Stafford Township City Zoning Code

The parcel proposed for low-intensity recreational use has an area of at least 50 acres.

The recreational use does not involve the use of motorized vehicles, except for necessary transportation.

Access to bodies of water is limited to no more than 15 linear feet of frontage per 1,000 feet of water body frontage.

The parcel will contain no more than one campsite per two acres, provided that the campsites shall not be clustered at a net density exceeding six campsites per acre.

No more than 1% of the parcel will be covered by impervious surfaces.

Except for land which was owned by a public agency on January 14, 1981, land which is thereafter purchased by the state for conservation purposes, land which is subject to an easement limiting the use of land to nonresidential uses or land otherwise excluded from entitlement in Subsection A(12)(b) below, every parcel of land in the Preservation Area Zone shall have a use right known as "Pinelands development credits" that can be used to secure a density bonus for lands located in a regional growth area. Pinelands development credits may also be allocated to certain properties in the Township by the Pinelands Commission pursuant to N.J.A.C. 7:50-4.61 et seq.

Pinelands development credits are hereby established in the Preservation Area Zone at the following ratios:

The allocations established in Subsection A(12)(b) above shall be reduced as follows:

The owners of parcels of land which are smaller than 39 acres shall have a fractional Pinelands development credit at the same ratio established in Subsection A(12)(b) above.

Notwithstanding the provisions above, the owner of record of 0.10 or greater acres of land in the Preservation Area Zone as of February 7, 1979, shall be entitled to 0.25 Pinelands development credit, provided that the parcel of land is vacant, was not in common ownership with any contiguous land on or after February 7, 1979, and has not been sold or transferred, except to a member of the owner's immediate family. This section shall also apply to owners of record of less than 0.10 acres of land in the Preservation Area Zone as of February 7, 1979, provided that said owners acquire vacant, contiguous lands to which Pinelands development credits are allocated pursuant to Subsection A(12)(b) above, which lands, when combined with the acreage of the parcel owned prior to February 7, 1979, total at least 0.10 of an acre.

No Pinelands development credit may be conveyed, sold, encumbered or transferred unless the owner of the land from which the credit has been obtained has received a Pinelands development credit certificate from the New Jersey Pinelands Development Credit Bank pursuant to N.J.A.C. 3:42-3 and has deed-restricted the use of the land in perpetuity to those uses set forth in Subsection A(12)(h) below by a recorded deed restriction which is in favor of a public agency or not-for-profit incorporated organization and specifically and expressly enforceable by the Pinelands Commission.

Notwithstanding the provision of Subsection A(12)(f) above, an owner of property from which Pinelands development credits are sold may retain a right for residential development on that property, provided that the recorded deed restriction expressly provides for the same and that the total allocation of Pinelands development credits for that property is reduced by 1/4 Pinelands development credit for each reserved right to build a dwelling unit. Subdivision of the property shall not be required until such time as the residential development right is exercised.

No conveyance, sale or transfer of Pinelands development credits shall occur until the municipality with jurisdiction over the parcel of land from which the Pinelands development credits were obtained, the agency or organization to which the restriction is in favor and the Pinelands Commission have been provided with evidence of recordation of a restriction on the deed to the land from which the development credits were obtained. Such deed restriction shall specify the number of Pinelands development credits sold and that the property in Preservation Area Zone may only be used in perpetuity for the following uses: berry agriculture; horticulture of native Pinelands plants; forestry; fish and wildlife management; wetlands management; agricultural employee housing as an accessory use; low-intensity recreational uses in which the use of motorized vehicles is not permitted except for necessary transportation, access to water bodies is limited to no more than 15 feet of frontage per 1,000 feet of frontage on the water body, clearing of vegetation does not exceed 5% of the parcel, and no more than 1% of the parcel will be covered with impervious surfaces; and accessory uses.

Pinelands development credits shall be used in the following manner:

In no case shall a building or construction permit be issued for any development involving the use of Pinelands development credits until the developer has provided the Pinelands Commission and the Township with evidence of his ownership of the requisite Pinelands development credits and those Pinelands development credits have been redeemed with the Township.