Zoneomics Logo
search icon

Southampton Township
City Zoning Code

12-4.7 Conditional

uses.

[Amended 2-20-2024 by Ord. No. 2024-01]
Before a construction permit or Certificate of Occupancy shall be issued for any conditional use as permitted by this chapter, application shall be made to the Land Development Board for conditional use approval as well as required site plan and/or subdivision approval as may be necessary. The review by the Land Development Board of a conditional use shall include any required site plan review. The Land Development Board shall grant or deny the application for a conditional use within 95 days of submission of an application deemed complete by the Administrative Officer or within such further time as may be consented to by the applicant. Where a conditional use application involves a site plan or subdivision, notice of the hearing shall include reference to all matters being heard, and the approving authority shall review and approve or deny the subdivision or site plan simultaneously with the conditional use application. Failure of the approving authority to act within the required time period shall constitute approval of the application.
Conditional uses include the following:
a. 
Fast-food restaurant subject to the following conditions:
1. 
Bldg. lot coverage: 0.05 maximum.
2. 
There shall be at least one major means of access and egress, divided by a median strip. Entrances and exits shall be located at least 100 feet from a street intersection.
3. 
Direct access from the roadway right-of-way line to the nearest turn or parking space on the lot on which the fast-food establishment is located shall be an unobstructed distance of at least 20 feet.
4. 
All service, storage and trash areas shall be completely screened from public view. All outside trash receptacles shall be located within an enclosure constructed of decorative masonry or fence material a minimum of four feet and a maximum of six feet in height and shall be provided with opaque gates of the same height.
5. 
A fast-food restaurant may not be located within 1,500 feet of a school, church, synagogue or other place of worship; a hospital, nursing home or home for the aged; or another fast-food restaurant. The distance shall be measured between the two closest property lines.
6. 
The minimum distance between driveways and adjacent property lines shall be 20 feet measured from the curb return to an extension of the side property line.
7. 
The minimum distance between driveways on the site shall be 65 feet measured between the curb returns.
8. 
Drive-in window lanes shall be physically separated from the traffic circulation system on the site by means of concrete curbing and landscaped islands, which allow for a minimum width of two feet for landscaping. The drive-in window aisle shall have a minimum width of 10 feet. The length of the drive-in lane shall be such as to permit the stacking of a minimum of 10 vehicles. Allowance must be made to allow customers who have received their orders to bypass vehicles that are awaiting a special order.
9. 
Sites shall be so designed as to not permit a conflict between pedestrian and vehicular drive-in traffic in either the stacking lane or drive-in exit.
10. 
All signs shall conform to the requirements of Subsection 12-5.15 of the Land Development Ordinance.
11. 
Minimum off-street parking requirements shall be in conformance with Subsection 12-5.10.
b. 
Gasoline service stations and repair garages: provided that the issuance of a permit shall first be approved by the Land Development Board, after public notice and public hearing, on the basis of the following standards:
1. 
No gasoline station shall be located within 1,500 feet of any other gasoline service station, which distance shall be measured along a straight line from the nearest boundary line of the existing station to the nearest boundary line of the proposed new station.
2. 
No gasoline service station shall be located within 500 feet of any public or private school, hospital, church, library, theater or other place of public assembly seating more than 50 persons, which distance shall be measured along a straight line from the nearest boundary line of the proposed new station.
3. 
The proposed use shall not be detrimental to the health, safety or general welfare of the Township, and it shall not result in a depression of any established property values in the general area.
4. 
Gasoline pumps shall be setback a minimum of 40 feet from the front property and street line, except canopy structures may be located as close as 25 feet to the street line. A minimum of 25 feet shall exist between any two islands and between any island and the service station, auto repair or auto body building.
5. 
All pits, lifts and working areas shall be within an enclosed building. All lubrication, repair or similar activities shall be performed in an enclosed building; however, minor repair work may be performed at an island or pump location. All storage areas and trash facilities shall be enclosed with a fence or similar permanent structure and shall be screened from public view. Nothing herein shall be deemed to prohibit temporary road service on an inoperative motor vehicle.
6. 
No automobile or motor vehicle which is unregistered or any motor vehicle, whether registered or not, that is in a junked, inoperable or other condition such that it is unfit for use on any public highway, shall be stored on the premises of any service station or repair garage for a period in excess of 90 days. All such vehicles stored overnight on the premises outside the main building shall be screened from public view by a fence or other permanent structure or a landscaped buffer approved by the Land Development Board in accordance with the landscaping buffer requirements specified in Subsection 12-5.2 of this chapter.
7. 
A twenty-foot wide landscaped strip across the entire frontage shall be provided and shall be landscaped with grass or ground cover, as well as low-growing buffering shrubbery and plants and shade trees in accordance with Subsection 12-5.7.
8. 
No sale or rental of cars, vehicles, trucks or trailers shall be permitted.
9. 
The entire area of a site traversed by motor vehicles shall be constructed with a dustfree surface and drained onto a public street or public drainage system.
c. 
Hotels and motels subject to the following:
1. 
Minimum lot size: five acres.
2. 
Number of rooms: 50 minimum.
3. 
Each hotel and motel dwelling unit shall provide a minimum 250 square feet of net habitable floor area for each unit containing one sleeping room and one bathroom, and 350 square feet of net habitable floor area for each unit containing one sleeping room, one bathroom and cooking facilities. There shall be a residency limitation on all guests of 30 days, provided that the residency limitation shall not apply to a permanent on-site superintendent's apartment.
d. 
New and used auto, mobile home and recreation vehicle sales subject to the standards specified in Chapter 4 entitled "General Licensing," § 4-2 and the following:
1. 
All signs shall conform with all provisions and regulations of Subsection 12-5.15.
2. 
Direct and indirect glare shall be in accordance with requirements as set forth under Subsection 12-5.8.
3. 
A ten-foot wide strip across the entire frontage, with the exception of exit and entrance driveways, shall be landscaped with grass or ground cover and attractively planted with low-growing shrubbery and plants.
4. 
When a new or used car lot abuts residences, a planted screen, as defined in Subsection 12-5.2 shall be installed and maintained at all times in a proper manner.
5. 
Driveway opening approval shall be required of the agency having jurisdiction of the roadway upon which the lot fronts.
6. 
All lot areas used by motor vehicles shall be provided with a dustfree surface and drained onto a public street or public drainage system with provisions for an oil trap.
7. 
Sufficient off-street parking shall be provided, as established in Subsection 12-5.10.
8. 
No new or used cars held for sale shall be parked on a public street or right-of-way.
e. 
Public utilities. Those Utilities that Require Vehicle Access and Periodic Maintenance.
1. 
For purposes of this chapter, the term "public utilities" shall include such uses as telephone dial equipment centers, power substations and other utilities serving the public such as sewage treatment plants, provided the structures associated with the uses are greater than 10 square feet in gross floor area and require periodic maintenance but shall exclude dumps, sanitary landfills, service yards and storage yards.
2. 
The proposed installation in a specified location must be reasonably necessary for the satisfactory provision of service by the utility to the neighborhood or area in which the particular use is located.
3. 
The design of any building in connection with such facilities must not adversely affect the safe, comfortable enjoyment of property rights in the surrounding area.
4. 
Adequate fences and other safety devices must be provided as may be required. Fences, when used to enclose public utility facilities such as electrical power substations, shall be built in accordance with the applicable requirements of the New Jersey Board of Public Utility Commissioners and the National Electrical Code in effect at the time of construction.
5. 
Landscaping, including shrubs, trees and lawns, shall be provided and maintained.
6. 
Off-street parking shall be provided as determined by the Land Development Board during site plan review.
f. 
Sexually oriented businesses as defined per N.J.S.A. 2C:34-6:
A commercial establishment which as one of its principal business purposes offers for sale, rental, or display any of the following:
Books, magazines, periodicals or other printed material, or photographs, films, motion pictures, video cassettes, slides or other visual representatives which depict or describe a specified sexual activity or specified anatomical area, or still or motion picture machines, projectors or other image-producing devices which show images to one person per machine at any one time, and where the images so displayed are characterized by the depiction of a specified sexual activity or specified anatomical area, or instruments, devices, or paraphernalia which are designed for use in connection with a specified sexual activity, or
A commercial establishment which regularly features live performances characterized by the exposure of a specified anatomical area or by a specified sexual activity or which regularly shows films, motion pictures, video cassettes, slides, or other photographic representations which depict or describe a specified sexual activity or specified anatomical area.
PERSONS — An individual, proprietorship, partnership, corporation, association, or other legal entity;
SPECIFIED ANATOMICAL AREA — Less than completely and opaquely covered human genitals, pubic region, buttock or female breasts below a point immediately above the top of the areola; or human male genitals in a discernibly turgid state, even if covered;
SPECIFIED SEXUAL ACTIVITY — The fondling or other erotic touching of covered or uncovered human genitals, pubic region, buttock or female breast; or any actual or simulated act of human masturbation, sexual intercourse or deviate sexual intercourse.
1. 
Purpose. These regulations are adopted in furtherance of all of the public purposes of municipal zoning and planning, including, but not limited to, guiding the appropriate use and development of the Township of Southampton in a manner which will promote the public health, safety, morals and general welfare, and in order to meet the needs of citizens of the Township of Southampton and of the State of New Jersey, while maintaining the quality and character of Southampton Township and deterring the growth and spread of blight and crime. It is recognized that there are some uses commonly known as "adult" uses which, because of their very nature, are recognized as having serious objectionable operational characteristics, particularly when those uses are located near residential areas or in other inappropriate locations, or without sufficient showing that those uses in a specified location will comply with the conditions and operation of those uses. Therefore, special regulations of these "adult" uses is deemed necessary to ensure that adverse effects will not contribute to the blighting or downgrading of the Township of Southampton. In no way is the fact that the Township of Southampton regulates any or all of the adult uses described herein, or prohibits or allows them in the various zoning districts, to be construed as approval of, or condoning of, those uses.
2. 
Lot size: 87,120 square feet minimum.
3. 
Lot width: 200 feet.
4. 
Front yard setback: 100 feet.
5. 
Front buffer: 50 feet.
6. 
Side buffer: 50 feet.
7. 
Rear buffer: 50 feet.
8. 
The building or structure of such use shall be located no closer than 1,000 feet from any residential use or district, public or private school, church, recreation facility, any other religious, institutional, or educational use, nursery, child care center, public community center, park, playground, or similar use, or any premises licensed for the sale or distribution of alcoholic beverages.
9. 
No such use shall be located within 1,000 feet of a similar use.
10. 
Maximum distance between any access driveway and any adjoining property line shall be 30 feet.
11. 
Maximum width of curb cuts for access driveways shall be 20 feet, except a combined entrance and exit shall total 40 feet.
12. 
Parking requirements shall be in accordance with all of the regulations set forth in Subsection 12-5.10, but in any event, there shall be parking spaces for not less than 10 cars. In addition to the parking standards in Subsection 12-5.10, one parking space is required for each viewing theater where this viewing area is to not exceed 10% of the total building area.
13. 
No materials sold or displayed within shall be visible from any window or door, or within public view.
14. 
All trash, refuse, articles or any matter to be disposed of shall be shredded, cut, or rendered in such a fashion so that the remains shall not be readable, legible, or discernible.
15. 
All areas not utilized for buildings, parking, loading, access aisles, driveways or pedestrian walkways shall be suitably landscaped with shrubs, groundcover, seeding or similar plantings and maintained in good condition.
16. 
The minimum buffer area shall include a densely planted buffer of evergreen trees in accordance with Subsection 12-5.2 and at least six feet high at time of planting along any common property line with a residential district.
17. 
In addition, paved parking areas shall provide landscaped planting strips, particularly at the ends of parking rows. Said ends of parking areas shall be surrounded by concrete curb or Belgian block curb and shall be of a size sufficient to contain a 2 1/2 inch caliper shade tree, which shall be required in each planting strip.
18. 
All uses must be licensed as required in the General Ordinances of the Township of Southampton.
19. 
Hours of operation shall not be earlier than 9:00 a.m. nor later than 12:00 midnight, prevailing time, on weekdays and Saturday and shall be closed on Sundays.