Plainsboro City Zoning Code
ARTICLE VI
R-85 Residence Zone Regulations 1
§ 101-35 Purpose.
The R-85 Zone is intended to permit and promote residential land uses within or near the village area of the Township, including some of the Township's oldest residential neighborhoods as well as some more recent residential development. It is intended to preserve and/or encourage the village residential building elements, historic character and relationships that characterize some of the older portions of this zone district (e.g., open front porches and stoops, lower building heights and reduced front setbacks), while providing adequate accommodation for expansion of existing dwellings as well as for new infill residential construction to meet contemporary household demands. These zone regulations are intended to promote the creation of a residential environment that encourages a sense of security, community and social interaction.
§ 101-36 Permitted uses.
In the R-85 Residence Zone, no lot shall be used and no structure shall be erected, altered or occupied for any purpose except the following:
A.
Detached single-family dwellings and the accessory structures and uses normally auxiliary thereto.
B.
Parks and playgrounds.
C.
Garage facilities for only the motor vehicles owned by the occupant of any single dwelling to which such garage is accessory.
D.
Family day-care homes, subject to the terms set forth in the family day-care home definition in § 101-1.
[Amended 11-10-2011 by Ord. No. 0-11-13]
§ 101-37 Conditional uses.
In the R-85 Residence Zone, the following conditional uses are allowed upon approval by the Planning Board as provided in this chapter:
§ 101-38 Building height.
A.
Except for structures normally needed by permitted public utilities, such as towers or power lines, and for customary decorative features of permitted public and quasi-public structures, such as church steeples and cupolas, no principal residential structure shall exceed 25 feet in height.
B.
Notwithstanding the above, in an effort to preserve the architectural character and reasonably accommodate the expansion of an existing structure, where such structure exceeds the above height limit, an addition to such structure may occur in a manner that matches the existing roof height, but shall not exceed 35 feet.
C.
Pitched roofs (5:12 to 12:12) are required for all new dwellings and additions to existing dwellings.
§ 101-39 Side yards.
There shall be a total combined width of side yards on each lot equal to 25% of the total width of the lot. In no case shall any side yard be less than 10 feet. The total width of both side yards need not exceed 40 feet, except when so required under other provisions of this chapter.
§ 101-40 Front yards.
Upon every lot there shall be a minimum front yard setback of not less than 45 feet from the street line of any street. In blocks where structures have already been erected, however, the average setback line observed by buildings on the same side of the street within 200 feet on each side of any lot shall determine the minimum front yard setback for a principal structure on such lot, except that this distance need not exceed 45 feet from the street line. Where there is an attached garage, the garage door side facing the street shall be located not less than 25 feet from the street line.
A.
Notwithstanding the above, lots located in this zone along Plainsboro Road across from the VR-Village Residential-1 Zone shall be allowed a reduced front yard setback, but not less than 25 feet, subject to complying with applicable building design standards in § 101-221C of the VR-1/Village Residential - 1 Zone to the satisfaction of the Director of Community Development or designee.
§ 101-41 Rear yards.
Upon every lot there shall be a rear yard of not less than 40 feet.
§ 101-42 Accessory buildings.
A.
No detached garage or other accessory building or structure shall be constructed nearer to any front property line than the principal structure on the lot, but not less than 25 feet, or nearer to any side or rear property line than five feet. However, where such a structure would be located within 20 feet of an existing dwelling on an adjacent lot, the setback for such structure shall be not less than 10 feet to the property line.
B.
On any corner lot no detached garage or other accessory building or structure shall be constructed nearer the side and rear property lines than five feet or nearer the front property line on the secondary street than the principal structure fronting on such street, but not less than 25 feet.
C.
Detached garages and other accessory buildings or structures shall not exceed, in aggregate, an area of 750 square feet, with individual accessory buildings, including detached garages, being limited to a maximum area of 600 square feet. Such buildings or structures shall be limited to a maximum height of 15 feet measured from the mean elevation of the finished grade to the highest point of the structure. Structures such as flagpoles and antennas are exempt from such height limitation.
§ 101-43 Open and usable front porches and front entrance stoops.
A.
Open and usable front porches (minimum eight feet depth, without walls, windows or screens) and front entrance stoops shall be permitted to extend up to a maximum of eight feet into a required front yard.
B.
Reconstruction or rehabilitation of existing open front porches, open and usable front porches, as defined above, and roofed or unroofed front entrance stoops may extend into a required front yard, provided such structure remains open, except for railings and vertical support elements.
§ 101-44 Minimum lot area.
A.
There shall be a minimum lot area of 15,000 square feet for each single-family dwelling or other principal structure herein permitted, except that where any lot boundary is coterminous with the center line of any street or road, such area shall be exclusive of the right-of-way.
B.
With the exception of single-family lots that existed at the time this article went into effect (July 20, 2004), all newly created lots in this zone, whether resulting from the subdivision of a large lot into smaller conforming lots or from the process of combining smaller lots, whether conforming or not, to create a larger lot, the maximum dwelling size for such a lot shall be based on the floor area ratio (FAR) limitations set forth in § 101-46 of this chapter. However, where any such lot exceeds 15,000 square feet in area, the maximum dwelling size shall be as permitted for a fifteen-thousand-square-foot lot.
C.
Where an existing lot of 30,000 or more square feet contains an existing dwelling, such lot may be subdivided into two or more conforming lots as noted in Subsection B above, subject to the preservation of the existing dwelling as determined appropriate by the Planning Board in its consideration of an application for subdivision.
§ 101-45 Minimum lot width and frontage.
No single-family dwelling or other principal structure herein permitted shall be erected upon a lot that is less than 85 feet in width and frontage.
§ 101-46 Maximum floor area ratio for dwelling.
A.
No residential structure (including the area of an attached garage) shall be erected or enlarged in this zone that has a floor area ratio (FAR) of greater than 0.20 for lots having an area of up to 15,000 square feet (maximum three-thousand-square-foot dwelling). For lots larger than 15,000, each 1,000 square feet of increased lot area shall be matched by an incremental decrease in FAR equal to 0.005, until a maximum dwelling size of 3,700 sq. ft. is reached (including an attached garage). (Note: this maximum dwelling size will occur for lots having an area of approximately 23,000 to 24,000 square feet.)
B.
Notwithstanding the above, such floor area restrictions (FAR) shall not apply to existing single-family dwellings in neighborhoods where the predominant pattern is that of lots that contain at least 30,000 square feet of area.
§ 101-47 Maximum building coverage.
The maximum building coverage for residential development, including accessory buildings, but excluding front open and usable porches and entrance stoops, as well as additions to dwellings that existed at the time this article went into effect (July 20, 2004), shall be 20% of the lot area.