In order that the public health, safety, morals
and general welfare may be furthered in an era of increasing urbanization
and of growing demand for housing of all types and design; to provide
for necessary commercial facilities conveniently located to such housing;
to provide for well-located, clean, safe and pleasant residential,
commercial and industrial development so that the growing demands
of the population may be met by greater variety in type, design and
layout of buildings and by the conservation and more efficient use
of open space ancillary to said buildings; so that greater opportunities
for better housing and recreation, shops and industrial plants conveniently
located to each other may extend to all citizens and residents of
the Township; and in order to encourage a more efficient use of land
and of public services or private services in lieu thereof; and to
reflect changes in the technology of land development so that resulting
economies may inure to the benefit of those who need homes; to lessen
the burden of traffic on streets and highways; to conserve the value
of the land; and, in aid of these purposes, to provide a procedure
which can relate the type, design and layout of residential, commercial
and industrial development and other facilities, including the foregoing,
at the time of development in a manner consistent with the preservation
of the property values within established residential areas and to
ensure that the increased flexibility of substantive regulations over
land development authorized herein is subject to such administrative
standards and procedures as shall encourage the disposition of proposals
for land development without undue delay, the following standards,
procedures and requirements shall apply.
The Township of North Brunswick wishes to take
full advantage of such modern design construction technology and planning
methods as will advance and promote the sound growth and general welfare
of the Township; strengthen and sustain its economic potentials; provide
safe, efficient and economic municipal services; and establish appropriate
patterns for the distribution of population, commerce and industry
compatible with a modern way of life, coordinated with the protection
and enhancement of natural beauty and resources; and in order to provide
for a variety of service activities, parks, playgrounds, recreational
areas, parking and other open space in orderly relationship to each
other and in conformity with the development of the Township as a
whole. In order to effectuate the foregoing and to implement sound
planning goals and practices to achieve the highest potential use
of land, the following criteria and procedures are established.
The municipal authority designated to act under
the provisions of this zone district shall be the Planning Board of
the Township of North Brunswick.
In a planned unit development, the following
uses and customary accessory uses may include and shall be limited
to:
A. Single-family dwellings, duplex units, townhouses,
multifamily condominiums and garden apartments.
[Amended 9-6-1988]
B. Office-professional development and shopping facilities
providing retail goods and services, provided that nonresidential
uses may occupy no more than 50% of the PUD. However, in no case shall
nonresidential uses occupy less than 10% of any planned unit development
if nonresidential uses are to be developed.
C. Public and private educational and recreational facilities
to be permitted in any district or as approved by the Planning Board.
D. Public utility and essential service facilities.
E. The following conditional uses, subject to the provisions of Article
XXIX of this chapter, may be developed separately or be made a part of a planned unit development:
(1) Churches and places of worship, including religious
schools and community centers.
[Added 9-6-1988]
In accordance with a court order resulting from
litigation known as the "Urban League of Greater New Brunswick et
al vs. the Township of North Brunswick," 53 dwelling units developed
on Lot 114.1 in Block 148 shall be designated for lower-income units.
Twenty-seven units shall be affordable by moderate-income households,
and 26 shall be affordable by low-income households. Said units shall
be subject to price, rental and occupancy requirements of the Affordable
Housing Ordinance of the Township of North Brunswick and the affirmative
marketing requirements of § 205-45.2E.
Development standards shall be as follows:
A. Residential density. Residential development densities
of a planned unit development shall be determined as follows:
(1) Gross residential density. The total number of dwelling
units divided by the acreage of the entire planned unit development
shall not exceed seven.
(2) Net residential density. The total number of dwelling
units divided by the acreage of the portions of the planned unit development
designated for residential uses, including but not limited to open
space, recreation, streets, driveways, parking and walkways, shall
not exceed 10.
B. Townhouse units in a planned unit development shall
not exceed 60% of the total allowable residential units.
C. Open space. A minimum of 15% of the net residential
area of a planned unit development shall be devoted to common open
space. Streets, roadways, parking and other improved areas shall not
be considered open space.
D. Commercial uses and buildings designed and intended
to cater to regular shopping and service needs may be provided by:
(1) Providing the business with appropriate space and,
in particular, sufficient depth from a street to satisfy the needs
of modern local retail development, including the need for off-street
parking spaces in areas to which a large proportion of shoppers come
by automobile, and to encourage the natural tendency of retail development
to concentrate in continuous retail frontage, to the mutual advantage
of both consumers and merchants.
(2) Protecting both business development and nearby residences
against fire, explosions, toxic and noxious matter, radiation and
other hazards and against offensive noise, vibration, smoke, dust
and other particulate matter, odorous matter, heat, humidity, glare
and other objectionable influences.
(3) Protecting both business development and nearby residences
against congestion, particularly in areas where the established pattern
is predominately residential, by providing for sufficient off-street
parking and loading facilities.
(4) Providing sufficient space in appropriate locations
for commercial and miscellaneous services.
(5) Promoting the most desirable use of land and direction
of building development in accordance with a well-considered plan
to promote stability to commercial development, to strengthen the
economic base of the Township, to protect the character of development
and its peculiar suitability for particular uses, to conserve the
value of land and buildings and to protect the Township's tax revenues.
E. Industrial, manufacturing, laboratory, research, office
or other work establishments may be provided by:
(1) Providing sufficient space in appropriate locations
to meet the needs of expected future economy, with due allowance for
the need for a choice of proper sites.
(2) Providing that, as far as possible, such space will
be available for use for industry and related activities and to protect
residences by separating them from industrial activities and by prohibiting
the use of such space for new residential development.
(3) Industrial development which is free from danger of
fire, explosions, toxic and noxious matter, radiation and other hazards
and from offensive noise, vibration, smoke, dust and other particulate
matter, odorous matter, heat, humidity, glare and other objectionable
influences, permitting such development in areas where this chapter
restricts the emission of such nuisances, without regard to the industrial
products and processes involved.
(4) Protecting adjacent residential and commercial areas
and protecting the labor force in other establishments engaged in
less offensive types of manufacturing and related activities.
(5) Protecting industrial and related development against
congestion, as far as is possible and appropriate in each area, by
limiting the bulk of buildings in relation to the land around them
and to one another and by providing space off public streets for parking
and loading facilities associated with such activities.
(6) Promoting the most desirable use of land and direction
of building development in accordance with a well-considered plan
to promote stability of industrial and related development, to strengthen
the economic base of the Township, to protect the character of the
development and its peculiar suitability for particular uses, to conserve
the value of land and buildings and to protect the Township's tax
revenues.
F. Site and structure regulations.
(1) Plot and lot sizes and dimensions and structure heights
and locations thereon may be freely disposed and arranged in conformity
with the overall density standards herein and to the conditions of
comprehensive plans therefor, the general features and design of which
shall be approved by the Planning Board. Minimum lot size or frontage
and minimum percentage of lot coverage are not specified herein, although
the Planning Board may be guided by standards elsewhere herein for
comparable conditions and by common good practice.
(2) Except as follows, other provisions of this chapter
governing side and rear yard sizes in residential areas shall not
apply.
(3) Minimum setback distances of 100 feet and 50 feet
shall be provided on all existing state and county roads, respectively.
Garden apartments or townhouse units to be constructed in this zone
on lands fronting on Finnegans Lane shall provide a one-hundred-foot
buffer area from the existing right-of-way line of Finnegans Lane.
Access drives, streets and permitted signs may be located within this
buffer area as approved by the Planning Board.
(4) All common open spaces between structures shall be
protected where necessary by fully recorded covenants running with
the land, conveyances or dedications.
(5) The right-of-way and pavement widths for internal
ways, roads and alleys serving garden apartments, multifamily dwellings,
townhouse clusters and commercial and industrial developments shall
be determined from sound planning and engineering standards in conformity
with the estimated needs of the full development proposed and traffic
to be generated thereby and shall be adequate and sufficient in size,
location and design to accommodate the maximum traffic, parking and
loading needs and the access of fire-fighting equipment and police
vehicles and shall be certified thereto by a competent expert or experts
licensed under the laws of the State of New Jersey. In such instances,
other provisions of this chapter shall not apply but may serve as
general guides to the Planning Board in approving the development
plans.
(6) Service ways for public service facilities (vehicular)
shall not be less than 10 feet in width.
(7) Dedicated streets or highways shall be subject to
other Township ordinances and the laws of the State of New Jersey.
(8) Along all boundary lines of any Planned Unit Development
District, except where they coincide with the right-of-way lines of
a federal, state, county or Township road, public utility right-of-way
or public park, a minimum building setback of 50 feet shall be provided.
The Planning Board may require greater building setbacks and/or a
buffer zone along boundary lines of a planned unit development when
such is deemed necessary.
G. Utilities and services.
(1) The developer shall furnish public water and sewer
facilities based on a written agreement with the North Brunswick Public
Works and Utilities Department. The developer shall provide all necessary
storm drainage, highway access, paved service streets and parking
facilities, making reasonable provision for service to the connections
with adjoining properties in other ownerships. All such improvements
shall be installed in complete accordance with Township standards
and as required in this chapter.
(2) Electric, gas and telephone service shall be provided
by the developer in concert with the appropriate public utilities
providing such service. Said service shall be provided as part of
an underground system. When such facilities cannot be reasonably provided
due to topographic or geologic conditions of the land or due to other
extraordinary or unusual circumstances, the landowner shall adequately
demonstrate the lack of feasibility of such an undertaking to the
satisfaction of the Planning Board before a waiver of this requirement
shall be granted.
H. Ownership and maintenance of common open space.
(1) Ownership. The common open space areas required may
be accepted for dedication to the Township where a specific use, such
as public school sites, public parks and other uses, is deemed compatible
by the Planning Board. Where such areas are not so dedicated to the
Township, the landowner must provide for and establish an organization
for the ownership and maintenance of such area. Such organization
shall not be dissolved nor shall it dispose of any common open space,
by sale or otherwise (except to an organization conceived and established
to own and maintain the common open space), without first offering
to dedicate the same to the Township of North Brunswick.
(2) Maintenance.
(a)
In the event that the organization established
to own and maintain the common open space shall, at any time after
establishment of the planned unit development, fail to maintain the
common open space in reasonable order and condition in accordance
with the plan, the Planning Board shall serve written notice upon
such organization or upon the residents and owners of the planned
unit development setting forth the manner in which the organization
has failed to maintain the common open space in reasonable condition,
and said notice shall include a demand that such deficiencies of maintenance
be cured within 30 days thereof and shall state the date and place
of hearing thereon which shall be held within 14 days of the notice.
(b)
At such hearing the Planning Board may modify
the terms of the original notice as to the deficiencies set forth
in the original notice; or, if the modifications thereof shall not
be cured within said 30 days or any extension thereof, the Planning
Board, in order to preserve the taxable values of the properties within
the planned unit development and to prevent the common open space
from becoming a nuisance, may enter upon said common space and maintain
the same for a period of one year. Said entry and maintenance shall
not vest in the public any rights to use the common open space except
where the same is voluntarily dedicated to the public by the residents
and owners.
(c)
Before the expiration of said year, the Planning
Board shall, upon its initiative or upon the request of the organization
theretofore responsible for the maintenance of the common open space,
call a public hearing upon notice to such organization, or to the
residents and owners of the planned unit development, to be held by
the Planning Board, at which hearing such organization or the residents
and owners of the planned unit development shall show cause why such
maintenance by the Township shall continue for a succeeding year.
(d)
If the Planning Board shall determine that such
organization is ready and able to maintain said common open space
in a reasonable condition, the Township shall cease to maintain said
common open space at the end of said year. If the Planning Board shall
determine that such organization is not ready and able to maintain
said common open space in a reasonable condition, the Township may,
at its discretion, continue to maintain said common open space during
the next succeeding year and, subject to a similar hearing and determination,
in each year thereafter.
(e)
The decision of the Planning Board in any such
case shall constitute a final administrative decision subject to judicial
review. The cost of such maintenance by the Township shall be assessed
ratably against the properties within the planned unit development
that have a right of enjoyment of the common open space and shall
become a tax lien on said properties.
(f)
The Township, at the time of entering upon said
common open space for the purpose of maintenance, shall file a notice
of such lien in the office of the County Clerk upon the properties
affected by such lien within the planned unit development.
I. Special requirements.
(1) Every structure or group of structures and uses, including
those of an institutional, charitable or public nature, and every
designed plot area or cluster unit having services, facilities or
utilities in common private usage and in common ownership or control
by its occupants or which functions as an independent corporate property
owner or agent of management shall be located upon and within a lot
or plot of land which shall be fully dimensioned and designated as
representing the area of responsibility and extent of such individual
group ownership or management as may be established by ownership in
full or partial fee or for lease under deed covenant, lease contract
or such other conditions of usage or occupancy legally established
and recorded therefor; and a description or plan of each lot or plat
shall be filed separately or as part of the descriptive maps of the
Planned Unit Development District with the Tax Assessor.
(2) In addition to all other standards, conditions or
requirements set forth in this chapter, all site and building plans
shall be reviewed by the Planning Board in regard to safety and convenience
of traffic access and parking, disposition and usability of open spaces,
compatibility of building types, building construction plans and other
factors relating to site design. Such site review will also consider
the site design as it fits in with the general development of the
entire planned unit development area.