§ 154-131.1.1. Senior affordable apartments., Article XVI. Low- and Moderate-Income Housing, Chapter 154. Zoning, Part II. General Legislation, Code of Ordinances, Mount Laurel

Senior affordable apartments shall consist of multifamily buildings, architecturally designed for elderly and/or handicapped persons, designed for rental of individual units, and designed in accordance with the requirements for such dwellings set forth in this article.

Residency in units developed under this section shall be limited to persons age 55 and over in accordance with the Housing for Older Persons Act ("HOPA"), 42 U.S.C. § 3607 et seq. Additionally, up to four additional units in the overall complex may be occupied by a resident manager/staff younger than 55 years of age. An appropriate deed restriction shall be recorded in accordance with HOPA.

Senior affordable apartments may include meeting rooms, management offices, exercise room, health clinic or other uses appropriate for the operation and maintenance of the complex.

The maximum height of any building shall be 50 feet as measured from the high point of the ridge line to the average elevation of the building at the grade line, and no more than three stories.

Setbacks from perimeter property lines and from streets.

(1)

Setbacks: No multifamily building shall be closer than 50 feet to any perimeter property line of the tract, and no parking space shall be closer than 40 feet to any perimeter property line of the tract. There shall be no setback requirements to any interior lot line within the project tract that is created for financing purposes.

Building coverage and impervious surface coverage. Not less than 50% of the gross area of the senior affordable apartment development shall be devoted to green area. The 50% impervious surface coverage can be apportioned in any manner among building coverage, accessory building coverage and paving coverage, including parking lot coverage, cartways and sidewalk.

Buffers. Buffer areas are required between residential and nonresidential development and also between multifamily developments, including townhouse developments and areas zoned, developed or proposed for single-family dwellings, whether part of the same project or on an adjacent tract. For uses within the same project, the Planning Board shall waive this buffer requirement if appropriate transitional uses are employed or if topography eliminates the need for said buffer. No buffer is required if the perimeter property line abuts a roadway and the setbacks, set forth in this article, are adhered to. Where a buffer is required along a side or rear property line, a strip of land at least 20 feet wide in the yard or setback area shall be designated as a buffer area. Buffer areas shall adjoin residential property lines and be of uniform width. The buffer shall contain a landscape screen consisting of a six-foot-high visual barrier of plantings of suitable materials set in a double row, staggered and spaced to accomplish this purpose or a landscaped earthen berm parallel to the lot line and set back an appropriate distance, said berm to be improved with suitable landscaping treatment. Plant materials, spacing and location of the plant materials, as set forth elsewhere in the development ordinances of the Township, shall be controlling.

The developer of senior affordable apartments shall not be required to post performance or maintenance guarantees other than for public improvements approved by the Planning Board.

The minimum number of parking spaces for senior affordable apartments shall be one parking space for every affordable apartment unit.

The Residential Site Improvements Standards shall apply to the development of senior affordable apartments to the extent not in conflict with the terms of this § 154-131.1.1.

Section 124-5D shall not apply to preliminary site plan approval granted for senior affordable apartments.

This § 154-131.1.1 shall control if any of its provisions conflict with any other provisions of the Township of Mount Laurel Code.