All improvements shall be installed in complete accordance with the standards of this chapter, with other particular specifications approved by the reviewing agency and Municipal Engineer and with all other applicable municipal, county, state and federal regulations.

The Standard Specifications for Road and Bridge Construction of the New Jersey Department of Transportation (latest edition), including all addenda, and the Standard Construction Details of the New Jersey Department of Transportation (latest revision), as modified, supplemented, amended or superseded by the requirements of this Article, by the approved final plat, by particular agreement among the reviewing agency, Municipal Council and subdivider or by other applicable municipal, county, state or federal regulations, shall govern the completion of the required improvements. Such Standard Specifications and Standard Construction Details (standards) are made a part of this Article by reference and will not be repeated herein. The requirements of this Article, of an approved final plat or of particular agreements and conditions of approval and of applicable municipal, county, state or federal regulations shall govern and prevail in the case of conflict between them and the Standard Specifications or Standard Construction Details. Should the municipality adopt, subsequent to the effective date of this Article, particular and specific standards construction details for the municipality, they shall govern and prevail over the Standard Construction Details of the New Jersey Department of Transportation previously referred to.

All site plan and subdivision plats shall conform to design standards that will encourage desirable development patterns within the municipality.

Within the criteria established by and subject to the review and approval of the reviewing agency, all design of a site plan or subdivision is the responsibility of the developer, and he shall be responsible for and bear the entire cost of any and all investigations, tests, reports, surveys, samples, calculations, environmental assessments, designs, researches or any other activity necessary to the completion of the design.

When a developer determines that it will be necessary to utilize design standards in addition to or other than those minimum requirements established herein, he is advised to consult with the Municipal Engineer, prior to beginning his detailed design, for review and approval of his proposed design standards.

It is recognized that, in certain instances, preexisting conditions or the uniqueness of a particular proposal may require the waiver of some of the standards presented herein.

The block length, width and acreage within bounding roads shall be such as to accommodate the size and dimensions of lots required for the zoning district by this chapter and to provide for convenient access, circulation control and safety of vehicles and pedestrians.

Block lengths may vary between four hundred (400) and two thousand (2,000) feet, but blocks along other than local collector streets shall not be less than one thousand (1,000) feet long.

Interior crosswalks with a right-of-way twenty (20) feet wide containing a sidewalk of five (5) feet or greater in width and fenced on both sides may be required for blocks longer than one thousand (1,000) feet, from the ends of the culs-de-sac to adjacent streets and elsewhere as required by the public convenience, including the provision of walks giving access to schools, playgrounds and shopping centers without the necessity of crossing traffic thoroughfares.

For commercial, group housing or industrial use, block size shall be sufficient to meet all area and yard requirements for such use.

All grading, excavation or embankment construction shall be in accordance with the approved final plat and shall provide for the disposal of all stormwater runoff and such groundwater seepage as may be encountered. All clearing, excavation and embankment construction shall be in accordance with the applicable requirements of the New Jersey Department of Transportation Standard Specifications. No excavated material may be removed from the site, except in accordance with an approved final plat, without the prior approval of the Municipal Engineer. The stockpile or removal of soil from a site except in relationship to an approved plan shall not be permitted except as provided by other ordinances of the municipality. Where borrow excavation materials from off-site sources are required to complete the necessary grading, such material shall meet the requirements of the Standard Specifications for Borrow Excavation, Zone 3, and shall be subject to the approval of the Municipal Engineer. All trees to be saved must have a snow fence erected at the drip line of the tree.

Material which the Municipal Engineer judges unsuitable for use in roadway embankment may be used for grading outside the roadway right-of-way or in building areas with the permission of the Municipal Engineer and the Construction Official (for building areas). Any unsuitable material which cannot be satisfactorily utilized on the site shall be removed from the site and disposed of at places to be provided by the developer.

To preserve the integrity of pavements, embankments and excavations for streets or roadways shall be provided with slopes no steeper than one (1) foot of vertical rise for every three (3) feet of horizontal distance.

Such slopes shall be suitably planted with perennial grasses or other ground cover plantings in accordance with the plans approved by the reviewing agency.

In areas where excavations or embankments would extend significantly beyond road rights-of-way, thereby causing disruption to the natural environment of the development, the reviewing agency may, upon the application of the developer or upon its own initiative, direct the use of terraces, retaining walls, crib walls or other means of maintaining roadway slopes.

The tops of slopes in excavations and the tops of slopes in embankment areas shall not extend beyond the right-of-way line or, where provided on the plan, to the limit of grading as shown on the final plan. Sidewalk and easement areas shall slope at two percent (2%) to the top of the curb elevation, and sidewalk construction shall conform to this slope.

Lot grading. Lots shall be graded to secure proper drainage and to prevent the collection of stormwater. Said grading shall be performed in a manner which will minimize the damage to or destruction of trees growing on the land. Topsoil shall be provided and/or redistributed on the surface as cover and shall be stabilized by seeding or planting. Grading plans shall have been submitted with the preliminary and final plats, and any departure from these plans must be approved in accordance with the requirements of this chapter for the modification of improvements. Grading shall be designed to prevent or minimize drainage to structures or improvements when major storms, exceeding the design basis of the storm drainage system, occur.

All concrete used in any subdivision or site improvement shall be prepared in accordance with the requirements of the standard specifications for the various classes of concrete used, except that the twenty-eight-day compressive strength of the concrete used shall not be less than the following

Unless specific written permission is obtained from the Municipal Engineer to the contrary, only concrete obtained from dry-batched redi-mixed trucks shall be allowed.

Concrete shall be cured with a compound in accordance with the following methods or materials:

Curbing shall be constructed on both sides of all streets shown on all major subdivisions and shall be required on minor subdivisions in accordance with the standards prescribed for the requirements of sidewalks in the case of minor subdivisions. All parking areas and driveways on site plans shall be curbed. Concrete or wood stops shall not be permitted.

Any existing pavements damaged by curb construction shall be repaired to the standards herein and/or as shown on the final plat.

Where one (1) side of the development boundary is along an exiting street, the curb and improvements shall be constructed only on a development side unless the reviewing agency requires full roadway improvements.

The following type of curb shall be constructed:

The curb at all driveway openings shall be depressed at the front of the curb to a point two (2) inches above the finished pavement and at the back of the curb three (3) inches above the finished pavement.

The rear top corner of this curb shall have a radius of one-fourth (1/4) inch, and the front top corner shall have a radius of one and one-half (1 1/2) inches.

Curb openings shall be in such width as shall be determined by the Municipal Engineer but in no case less than sixteen (16) feet at the edge of the pavement.

Drainage easements.

Conservation easements.

Sight-triangle easements.

A certificate of occupancy shall not be issued for a new residential structure which is the subject of a major subdivision or site plan unless the distance from the midpoint of the frontage or such premises to a functioning fire hydrant which has been tested and approved, as measured down to the center line of connecting public streets, is six hundred (600) feet or less.

Final subdivision plats shall not be approved by the reviewing agency unless fire hydrants are indicated on the final plat in accordance with the requirements herein contained as to location of and distance between fire hydrants.

Fire hydrants shall be placed at the closed end of the turnaround of a cul-de-sac, and, if the distance between the open end and the closed end is greater than four hundred (400) feet, then fire hydrants shall be placed at both the open end and the closed end of the cul-de-sac. The water main size in a cul-de-sac shall be eight (8) inches.

The installation of fire hydrants, with respect to any subdivision, shall be considered a subdivision improvement and is to be included in the bonding requirements of this Article, and the proper installation of fire hydrants shall be a condition of the issuance of the certificate of occupancy; however, all costs shall be borne by the developer.

All fire hydrants shall be painted in accordance with the standards of the City of Perth Amboy.

Guardrails, pipe railing or other appropriate barricades, as required by the reviewing agency, shall be designed and placed at drainage structures, streams, embankment limits, curries and other required locations.

Guardrails shall be standard steel-beam Type 4 timber with galvanized steel posts in accordance with the standard specification details. Alternate design of guardrails and barricades may be used and shall be submitted for approval as part of the final plat submission. The use of cables, lines or chains shall not be permitted.

All parking areas for five (5) or more motor vehicles shall be illuminated with approved exterior lighting standards, with a minimum of one-half (1/2) horizontal footcandle average lighting level at the surface of the lot.

All major pedestrian walkways and sidewalks which are not within a street right-of-way or abutting a private internal street serviced by streetlighting and which are used by the public after sunset shall be illuminated with a minimum lighting level of one-half (1/2) horizontal footcandle average at the surface of the walk.

Unless otherwise provided in this Article, lot area and dimensions shall not be less than the requirements of the respective zoning districts as set forth in this chapter.

Insofar as practical, side lot lines shall be at right angles to straight streets and radial to curved streets.

Lot line on widened street. Where extra width is to be provided for the widening of existing streets, lot measurements shall begin at the proposed right-of-way line, and all setbacks shall be measured from such lines unless otherwise provided by this chapter.

Unsuitable lots. All lots shall be suitable for the purpose for which they are intended to be used. To prevent the use of lots which are not suitable because of adverse topography, flood conditions, shallow depth to water table or similar circumstances:

A minimum of five (5) substantially different front elevations with varied setbacks, as approved by the reviewing agency, shall be used for dwellings in each subdivision.

Only those trees shall be removed as shall be necessary to permit construction of streets, driveways, lawns and dwellings and other authorized structures.

In accordance with the Tax Map specifications of the State of New Jersey, dated May 1975, or latest revision, prepared by the State of New Jersey, Department of the Treasury, as amended, subdivided lots and blocks shall generally bear the original numbers with a decimal and a number added as a subscript. Lot and block numbers shall be assigned by the Municipal Engineer.

House numbers shall be assigned to each lot prior to final plat approval by the reviewing agency.

Lot frontage. Each lot shall front on an approved street accepted or to be accepted by the municipality.

All structures must be accessible by means of an approved driveway. The driveway must be not less than ten (10) feet wide and must have a center-line grade of not less than five-tenths percent (0.5%) and not greater than ten percent (10%). For all non-single-family uses, or residential uses located on collector or arterial roads, driveways must provide turnarounds to eliminate the necessity of any vehicle backing onto any street.

Roadways and all appurtenances, including subgrade, subbase, base courses and pavements, shall be constructed in accordance with the applicable requirements of the standard specifications as modified herein. All subsurface utilities, including service connections [terminating at least two (2) feet behind the sidewalk] to each lot and all storm drains shall be installed in all roadway areas prior to the construction of final pavement surfaces.

All roadways shall be constructed with either a bituminous concrete flexible pavement structure or a portland cement concrete rigid pavement structure. Only one (1) type of pavement shall be utilized throughout any development.

The pavement structure design for each particular development utilizing either a flexible or rigid pavement type must be approved by the Municipal Engineer.

All subgrade shall be prepared in accordance with the applicable requirements of the standard specifications for bituminous concrete and reinforced concrete pavements.

Where granular subbase courses are included in the pavement design section proposed by the developer, they shall be constructed in accordance with the applicable requirements of the standard specifications.

Bituminous base course for use with bituminous concrete pavements shall consist of plant-mixed bituminous stabilized base course (stone mix or gravel mix) in accordance with the requirements of the standard specifications, except that the requirements for the construction of the base course shall be amended to allow the laying of the base course with a single-lift maximum thickness not exceeding five (5) inches. Prior to placement of any bituminous stabilized base course, the finished surface of any underlying subbase or aggregate base shall receive a prime coat in accordance with the requirements of the standard specifications.

Bituminous pavements shall consist of a bituminous concrete surface course Type FABC-1, in accordance with the requirements of the standard specifications.

Concrete pavements shall be constructed in accordance with the requirements of the standard specifications.

In areas where alternate pavement types are proposed or desired either for decorative purposes, because of physical restrictions or existing conditions or because of limitations or shortages in certain types of construction materials, a detail of the type and/or location of the alternate pavement type proposed shall be submitted for approval with the preliminary and/or final plat.

Prior to the approval of any final plat, the full approval of any sanitary sewage disposal system must have been obtained from the Municipal Engineer.

The public sewage disposal system shall be installed in accordance with the rules and regulations of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and in accordance with other requirements of law and subject to the approval of the Municipal Engineer.

Sidewalk construction shall be required on both sides of all streets within a development and entirely around the perimeter of all culs-de-sac. Where the development abuts an existing street, the sidewalk shall be constructed only on that side or as approved by the reviewing agency. Sidewalks shall also be constructed at any other places, such as pedestrian walkways or access points to open space, as shown on or required at the approval of the final plat.

Sidewalks within street rights-of-way shall generally be located with the sidewalk edge farthest from the roadway placed one (1) foot from the property line. Sidewalks not within street rights-of-way shall be located to provide for the most likely routes of pedestrian travel. In cases where the topography dictates or a proposed development provides for the extension of an existing street or abuts an existing street, where sidewalks have already been installed in a location other than as specified above or where such variations in sidewalk locations are needed to preserve trees or natural features, the municipal agency may approve alternate sidewalk locations in order to provide for preservation of physical features or the continuation of the existing sidewalks.

Sidewalks shall be four (4) feet wide and four (4) inches thick of Class B, air-entrained portland cement concrete. Joints shall be cut in the sidewalk at intervals equal to the width of the sidewalk. Preformed cellular bituminous expansion joint filler shall be placed at joints not more than twenty (20) feet on centers.

Curb ramps for the physically handicapped shall be provided at all curb returns on the side(s) of the street where the sidewalk either exists or is proposed and in all curblines intersected by sidewalk. Details of the proposed ramps shall be shown on the preliminary plans of the proposed development. All ramps shall conform to the American Disabilities Act.

All developments shall protect streams, lakes and ponds from sedimentation and shall control erosion in accordance with the Standards for Soil Erosion and Sediment Control in New Jersey set forth in the Soil Erosion and Sediment Control Act, Chapter 251 of the Laws of 1975, as amended and supplemented.[1]

Certification of the soil erosion and sediment control plan shall be required from the Freehold Soil Conservation District unless:

Storm drains, culverts, catch basins and other drainage structures shall be installed in each subdivision in accordance with the map submitted to the municipal agency.

All storm drainage pipes shall be slip-joint O-ring-type reinforced concrete or, subject to the restrictions herein, fully coated, invert paved, corrugated metal steel culvert pipe meeting the requirements of the standard specifications.

Inlets and manholes shall be constructed where required in accordance with the requirements of the standard specifications. All inlets and manholes shall be precast concrete only.

Open channels shall be designed to contain the required flow and shall have a design velocity low enough in the judgment of the Municipal Engineer so as not to cause erosion.

Culverts or drains shall be constructed as specified herein.

Headwalls shall be provided at all terminations.

Retaining walls installed in slope control areas shall be adequately designed to carry all earth pressures, including any surcharges. The heights of the retaining walls should not exceed one-half (1/2) of the horizontal distance from the foundation wall of any building to the face of the retaining wall.

Guardrails and/or railings shall be placed at all drainage structures where the interests of pedestrian or vehicular safety would dictate.

Stormwater runoff restrictions in all proposed subdivisions and residential developments and all business, commercial and industrial developments comprising a design limit for stormwater runoff shall be zero-percent increase of the runoff generated by the site in its natural conditions for the two-, ten-, twenty-five and one-hundred-year storm unless downstream facilities have been determined to be fully adequate. Runoff calculations shall be based on the Rational Method or the Soil Conservation Service Procedures TR-55.

Special drainage provisions.

The minimum design storm frequencies for drainage calculations shall be two (2), ten (10), twenty-five (25) and one hundred (100) years. Detention and retention basin calculations shall include an analysis to show that a one-hundred-year design storm will not overtop the basin wall.

Velocity restrictions. In general, velocities in closed conduits at design flow should be at least two and five-tenths (2.5) feet per second, but not more than the velocity which will cause erosion damage to the conduit, and velocities in open channels at design flow shall not be less than one and five-tenths (1.5) feet per second and not greater than that velocity which will begin to cause erosion or scouring of the channel.

All encroachments of natural waterways must be referred to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Division of Water Resources, for approval in accordance with statute.

Storm drainage facilities.

Runoff calculation criteria.

Design criteria for detention facilities.

Storm sewer design and calculation criteria.

All major and minor arterial, collector, local collector, local and marginal access streets shall be designed in accordance with the proposals contained in the Master Plan of the municipality and in accordance with this subsection.

The arrangement of streets not shown on the Master Plan or Official Map shall be such as to provide for the appropriate extension and/or realignment of existing streets, except that local and collector streets should only be extended when such extension is necessary and the municipal agency concurs that such extension will promote safety and conform to the street standards contained elsewhere in this chapter.

Where developments abut existing roadways, sufficient rights-of-way shall be reserved to provide the right-of-way width proposed for the functional classification of the street in question.

Local streets shall be designed in accordance with the schedule of street design standards and the requirements contained herein:

In any development, it shall be the duty of the reviewing agency to approve classification of proposed streets according to their use and in accordance with the federal classification of roadways. In making decisions, the reviewing agency shall refer to the Master Plan and the Middlesex County Planning Board classification of roadways and shall consider conditions within the development and the surrounding areas and shall use as a guide the street classification and criteria contained herein:

All lots abutting collector streets should be provided with suitable driveways for two (2) cars with turnarounds eliminating any necessity for vehicles to back into the collector street.

Other means of providing a satisfactory buffer separating through and local traffic shall be provided as may be deemed proper by the municipal agency.

Dwellings on corner lots shall have their driveway access on the roadway designed and intended to carry the lesser amount of traffic.

Street intersections shall be designed according to the standards contained herein:

Street layouts should be in accordance with the provisions contained herein:

Street names and development names shall not duplicate, nearly duplicate or be phonetically similar to the names of any existing streets or developments in the municipality or contiguous areas of other communities. Any continuation of an existing street shall have the same street name.

The developer shall complete all improvements to the limits of the development, unless other provisions have been made and approved by the municipal agency.

The right-of-way width and other standards for internal roads and alleys in multifamily, commercial and industrial developments shall be determined by the municipal agency on an individual basis and shall, in all cases, be of sufficient width and design to safely accommodate maximum traffic, parking and loading needs and maximum access for fire-fighting equipment and shall generally conform to the requirements herein.

There shall be no reserve strips or areas controlling access to streets except where control and disposal of the land comprising such strips or areas have been placed under jurisdiction of the Municipal Council under conditions approved by the municipal agency.

For all major subdivisions which require site plan approval, the developer shall arrange with the serving public utility to provide streetlighting service upon the appropriate tariff and prevailing government rules and regulations. The reviewing agency may alter the streetlighting requirements as it deems appropriate due to special circumstances, including but not limited to intersections, curves, culs-de-sac and collector or arterial roadways.

The serving public utility shall install wiring in addition to that on the approved streetlighting plan where said additional wiring is required to accommodate the full plan in accordance with the utility's filed tariff and approved procedure at the time.

The cost of this additional wiring shall be the responsibility of the subdivider.

Streetlighting shall be installed, as directed by and subject to approval by the reviewing agency, prior to the certificates of occupancy being issued.

The cost of the additional wiring and electricity for streetlighting for all streets within the development shall be paid for by the owner or subdivider until streets are accepted by the municipality.

No major subdivision plat shall receive final approval unless the suggested streetlighting plan of the electric utility is shown thereon.

After final acceptance, operation and maintenance costs of the streetlighting shall be the responsibility of the municipality.

All wiring shall be underground.

Street signs shall be appropriate metal street signs of a type and size approved by the Department of Public Works and shall be properly installed at each street intersection.

Street signs shall be placed two (2) per intersection on the near right-hand corner as viewed from both directions on the street which is expected to carry the greatest traffic through the intersection at locations approved by the Municipal Engineer.

Mountings shall be in accordance with the standard procedures of the municipality.

Street signs shall be placed before any certificates of occupancy for houses on the subject street are issued.

Any person erecting or constructing any new buildings or residences within the municipality which require site plan or subdivision approval shall plant pollution-resistant shade trees on the property owner's side of the sidewalk adjacent thereto.

Street trees shall be planted on the property owner's side of the sidewalk, not to lie closer than five (5) feet to existing or future sidewalks.

The subdivider or developer shall be required to plant such number of trees as shall be necessary, when taking into consideration existing trees, to provide at least one (1) tree in every twenty-five (25) feet of front yards.

Pollution-resistant trees referred to above shall be selected from along species determined acceptable by the city. Species may include those approved for this purpose by the Middlesex County Shade Tree Commission. Suitable trees shall be selected on the basis of specific site conditions.

All shade trees to be hereafter planted in accordance with this chapter shall be nursery grown or of substantially uniform size and shape and shall have straight trunks.

The developer shall, prior to final acceptance, install all traffic control devices required within any development or, with the consent of the Municipal Council, shall pay to the municipality a nonrefundable sum, in cash or certified check, in the amount set by the Municipal Engineer equal to the cost of all necessary traffic control devices not installed by the developer.

Traffic control devices shall include, but are not limited to, signs, traffic lines, lights, reflectors and channelizing markers.

Construction details of all proposed traffic control devices shall be in accordance with standards prepared by the Municipal Engineer and approved by the Municipal Council.

All utility lines and necessary appurtenances, including but not limited to electric transmission and electric and gas distribution, communications, streetlighting and cable television, shall be installed underground within easements or dedicated public rights-of-way in accordance with the Typical Utility Layout and Typical Road Section or in such other configuration as set forth by the approving body, Municipal Engineer and utility companies where necessary and appropriately coordinated.

Utilities may be required to be located along the rear property lines or elsewhere within easements as provided in this Article.

For all major subdivisions, the developer shall arrange with the serving utility for the underground installation of the utility's distribution supply lines and service connections in accordance with the provisions of the applicable standard terms and conditions incorporated as part of its tariff as the same are then on file with the State of New Jersey Board of Public Utilities and shall submit to the municipal agency, prior to the granting of final approval, a written instrument from each serving utility which shall evidence full compliance with the provisions of this section; provided, however, that lots in such subdivisions which abut existing streets or public rights-of-way where overhead utility distribution supply lines have theretofore been installed on a portion of the streets involved may be supplied with service from such overhead lines or extensions thereof, but the service connections from the overhead lines shall be installed underground.

In any event, new buildings' service connections for all multifamily developments and for any industrial, commercial or office development containing a floor area of ten thousand (10,000) square feet or more shall be installed underground. All other new service connections shall also be installed underground unless a specific waiver is granted by the municipal agency.

Where a state permit is required for utilities, the applicant shall submit said permit prior to any final approval or issuance of a building permit as determined by the Planning Board.

Meters may be mounted on exterior walls. All meters shall be screened so that they are not visible from any internal or public streets as approved by the utility utilizing the meters.

Anchoring. All new construction and substantial improvements shall be anchored to prevent flotation, collapse or lateral movement of the structure.

Construction materials and methods.

Utilities.

Subdivision proposals.

Residential construction. New construction or substantial improvement of any residential structure shall have the lowest structural member, including the basement, elevated one (1) foot above the base flood elevation.

Nonresidential construction. New construction or substantial improvement of any commercial, industrial or other nonresidential structure shall either have the lowest structural member, including the basement, elevated one (1) foot above the base flood elevation or, together with attendant utility and sanitary facilities, be floodproofed so that below the base flood level the structure is watertight with walls substantially impermeable to the passage of water and with structural components having the capacity of resisting hydrostatic and hydrodynamic loads and effects of buoyancy. A registered professional engineer or architect shall certify that the standards of this subsection are satisfied.

Additional conditions. In areas of special flood hazard, any or all of the following measures may also be required:

Floodways. Since the floodway is an extremely hazardous area due to the velocity of floodwaters which carry debris, potential projectiles and erosion potential, the following provisions apply:

Floodplains and resource protection areas. Site plan and subdivision layouts shall comply with the following.

Design waivers in flood hazard areas. The municipal agency may grant waivers from the design standards of this section. In reviewing requests for waivers, the municipal agency shall consider the following.

As a condition of approval and the continuance of any use, occupancy of any structure and operation of any process or equipment, the applicant shall supply evidence, satisfactory to the municipal agency or to its designated representative, that the proposed use, structure, process or equipment will conform fully to all of the applicable performance standards.

Hazardous, toxic or corrosive substances. No building or land shall be used and no structure shall be erected, constructed, reconstructed, altered or repaired for purposes of processing, manufacturing, producing or storing hazardous, toxic or corrosive substances. "Hazardous, toxic and corrosive substance" shall be defined as those named in regulations promulgated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and other federal and state regulatory agencies. This provision shall not apply to the incidental use and limited storage of such substances in connection with uses permitted by this chapter.

Applicability and enforcement of performance standards.

Performance standards established.

Performance standards in conflict with existing ordinances. The Municipal Engineer shall determine whether or not the standards contained herein are consistent with the standards that may be established by other municipal ordinances. If they conflict, this chapter shall defer to the established municipal ordinance as follows: