Accessory buildings as part of principal buildings. Any accessory building attached to a principal building shall be considered part of the principal building, and the total structure shall adhere to the yard requirements for the principal building, regardless of the technique of connecting the principal and accessory building.

Accessory buildings not to be constructed prior to principal building. No building permit shall be issued for the construction of an accessory building prior to the issuance of a building permit for the construction of the principal building upon the same premises. If construction of the principal building does not precede or coincide with the construction of the accessory building, the Building Inspector shall revoke the building permit for the accessory building until construction of the principal building has proceeded substantially toward completion.

Distance between adjacent buildings. The minimum distance between an accessory building and any other building(s) on the same lot shall be as prescribed in Article III.

Height of accessory buildings. The height of accessory buildings shall be as prescribed in Article III.

Location. An accessory building may be erected in side and rear yard areas only and shall be set back from side and rear lot lines as prescribed in Article III, except that, if erected on a corner lot, the accessory building shall be set back from any abutting street to comply with the setback line applying to the principal building for that street.

Temporary construction trailers and sales offices. Temporary construction trailers and sales offices and one sign not exceeding 100 square feet, advertising the project or development for a period of construction beginning with the commencement of site work and concluding with the issuance of the final certificate of occupancy, may be permitted, provided that said trailer, sales office and sign are on the site where construction is taking place and are set back at least 45 feet from any street or lot line. The area of construction trailers may not exceed 1,500 square feet in the aggregate, and the area of the sales office may not exceed 1,000 square feet.

No fence shall be erected of barbed wire, topped with metal spikes, constructed of any material or in any manner which may be dangerous to persons or animals, except that these provisions shall not apply to farms or residential agriculture.

On any lot in any district, no wall or fence shall be erected or altered so that said wall or fence shall be over three feet in height in side and front yard areas and four feet in height in rear yard areas except:

On a corner lot, a fence, structure or planting over 30 inches in height above the curb or edge of roadway shall not be erected or maintained closer than 25 feet to the intersecting street line.

All lots being filled shall be filled with clean fill and/or topsoil to allow complete surface draining of the lot into local storm water systems or natural drainage courses.

No construction shall be permitted which creates or aggravates water stagnation or a draining problem on adjacent lots. Natural drainage courses shall not be blocked unless alternate routing has been approved by the Township Engineer.

All parking areas and walkways thereto and appurtenant passageways and driveways serving commercial, public, office, industrial, apartment or other similar uses having common off-street parking and/or loading areas and building complexes requiring area lighting shall be adequately illuminated for security and safety purposes. The outside lighting in and around the parking areas shall provide for nonglare, color-corrected lights focused downward. The light intensity provided at ground level shall be a minimum as specified in § 123-19B(8)(c) anywhere in the area to be illuminated, shall average the minimum as specified in § 123-19B(8)(c) over the entire area illuminated and shall be provided by fixtures with a mounting height of not more than 25 feet or the height of the building, whichever is less, measured from the ground level to the center line of the light source and spaced a distance not to exceed five times the mounting height. Any other outdoor lighting, such as for building and sidewalk illumination, driveways with no adjacent parking, the lighting of signs and ornamental lighting shall be shown on the lighting plan in sufficient detail to allow determination of the effects to adjacent lots, traffic safety and overhead sky glow. The objective of this is to minimize undesirable off-premises effects. This is necessary in order to prevent misdirected or excessive artificial light, caused by inappropriate or misaligned light fixtures that produce glare, light trespass (nuisance light) and/or sky glow; and also that such regulation is necessary to discourage the waste of electricity and to improve or maintain nighttime public safety, utility and security. No light shall shine directly into windows or onto streets and driveways in such a manner as to interfere with or distract driver vision. To achieve these requirements, the intensity of such light sources, the light shielding and similar characteristics shall be subject to site plan approval by the Land Use Board.

Each site plan submitted to the Land Use Board for approval shall have the following information shown thereon or be annexed thereto to minimize light trespass:

The lawful use of land or structures existing at the date of adoption of this chapter, as amended, may be continued although such use or structure is nonconforming to the provisions specified in this chapter, as amended, for the zoning district in which such use or structure is located, except as provided by law.

Any nonconforming use or structure which has been changed to a conforming use or structure shall not be changed back again into a nonconforming use or structure.

Any nonconforming use, structure or lot may change ownership and continue to function as the same nonconforming use, structure or lot, provided that all other provisions of this chapter and other applicable laws are met.

Repairs and maintenance work required to keep a structure in sound condition may be made to a nonconforming structure or a structure containing a nonconforming use. However, no nonconforming structure or structure containing a nonconforming use shall be enlarged, extended, constructed, reconstructed or structurally altered in any manner.

(Reserved)[1]

Any vacant lot existing at the effective date of adoption or amendment of this chapter whose area or dimensions do not meet the requirements of the district in which the lot is located may be used or may have a structure erected thereon for a use permitted for that zoning district, provided that the building coverage limit is not exceeded, parking requirements are met and the yard and height provisions are reduced by the same percentage that the area of such lots bears to the zone district requirements, except that no side yard shall be less than either 10 feet or half that otherwise required by this chapter, whichever is greater. No building shall be set back less than 25 feet from any street right-of-way, and no building shall be required to have a height less than 12 feet and one story. All other applicable provisions of this chapter shall also apply.

It shall be lawful to erect upon any residential lot in any zone those accessory structures or uses normally deemed incident to a residential use, including but not limited to sheds, detached garages, fences, decks, patios, swimming pools and the like, notwithstanding the fact that such residential lot may be undersized or otherwise not conform to the strict requirements of this chapter, provided that all of the limitations set forth in Subsection F of this section shall be strictly complied with, without the necessity of obtaining a variance therefor. For purposes of this subsection, the term "residential lot" shall be defined as one upon which a residential dwelling is the principal use, as defined in § 123-2 of this chapter.

Any nonconforming use or structure which is discontinued for a period of 18 consecutive months shall be presumed to have been abandoned and thus subject to the provisions of § 123-20B of this chapter.

An owner or occupier of any nonconforming use or structure which has been presumed to have been abandoned pursuant to Subsection A of this section may rebut the presumption by presenting evidence to the Land Use Board on an appeal thereto.

The Zoning Officer of the Township of Washington shall not issue a zoning clearance to continue a nonconforming use or structure presumed abandoned as provided herein but shall deny the clearance and refer the owner, occupier or applicant, as the case may be, to the Land Use Board as in the case of any appeal pursuant to § 64-4B(1) of the Township Code of the Township of Washington.

General regulations.

Specific requirements. The following minimum requirements shall apply for off-street parking spaces:

Buffers. Buffer areas are required along lot and street lines of all nonresidential lots where said lot lines or the adjacent streets or center lines thereof abut residential uses or residential zoning district lines. The width of the buffer area for each particular zoning district shall be as prescribed in Article III. Buffer areas shall be measured either perpendicularly to straight lot and street lines or radially to curved lot and street lines. Buffer areas shall be maintained and kept clear of all debris, rubbish, weeds and tall grass.[1] No structure, activity, storage or materials or parking of vehicles shall be permitted in the buffer area, and all buffer areas shall be planted and maintained with grass or ground cover, together with a dense screen of trees, shrubs or other plant materials meeting the following requirements:

Electricity. Electric or electronic equipment shall be shielded so there is no interference from the result of the operation of such equipment with any radio or television reception at the lot line or beyond the operator's dwelling unit in the case of multifamily dwellings. Electronic equipment shall be in accordance with any applicable Federal Communications Commission standards.

Glare. There shall be no direct or sky-reflected glare exceeding 0.1 footcandle measured at the property line of the lot occupied by such use. This regulation shall not apply to lights used at the entrance or exits of service drives.

Heat. No use shall produce heat perceptible beyond its lot lines. Further, no use shall be permitted which would cause the temperature to rise or fall in any part of ponds, streams or other watercourses flowing beyond the lot lines.

Noise. There shall be no noise emanating from the operation which shall be objectionable and clearly heard beyond the boundaries of the immediate site.[2]

Odor. Odors shall not be discernible at the lot line or beyond.

Storage and waste disposal. No materials or wastes shall be deposited upon a lot in such form or manner that they may be transferred off the lot by natural causes or forces other than by sewer systems approved by the State of New Jersey, nor shall any substance be deposited which can contaminate an underground aquifer or otherwise render such underground aquifer undesirable as a source of water supply or recreation or which will destroy aquatic life. All materials or wastes which might cause fumes or dust or which constitute a fire hazard or which may be edible or otherwise attractive to rodents or insects shall be stored indoors and enclosed in appropriate containers adequate to eliminate such hazards.

Vibration. There shall be no vibration which is discernible to the human sense of feeling beyond the immediate site on which such use is located.

General provisions. Signs may be used, erected, maintained, altered, relocated, removed, or demolished only in compliance with the provisions of this section and any and all ordinances and regulations of the Township relating to the use, erection, maintenance, alteration, moving, or removal of signs or similar devices.

Permitted signs. The following signs are permitted for uses as specified in Article III of this chapter for the various zoning districts:

Prohibited signs.

Additional provisions.

Fines and penalties.

No building permit shall be issued for any proposed structure, nor shall a zoning permit be issued for a change in principal use of a structure, except that for other than in a cluster single-family residential development, until the site plan has been reviewed and approved by the Land Use Board. No site plan approval shall be required for a detached dwelling unit or where, as determined by the Building Inspector, no new building or destruction or expansion of an existing building and no change in the principal use of a building is involved. The Board shall review the proposal, determine whether or not the applicable standards provided by this chapter have been observed, note objections to such parts of the plans as do not meet the standards, make corrections and recommendations for desired changes to effect compliance with the chapter and be satisfied that the site plan represents a desirable alternative for development of the site in compliance with the chapter and, when satisfied that the site plan complies with the requirements of this chapter, shall approve the site plan.

Site plan review and approval shall be obtained as set forth in § 64-13 of the Township Code of the Township of Washington.

All applications for site plan review and approval and all submissions therefor shall be in accordance with the applications and checklists as set forth in § 64-7.1 of the Township Code of the Township of Washington.

Each site plan submitted to the Land Use Board for approval shall have the following information shown thereon or be annexed thereto:

Portions of information referred to in Subsection D hereof may be omitted when, in the judgment of the Building Inspector, there is sufficient other information presented with the application to determine that the proposal will not affect the matters which such information would refer to.

No vehicle having a gross weight in excess of 7,500 pounds shall be parked overnight in the MR, VR, R-40, R-20, R-10 or R-3 Zone. Notwithstanding the foregoing, one vehicle having a gross weight in excess of 7,500 pounds may be parked overnight in any of said zone except the R-3 Zone, provided that said vehicle is not parked out of doors.

The prohibitions of Subsection A shall not apply to any vehicle parked on a farm as defined in § 123-2 hereof.

The prohibitions of Subsection A shall not apply to camping vehicles as defined in § 123-2 hereof.

No more than one commercial vehicle for hire, livery or vehicle of whatever nature and irrespective of weight shall be parked overnight out of doors in the MR, VR, R-3, R-40, R-20 or R-10 Zone.

No open space provided around any principal building for the purposes of complying with the front, side, rear or other yard provisions of this chapter shall be considered as providing the yard provisions for any other principal building.

Any structure located on a corner lot shall be set back from both streets at least the required front yard distance.

A written application for a license as required by this section shall be made to the Township Clerk, which application shall contain the following information:

Investigation. The Township Clerk shall cause to be made an investigation of each application to determine the business responsibility and moral character of the applicant and his employees and concessionaires, if any, and to determine the ability of the applicant to properly conduct the licensed activity in a safe manner with due regard for protection of the public. The investigation shall also determine if there is adequate off-street parking and sanitary facilities for use and whether the activity to be licensed can be conducted without undue interference with vehicular or pedestrian traffic and without endangering public health or safety.

Report of investigation; issuance of license. The report of the investigation required under this section shall be made forthwith to the Township Committee, which shall thereafter approve or disapprove the application within a reasonable time. Upon approval of the application by the Township Committee and the payment of the required license fee, the Township Clerk shall thereupon issue the license, which shall be valid only on the date or dates and during the hours set forth in the application.

Fee; exempt organizations. The fee for any license issued under this section shall be $25 for each day that the activity is to be conducted. Religious, charitable, fraternal and similar nonprofit organizations conducting activities licensed under this section in order to raise money for charity or some other public purpose or for the entertainment or recreation of the residents of this Township shall not be required to pay any fee, but such organizations shall comply with all other provisions of this section.

License nontransferable. Any license issued hereunder shall not be transferable to any other person or from place to place.

Revocation of license. Any license issued hereunder may be revoked by the Township Committee after reasonable notice and hearing for any fraud, misrepresentation or dishonesty in the application or in the conduct of the licensed activity or for a violation of any of the provisions of this section or for the conduct by the licensee or his agents, employees and concessionaires in an unlawful manner or in any manner that constitutes a breach of the peace or a menace to public health, safety or general welfare.

Purpose. The purpose of this section is to set forth terms and conditions for the siting of wireless communications towers and antennas within the geographic boundaries of Washington Township. The goals of this section are to protect residential areas and land uses from potential adverse impacts of towers and antennas; encourage the location of towers in specific areas within the Township; minimize the total number of towers throughout the Township; strongly encourage the joint use of new and existing tower sites as a primary option rather than construction of additional single-use towers; encourage users of towers and antennas to locate them, to the greatest extent possible, in areas where the adverse impact on the community is minimal; encourage users of towers and antennas to configure them in a way that minimizes the adverse visual impact of the towers and antennas through careful design, siting, landscape screening and innovative camouflaging techniques; enhance the ability of the providers of telecommunications services to provide such services to the community quickly, effectively, and efficiently; consider the public health and safety of communication towers; and avoid potential damage to adjacent properties from tower failure through engineering and careful siting of tower structures. In furtherance of these goals, the Township of Washington shall give due consideration to the Township of Washington's Master Plan, Zoning Map, existing land uses and environmentally sensitive areas in approving sites for the location of towers and antennas. This section further seeks to comply with the mandate of the Federal Telecommunications Act of 1996, 47 U.S.C. § 332(c)(7), which preserves local government authority to manage with respect to cellular and other wireless telecommunications services, to enforce zoning requirements that protect public safety, public and private property and community aesthetics. This section expressly recognizes that the proposed site must be particularly suited (or suitable) for the proposed facility.

Definitions. As used in this section, the following terms shall have the meanings set forth below:

Applicability.

General requirements.

Permitted uses.

Conditional use permits and variance applications.

Buildings or other equipment storage.

Removal of abandoned antennas and towers. Any antenna or tower that is not operated for a continuous period of six months shall be considered abandoned and the owner of such antenna or tower shall remove the same within 90 calendar days of receipt of notice from the Township of Washington notifying the owner of such abandonment. Failure to remove an abandoned antenna or tower within said 90 calendar days shall be grounds for the Township to require removal of the tower or antenna at the owner's expense. If there are two or more users of a single tower, then this provision shall not become effective until all users cease using the tower. The Township shall condition the issuance of any permit to construct a tower or antenna on the posting of an appropriate performance bond or other suitable guaranty in a face amount of not less than 120% of the cost to remove the tower and restore the property as determined by the Township Engineer for such construction as required under all applicable Township ordinances.

Existing towers. Rebuilding damaged or destroyed nonconforming towers or antennas. Nonconforming towers or antennas that are damaged or destroyed to the extent that the nonconforming provisions no longer apply under law may not be rebuilt without having to first obtain approval from the approving authority and without having to meet the separation requirements specified in Subsection F. The type, height and location of the tower on-site shall be of the same type and intensity as the original facility approval. Building permits to rebuild the facility shall comply with the then applicable building codes and shall be obtained within 180 calendar days from the date the facility is damaged or destroyed. If no permit is obtained or if said permit expires, the tower or antenna shall be deemed abandoned as specified in Subsection H.