§ 200-239. Recreation preservation development credits.

A. 

General. In order to preserve existing recreational open space lands within an R-2 District, one or more tracts located within the ROM-1 or ROM-2 District may be permitted to increase the permitted floor area of development on those tract(s) in exchange for maintaining in perpetuity separate and properly subdivided lot(s) for continued open space or recreational use.

B. 

Standards.

(1) 

The minimum lot size for the land to be preserved shall be 100 contiguous acres in a properly subdivided lot(s).

(2) 

The tract to be preserved shall be designated on the Township's Community Facilities Master Plan as existing semipublic recreation/open space.

(3) 

The extent of preservation development credits to be received from such preserved lands shall be determined by the Planning Board and be based on a hypothetical subdivision layout conforming to all zoning and subdivision criteria. Sufficient information shall be provided for a determination by the Planning Board as to the number of proposed lots which would be buildable if developed as shown. Based on the number of hypothetical building lots, the maximum residential building square footage that is permitted on such lots by the zone district in which the preservation tract is located can be established.

(4) 

The preservation development credits once established pursuant to Subsection B(5) herein are valid and may be utilized within the receiving areas set forth in Subsection B(6) herein for a period of 18 years following the date of recording of a deed imposing a restriction on the use of the land within the R-2 zone to open space or recreational uses in perpetuity. If the preservation development credits are incorporated as part of an approval of a development application for a receiving tract during the eighteen-year period, the right to utilize such incorporated credits shall be for the duration that such approval remains valid. Banking and subsequent transfer of excess preservation development credits from one property in the ROM-1 and ROM-2 Districts to another shall not be permitted.

(5) 

The utilization of the preservation development credits shall be authorized upon the recording by the owner of a deed restriction, in a form acceptable to the Township Attorney, and running with the land from which the preservation development credits are proposed to be transferred and restricting such land to open space or recreational uses permitted in the R-2 District in perpetuity, and limited by applicable bulk and area regulations. Such restrictions shall also be made a part of the final subdivision or site plan application of a development which proposes to utilize such credits and shall be filed with the appropriate agencies as a condition to such development application approval. In addition, right-of-way dedication in accordance with the Circulation Element of the Township's Master Plan shall be required from the parcel to be preserved.

(6) 

The receiving tract for the recreation preservation development credits shall be permitted to utilize the approved credits for permitted but not for conditional use, provided that the tract complies with the following:

(a) 

It is located within an ROM-1 District southwest of Washington Road (Route 571) or an ROM-2 District, except that area north of Alexander Road and west of the Bearbrook Creek, as such zones are delineated on the Zoning Map of West Windsor Township dated January, 1990, notwithstanding any changes in such district boundaries which may be enacted subsequent to the adoption of this Part 4, except that if any tract within the area bounded by Washington Road to the north, the New Jersey Transit Railroad to the east, Quakerbridge Road to the south and the Delaware and Raritan Canal to the west is subsequently zoned to ROM-1 or ROM-2, such tract shall be eligible to utilize the approved credits.

[Amended 3-11-1991 by Ord. No. 91-08]

(b) 

It is part of a planned development of a minimum of 20 acres which proposes a general development plan indicating generally how the additional floor area will be utilized.

(7) 

The additional floor area credit shall conform to all zoning, subdivision, site plan and other ordinance controls governing development within the ROM-1 and ROM-2 zones, including any traffic management, peak hour traffic reduction and pro rata off-tract improvement obligations, with the following exceptions/ conditions:

(a) 

Applications for development which include preservation development credits will be subject to the currently effective maximum improvement coverage (MIC) of 0.50 where required to accommodate the additional floor area credits, and in that case subsequent changes in the MIC of these ordinances will not apply.

(b) 

For developments which are proposed under the provisions of § 200-209A or § 200-211A(6) (for research-office limited manufacturing park developments), the additional floor area which the credits represent is specifically exempt from the requirements of § 200-209A(8)(f)[3] which limit the floor area of the stories above a three-storied building. All or a portion of the credit floor area may be utilized within stories above the third story of a building or buildings within a planned development solely to the extent necessary to utilize such credits and only where the improvement coverage has been fully utilized in the opinion of the board of jurisdiction.

(c) 

Notwithstanding the three-story height limitation otherwise imposed by § 200-210H and § 200-212H, building heights may be up to four stories but not more than 55 feet solely to the extent necessary to utilize such credits within the areas of the ROM-1 and ROM-2 Districts set forth in Subsection B(6) of this section which are outside a band 1,800 feet in width as measured from the right-of-way line of the state's principal arterial designated as Route One, provided that the additional floor area which the credits represent is at least equal to the total floor area proposed within the fourth story of the building or buildings in the proposed development.

Added 10-15-1990 by Ord. No. 90-28; amended 2-25-1991 by Ord. No. 91-06