Borough Business Zone Changes Set Aside For Now

Susan Favate and Bruce Harris from the Chatham Borough Planning Board presented a Business Zones Study of the borough at the council meeting last week that could effect what businesses can move into Chatham and what parameters new buildings must follow.

The study by the Taylor Design Group in 2009 outlined current guidelines and permitted uses for the six business zones in the borough. For zones B-1 through B-5, the planner included recommended changes and alterations to the zones to welcome more businesses into Chatham.

However, Favate and Harris recommended that the council not take any action on the recommended changes right now. 

Their reasons for making this recommendation were two-fold. First, the study recommended changing the standard of Floor Area Ratio (FAR, which, Favate said, "regulates the size of the entire building [in proportion to a lot], including, indirectly, height") to Building Coverage (which regulates only the floor size of a building in proportion to a lot).

Earlier this year the Planning Board rewrote the FAR ordinances, increasing the permitted area a building can use. Favate said the council should "wait to see how the new FAR ordinance shakes out before making any changes."

The study also recommended that the council consider several changes, including consolidating some of the zones and redefining some confusing definitions, such as the differences between a restaurant, an eating and drinking establishment and a drive-through establishment.

The presentation read, "Chatham Borough does not have a designated planner. … As a result, the structure and language of the zoning ordinance is largely the result of laymen and attorneys."

Favate said Sunday that "because Chatham's never had a planner, … the town's developed like patchwork." She said that a Borough Planner could "look at the code in its entirety."

The Borough Council and the Planning Board agreed that a part-time planner would be helpful to decide which of the study's recommendations to follow and how to implement them. They determined to look into how neighboring municipalities hired and utilize their part-time planners. None of the recommended zoning changes will be implemented until after a planner is hired.