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Rockaway Township City Zoning Code

§ 54-30.58 OB-RL Office Building

Research Laboratory District.

[Ord. No. 95-24 § 54-132]
A. 
Permitted principal uses.[1] The OB-RL district is designed to permit professional, executive or administrative offices, and laboratories devoted exclusively to research design and experimentation. Any use permitted by this section shall meet all of the following regulations:
(1) 
Pilot plants for the testing of manufacturing, processing or fabrication methods, or for the testing of products or materials, shall be permitted only as an accessory use to a research laboratory. No materials or finished products shall be manufactured, processed or fabricated on the premises for sale, except such as are incidental to the laboratory research, design or experimental work.
(2) 
No manufactured or commercial explosives shall be kept, maintained or stored on the premises, except in small quantities for laboratory research, design or experimental use and then only in compliance with all applicable Federal, State and local safety statutes.
(3) 
No animal shall be kept or maintained for laboratory research, design, or experimental work unless a written permit is first obtained from the Board of Health.
(4) 
No use permitted shall be of such nature as to endanger neighboring properties, nor shall any such use be so conducted as to be noxious or offensive by reason of odor, dust, smoke, gas, vibration or noise.
B. 
Permitted accessory uses. Accessory uses are permitted if customarily incidental and subordinate to permitted business and professional offices and research laboratories, and provided that such uses are planned as an integral part of an office building complex. Permitted accessory uses shall include:
(1) 
Garages for storage and maintenance of company employee and visitor motor vehicles and storage of gasoline and lubricating oils therefor;
(2) 
Parking facilities;
(3) 
Maintenance and utility shops for the upkeep and repair of buildings and structures and service;
(4) 
Central heating and power plants for furnishing heat and electrical energy to structures on the site only;
(5) 
Training schools for employees;
(6) 
Buildings for the storage of documents, records and personal property;
(7) 
Communication facilities and clinics;
(8) 
Dining and recreational facilities;
(9) 
Banks, post offices, company stores and guest lodges to be used only by company employees and by visitors to the building or buildings; and,
(10) 
Other accessory uses customarily incidental and subordinate to the permitted principal use.
C. 
Conditional uses. The conditional uses permitted in the OB-RL district are indicated in Subsection 54-30.15; provided that such uses shall comply with the conditions for the uses in Subsection 54-30.15.
D. 
Prohibited uses. Any use other than those uses specifically permitted in paragraphs A, B and C above is prohibited. In addition, the following uses are specifically prohibited:
(1) 
Retail sales, unless the use conforms to the above use requirements;
(2) 
Residential construction or use;
(3) 
Public or commercial incineration or sanitary landfills;
(4) 
Junkyards;
(5) 
Dumps, lagoons or pits for the disposal or storage of garbage, trash or any other liquid or solid waste materials;
(6) 
Sand, clay or gravel pits;
(7) 
Trucking terminals or trucking transfer stations; and,
(8) 
The storage and repair of heavy construction equipment either within or outside the confines of a building such as but not necessarily limited to dump trucks, backhoes, bulldozers, road graders, cranes, front end loaders, flat bed trailers, portable or stationary cement mixers, compactors, rollers or black top paving machines.
E. 
Required conditions.
(1) 
Minimum lot area. There shall be a minimum lot area of two acres.
(2) 
Minimum setbacks. No building shall be closer to any property line than two feet for every foot of building height of the building; provided, however, no building shall be closer to any property line than 60 feet.
(3) 
Minimum distance between buildings. There shall be a minimum distance between buildings a distance that is not less than the sum of the heights of the two buildings.
(4) 
Maximum height. No building shall exceed a maximum of 50 feet in height, exclusive of roof tanks and supports, chimneys or head houses or similar enclosures for elevators or air-conditioning machinery or other apparatus. The foregoing roof structures shall not exceed 17 feet in height nor shall their total area exceed 5% of the roof area to which they are attached.
(5) 
Maximum impervious coverage. The total impervious coverage on any lot shall not exceed 60% of the total lot area; provided that if the lot is also located within the CWR district, the total impervious coverage shall not exceed 45% of the total lot area.
F. 
Performance standards. Before the issuance of any building or occupancy permit for any use in the Office Building and Research Laboratory District, all of the following regulations must be complied with:
(1) 
All activities shall be carried on only in structures which conform to the standards of the National Board of Fire Underwriters or Township Building Code or Fire Ordinance, whichever is more restrictive. All operations shall be carried on and combustible raw materials, fuels, liquids, and finished products shall be stored in accordance with the standards of said Board of Fire Underwriters. The storage of crude oil or any other volatile or inflammable liquid in above-ground tanks with individual capacity greater than 500 gallons is prohibited.
(2) 
Radioactivity. Any activity which emits radioactivity ionizing or specific non-ionizing uses such as microwaves at any point outside the confines of a building or structure is prohibited as well as any industrial operation engaging in irradiation processing.
(3) 
There shall be no dissemination of smoke, fumes, gas, dust, odor or any other atmospheric pollutant beyond the boundary of the lot occupied by such use.
(4) 
No use shall be permitted to discharge any waste of any kind on the site or into any stream or water body.
(5) 
Vibration. No operation shall cause either air-induced vibration or ground transmitted vibration which is discernible to the human sense at any point beyond the immediate site on which such use is conducted.
(6) 
There shall be no noise, other than traffic noise, detectable at any point along any property line.