Pennsauken Township
City Zoning Code
City Zoning Code
§ 141-85
P-1 Professional Office District.
[Added 11-25-1981 by Ord. No. 81-32]
It is the purpose of this zone to provide areas for the use or erection of buildings and use or occupancy of lots for professional and business office buildings. Within this zone, no lot or building shall be used and no building shall be erected or altered to be used in whole or in part unless it complies with the area, width, yard and lot requirements of § 141-81C and the following regulations. In P-1 Professional Office Zones, the following regulations shall apply:
A.
Use regulations. A building may be erected, altered or used and a lot may be used or occupied for any of the following purposes, and no other:
(1)
An office may include real estate offices, insurance offices, banking and financial offices, offices for manufacturer's representatives, offices of medical and dental practitioners and similar business or professional offices.
E.
Buffer strips.
(1)
Applicability. All lots or parts of lots in the C-1 and P-1 Zones that are improved with a predominantly nonresidential use and whose side or rear lines are adjacent to a residential zone shall be screened from such residential zone by landscaped buffer strips or other such screening along said side or rear lines as may be approved by the Planning Board.
(2)
General regulations.
(a)
Within required buffer areas, a solid and continuous landscape screen shall be planted and maintained. Said landscaping shall consist of massed evergreen or a combination of evergreen and deciduous trees of at least five feet in height, so as to continually restrict a clear view beyond said buffer strip.
(b)
The required height of the buffer strip shall be measured in relation to the elevation of the edge of the adjacent area to be screened. In such cases as the ground elevation of the location at which the screen is to be planted is less than the elevation of the edge of the adjacent area, the required height of the screen shall be increased in an amount equal to said difference in elevation. In the event that the ground elevation of the location at which the screen is to be planted is greater than that at the edge of the adjacent area, the required height of the screen may be reduced in an amount equal to said difference in elevation, provided that in no case shall the required height be reduced more than two feet.
(c)
The entire buffer strip shall be at least six feet in width and shall be graded and planted with grass seed or sod and such other shrubbery or trees as may be desired by the owner. The entire area shall be attractively maintained and kept clean of all debris and rubbish. When a buffer strip is required for a restaurant use said buffer strip shall be 12 feet in width.
(d)
In the event that any of the plantings in accordance with the above requirements do not live, they shall be replaced within one year.
(e)
The certificate of occupancy for the use of the premises shall not be issued until such time as the landscaping requirements, buffer strips and/or other approved dividers, as required by this chapter and as approved by the Planning Board, are either actually installed in full compliance herewith or, in the event that the season is not appropriate, a performance guaranty of 125% of the cost, as estimated by the Township Engineer, has been deposited with the Township Building Inspector. Such guaranty shall be in the form of cash, and the depositor shall agree in making the deposit that, if performance is not completed within the time specified by the Building Inspector on the receipt delivered to the depositor, the Township may complete the requirements charging the cost against the deposit; otherwise, the deposit shall be returned in full after the satisfactory completion of the work.
(f)
In required buffer areas where a natural buffer strip is considered by the Planning Board to be impracticable or inappropriate, an opaque fence may be substituted in whole or in part for a natural buffer, provided that its specifications are approved by the Planning Board.