The purpose of this Part 4 shall be to provide
rules, regulations and standards to guide land subdivision in the
Township of Mount Holly, in order to promote the public health, safety,
convenience and general welfare of the municipality. It shall be administered
to ensure the orderly growth and development, the conservation, protection,
and proper use of land and adequate provision for traffic and pedestrian
circulation, utilities and services.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 28, P.L.
1975, c. 291, approval of subdivision plats by resolution of the Planning
Board shall be required as a condition for the filing of such plats
with the county recording officer. Each application for subdivision
approval shall be submitted by the applicant to the County Planning
Board for review and approval and the reviewing Board shall condition
any approval that it grants upon timely receipt of a favorable report
on the application by the County Planning Board or approval by the
County Planning Board by its failure to report thereon within the
required time period.
[Amended 4-27-2020 by Ord. No. 2020-7]
A. For the purpose of assuring the installation and maintenance of bondable
land development improvements, as a condition of all final site plan,
subdivision, and/or zoning permit approvals, the Board and/or Zoning
Officer shall require, as appropriate, and the Township Council shall
accept, in accordance with the standards adopted hereinafter:
(1)
The furnishing of a performance guarantee in favor of the Township
in an amount not to exceed 120% of the cost of the installation of
only those improvements required by an approval or developer's agreement,
ordinance, or regulation to be dedicated to a public entity, and that
have not yet been installed, which cost shall be determined by the
Township Engineer according to the method set forth in N.J.S.A. 40:55D-53.4
for the following improvements as shown on the approved plans or plat:
streets, pavement, gutters, curbs, sidewalks, street lighting, street
trees, surveyor's monuments, as shown on the final map, water mains,
sanitary sewers, community septic systems, drainage structures, public
improvements of open space, and any grading necessitated by the preceding
improvements.
(2)
The furnishing of a performance guarantee in favor of the Township
to include, within an approved phase or section of a development privately-owned
perimeter buffer landscaping, as required by local ordinance or imposed
as a condition of approval.
(3)
The furnishing of a safety and stabilization guarantee to return
the property to a safe and stable condition or to otherwise implement
measures to protect the public from access to an unsafe or unstable
condition. The amount of such a guarantee shall be $5,000 where the
overall bonded improvements are $100,000 or less. Where the overall
bonded improvements are $100,000 or more, then the Township Engineer
shall calculate the bond amount in accord with the following: $5,000
for the first $100,000 of bonded improvement costs, plus 2.5% of bonded
improvement costs in excess of $100,000 up to $1,000,000, plus 1%
of bonded improvement costs in excess of $1,000,000.
(4)
The furnishing of a temporary certificate of occupancy guarantee
in the amount of 120% of the cost of installing the remaining improvements,
not covered by an existing performance guarantee, that are required
to be completed before the issuance of a permanent certificate of
occupancy. The scope and amount of such a guarantee will be determined
by the Township Engineer.
(5)
Upon the inspection and issuance of final approval of the following
site improvements by the Township Engineer, the furnishing of a two-year
maintenance guarantee in favor of the Township in an amount not to
exceed 15% of the cost of installation of the improvements that were
subject of a performance guarantee and the following site improvements:
stormwater management basins, in-flow and water quality structures
within the basins, and the out-flow pipes and structures of the stormwater
management system, if any, which cost shall be determined by the Township
Engineer according to the method of calculation set forth in N.J.S.A.
40:55D-53.4 for any and all bondable items as permitted therein.
B. In the event that other governmental agencies or public utilities
will automatically own the utilities to be installed or the improvements
are covered by a performance or maintenance guarantee to another governmental
agency, no performance or maintenance guarantee, as the case may be,
shall be required by the Township for such utilities or improvements.
C. If the required improvements are not completed or corrected in accordance
with the performance guarantee, the obligor and surety, if any, shall
be liable thereon to the Township for the reasonable cost of the improvements
not completed or corrected, and the Township may either prior to or
after the receipt of the proceeds thereof complete such improvements.
Such completion or correction of improvements shall be subject to
the public bidding requirements of the Local Public Contracts Law,
N.J.S.A. 40A:11-1, et seq.
D. All improvements shall be in accordance with the design standards
of the Township Code or as authorized by a design exception granted
by the reviewing board and shall be subject to inspection and approval
by the Municipal Engineer. The Municipal Engineer shall be notified
24 hours prior to the start of the various phases of the work, and
if discontinued, shall again be notified when the work will be continued.
E. Release or reduction of performance guarantee.
(1)
Upon substantial completion of all required improvements, the
obligor may request of the governing body, in writing, by certified
mail addressed in care of the Township Clerk, that the Township Engineer
prepare, in accordance with the itemized cost estimate prepared by
the Township Engineer and appended to the performance guarantee pursuant
to this chapter, a list of all uncompleted or unsatisfactorily completed
improvements. If such a request is made, the obligor shall send a
copy of the request to the Township Engineer. The request shall indicate
which improvements have been completed and which improvements remain
uncompleted in the judgment of the obligor. Thereupon the Township
Engineer shall inspect all improvements covered by the obligor's request
and shall file a detailed list and report, in writing, with the Township
Council, and shall simultaneously send a copy thereof to the obligor
not later than 45 days after receipt of the obligor's request.
(2)
The list prepared by the Township Engineer shall state, in detail
with respect to each improvement determined to be incomplete or unsatisfactory,
the nature and extent of the incompleteness of each incomplete improvement
or the nature and extent of, and remedy for, the unsatisfactory state
of each completed improvement determined to be unsatisfactory. The
report prepared by the Township Engineer shall identify each improvement
determined to be complete and satisfactory together with a recommendation
as to the amount of reduction to be made in the performance guarantee
relating to the completed and satisfactory improvement, in accordance
with the itemized cost estimate prepared by the Municipal Engineer
and appended to the performance guarantee pursuant to this chapter.
(3)
The Township Council, by resolution, shall either accept the
improvements determined to be complete and satisfactory by the Township
Engineer, or reject any or all of these improvements upon the establishment
in the resolution of cause for rejection, and shall approve and authorize
the amount of reduction or release to be made in the performance guarantee
relating to the improvements accepted, in accordance with the itemized
cost estimate prepared by the Township Engineer and appended to the
performance guarantee pursuant to this chapter. This resolution shall
be adopted not later than 45 days after receipt of the list and report
prepared by the Township Engineer. Upon adoption of the resolution
by the Township Council, the obligor shall be released from all liability
pursuant to its performance guarantee, with respect to those accepted
improvements, except for that portion sufficient to secure completion
or correction of the improvements not yet accepted, provided that
30% of the amount of the performance guarantee posted may be retained
to ensure completion and acceptability of all improvements. If any
portion of the required improvements is rejected, the Township shall
require the obligor to complete or correct such improvements, and,
upon completion or correction, the same procedure of notification,
as set forth in this section, shall be followed.
(4)
The obligor shall reimburse the Township for all reasonable
inspection fees paid to the Township Engineer for the foregoing inspection
of improvements; provided that the municipality may require of the
developer a deposit for the inspection fees in an amount not to exceed,
except for extraordinary circumstances, the greater of $400 or 5%
of the cost of improvements, which cost shall be determined pursuant
to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-53.4.
F. In the event that final approval is by stages or sections of development
pursuant to Subsection a of Section 29 of P.L. 1975, c. 291 (N.J.S.A.
40:55D-38), the provisions of this section shall be applied by stage
or section.
G. To the extent that any of the improvements have been dedicated to
the Township on the subdivision plat, site plan and/or zoning permit,
the municipality shall be deemed, upon the release of any performance
guarantee required hereunder, to accept dedication for public use
any improvements made thereunder, provided that such improvements
have been inspected and have received final approval by the Township
Engineer.
Before approving a subdivision, the approving
authority shall require that streets, public drainageways, flood control
basins and public areas, designated for reservation on the Master
Plan or Official Map, must be shown on the plat in locations and sizes
suitable to their intended uses. The approving authority may reserve
the location and extent of such streets, ways, basins or areas shown
on the plat for a period of up to one year after the approval of the
final plat or within such further time as may be agreed to by the
developer. Unless, during such period or extension thereof, the Township
shall have entered into a contract to purchase or institute condemnation
proceedings, according to law, for the fee or a lesser interest in
the land comprising such streets, ways, basins or areas, the developer
shall not be bound by such reservations shown on the plat and may
proceed to use such land for private use in accordance with applicable
development regulations. The provisions of this section shall not
apply to streets and roads, flood control basins or public drainageways
necessitated by the subdivision or land development and required for
final approval.
The subdivider shall observe the following requirements
and principles of land subdivision in the design of each subdivision
or portion thereof.
A. General. The subdivision plat shall conform to design
standards that will encourage good development patterns within the
municipality. Where either or both an Official Map or Master Plan
has or have been adopted, the subdivision shall conform to the proposals
and conditions shown thereon. The streets, drainage, rights-of-way,
school sites, public parks and playgrounds shown on an officially
adopted Master Plan or Official Map shall be considered in approval
of subdivision plats. Where no Master Plan or Official Map exists,
streets and drainage rights-of-way shall be shown on the final plat
in accordance with Section 20 of Chapter 433 of the Laws of 1953 and shall be such to lend themselves to the harmonious
development of the municipality and enhance the public welfare in
accordance with the following design standards:
B. Streets.
(1)
All streets shall conform in pavement and right-of-way
widths, directions and alignments with the Master Plan and shall connect
with streets shown thereon with the minimum jogs and sharp angles,
and no minor street shall have a paved width of less than 34 feet
or a right-of-way width of less than 50 feet. Collector and industrial
streets shall have a paved width of 40 feet.
(2)
No subdivision showing reserve strips controlling
access to streets shall be approved except where the control and disposal
of land comprising such strips has been placed in the governing body
under conditions approved by the Planning Board.
(3)
Subdivisions that adjoin or include existing
streets that do not conform to widths as shown on the Master Plan
or the street width requirements of this Part 4 shall dedicate additional
width along either one or both sides of said road. If the subdivision
is along one side only, 1/2 of the required extra width shall be dedicated.
(4)
Grades of through and internal streets shall
not exceed 4%. Grades on other streets shall not exceed 10%. No street
shall have a minimum grade of less than 3/4 of 1%.
(5)
Street intersections shall be as nearly at right
angles as is possible and in no case shall be less than 60º.
The block corners at intersections shall be rounded at the curbline
with a curve having a radius of not less than 20 feet.
(6)
Street jogs with center-line offsets of less
than 125 feet shall be prohibited.
(7)
A tangent at least 100 feet long shall be introduced
between reverse curves on arterial and collector streets.
(8)
When connecting street lines deflect from each
other at any one point by more than 10º and not more than 45º,
they shall be connected by a curve with a radius of not less than
100 feet for minor streets and 300 feet for arterial and collector
streets.
(9)
All changes in grade shall be connected by vertical
curves of sufficient radius to provide a smooth transition and proper
sight distance.
(10)
Dead-end streets.
(a)
Dead-end streets (culs-de-sac) shall not be
longer than 600 feet and shall provide a turnaround at the end with
a radius of not less than 60 feet and tangent, whenever possible,
to the right side of the street.
(b)
If a dead-end street is of a temporary nature,
a similar turnaround shall be provided and provisions made for future
extension of the street and reversion of the excess right-of-way to
the adjoining properties.
(11)
No street shall have a name which will duplicate
or so nearly duplicate as to be confused with the names of existing
streets. The continuation of an existing street shall have the same
name.
(12)
Sidewalks and curbs are required in all subdivisions.
C. Blocks.
(1)
Block length and width or acreage within bounding
roads shall be such as to accommodate the size of lot required in
the area by the Zoning Ordinance and to provide for convenient access, circulation control
and safety of street traffic.
(2)
In blocks over 1,000 feet long, pedestrian cross
walks may be required in locations deemed necessary to the Planning
Board. Such walkway shall be 10 feet wide and straight from street
to street.
(3)
For commercial, group housing or industrial
use, block size shall be sufficient to meet all area and yard requirements
for such use.
D. Lots.
(1)
Lot dimensions and area shall not be less than
the requirements of the Zoning Ordinance.
(2)
Insofar as is practical, side lot lines shall
be at right angles to straight streets and radial to curved streets.
(3)
Where extra width has been dedicated for the
widening of existing streets, lots shall begin at such extra width
line, and all setbacks shall be measured from such line.
(4)
Where there is a question as to the suitability
of a lot or lots for their intended use due to factors such as rock
formations, flood conditions or similar circumstances, the Planning
Board may, after adequate investigation, withhold approval of such
lots.
E. Public use and service areas.
(1)
In large scale development, easements along
rear property lines or elsewhere for utility installation may be required.
Such easements shall be at least 15 feet wide and located in consultation
with the companies or municipal departments concerned.
(2)
Where a subdivision is traversed by a watercourse,
drainageway, channel or street, there shall be provided a stormwater
easement or drainage right-of-way conforming substantially with the
lines of such watercourse and such further width or construction,
or both, as will be adequate for the purpose.
(3)
Natural features such as trees, brooks, hilltops,
and views shall be preserved whenever possible in designing any subdivision
containing such features.
(4)
In placing utilities in any street, the following
shall be observed: placement of sewer center, water (right) and gas
(left), as you enter from the main thoroughfare.