Sparta Township City Zoning Code
§ 18-4.28
Town Center Professional Business TCPB Zone.
[Ord. No. 1003 § 7; Ord. No. 01-14 § 3; Ord. No. 02-20 §§ 15, 26; Ord. No. 05-03 § 2; Ord. No. 10-09; amended 7-23-2024 by Ord. No. 2024-07]
a.
Purpose. This zone provides for a planned development of community commercial uses and housing to compliment and enhance the existing professional business or service use, historic character and natural resources in the Town Center area. A planned development is required and it shall include 25 affordable units. The Master Plan establishes guidelines for proper site plan development which is referenced as a part of this subsection. The goals of community design and historic preservation of the Town Center is intended to accomplish the following:
1.
To accomplish the protection, enhancement and perpetuation of the Town Center area, which has been designated as a historic landmark, and other structures and resources within the Town Center which reflect the elements of the architectural history of the Township. To encourage construction and reconstruction with a residential appearance in keeping with the goals of the Town Center and the Appendix to the 1993 Master Plan Amendment to the Interchange Master Plan.
2.
To encourage the continued use of the existing buildings and to appropriate reuses.
3.
To maintain the character of the neighborhood and architecturally significant buildings.
4.
To manage change by preventing alteration or new construction not in keeping with the zone.
5.
To discourage the unnecessary demolition of historic resources.
6.
To maintain economic viability of the existing land uses.
7.
To improve access, circulation and parking.
8.
To maintain a stable and balanced community fiscal structure.
9.
To maintain and improve traffic circulation by implementing the Master Plan concepts and by limiting access to the Route 517 Bypass properties to the proposed connector road, Main Street and Sparta Avenue.
10.
To concentrate development in the appropriate buildable areas.
b.
Principal Permitted Uses. This zone is limited to business uses of a retail sales and service type. The following uses are permitted:
1.
Planned Town Center Professional Business Development is required: The planned development shall include the 25 units of affordable housing units required in Subsection 1(i) below and it may include any other uses in Subsections 1(a) to (j) below.
(a)
Inn/hotel with associated catering facilities, conference rooms, and restaurant as accessory uses.
(b)
Banks and offices for business, executive and professional purposes.
(c)
Restaurants, but not including drive-ins.
(d)
Public buildings and uses.
(e)
Emergency care facility.
(f)
Indoor Commercial Recreation and Health Clubs.
(g)
Institutional uses and nonprofit clubs, lodges and fraternal organizations.
(h)
Churches.
(i)
Second and third story multifamily units over retail, commercial, hotel, and office uses, but not over dry cleaning establishments. Townhouses, patio homes and condominium units are also permitted in conjunction with a Town Center Professional Business Planned Development. The planned development shall include up to 100 units of which at least 25 units shall be affordable family units. Of the 25 affordable units, at least 11 shall be three-bedroom affordable units (of which at least one unit shall be affordable to very-low-income households and at least five additional units to low-income households) and the remaining units shall be two-bedroom affordable units (of which at least two units shall be affordable to very-low-income households and at least five additional units to low-income households); no one-bedroom affordable units shall be included. As an incentive for this affordable housing requirement, there is no net density applicable to these 100 units, and the impervious coverage has been increase.
(j)
Specialty retail (defined as shops that cater to a specific market, which are linked by architectural, historical or a geographic theme and by commonality of goods. The specialty retail center consist of smaller shops of 2,000 to 10,000 square feet of floor area).
2.
Town Center Professional Business Uses. Platted tax lots of no more than 2.5 acres, existing as of April 1998 are subject to the required standards of the TCC Zone. Such lots may continue to be used as a single-family residential use.
c.
Permitted Accessory Uses. Parking, signs, essential services, open spaces and recreational uses and other accessory uses customary and incidental to the permitted uses.
d.
Prohibited Uses. The following uses are specifically prohibited:
1.
Any business conducted outside the confines of a building unless specifically permitted.
2.
Any industry, process of manufacture, fabrication, assembly, disassembly, conversion or alteration. For the purpose of this subsection, any business use shall be deemed to be an industry where it employs more than five persons in the processing or manufacturing of a product or uses more than a total of 25 horsepower machinery in the direct processing or manufacturing operations, but is not intended that a retail store or service establishment such as a hotel, department store or bank be limited in the number of its employees or in the horsepower used for heating, air conditioning and other similar nonprocessing or manufacturing operations.
3.
Carousels, merry-go-rounds, miniature golf, outdoor theaters, pony tracks or other similar commercial outdoor amusements.
4.
Junk yards, warehouses, storage buildings and coal or fuel yards.
5.
Drive-in restaurants.
6.
Gasoline service stations.
7.
Any uses not specifically permitted.
e.
Required Standards for Planned Developments in the TCPB Zone. Any site plan or subdivision in the zone shall include a preliminary site plan for a planned development for the entire area of the lot or lots owned or controlled by the applicant and located in the TCPB Zone. Certain bulk standards are not included to permit flexibility in the planned development. The following requirements must be complied with in the TCPB Zone:
1.
Impervious Coverage. The total impervious coverage of any TCPB shall not exceed 6%. The impervious coverage shall be located on the portion of the property along the 517 Bypass in the buildable land as indicated in the Town Center Master Plan. At least 60 acres of the remaining land west of the 517 Bypass shall be restricted open space and recreation in accordance with the open space organization requirements Subsection 18-5.4, Open Space and Recreation Element of the Master Plan and the Municipal Land Use Law, except as provided in Subsection e2 below.
2.
Impervious Coverage Incentive for Public Dedication of Open Space. The total impervious coverage for commercial, assisted living and permitted uses of a TCPB may be increased to a maximum of 9% provided that the applicant dedicates at least 60 acres of the remaining land west of the 517 Bypass to the Township and provided that the major development area is limited to the portion of the property along the Route 517 Bypass to the Township and provided that the major development area is limited to the portion of the property along the Route 517 Bypass in the buildable land as indicated on the Town Center Master Plan.
3.
Acreage Requirements. Ten acres.
4.
No direct access driveways shall be permitted along the Route 517 Bypass. On the north side of the bypass, Lot 48, Block 19.02, the development plan must include an internal circulation plan consistent with the Master Plan.
5.
Height. The height of a principal structure shall not exceed three stories or 38 feet. An exception would be a house of worship steeple or clock towers which shall not exceed 50 feet.
7.
Findings for Planned Developments. As part of the approval of a planned development, the applicant shall demonstrate and the Board shall find the following facts and conclusions:
(a)
That departures by the proposed development from zoning regulations otherwise applicable to the subject property conform to the zoning ordinance standards pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-65;
(b)
That the proposals for maintenance and conservation of the common open space are reliable, and the amount, location and purpose of the common open space are adequate;
(c)
The provision through the physical design of the proposed development for public services, control over vehicular and pedestrian traffic, and the amenities of light and air, recreation and visual enjoyment are adequate;
(d)
That the proposed planned development will not have an unreasonably adverse impact upon the area in which it is proposed to be established;
(e)
In the case of a proposed development which contemplates construction over a period of years, that the terms and conditions intended to protect the interests of the public and of the residents, occupants and owners of the proposed development in the total completion of the development are adequate.
f.
Conditional Uses. The following conditional uses may be permitted by the Planning Board acting in accordance with the provisions: