The purposes of this Planned Development Overlay
(PDO) is to encourage the coordinated, orderly, and rational development
of the lands designated on the Zoning Map as having a PDO option.
Development according to the PDO option is intended to promote the
following objectives:
A. Provide for a mixed-use district consisting of office,
research, retail, hotel/conference, and related uses in the ROM-1
and ROM-2 Districts developed in a coherent manner in accordance with
an approved general development plan;
B. Promote a more efficient use of land through alternative
design approaches, resulting in the preservation of significant areas
of contiguous open space which can be maintained for ecological, scenic,
and recreational purposes;
C. Provide for the more efficient planning and design
of infrastructure, including the site-wide provision of utilities,
roads, and stormwater management systems;
D. Relate specific infrastructure improvements to projected
and actual levels of development over the life of the project.
The following are permitted principal uses in
the PDO:
A. Laboratories for research, design, and experimentation,
including pilot plants. Pilot plants for the testing of manufacturing,
processing, or fabrication methods or for the testing of products
or materials shall be permitted only as accessory to a research facility
and in no case shall more than 25% of the total floor area of the
research facility be devoted to such uses.
B. Computer and data-processing centers and facilities.
C. Offices for business, executive, professional, and
administrative purposes.
D. Hotels and conference centers.
E. Printing and publishing establishments.
F. Development, manufacturing, assembly, and packaging
of engineering and scientific instruments, computers and computer
products, mechanical measuring and control devices, optical instruments
and lenses, medical instruments and supplies, ophthalmic goods, photographic
equipment and supplies, watches and clocks.
G. Motor vehicle filling stations, provided that no more
than three shall be developed on a PDO tract.
H. Public and private garages and parking structures.
I. Municipal, public, and quasi-public uses and nonprofit
facilities such as, but not limited to, post offices, sewage treatment
plants, public utility facilities, police/fire, library, parks, cultural
facilities, playgrounds, municipal offices, and transit facilities.
K. Agricultural uses, such as farms, tree farms, orchards,
and the raising of livestock, including residential uses in connection
therewith.
L. In the ROM-2 portion of the PDO, the following uses
shall also be permitted:
(1) Processes of assembly, manufacturing, fabrication,
packaging, treatment or conversion of products conducted entirely
within the confines of a building, confined to the making of finished
products or parts thereof from component parts and semi-finished products
and not involving reduction, conversion, or manufacturing of primary
raw materials except for pharmaceuticals.
(3) Wholesale distribution centers.
The following are permitted accessory uses:
A. Uses customarily incidental to any of the permitted
principal uses.
B. Restaurant or cafeteria primarily for supplying meals
only to employees and guests of the principal use. Buildings with
a gross floor area of 200,000 square feet or greater shall provide
a cafeteria.
C. Limited retail commercial uses, designed primarily
to serve employees and guests on-site. Retail shall include, but not
be limited to, stores and shops for retail business, banks and financial
institutions, health clubs, news stand, post office, automated banking
facilities, clinics, and similar conveniences.
D. In-service training schools for employees.
E. Custodial living quarters.
F. Indoor and outdoor recreation facilities, provided
that all such accessory buildings and uses shall be planned as an
integral part of the principal use development.
G. Overnight lodgings for visitors to any permitted principal
uses, provided that such facilities are not open to the general public.
H. Assembly halls for meetings incidental to the business
of the principal use.
I. Maintenance, utility, and storage facilities incidental
to the principal use.
J. Limited manufacture and sale of products produced
by or directly related to the principal use for the purpose of market
testing.
K. Warehouse facilities and wholesale storage within
a completely enclosed building, the latter being incidental and accessory
to a permitted use.
L. Central heating and power plants for furnishing heat
and electrical energy to structures on the PDO tract.
M. Outside storage of gas cylinders and other equipment
relating to a research facility or pilot plant provided it is suitably
screened.
N. Off-street parking as provided herein, including parking
structures.
The following conditional uses, as regulated in Article
XVIII, are permitted:
A. Churches and similar places of worship of recognized
religious groups, which may include attendant parish homes, convents,
and religious education buildings.
B. Public and private schools teaching academic subjects.
C. Commercial greenhouses and nurseries.
[Amended 12-8-1999 by Ord. No. 705-99]
A. Minimum tract area. The PDO option requires a minimum
tract of 500 acres ("PDO tract") in the ROM-1 District and a minimum
tract of 200 acres in the ROM-2 District.
B. Buffer. There shall be a buffer of 100 feet on the perimeter of the PDO where it abuts or adjoins a residential district, and a buffer of 50 feet on the perimeter of the PDO in all other areas, including where the development in the PDO abutting the residential district is also residential. Driveways, streets, and access roads perpendicular to the buffer or on an angle of 45º or greater or as may be required by the New Jersey Department of Transportation are permitted to pass through the buffer. Furthermore, an access road may pass through a buffer area to serve a sewage treatment plant in the PDO. In addition to the above, landscape design shall be in accordance with §
165-77.
[Amended 6-13-2007 by Ord. No. 923-07]
C. Building height. The following standards shall govern
the height of buildings in the PDO:
(1) A maximum building height of 65 feet is permitted
for buildings which provide parking under a building or in multiple-level
parking structures for at least 75% of the parking spaces required
for that building. A maximum building height of 65 feet is also established
for buildings which contain 30% of the permitted floor area for the
PDO tract, regardless of whether such buildings provide parking under
a building or in multiple-level parking structures.
(2) In the ROM-1 portion of the PDO, buildings which exceed
45 feet in height shall be situated below the existing three-hundred-eighty-foot
elevation on the tract boundary. The Planning Board may allow deviations
from the standard relating to tract elevation, provided that all of
the following conditions are satisfied:
(a)
The proposed building is screened from adjoining
residential districts by the existing topography or existing wooded
areas on the tract; and
(b)
The proposed building is located at least 500
feet from the tract boundary; and
(c)
The proposed location minimizes the visual intrusion
on scenic corridors identified on the conservation plan.
(3) In the ROM-2 portion of the PDO, buildings which exceed
45 feet in height shall be situated below the existing four-hundred-twenty-five-foot
elevation on the tract, and shall be no closer than 200 feet to any
tract boundary. The Planning Board may allow deviations from the standard
relating to tract elevation, provided that all of the following conditions
are satisfied:
(a)
The proposed building is screened from adjoining
residential districts by the existing topography or existing wooded
areas on the tract; and
(b)
The proposed building is located at least 500
feet from the tract boundary; and
(c)
The proposed location minimizes the visual intrusion
on scenic corridors identified on the conservation plan.
(4) Rooftop mechanical equipment, atria, skylights, receiving
and transmitting telecommunications equipment, and similar structures
normally and incidentally required for nonresidential buildings shall
not be included in any height calculation, provided such structures
do not exceed 10 feet in height and do not occupy more than 10% of
the roof area.
D. Access. The Planning Board, on review of the site
plan, shall determine the adequacy of ingress and egress to all lots,
buildings, and structures for motor vehicle traffic. Appropriate easements
as necessary shall assure access and maintenance of access.
E. Open space.
(1) In the ROM-1 District, the PDO shall include open
space to the extent of at least 20% of the PDO tract. The ROM-2 District
shall include open space to the extent of at least 20% of the PDO
tract. The open space shall include wooded areas, stream corridors,
and wetlands.
(2) The open space shall be deeded either to the Township,
a nonprofit corporation which has as one of its purposes the maintenance
and preservation of open space, or a corporation, association, or
other legal entity consisting of one or more of the property owners
within the PDO for their use, control, management, and maintenance.
Any agreement providing for such ownership shall be reviewed and approved
by the Township Attorney for the purpose of ensuring that adequate
safeguards are included, guaranteeing the continuance of the agreement
in perpetuity and protecting the Township from harm. In any event,
the agreement shall give the Township the right to perform maintenance
and assess the cost to the property owners in the event that the property
owners are in default of their obligations for maintenance as set
forth in the agreement. Regardless of the ownership, the agreement
shall provide for the consistent and continued maintenance and management
of the open space.
F. Parking.
(1) Compact spaces. Where the number of parking spaces
serving office or research buildings will in total exceed 100, 30%
of the total spaces may be designed as compact car spaces. Compact
car spaces may have dimensions of eight feet by 16 feet with a twenty-two-foot
aisle. The location of the compact car spaces shall be identified
by appropriate signs and markings.
(2) Shared parking. Where, by reason of hours of operation,
certain uses can share the same parking area, the developer may submit
a shared parking plan in order to reduce the total parking spaces
and total impervious surface. Uses which have their peak parking demand
outside of normal daytime business hours such as conference centers
and restaurants may share parking facilities with office use. Common
parking garages and areas may be provided for various uses. The applicant
shall demonstrate the feasibility of shared parking during site plan
review, and shall identify on the site plan the location of sufficient
parking spaces to satisfy the total parking requirement.
(3) Parking waiver. The Planning Board may, upon application
of the developer, waiver initial construction of up to 15% of the
parking required where the Planning Board is satisfied that the parking
requirements, as set forth in the ordinance, are excessive for the
use intended. However, the Planning Board, in waiving the parking
requirements, shall require that the entire required parking area
be shown on the site plan. The deferred parking areas shall be specifically
designated and designed to accommodate additional parking should the
need for additional parking arise in the future. The owner shall have
the right to build approved reserve parking areas at any time, at
the owner's discretion.
(4) Tandem parking. The parking of two vehicles bumper
to bumper in an elongated parking stall of 30 feet to 40 feet shall
be permitted, provided the tandem parking spaces are assigned to specific
employees and provided that the employer represents a workable program
of tandem parking for Planning Board approval.
G. Uses. There shall be no limit to the number of permitted
principal uses per lot.
[Added 5-27-1993 by Ord. No. 516-93]
A. The minimum lot size shall be 10 acres, provided that
the average lot size is 40 acres in the ROM-1 portion of the PDO and
20 acres in the ROM-2 portion of the PDO. Lots devoted exclusively
to public utility uses shall not be counted in the lot averaging scheme.
B. The maximum floor area ratio shall be 0.5, provided
PDO floor area is available.
C. The maximum impervious coverage per lot is 65% provided
PDO nonresidential impervious coverage is available.
D. Minimum front yard: 75 feet.
E. Minimum side yard: 40 feet.
F. Minimum rear yard: 75 feet.
G. Parking:
(1) For office: four spaces per 1,000 square feet.
(2) For single user office building having more than 100,000
square feet: 3.5 spaces per 1,000 square feet.
H. Parking locations and setbacks.
(1) Not more than 10% of total surface parking may be
allowed in the required front yard.
(2) Surface parking shall be set back 50 feet in the front
yard and 25 feet in side and rear yards.
(3) No parking shall be located within any required buffer.