The Township Council of the Township of Mount
Holly hereby finds and determines that it is in the public interest
to acknowledge the existence and special needs of certain office and
governmental uses present within generally developed areas of the
Township, to provide reasonable opportunity and logical location for
the continuation of these uses within the Township, to provide appropriate
buffering and protection of the integrity surrounding historic, residential
and commercial zones from unwarranted intrusions, and, consistent
with sound planning principles, encourage future development in a
manner beneficial to the health, safety, and welfare of the citizens
of Mount Holly and the public at large. The Government Services Zone
includes among its objectives:
A.
Encourage the protection and preservation of the historic
district and the valuable historic heritage of structures and uses
in the central business area of the Township.
B.
Accommodate municipal, county, state, and federal
governmental administrative services with necessary supporting facilities.
C.
Accommodate professional and general office uses and
necessary supporting facilities.
A building, as defined in N.J.S.A. 40:55D-3,
may be erected, altered or used, and a lot may be used or occupied,
in this zone for any of the following purposes and no others, following
such site plan or other approval by the reviewing authority as may
be required by this chapter:
A.
Professional offices or studio of a doctor, lawyer,
dentist, clergyman, architect, accountant, engineer, insurance agent,
real estate agent, or similar practitioner, or an office building
for a group of such practitioners, not to include on-premises retail
activities or the direct sale of merchandise to the general public.
B.
Administrative offices of governmental entities, courts
and courtrooms, police facilities, post offices, fire companies or
emergency squads, public libraries, museums, public parks or recreation
areas, and similar public institutional uses, provided, however, that
such uses shall take satisfactory measures to preserve and protect
the health, safety, and character of the surrounding area and neighborhoods
and that adequate ingress, egress, and parking facilities are provided.
Motor vehicle service or repair facilities, storage of public works
and heavy equipment, or operational facilities of governmental utilities
are not, however, to be permitted uses in this zone.
Specifically prohibited in this zone are residential dwellings, retail uses, industrial uses of any kind, gasoline filling stations, auto repair and servicing facilities, and all other uses not specifically permitted under § 149-135.2 above.
The following minimum requirements apply with
respect to density, height, frontage, yard, and setback requirements
in the GS Zone.
A.
No new building shall exceed four stories or 60 feet
in height. Ancillary parking facilities shall not exceed three stories
or 50 feet in height.
B.
There shall be a front yard of not less than 25 feet.
No parking shall be permitted in the front yard.
C.
Each side yard shall be at least 20 feet. Required
parking may be permitted in the side yard but shall not be permitted
in any required buffer.
E.
The minimum street frontage for office buildings shall
be 100 feet.
The following minimum buffering requirements,
in addition to those found elsewhere in this chapter, shall apply
to development within the GS Zone.
A.
Landscape buffers, in accordance with the design standards
of this chapter, shall be provided at all site property lines adjoining
a residential zone of a minimum width of 10 feet. Buffers shall include
a combination of grassed areas, shrubs, trees, and berms sufficient
in variety and height to provide a dense landscaped variation and
screening between GS zone uses and the residential zone uses.
B.
Parking lots within the GS zone shall be provided
with landscape buffers, in accordance with the design standards of
this chapter, using appropriate trees, shrubs, and berms so as to
produce visual variations within and alongside parking lots. Perimeter
buffers shall be a minimum of 10 feet in width. Parking lot landscaping
shall include landscape interests to breakup vast expanses of paving,
to the degree that three rows and 20 parking spaces is the maximum
permitted without providing landscape variations of a type and variety
approved by the Planning Board.
In addition to the other regulations of the
GS Zone, each use shall comply with the following requirements:
A.
Each building, alteration, or renovation, shall be
designed to the greatest extent possible in a manner to minimize its
commercial, nonhistoric, nonresidential character. No building shall
contain a display or show window.
B.
The structural alteration of an existing building
or other building shall be the minimum necessary to permit the authorized
change in use or improvement, and all fire escapes and stairways shall
be designed as an integral part of the building and completely enclosed
within the building. Further, they shall be so located as not to detract
from the character of the original historic structure, or, alternatively,
from the historic nature of surrounding structures as viewed from
the street. No building or lot may be used in any manner that will
emit noxious odors or create hazardous conditions.
