Ridgewood City Zoning Code
§ 190-114
C Commercial District.
[Amended 5-13-1996 by Ord. No. 2566; 10-8-1996 by Ord. No. 2583; 10-13-1998 by Ord. No. 2643; 6-7-1999 by Ord. No. 2670; 4-7-2010 by Ord. No. 3242; 12-14-2011 by Ord. No. 3323; 2-8-2012 by Ord. No. 3327; 8-13-2014 by Ord. No. 3425; 3-23-2016 by Ord. No. 3492]
A.
Intent. The C Zone District is intended to accommodate a variety of nonresidential uses not permitted elsewhere in the Village, consistent with its existing land use and development pattern, and to promote an upgraded form of development in the area.
B.
Permitted principal uses and structures. The following principal uses and structures shall be permitted in the C Zone District, subject, however, to the use limitations in Subsection C below:
[Amended 2-8-2017 by Ord. No. 3579; 12-13-2023 by Ord. No. 3976; 6-12-2024 by Ord. No. 4002]
(1)
Retail sales.
(2)
Retail and personal services.
(3)
Financial institutions, excluding drive-in banks.
(4)
Eating and drinking establishments.
(5)
Arts facilities.
(6)
Brew pubs.
(7)
Microbreweries.
(8)
Fitness and health clubs.
(9)
Flexible retail.
(10)
Instructional schools.
(11)
Medical offices.
(12)
Veterinary facilities.
(13)
Microdistilleries
(14)
Recreational facilities.
(15)
Flexible office/co-working/incubator space.
(16)
Professional offices.
(17)
Parking lots and structures.
(18)
Child-care centers.
(19)
Municipal buildings owned or leased by the Village of Ridgewood and used for public purposes.
(20)
Club, fraternal, recreational, athletic, political, labor, civic, and social uses located above the ground floor, except that ground floor areas used for access to such uses shall be permitted.
(21)
Institutional uses.
(22)
Trade offices and shops.
(23)
Automobile showrooms.
(24)
Business services.
(25)
Automotive repair shops.
(26)
Wholesale sales businesses.
C.
Use limitations. The following limitations shall apply to permitted principal uses in the C Zone District:
(1)
Drive-in uses shall be prohibited.
(2)
Individual commercial uses shall be limited to those which are small in scale, similar and consistent with the existing pedestrian-oriented shops and stores in the Central Business District, not exceeding a gross floor area of 10,000 square feet for each business establishment.
(3)
Uses involving operation between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m., except for public uses and except for emergency operations, shall be prohibited.
(4)
Uses of an industrial nature shall be prohibited, including but not limited to any establishment engaged in the mechanical, physical, or chemical transformation of materials, substances, or components into new products, or engaged in the assembling of component parts of manufactured products.
D.
Accessory uses and structures. The following accessory uses and structures shall be permitted, provided that they are located on the same premises as the principal use or structure to which they are accessory:
E.
Conditional uses and structures. The following conditional uses and structures shall be permitted in the C District only if they comply with the appropriate regulations for such uses or structures in § 190-123:
F.
Prohibited uses. Any uses other than those uses permitted by this section are prohibited. In addition, without in any way limiting the generality and prohibition of this section, the following uses are specifically prohibited:
[Amended 6-12-2024 by Ord. No. 4002]
(1)
Commercial incinerations, junkyards, rubbish, garbage and trash dumps, residential construction or conversion of structures or residential uses, stockyards, abattoirs, slaughterhouses or other animal processing operations or any use which will in any manner create any dangerous, injurious, noxious or otherwise objectionable fire, explosive, radioactive or other hazard or noise or vibration or smoke, dust, odor or other form of air pollution or heat, cold, dampness, movement of air, electrical or other similar disturbances, glare or solid or liquid waste in any manner or amount which shall not conform to the performance standards set forth in § 190-120G.
(2)
Drive-in and drive-through uses, including but not limited to drive-in banks, drive-in pharmacies and drive-in restaurants.
(3)
The sale, delivery and/or serving of prepared food and/or beverages in a ready-to-consume state from a location within a building through a door or window or over a counter to a location outside the same building on the same site or within the adjacent public right-of-way, including outdoor cafes. Such prohibition shall include but not be limited to the delivery to or receipt of food and/or beverages to customers in motor vehicles. The foregoing shall not be construed to prohibit:
(4)
Warehousing and storage as a principal use.
G.
Bulk and lot regulations. The following conditions and requirements shall be complied with:
(1)
Minimum lot area: 10,000 square feet.
(2)
Maximum building height: 45 feet.
(3)
Minimum front yard: 15 feet.
(4)
Minimum side yard: none required, but if provided, 12 feet. If adjacent to a residential zone, a minimum twelve-foot side yard is required.
(5)
Minimum rear yard: six inches for each foot of height of the principal building, or 10 feet, whichever is greater.
(6)
Maximum floor area ratio: 45% of the lot area.
(7)
Maximum coverage by improvements: 90% of the lot area.
H.
Other regulations. In addition to the bulk and lot regulations, the following requirements shall be complied with:
(1)
Any use permitted by this section, unless otherwise specifically permitted to be conducted outdoors, shall only be conducted within the confines of a building.
(2)
Veterinary hospitals and establishments shall be contained within a soundproof building.
(3)
Any side or rear yard that abuts any residential zone shall be provided with a fence or special planting, maintained in good condition, to screen the commercial use from the abutting residential property.
(4)
Architectural design.
(a)
Buildings shall be required to incorporate high-quality architectural features that are characteristic of exemplary buildings reflecting the traditional architecture in the Central Business District. The applicant for any development shall demonstrate such design by providing as part of any site plan review examples of and comparisons with existing high-quality buildings in the Central Business District.
(b)
Buildings greater than 40 feet in height shall be required to use architectural features such as pitched roofs, varied rooflines, decorative cupolas, pediments, varied parapet heights and similar features designed to provide variety and reduce the visual impact of the building height. In order to accommodate such features, the following exceptions to the height limitation in Subsection G(2) above shall be permitted:
[1]
The height of such features shall not exceed the maximum permitted building height by more than eight feet.
[2]
The horizontal area of such features, including the area enclosed by such features, that exceed the maximum permitted building height shall not exceed 20% of the horizontal area of that portion of the building having a height greater than 40 feet. This limitation shall be cumulative for all such features. [For example, the horizontal area of that portion of a sloped roof or roofs at an elevation greater than the maximum building height could not exceed 4,000 square feet in the case of a building with a horizontal area of 20,000 square feet (20,000 x 0.20 = 4,000).]
[3]
In the case of linear features for which an area calculation is not possible, such as a parapet wall, rooftop screen, etc., the horizontal length of any such features that exceed the maximum permitted building height shall not exceed 20% of the horizontal length of the highest building wall or walls above which the feature is located and toward which such feature faces. This limitation shall be cumulative for all such features. [For example, the length of that portion of a parapet or parapets at an elevation greater than the maximum building height could not exceed 20 feet if located above a wall 100 feet long (100 x 0.20 = 20).]
(c)
Buildings having a gross floor area greater than 40,000 square feet shall be required to use architectural features that provide variety and reduce the visual impact of the building mass, through the use of varied facade materials, facade projections and recesses, judicious use of windows and other openings in the facade, and other similar features.
(d)
If parking or other exterior areas are provided beneath a building, such areas shall be screened by structural elements that are compatible with the materials and design of the front and side building facades. The intent of such screening shall be to mitigate the effects of headlights, minimize the view of parked vehicles and pavement, and to provide for a unified architectural design.