Somers Point City Zoning Code

Retail stores and shops; banks and financial institutions; fully enclosed restaurants; craft shops; barbershops and beauty parlors; studios for artists or photographers and sculptors; indoor health club, squash or racquetball facilities; family billiard parlor; indoor recreational facilities; indoor cinema; delicatessens; retail bakery; taverns; dinner theaters, theaters for the performing arts or other cultural facilities; electronic appliance and other service shops; nursery and garden centers; dry cleaning/laundry establishments; factory authorized new automobile sales, agencies and services, including repair shop adjacent to and in connection therewith, including new and used car lots; automobile repair shops. Storage of motor vehicles is permitted, provided that the vehicles have up-to-date inspection stickers and registration and are properly fenced from view and located in the rear of the property.

General, corporate, administrative and professional offices.

Nursing homes, convalescent facilities, continuing-care facilities or such similar use and including, as accessory uses, out-patient facilities, medical and dental offices and clinics, pediatric centers or similar medical uses, provided that such accessory uses constitute less than 50% of the total gross floor of all buildings on the lot or premises and provided that the following requirements are met. It is recognized that projects involving nursing homes, convalescent homes and continuing-care facilities will involve a Coastal Area Facilities Review Act (CAFRA) permit from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and Energy (NJDEPE). Therefore, where regulations and standards of this chapter conflict with NJDEPE rules on coastal resources and development, the state rules shall be given every consideration. Such uses shall be subject to the following:

Methadone clinic.

Off-street parking.

Garages to house delivery trucks or other commercial vehicles.

Temporary construction trailers and one sign not exceeding 50 square feet for advertising. The prime contractor, subcontractor(s), architect, financing institution and similar data shall be included on one sign for the period of construction, beginning with the issuance of a building permit for one year, whichever is less, provided that said trailer and sign are on the site where construction is taking place and are set back at least 15 feet from the street to the lot lines.

Appropriate facilities for placement of trash, recycling and garbage and collection and removal thereof, provided that:

The following uses are permitted as conditional uses pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-3 and 40:55D-67, in this district when authorized by the Planning Board in accordance with the specifications and standards listed below:

General regulations. The following regulations applicable to all uses in this district shall also apply to all conditional uses as permitted in this district, as general regulations and not as special standards applicable only to conditional uses.

Fast-food restaurants are subject to the standards of this chapter, the general requirements of § 114-35C(1)(a) through (n) and to the following regulations:

Gasoline service stations shall be subject to the following regulations:

Car washes shall be subject to the following special regulations:

Lot size: 60,000 square feet. If a waiver is requested and granted by the municipal agency to allow for a thirty-thousand-square-foot, fee simple, smaller parcel ownership within a conforming overall development scheme, other area and bulk requirements shall be adjusted proportionately for out-parcel development.

Lot frontage: 200 feet minimum.

Lot width: 200 feet minimum.

Lot depth: 250 feet minimum.

Side yard, each: 25 feet minimum.

Front yard: 75 feet minimum.

Rear yard: 50 feet minimum.

Maximum building height: No building shall exceed 35 feet in height or two stories.

To side line: 25 feet.

To rear line: 15 feet.

To other building: 20 feet.

Principal buildings: 30%.

Accessory buildings: 5%.

At the time of site plan approval, preliminary architectural plans and elevations shall be submitted by the applicant and approved by the Planning Board demonstrating the aesthetic and visual impact and character of the proposed development. These architectural plans and elevations shall be binding on the applicant, and at the time of construction, the Construction Code Official shall verify that the actual construction plans are in substantial conformity with the preliminary architectural plans and elevations submitted by the applicant and approved by the municipal agency. The ultimate builder of the development, whether or not the builder was the applicant, is responsible to ensure that the development, as constructed, is in substantial conformity with the preliminary architectural plans and elevations submitted and approved by the municipal agency.

All buildings shall be compatibly designed, whether constructed all at one time or in stages over a period of time. All building walls facing any street or residential district line shall be suitably finished for aesthetic purposes, which shall not include unpainted or painted cinder block or concrete block walls. Preferred building materials include brick, wood, stone, fluted-split block, cultured stone, Holland stone, stucco, dry-vit panels, split face masonry units or other natural materials.

All portions of the property not utilized by buildings or paved surfaces shall be landscaped, with a combination of fencing, shrubbery, lawn area, ground cover, rock formations, contours, existing foliage and the planting of conifers and/or deciduous trees native to the area in order to either maintain or reestablish the tone of the vegetation in the area and lessen the visual impact of the structures and paved areas. The established grades on any site shall be planned for both aesthetic and drainage purposes. The grading plan, drainage facilities and landscaping shall be coordinated to prevent erosion and silting, as well as assuring that the capacity of any natural or man-made drainage system is sufficient to handle the water generated and anticipated, both from the site and contributing upstream areas.

Driveways. The areas adjacent to driveways shall be planted with low plants or grass. Appropriate low plants include, but are not limited to, butterfly bush, sargent juniper, inkberry, Japanese barberry or shrubby cinquefoil.

Parking lots. The applicant shall landscape 10% of the parking areas provided. Where a development plan indicates raised walkways between opposing rows of cars, areas at the end of bays or, where proposed or required by the Planning Board, specific islands are indicated, these areas shall be landscaped. Planting strips may be as narrow as 10 feet with a width of 15 to 20 feet most desirable. All is to be raised and protected by permanent concrete curbing or Belgian block.

Retail sales of goods and services: five spaces per 1,000 square feet of gross floor area or fraction thereof.

Offices and banks: 4 1/2 spaces for each 1,000 square feet of gross floor area of fraction thereof.

Restaurants: one space for every five seats.

Theaters: one space for every four seats.

Nursing homes, convalescent facilities or similar uses, but not including hospitals or medical offices: one space per bed.

Continuing care facility: 0.5 space per unit; 0.33 space per bed.

Minimum space requirements for uses not specifically covered: In determining minimum parking space requirements for uses not covered in this section, the Planning Board shall be guided by the number of persons to be employed in said building or by the use; the number of persons expected to visit or patronize the building or use; the anticipated percentage of visitors or patrons using various transportation modes; and the safe and convenient loading space for visitors or patrons and goods.

In addition thereto, one lighted or unlighted sign may be used displaying the name of the use. It shall be attached flat against the front of the building and not exceed an area equivalent to 5% of the front of the building or 25 square feet, whichever is smaller.

Where the building is designed for rear or side entrance, one lighted sign may be attached flat against the building at the rear or side entrance not to exceed an area equivalent to 1/2 that of the sign on the front of the building. Such sign shall be nonmoving.

The maximum number of signs shall not exceed two as approved by the approving authority. All signs shall be nonmoving nor containing lighting or effects creating the illusion of movement, including chase lights.

Freestanding signs shall not exceed the height of the principal structure to be located on the lot or 25 feet, whichever is less.

Where uses share a common walkway, each use served by the walkway may have one additional sign identifying the use, suspended in perpendicular fashion from the roof over the walkway. Suspended signs shall be no closer than eight feet at their lowest point to the finished grade level below them. No such signs shall exceed eight square feet in area.

All signs in a shopping center shall conform in character to all other signs in the complex and shall blend with the overall architectural scheme of the shopping center.

A sign or structure which directs attention to a business commodity, service, activity or entertainment not conducted or principally sold or offered upon the premises on which the sign is located.

Signs attached to the vertical face of the building which extend above the juncture of the facade and roof of the building.

Signs attached to any portion of the roof.

Signs employing flashing, rotating or blinking lights.

Revolving signs or beacons, streamers, pennants and/or whirling devices.

Portable signs of any type.

Signs of duly constituted governmental bodies, including traffic or similar regulatory signs, legal notices or other signs required to be maintained or posted by law or other regulation.

Utility signs, not over four square feet in area, identifying parking area entrances and exits, off-street loading areas and the like.

Memorial plaques, cornerstones, historical markers and the like.

Nameplates or address signs not to exceed two square feet.

Temporary announcement signs, including contractor's signs on a construction site, not to exceed 50 square feet in area, indicating the names of persons associated with or events conducted upon the premises.

Lights shall be directed toward the center and shielded so as to prevent glare beyond the property line.

The maximum height of freestanding light standards shall not exceed the following schedule:

Light fixtures shall have cutoff type luminaries.

All lighting shall be designed to blend with the architectural style of buildings.

Low or mushroom-type standards shall be provided along pedestrian walkways.