No building used as an automobile service station shall be located within 30 feet of any lot line.

No automobile service station shall store out-of-doors, in a side or front yard, wrecked or disassembled (either whole or in part) vehicles, boats or used automobile or marine parts, or used supplies or materials thereof. Any storage areas located in a rear yard shall be screened so that no stored vehicle or article shall be visible from the front, side or rear premises or to any adjacent premises and, further, provided that no overnight parking at service stations shall be permitted within 50 feet of a residential zone. No more than three vehicles shall be stored outdoors for any purpose.

No automobile service station shall be permitted to store or park any vehicles within the required minimum front yard, except such temporary parking as may be necessary in connection with the immediate servicing of customer vehicles.

All drainage on property shall be diverted to a manufactured treatment device that is a prefabricated stormwater treatment structure utilizing settling, filtration, absorptive/adsorptive materials, vortex separation, vegetative components, and/or other appropriate technology to remove pollutants from stormwater runoff.

All outside lighting or electrified signs on such premises shall be so shielded as to prevent glare, whether reflected or not, from any source detectable beyond the boundaries of the premises, and shall not obstruct site distances at intersections nor present safety hazards to traffic.

Recognizing that the principal buildings used in connection with the operation of auto service or filling stations are generally of a uniform design and size when related to office space, bays, equipment rooms and the like, no such principal building used in such auto service and filling station operation shall be built and used unless it shall have a minimum first floor area of 1,500 square feet, any such other requirement elsewhere contained herein to the contrary notwithstanding.

No auto service or filling station shall be built on a lot, any part of which is situated within a distance of 500 feet, measured in a straight line, of one or more of the following types of buildings: public school, hospital, church or public library. The aforementioned distance requirements shall apply only to new auto service and filling stations and shall not affect now-established auto service and filling stations in operation.

No more than three service stations shall be permitted within a linear mile, this being a maximum number only.[1]

Convents, social halls and similar uses which are accessory to the educational use shall be permitted.

Nursery schools with an attendance of more than 25 children shall be considered educational uses and shall be subject to the provisions of this section.

Nursery schools serving more than 25 children shall contain a minimum lot area of three acres plus one acre for each 25 children or fraction thereof.

Educational uses other than nursery schools whose maximum enrollment is 300 students or less shall have a minimum lot area of five acres and width of 200 feet.

Educational uses other than nursery schools whose maximum enrollment exceeds 300 students shall adhere to the following:

Educational uses shall be screened from adjacent residential zones or existing residences adjacent to the site in accordance with the provisions of § 215-85 of this chapter and/or shall provide fencing along such property lines as may be deemed adequate by the municipal agency.

Permitted signs: one freestanding sign not larger than 10 square feet in area and not exceeding eight feet in height; in addition, facade signage occupying an area no greater than 5% of the front facade.

Building coverage shall not exceed 30%.

The lot shall have a minimum acreage of five acres.

The frontage shall be on Tilton Road north of Cresson Avenue with a minimum of 200 feet or two separate entrances with frontage of not less than 50 feet each.

The minimum lot width at the building line shall be 400 feet.

The minimum lot depth shall be 400 feet. If the lot has narrow entranceways, the depth shall be measured from where the lot first attains a width of 400 feet.

Maximum building coverage allowed is 30% of the lot area.

Maximum lot coverage of impervious surface, including entrance roads, shall not exceed 50%.

Maximum building height is 10 stories.

Building setbacks.

The buffer required adjacent to a residential zone is a minimum of 30 feet plus 10 feet for each story above two stories.

The site area shall not be less than two acres.

No structure shall be located closer than 50 feet to any lot line.

The lot coverage shall not exceed 25% of total lot area.

The minimum lot area shall be five acres.

The minimum lot width shall be 200 feet.

No principal building shall be located closer than 50 feet to any side or rear property line.

No accessory building shall be located closer than 30 feet to any side or rear residential property line.

Maximum building coverage: 15%.

The height of structures to be constructed may exceed the maximum height requirements of this chapter; provided, however, that the front, rear and side yard requirements set forth above shall be increased by two feet for each foot by which the height of the structure exceeds the maximum height which would be otherwise permitted by this chapter, and further provided that in no case shall any proposed structure exceed 50 feet in height.

Permitted signs: one freestanding sign not exceeding 10 square feet in area nor six feet in height; facade signage occupying no greater an area than 5% of the front facade of the building to which the sign is attached.

Swimming pools shall be subject to the provisions of § 215-123 of this chapter.

The minimum lot area shall be five acres.

The maximum lot coverage by buildings and structures (including swimming pools) shall be 20% of the lot area.

The minimum unoccupied open space shall be 25%.

No building, structure, recreation area or parking area shall be located closer than 25 feet to a residential property line.

The use shall be screened from adjacent residential zones or adjacent existing residences in accordance with the provisions of § 215-85 of this chapter and/or shall provide fencing as may be deemed adequate by the municipal agency.

Off-street parking requirements shall be determined by the Planning Board, except that where swimming pools are provided, the off-street parking requirements shall be not less than the requirements under § 215-105, plus such additional parking as may be deemed necessary by the municipal agency.

Permitted signs: one freestanding sign not exceeding 20 square feet in area nor eight feet in height.

A statement is submitted setting forth the reasons that the proposed installation must be provided above ground in a specific location and why it is necessary and convenient for the efficiency of the public utility system or for the satisfactory and convenient provision of service by the utility to the neighborhood or area in which the particular use is to be located.

The design of any building in connection with such facility conforms to the general character of the area and will not adversely affect the safe and comfortable enjoyment of property rights of the zone in which it is located.

Adequate and attractive fences and other safety devices will be provided.

Sufficient landscaping, including shrubs, trees and lawn, is provided and will be periodically maintained.

The public utility use and lot meet all the applicable minimum requirements of the district in which it is located, except that it need not have the minimum required lot area.

Permitted as a conditional use in the R-1 and R-C Zones only.

Accessory uses.

Condition use subject to the conditions in Article X of this chapter.

Standards and regulations: as specified in the Schedule of Yard, Area and Building Requirements.[1] In addition, the following requirements and standards shall be adhered to:

The minimum lot size shall be one acre, and minimum lot width shall 200 feet.

The maximum percentage of building coverage shall be 20%.

A buffer area of not less than 25 feet in depth shall be established along any lot line contiguous to a residential zone in a C-B District and 50 feet in an R-C District.

Restaurants shall be an allowed conditional use in all shopping centers within the districts that allows restaurants as a conditional use.