This chapter shall be known and cited and referred
to as the "Zoning Ordinance of the Borough of Palisades Park."
A.Â
General purpose. The intent of this chapter is to
establish a comprehensive zoning ordinance regulating the use of land
and structures in the Borough of Palisades Park. This chapter is based
upon the Master Plan of the Borough of Palisades Park and is enacted
to promote and to protect the public health, safety, morals and general
welfare.
B.Â
Specific purpose. The specific purposes of this chapter
are as follows:
(1)Â
To guide and regulate orderly growth, development
and redevelopment of the Borough of Palisades Park in accordance with
the Master Plan.
(2)Â
To preserve and enhance the social and economic well-being
of both private and public property.
(3)Â
To promote, in accordance with the public interest,
the utilization of land for the purpose deemed most appropriate.
(4)Â
To provide adequate light, air and open space.
(5)Â
To promote the establishment of appropriate population
densities and concentrations that will contribute to the well-being
of persons, neighborhoods, Borough and region.
(6)Â
To lessen and, where possible, to prevent traffic
congestion on public streets and highways.
(7)Â
To conserve and enhance the value of buildings and
land throughout the Borough.
(8)Â
To provide sufficient space in appropriate locations
for a variety of residential, recreational, commercial and industrial
uses and open space, both public and private.
(9)Â
To promote a desirable visual environment.
For the purposes of this chapter, unless the
context clearly requires a different meaning, the following terms
shall be construed as follows:
A.Â
The term "shall" indicates a mandatory requirement,
and the term "may" indicates a discretionary or permissive connotation.
B.Â
A term in the singular includes the plural and vice
versa.
C.Â
A term in the present, past or future tense includes
either of the other two tenses.
D.Â
The verb "use" includes the phrase "or designed, intended
or arranged to be used."
E.Â
The noun "use" includes the actual or intended occupancy
or other employment of land or of a structure.
F.Â
The term "person" includes the term "individual, firm,
corporation, association, partnership, trust or other form of business
organization."
The specific terms hereinafter set forth shall
have the following meanings:
A building detached from and subordinate to a main building
on the same lot and used for purposes customarily incidental to those
of the main building.
A use customarily incidental and subordinate to the principal
use or building and located on the same lot with the principal use
or building.
Immediately adjacent to, contiguous to and not separated
by any street, avenue, public area or space.
As applied to a building or structure, any change in supporting
members or structural parts, any enlargement thereof, any change from
one classification to another or moving of such building or structure
from one location to another.
The surface of a lot, building or structure measured on a
horizontal plane.
Any establishment, building or other place where any portion
of any business or activity carried on is repairing or repainting
of auto bodies or motorcycles. "Auto body" shall mean the outer body
and chassis of a motor vehicle as defined by N.J.S.A. 39:1-1.
Any structure made of cloth or metal with a metal frame attached
to a building, projecting over a thoroughfare and so erected as to
permit its being retracted to a position flat against the building
when not in use.
A story partly below finished grade but having at least 1/2 of its height measured from floor to ceiling above finished grade. A basement shall be counted as one story in determining the height of a building in stories except as provided in § 300-11A.
The length of a street between the street lines of two intersecting
streets.
A dwelling in which more than two people are sheltered or
fed for profit, or both. The term "boardinghouse" shall include "rooming
house," "lodging house" and "tourist house."
A group of two or more principal buildings occupying a lot
in one ownership.
A building in which is conducted the main or principal use
of the lot on which said building is situated.
Any structure, other than an awning, made of cloth, plastic,
metal or other substance, with metal frame attached to a building,
and providing a roof-like shelter over a public or quasi-public right-of-way.
Any space in a building the height of which (from floor to
ceiling) is more than 1/2 below the average finished grade. A cellar
shall not be counted in determining the permissible number of stories.
An institution offering the provision of supplemental parental
care and supervision for nonrelated children, on a regular basis during
part or all of the day, under license by the New Jersey Department
of Human Services. The term "child-care center," as used herein, includes
the terms "infant-care center," "day nursery," "day-care center" "nursery
school" or similar.
An organization catering exclusively to members and their
guests, not conducted for profit.
That percentage of lot area covered by buildings and structures.
The mean curb grade as established by Borough ordinance or,
in the absence of an established grade, the mean level of the existing
curb or of the lot at the street line.
The B-1 and B-2 Districts established by this chapter.
The M-1 and M-C Districts established by this chapter.
In the following list, each district shall be deemed to be
more restricted than the districts which follow it: AA, E, B-1, B-2,
M-1, M-C.
The B-1, B-2, M-1 and M-C Districts established by this chapter.
The A, AA, A Residential and E Districts established by this
chapter.
A building designed for or intended to contain not more than
two dwelling units arranged side by side with a common party wall,
with no dwelling units being above or below each other, and each dwelling
unit having its own front and rear or side access to the outside.
[Added 12-19-2000 by Ord. No. 1361;
amended 3-16-2004 by Ord. No. 1426; 4-19-2005 by Ord. No. 1443]
A building designed or used principally as the living quarters
of one or more families. The term "dwelling" shall not be deemed to
include motel, hotel, boardinghouse, rooming house, tourist house
or other accommodations used for transient occupancy.
A group of two or more dwellings occupying a lot in one ownership.
A dwelling containing three or more dwelling units and occupied
or designed for occupancy by three or more families.
A building containing one dwelling unit only and designed
to house one family only.
A building for or intended to contain not more than two dwelling
units and designed to house not more than two families.
[Amended 5-16-1996 by Ord. No. 1239; 12-19-2000 by Ord. No.
1361; 3-16-2004 by Ord. No. 1426; 4-19-2005 by Ord. No. 1443]
A building or portion thereof occupied or intended to be
occupied as a residence by one family and consisting of a room or
connecting rooms constituting a separate independent housekeeping
establishment for owner occupancy or rental occupancy.
A building or structure in which food or beverages are sold
and consumed principally within the confines of the building on the
premises.
An individual or group of two or more persons living together
as a single nonprofit housekeeping unit and using certain rooms and
housekeeping facilities in common. The taking in of lodgers, boarders
or roomers in all or a part of the premises or the taking in of a
subtenant of a portion of the premises shall not be deemed to constitute
a part of a family and is prohibited.
An establishment designed for over-the-counter immediate
service to patrons primarily for immediate consumption, whether or
not interior seating facilities are provided, and which restaurant
serves a limited, standardized menu of quickly prepared or preprepared
foods, and which foods are packaged in paper or other types of disposable
wrappers and containers. Any food take-out service which is clearly
incidental to the primary permitted restaurant shall not be deemed
a fast-food restaurant. Fast-food restaurants also shall not include
other types of retail establishments in which food is primarily sold
for preparation and consumption elsewhere, although, as a secondary
use, prepared food may also be sold over the counter for immediate
consumption, such as a delicatessen, market or supermarket.
The aggregate sum of the gross horizontal areas of the floor
or floors of the building, measured from the exterior walls or from
the center line of walls separating two buildings. In calculating
the required off-street parking, basement or cellar space used exclusively
as storage space shall not be included as floor area.
The front wall of a building or structure shall be that wall
parallel or most nearly parallel to the frontage of the premises.
A building or structure used for the parking of passenger
automobiles at which no fuels and oils are sold and where motor vehicles
are not serviced, equipped, repaired, hired, leased or sold.
An accessory building for the storage of motor vehicles not
used in any way as a place of business.
A building devoted to the business of repairing, storing
and servicing of motor vehicles. The term "public garage" shall not
include auto body repair shops.
Buildings or premises where gasoline, oil, grease, batteries,
tires and automotive accessories may be supplied and dispensed at
retail but not including auto body repair, welding, spray painting
and not including automotive washing using mechanical devices.
A referenced plane representing the average of the finished
ground level adjoining the building at all exterior walls.
[Added 4-19-2005 by Ord. No. 1443]
The vertical distance from grade plane to the average height
of the highest roof surface.
A building used in whole or in part as a place furnishing
and providing sleeping accommodations for transient guests.
A building in which persons are harbored to receive medical
or charitable care or treatment or in which persons are held or detained
by reasons of public or civic duty or for correctional purposes, including,
among others, hospitals, asylums, sanitoriums and jails.
A designated parcel, tract or area of land established by
a plat or otherwise as permitted by law and to be used, developed
or built upon as a unit.
A lot abutting two streets at their intersection.
The mean distance from the street line of a lot to its rear
line.
A lot line which is coincident with a street line.
A lot having frontage on only one street.
Any boundary line of a lot.
The lot line abutting a street. In the case of a corner lot,
the lot line having the smaller dimension abutting street shall be
the lot frontage.
The lot line opposite and more readily parallel to the front
lot line.
The lot line connecting the front lot line and the rear lot
line. Any lot line not a rear line or front line shall be deemed a
side lot line.
A lot having frontage on two parallel or approximately parallel
streets and extending from street to street.
The horizontal mean width measured at right angles to the
lot depth at a rear line of the required front yard.
A building or building group containing individual living
and sleeping accommodations for hire, each of which is offered for
rental and use principally by motor vehicle travelers.
An institution, public or private, for the housing of the
infirm or those convalescing, which institution shall be licensed
and regulated by the State of New Jersey under its definition of nursing
home but shall not include full hospital services, emergency care
services or operating rooms. The term "nursing home" shall not be
deemed to be synonymous with the term "hospital."
A building used for professional, clerical or business offices
but not for manufacture, fabrication, sale of goods except by sample
or storage except incidental to office use.
Land or any part of a building used for the parking of motor
vehicles.
A stall in a garage or parking area containing a minimum
of 180 square feet with minimum dimensions of 9 feet by 20 feet, exclusive
of passageways, drives, maneuvering areas and aisles.
A lot, together with all the buildings and uses thereon.
The office or studio of any licensed person such as a physician,
surgeon, dentist, architect, engineer or lawyer when:
Such use is conducted entirely within a dwelling
which is the bona fide residence of the practitioner;
Not more than two employees are engaged;
Such use does not occupy more than 35% of the
floor area of the dwelling occupied by the practitioner; and
There is no display of goods or services other
than an identification sign not exceeding an area of two square feet.
Limited to those defined by 40A:11-5(1)(a) of New Jersey
Revised Statutes.
Public utility installations shall include such uses as high-voltage
transmission lines, towers, substations and pumping stations but shall
not include service or storage yards.
A lot used for single-family, two-family or multifamily dwelling
purposes.
Walls built to retain or support the lateral pressure of
earth or water or other superimposed loads and shall be designed and
constructed of masonry and/or concrete.
[Added 4-19-2005 by Ord. No. 1443]
A line at the top of a mountain or hill at the edge or upper
limit of a slope of 40% or more.
The space between the upper surface of any floor and the
next upper surface of the floor or roof above, except that the topmost
story shall be that portion of a building included between the upper
surface of the topmost floor and the ceiling or roof above. A "half-story"
is a portion of a building between the upper surface of a floor and
the roof construction above, where the space thus enclosed has a height
of not more than five feet.
A tract of land which is used for the parking of two or more
mobile homes.
The purpose for which a building or other structure or land
is arranged, designed or intended or occupied or maintained.
An open space on a lot unoccupied and unobstructed from the
ground upward, except for natural vegetation or except as otherwise
specifically provided by these regulations.
A yard extending across the full width of a lot and lying
between the front lot line of the lot and the nearest point of any
building.
A yard extending across the full width of the lot and lying
between the rear lot line of the lot and the nearest point of the
building.
That portion of a lot extending open and unobstructed from
the ground upward along a lot line for a depth or width as specified
by the regulations of the district in which the lot is located.
A yard situated between the building and the side line of
a lot and extending from the front yard to the rear yard. If there
is no front yard, the front boundary of the side yard shall be the
street line, and if there is no rear yard, the rear boundary of the
side yard shall be the rear line of the lot. On a corner lot, the
exterior side yard (street side yard) shall extend from the front
yard to the rear lot line.
Whenever, in the administration of this chapter,
it shall be desirable or necessary to define a term that has not been
herein defined, reference shall be made to the definition of such
term in:
