TFE 81 Northfield Interpretation Request Application Digital Copy 1142416095411

WATERS, MCPHERSON, MCNEILL Diana Chandler-Zimmermann A PROFESSIONAL CORPORATION November 4, 2024 Page 4 aforementioned provision. It is even more significant that in globally carving out the aforementioned four specifically “unpermitted” accessory uses, two of those 4 uses deal specifically with situations involving motor vehicles in some fashion, thus conclusively evidencing that the legislative body of the Township, specifically took into account and considered the impact of potential accessory uses relating to motor vehicles when drafting this particular subsection of the Ordinance, and still declined to impose any such prohibition on overnight parking. Nor do any of the carved out “unpermitted” accessory uses in any way speak to parking vehicles at any time (including overnight). . Thus, given the plain language of the Ordinance, the obvious initial presumption ought be that so long as the parking proposed is reasonably related to the primary use ofa given building as an office, and regardless of whether such parking is during daytime or nighttime hours, such contemplated parking is a permitted accessory use under the Ordinance. This is even more obvious and apparent in the situation here, where'the Ordinance specifically carves out “required accessory parking” as a permitted accessory use in the applicable OB-1 zone—meaning such required accessory parking is permitted as a right, and is not conditional. Here, and as acknowledged by the Township Zoning Department, there is no doubt that the use of the building as an office building is a permitted use in the OB-1 Zone. Section 25-4a2 of the Ordinance specifically provides that “[A]ny word or term not defined in this chapter or the New Jersey Municipal Land Use Law, N.J.S.A. 40:55D-3-40:55D-7, shall be used with a meaning of standard usage for the context in which the word is used.” Although the term office or office building, is not specifically defined in the Ordinance or the New Jersey Municipal Land Use Law (the “MLUL”), the term is in and of itself, self-explanatory as a general matter. Nonetheless, it is worth noting that Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “office” (among its other unrelated uses) as “a place where a particular kind of business is transacted, or a service is supplied”. Thus, unless the Ordinance or other applicable land use regulations expressly prohibits the conduct of a

uses) as “a place where a particular kind of business is transacted, or a service is supplied”. Thus, unless the Ordinance or other applicable land use regulations expressly prohibits the conduct of a specific kind of business in the OB-1 zone, it should follow that all general office uses, are permitted as of right in said zone. To NAR’s knowledge, there does not appear to be any prohibition of any kind relating to Elite’s line of business being not permitted in the OB-1 zone. Similarly, with respect to the OB-1 zone, the Ordinance, again in the Use Table, also specifically provides for a number of permitted conditional uses in this zone (referencing again the «R1” zone), and even more tellingly, also sets forth seven (7) additional uses that are expressly stated as not permitted in the OB-1 zone. Once again, none of these expressly prohibited uses speak in any way to restricting an otherwise permitted tenant from using onsite parking at a given site. Nor does the Ordinance in any way speak to a prohibition on overnight parking by tenants/occupants at a private, on-site parking lot. Again, had the governing body sought to prohibit overnight parking by tenants of office buildings, it could easily have done so here (as in other places in the Ordinance). Thus, given the plain meanings of the applicable terms, and a complete lack of intent anywhere in the Ordinance to specifically prohibit Elite’s parking of its vehicles at the Property, it should be unquestionable that the off-street parking, at any hour, in a private commercial office parking lot (with the landlord’s blessing nonetheless) of a small number of vans which are directly #1606835v1