Town of Northbridge, MA Article III Zoning Districts Established

§ 173-3 Districts enumerated.

The Town of Northbridge, Massachusetts, is hereby divided into zoning districts to be designated as follows:

Residential One	R-1
Residential Two	R-2
Residential Three	R-3
Residential Four	R-4
Residential Five	R-5
Residential Six	R-6
Business One	B-1
Business Two	B-2
Business Three	B-3 [Added 9-11-1990 STM, Art. 20]
Industrial One	I-1
Industrial Two	I-2
Heritage	H [Added 5-13-1980 ATM, Art. 39]
Floodway	FW [Added 5-10-1983 ATM, Art. 10]
Floodplain	FP [Added 5-10-1983 ATM, Art. 10]
Forest Products Overlay	FPOD [Added 6-26-1990 STM, Art. 1]
Open Space Development Overlay	OSDOD [Added 11-14-2000 ATM, Art. 22]

§ 173-4 Establishment of Zoning Map.

[Amended 5-10-1983 ATM, Art. II; 5-5-2009 ATM, Art. 21]

The location and boundaries of the zoning districts are hereby established as shown on a map entitled "Zoning Map of the Town of Northbridge, Massachusetts," dated May 2009, which accompanies and is hereby declared to be part of this chapter.

§ 173-5 District boundaries.

Where any uncertainty exists with respect to the boundary of any district as shown on the Zoning Map, the following rules apply:

A. Where a boundary is indicated as a street, railroad, watercourse or other body of water, it shall be construed to be the center line or middle thereof, or where such boundary approximates a Town boundary, then to the limits of the Town boundary.

B. Where a boundary is indicated as following approximately or parallel to a street, railroad, watercourse or other body of water, it shall be construed to be parallel thereto and at such distance therefrom as shown on the Zoning Map. If no dimension is given, such distance shall be determined by the use of the scale shown on the Zoning Map.

C. Where a dimensioned boundary coincides within 10 feet or less with a lot line, the boundary shall be construed to be the lot line.

D. Where a boundary is indicated as a definite elevation, it shall be construed as the datum mean sea level of the United States Geological Survey.

§ 173-6 Purpose of Heritage District.

[Added 5-13-1980 ATM, Art. 39; 2-21-2012 STM, Art. 2]

The purpose of this district is to preserve and reinforce the visual and historical character of the Memorial Square Area of the Town of Northbridge by regulating the type and intensity of uses which may be proposed within it. Specifically, it is the intention of the provisions for this district to provide for uses which have characteristics similar to those of the uses existing at the time of enactment of this section.

The Planning Board shall be the Special Permit Granting Authority within the Heritage District. By Special Permit, an existing use may also be changed or altered to two or more new uses permitted in the district under the Table of Use Regulations (§ 173-12), subject to the requirement that such new use(s) shall further preserve the historic character of the main structures, outbuildings and landscape within the subject property. The Special Permit may also authorize and define allowed accessory uses to the new use(s).