Whenever a term is used in this chapter which
is defined in the Municipal Land Use Law, N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq.,
such term is intended to have the meaning set forth in the definition
of such term found in said statute, unless a contrary intention is
clearly expressed from the context of this chapter.
Unless the context otherwise indicates, the
following definitions shall be used in the interpretation and construction
of the chapter. Words used in the present tense include the future;
the singular number shall include the plural and the plural the singular;
the word "building" shall include the word "structure," the word "lot"
includes the word "plot," the word "occupied" includes the words "designated
or intended to be occupied," the word "used" shall include the words
"arranged, designated, constructed, altered, converted, rented, leased
or intended to be used;" and the word "shall" is mandatory and not
optional.
Certain words and phrases used in this chapter
are defined for the purposes hereof as follows:
A use or structure subordinate to the principal use of a
building on the same lot and serving a purpose customarily incidental
to the use of the principal building.
Any person who can show written proof that he has authority
to act for the property owner.
A multifamily building designed to meet the needs of residents
limited to the age of 55 years or over, provided, however, that a
person of the age of 55 years or over may occupy such a dwelling unit
with such person's husband or wife or companion, regardless of age,
and/or with a child 19 years of age or over who is not enrolled in
secondary school; and any person who is permitted to and did occupy
an age-restricted dwelling unit with an age-qualified person may continue
to occupy the dwelling unit after the death of such age-qualified
person; and any person, regardless of age, may occupy the dwelling
unit if such person provides physical support to an occupant otherwise
permitted to occupy a dwelling unit in accordance with the restrictions
herein. Notwithstanding any of the foregoing, no person under the
age of 19 years shall reside in any dwelling unit for more than 90
days in any calendar year.
[Added 11-14-2002 by Ord. No. 2002-42]
A change or rearrangement in the structure parts or in the
existing facilities or an enlargement whether by extension of a side
or increasing the height or by moves from one location or position
to another of a building or structure.
An organization issued a permit pursuant to the Jake Honig
Compassionate Use Medical Cannabis Act, P.L. 2009, c. 307 (N.J.S.A.
24:6I-1 et seq.) to operate as a medical cannabis cultivator, medical
cannabis manufacturer, medical cannabis dispensary, or clinical registrant,
as well as any alternative treatment center deemed pursuant to Section
7 of the Act (N.J.S.A. 24:6I-7) to concurrently hold a medical cannabis
cultivator permit, a medical cannabis manufacturer permit and a medical
cannabis dispensary permit.
[Added 8-12-2021 by Ord.
No. 2021-14]
A method of visually shielding or obscuring structures, uses
or equipment from view by means of walls or fencing.
[Added 6-12-2003 by Ord. No. 2003-18]
In a building with a peaked roof, the space between the ceiling
beams of the top story and the roof rafters.
[Added 4-14-2022 by Ord. No. 2022-6]
Any portion or portions of an attic with direct walk-in access
and a minimum ceiling height of seven feet over an area of at least
70 square feet.
[Added 4-14-2022 by Ord. No. 2022-6]
Any building or place of business, land area or portion thereof
used for the retail dispensing or sale of vehicular fuels and/or servicing
and repair of automobiles.
[Amended 3-16-2023 by Ord. No. 2023-7]
An open area, other than a street, used for the display,
sale or rental of motor vehicles or trailers in operable condition
and where no repair work is done.
A building or place of business where the washing of motor
vehicles is carried on with the use of a chain or other conveyor and
blower, water and/or steam cleaning device.
A reference plane representing the average of finished ground
level adjoining the building at all exterior walls. When the finished
ground level slopes away from the exterior walls, the reference plane
shall be established by the lowest point within the area between the
building and the lot line or, when the lot line is more than six feet
from the building, between the building and a point six feet from
the building.
[Added 4-14-2022 by Ord. No. 2022-6]
A story partly above grade level having half or more than
1/2 of its floor-to-ceiling height above the average level of the
adjoining ground. Said average height shall be determined by averaging
the height of the structure along the midpoint of each of its principal
walls. No basement or portion thereof shall be used as a dwelling
unit, except for custodial and maintenance personnel in apartment
buildings.
A combination of materials to form a construction adapted to permanent, temporary or continuous occupancy and having a roof. When such a structure is divided into separate parts by one or more unpierced walls extending from the ground up, each part is deemed a separate building, except as regards minimum side yard requirements. An attached garage to a principal structure shall be in conformance with § 410-35A(1)(e).
The vertical distance measured from the average finished
grade plane to the highest point of the roof but not including chimneys,
spires, towers, elevator penthouses, tanks and other similar projections.
[Amended 4-14-2022 by Ord. No. 2022-6]
A structure in which is conducted the principal use of the
site on which it is situated. In any residential district any dwelling
shall be deemed to be a principal building on the zone lot on which
it is located.
All parts of the plant Cannabis sativa L., whether growing
or not, the seeds thereof, and every compound, manufacture, salt,
derivative, mixture or preparatio of the plant or its seeds, except
those containing resin extracted from the plant, which are cultivated
and, when applicable, manufactured in accordance with P.L. 2016, c.
16 for use in cannabis products as set forth in this Act, but shall
not include the weight of any other ingredient combined with cannabis
to prepare topical or oral administrations, food, drink or other product.
"Cannabis" does not include: medical cannabis dispensed to registered
qualifying patients pursuant to the Jake Honig Compassionate Use Medical
Cannabis Act, P.L. 2009, c. 307 (N.J.S.A. 24:6I-1 et seq.) and P.L.
2015, c. 158 (N.J.S.A. 18A40-12.22 et seq.); marijuana as defined
in N.J.S.A. 2C:35-2 and applied to any offense set forth in Chapters
35, 35A and 36 of Title 2C of the New Jersey Statutes, or P.L. 2001,
c. 114 (N.J.S.A. 2C:35B-1 et seq.), or marijuana as defined in Section
2 of P.L. 1970, c. 226 (N.J.S.A. 24:21-2) and applied to any offense
set forth in the New Jersey Controlled Dangerous Substances Act, P.L.
1970, c. 226 (N.J.S.A. 24:21-1 et seq.); or hemp or a hemp product
cultivated, handled, processed, transported or sold pursuant to the
New Jersey Hemp Farming Act, P.L. 2019, c. 238 (N.J.S.A. 4:28-6 et
seq.).
[Added 8-12-2021 by Ord.
No. 2021-14]
Any licensed person or entity that grows, cultivates, or
produces cannabis in this State and sells and any transport this cannabis
to other cannabis cultivators or usable cannabis to cannabis manufacturers,
cannabis wholesalers or cannabis retainers, but not to consumers.
[Added 8-12-2021 by Ord.
No. 2021-14]
Any licensed person or entity that provides courier services
for consumer purchasers of cannabis items and related supplies fulfilled
by a cannabis retailer in order to make deliveries of the cannabis
items and related supplies to that consumer, and which services include
the ability of a consumer to purchase the cannabis items directly
through the cannabis delivery service, which after presenting the
purchase order to the cannabis retailer for fulfillment, is delivered
to that consumer.
[Added 8-12-2021 by Ord.
No. 2021-14]
Any licensed person or entity that transports cannabis in
bulk intrastate from one licensed cannabis cultivator to another licensed
cannabis cultivator, or transports cannabis items in bulk intrastate
from any one class of licensed cannabis establishment to another class
of licensed cannabis establishment and may engage in the temporary
storage of cannabis or cannabis items as necessary to carry out transportation
activities.
[Added 8-12-2021 by Ord.
No. 2021-14]
A cannabis cultivator, a cannabis manufacturer, a cannabis
wholesaler, a cannabis retailer, or a medicinal cannabis dispensary.
[Added 8-12-2021 by Ord.
No. 2021-14; amended 8-11-2022 by Ord. No. 2022-16]
Any licensed person or entity that processes cannabis items
in this State by purchasing or otherwise obtaining usable cannabis,
manufacturing, preparing and packaging cannabis items and selling
and optionally transporting these items to other cannabis manufacturers,
cannabis wholesalers or cannabis retailers, but not to consumers.
[Added 8-12-2021 by Ord.
No. 2021-14]
Any licensed person or entity that purchases or otherwise
obtains usable cannabis from cannabis cultivators or cannabis items
from cannabis manufacturers or cannabis wholesalers and sells these
to consumers from a retail store and may use a cannabis delivery service
or a certified cannabis handler for the off-premises delivery of cannabis
items and related supplies to consumers. A cannabis retailer shall
also accept consumer purchases to be fulfilled from its retail store
that are presented by a cannabis delivery service which will be delivered
by the cannabis delivery service to that consumer.
[Added 8-12-2021 by Ord.
No. 2021-14]
Any licensed person or entity that purchases or otherwise
obtains, stores, sells or otherwise transfers, and may transport,
cannabis items for the purpose of resale or other transfer to either
another cannabis wholesaler or to a cannabis retailer, but not to
consumers.
[Added 8-12-2021 by Ord.
No. 2021-14]
See "automobile washing establishment" of this section.
A story which may be partly above grade level having more
than 1/2 of its floor-to-ceiling height below the average level of
the adjoining ground. No cellar or portion thereof shall be used as
a dwelling unit. Said average height shall be determined by averaging
the height of the structure along the midpoint of each of its principal
walls.
A facility providing the care, guidance, and/or supervision
of unrelated children on a regular basis, during part or all of the
day, under license by the state.
[Added 4-14-2022 by Ord. No. 2022-6]
A use permitted in a particular zoning district only upon
a showing that such use in a specified location will comply with the
conditions and standards for the location or operation of such use
as contained in this chapter and upon the issuance of an authorization
therefor by the Planning Board.
An open unoccupied space other than a yard on the same lot
with the principal building. A court entirely enclosed by walls or
opening on a side lot line is an inner court. A court opening for
its full width on a street, a front yard or a side yard is an outer
court.
A district or a zone shall be any portion of the territory
of the Borough within which certain uniform regulations and requirements
of various combinations thereof apply under the provisions of this
chapter.
A physical appurtenance which has ordering and pickup facilities,
is accessible by a designated driveway, is accessory to and part of
the structure of the primary facility to which it is attached and
is designed or used to sell or serve food or merchandise or to provide
banking services to customers.
[Added 9-28-2000 by Ord. No. 2000-35]
Any permanent building or portion thereof designed or used
exclusively as the residence or sleeping place of one or more persons,
except a mobile home and as otherwise provided herein:
DWELLING, ONE-FAMILYA building occupied or intended for occupancy as separate living quarters exclusively for one family or one household with direct access from the outside and further provided with separate cooking, sleeping and bathroom facilities for the exclusive use of the occupants of the unit.
DWELLING, TWO-FAMILYA building occupied or intended for occupancy as separate living quarters for no more than two families with separate cooking facilities for the exclusive uses of the occupants of each unit, which are separated from each other by vertical walls or horizontal floors, unpierced except for access to the outside or to a common cellar or basement.
DWELLING, MULTIFAMILYA building occupied or intended for occupancy as separate living quarters for more than two families with direct access from the outside or through a common hall and further provided with separate cooking, sleeping and bathroom facilities for the exclusive use of the occupants of each unit.
Any structure which shall contain one or more rooms providing
cooking, sleeping and sanitary facilities, not including a hotel,
motel, hospital, nursing home, dormitory, fraternity or sorority house,
rooming house, boardinghouse or other similar structure.
One or more rooms, occupied or intended for occupancy as
separate living quarters by one family or household, provided that
access is directly from the outside or through a common hall and that
separate cooking, sleeping and sanitary facilities are provided within
the dwelling for the exclusive use of the occupants thereof.
A building or structure designed, used or intended for use
in which either food or beverage or both are sold and consumed primarily
within the confines of an enclosed structure on the site.
The erection, construction, alteration or maintenance, by
public utilities or municipal or other governmental agencies of underground,
surface or overhead gas, electrical, steam or water transmission systems,
including poles, wires, mains, drains, sewers, pipes, conduits, cables,
fire alarm boxes, police call boxes, traffic signals, light stations,
telephone lines, hydrants and other similar equipment and accessories
herewith, reasonably necessary for the furnishing of adequate service
by such public utilities or municipal or other governmental agencies
or for the public health, safety or general welfare.
Any number of individuals related by blood, marriage or legal
adoption, living together as a single housekeeping unit and using
certain rooms and housekeeping facilities in common. For the purpose
of this chapter, foster children placed with families in a dwelling
by the New Jersey State Board of Child Welfare or a duly incorporated
child-care agency shall be considered as a member or members of a
family.
The ratio of the gross floor area to the lot area.
An accessory building or part of a main building used only
for the storage of motor vehicles as an accessory use.
A building or part thereof, other than a private garage,
used for the storage, care or repair of motor vehicles for profit,
including any sale of motor vehicles accessories or where any such
vehicles are kept for hire.
Residential zones (R-1, R-1A, R-2, R-2A, R-3,
R-3A, R-4, R-4A): In computing the floor area ratio for all one- and
two-family homes to be constructed in these zones, the gross floor
area shall include all floor areas of all buildings and structures
on the site, including but not limited to habitable basements, cellars
or attics, but excluding open porches, crawl spaces, unenclosed decks,
breezeways, imaginary/intermediate floor levels below cathedral ceilings
and any nonhabitable areas. A nonhabitable area shall be one which
does not have direct walk-in access and a minimum ceiling height of
seven feet over an area (room) of at least 70 square feet.
[Amended 12-14-2000 by Ord. No. 2000-45]
Commercial zones (C-1, C-2, C-3, C-4, C-5, C-6,
PCR-1, PUD): In computing the floor area ratio for all commercial
buildings to be constructed in these zones, the gross floor area shall
mean the sum of the areas of horizontal sections through each story
of all parts of the building, together with any area on the roof of
the building devoted to commercial use. In computing the gross floor
area, the area of horizontal section shall be that area enclosed by
the outside faces of all exterior walls. Further, the gross floor
area shall not include the floor areas devoted to any parking decks.
Any use customarily conducted entirely within
a dwelling or its accessory building and carried on by the inhabitants
thereof, which use is clearly incidental to the use of the dwelling
as a place of residence, and further provided that no article is sold
or offered for sale except as may be produced by the immediate occupants
residing therein. In particular, a home occupation includes and is
limited to the following: professional office of a physician, dentist,
lawyer, engineer, accountant, architect, realtor or other similar
professional occupations. Said home occupation will be limited to
one employee.
However, a home occupation shall not be interpreted
to include the following: barbershops and beauty parlors; commercial
stables and kennels; animal hospitals; convalescent homes; mortuary
establishments; stores and trades of business of any kind; and the
preparation, processing or distribution of foods or food products.
Every building kept, used, maintained, advertised or held
out to be a place where sleeping accommodations, eating facilities,
conference rooms, recreational facilities and a central lobby with
room service availability are maintained for rental to permanent or
transient guests, in which 50 or more rooms on the premises are rented,
with or without meals, for the accommodation of such guests.
A family of not more than four persons who are not so related,
living together as a single housekeeping unit.
That portion of one or more zone lots which is improved with
principal and accessory buildings, structures and uses, including
driveways, parking lots and parking garages at or above grade, swimming
pools, decks, patios, sidewalks, pedestrian walkways, and all other
paved areas.
[Amended 4-14-2022 by Ord. No. 2022-6]
The use of any area of any lot for the storage, keeping or
abandonment of junk, including scrap metals or other scrap materials
or for the dismantling, demolition or abandonment of automobiles,
not in operating conditions or other vehicles or machinery or parts
thereof.
A designated parcel, 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.
The computed area contained within the lot lines.
That portion of one or more zone lots which is improved with
principal buildings and structures on the ground surface or above
grade.
[Amended 4-14-2022 by Ord. No. 2022-6]
A mean horizontal distance between the mean front and mean
rear lot lines, measured in the general direction of its side lot
lines.
The length of the front lot line.
A line of record bounding the lot.
LOT LINE, FRONTThe lot line separating the lot from the street right-of-way.
LOT LINE, REARA lot line opposite and most distant from the front lot line.
LOT LINE, SIDEAny lot line other than a front or rear lot line. A side lot line separating a lot from a street is called a "side street lot line."
A lot that fronts upon two parallel streets or that fronts
upon two streets that do not intersect at the boundaries of the lot.
[Added 9-28-2000 by Ord. No. 2000-35]
The mean perpendicular distance between the side lot lines
of a lot, measured at the minimum front yard setback line.
A composite of one or more written or graphic proposals for
the development of the Borough as set forth in and adopted pursuant
to Section 19 of the Municipal Land Use Law,[1] duly adopted by the Planning Board of the Borough of Fort
Lee.
Fans, air-conditioning equipment, elevator housings, water
towers, compressors, heating equipment, wireless telecommunications,
equipment cabinets or similar equipment.
[Added 6-12-2003 by Ord. No. 2003-18]
A business licensed by the State of New Jersey to sell medical
cannabis to registered qualifying patients and their authorized caregivers.
This term shall include the organization's officers, directors,
board members and employees.
[Added 8-12-2021 by Ord.
No. 2021-14]
Any structure or building wherein rooms thereof are leased
to third parties, not having the facilities set forth above in the
definition of "hotel," and where an automotive vehicle is capable
of being parked immediately adjacent to the room which is leased to
the third party. Motels, motor inns and motor hotels are hereby declared
to be nonpermitted uses within the Borough of Fort Lee.
NONCONFORMING LOT
A lot, the area, dimension or location of which was lawful
prior to the adoption, revision or amendment of a zoning ordinance,
but which fails to conform to the requirements of the zoning district
in which it is located by reason of such adoption, revision or amendment.
A structure, the size, dimension or location of which was
lawful prior to the adoption, revision or amendment of a zoning ordinance,
but which fails to conform to the requirements of the zoning district
in which it is located by reasons of such adoption, revision or amendment.
A use or activity which was lawful prior to the adoption,
revision or amendment of a zoning ordinance, but which fails to conform
to the requirements of the zoning district in which it is located
by reason of such adoption, revision or amendment.[2]
Any premises licensed by the State of New Jersey to function
as a nursing home.
Structures with open or removable outside walls, any structure
with no roof, any structure lacking permanency in its construction
or the lack of any structure wherein one or more sellers gather to
sell goods, wares, merchandise or personal property of every kind,
nature and description.
An area used for the storage of automobiles and other motor
vehicles for the private use solely by the occupants thereof to which
such use is accessory.
An area other than a street or other public way used for
the storage of automobiles and other motor vehicles and available
to the public whether for a fee or without compensation or as an accommodation
for clients or customers.
A structure of more than one level used for the storage of
automobiles or other motorized vehicles.
An area of a minimum contiguous size as specified by this
chapter to be developed according to a plan as a single entity containing
one or more structures with appurtenant common areas to accommodate
commercial or office uses, or both, and any residential and other
uses incidental to the predominant use as may be permitted by ordinance.
An area with a minimum contiguous acreage of 10 acres to
be developed as a single entity according to a plan, containing one
or more residential clusters or planned unit residential developments
and one or more public, quasi-public or commercial areas, in such
ranges or ratios of nonresidential uses as shall be specified in this
chapter.
An area with specified minimum contiguous acreage of five
acres or more to be developed as a single entity according to a plan
containing one or more residential clusters, which may include appropriate
commercial or public or quasi-public uses all primarily for the benefit
of the residential development.
A Borough official responsible for the administrative services
of the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Adjustment, as designated
by ordinance or statute.
[Added 6-12-2003 by Ord. No. 2003-14]
The Municipal Planning Board established pursuant to Section
14 of the Municipal Land Use Act.
[3]The primary purpose to which a lot or parcel is used or intended
to be used.
The office of a recognized profession such as that of a physician,
dentist, lawyer, engineer, accountant, architect and other professions
requiring a like amount of education and training.
Any establishment whose principal business is the sale of
foods and/or beverages to customers in a ready-to-consume state, whether
served for immediate consumption at tables within the restaurant building
or sold in wrappers or disposable containers to walk-in customers
for take-out or through an attached drive-through facility to customers
in automobiles. Any establishment that meets the definition of "restaurant,
take-out" shall not be considered a "restaurant."
[Added 9-28-2000 by Ord. No. 2000-35]
Any establishment whose principal business is the sale of
foods and/or beverages to customers in a ready-to-consume state, where
consumption takes place primarily outside the confines of the establishment,
where only limited seating at counters or tables is offered for waiting
or for the consumption of food and/or beverages and no drive-through
facility is provided for service to customers in automobiles.
[Added 9-28-2000 by Ord. No. 2000-35]
A structure containing a number of dwelling units each separated
by vertical interior unpierced walls. Each such dwelling unit shall
maintain individual cooking, sleeping, sanitary and heating facilities
for the use of the occupants therein.[4]
That portion of a building included between the surface of
any floor and the surface of any floor next above it or, if there
be no floor above it, then the space between the floor and the ceiling
next above it.
[Amended 4-14-2022 by Ord. No. 2022-6]
STORY, HALF- A partial story under a gable, hip or gambrel roof, the floor of which is not more than two feet below the wall plates.
STORY, FIRST- The lowest story or the ground story of any building the floor of which is not more than two feet below the average finished grade plane at the exterior walls of the building. In any apartment building, the first story shall be counted wherein space is for residential or office use. A first story may also be considered a basement.
Any street, avenue, boulevard, road, parkway, viaduct, drive
or other way which is an existing state, county or municipal roadway;
or which is shown upon a plat heretofore approved pursuant to law;
or which is approved by official action as provided by statute; or
which is shown on a plat duly filed and recorded in the office of
the County recording Officer prior to the appointment of a Planning
Board and the grant to such Board of the power to review plats; and
includes the land between the street lines, whether improved or unimproved,
and may comprise pavement, shoulders, gutters, curbs, sidewalks, parking
areas and other areas within the street lines.
Any change in the supporting members of a building, such
as walls, columns, beams or girders.
A combination of materials to form a construction for occupancy,
use or ornamentation whether installed on, above or below the surface
of a parcel of land.
A parking space for two vehicles with only one access point.
Electric transformers, switch boxes, telephone pedestals
and telephone boxes, cable television boxes, traffic control boxes
and similar devices.
[Added 6-12-2003 by Ord. No. 2003-18]
Permission to depart from the literal requirements of a zoning
ordinance pursuant to Section 47 and Subsections 29.2b, 57c and 57d
of the Municipal Land Use Law.[5]
An open space which lies between the principal building or
group of buildings and the nearest lot line and is unoccupied and
unobstructed from the ground upward except as herein permitted.
[Amended 4-14-2022 by Ord. No. 2022-6]
YARD, FRONT- An open space extending the full width of the lot measured from the front lot line to the closest point of any building and any protruding features, including covered porches, but excluding bay windows and exterior stairs, unoccupied and unobstructed from the ground upward except as may be specified elsewhere in this chapter. The depth of the front yard shall be measured at right angles to the front lot line.
YARD, REAR- A yard extending across the full width of the lot measured from the rear lot line to the closest point of any building and any protruding features, including a rear deck, but excluding exterior stairs. The depth of a rear yard shall be measured at right angles to the rear lot line.
YARD, SIDE- An open, unoccupied space measured from the side lot line to the closest point of any building, including any exterior stairwell and/or covered porch, extending from the front yard to the rear yard. The width of a side yard shall be measured at right angles to the side line of the lot.
The Board of Adjustment as established and continued under
this chapter.
The Zoning Map or Maps of the Borough of Fort Lee, New Jersey,
dated January 4, 1979, together with any amendments as may be subsequently
adopted.
A document signed by the Zoning Officer which is required
by the Land Use Procedures Ordinance of the Borough of Fort Lee as
a condition precedent to the commencement of a use or the erection,
construction, reconstruction, alteration, conversion or installation
of a structure or building and which acknowledges that such use, structure
or building complies with the provisions of the Borough Zoning Ordinance
or variance therefrom.
[Added 9-28-2000 by Ord. No. 2000-35]
[1]
Editor's Note: See N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq.
[2]
Editor's Note: The former definition of "nursery school,"
which immediately followed this definition, was repealed 4-14-2022 by Ord. No. 2022-6.
[3]
Editor's Note: See N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq.
[4]
Editor's Note: The former definition of “sign,” as amended 9-28-2000 by Ord. No. 2000-35, and which immediately followed this definition, was repealed 8-22-2002 by Ord. No. 2002-38. See now § 410-49B.
[5]
Editor's Note: See N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq.
