New York SMSA Ltd. Partnership v. Board of Adj. of Middletown Tp

In New York SMSA Ltd. Partnership v. Board of Adj. of Middletown Tp., 324 N.J. Super. 166, 168, 734 A.2d 826 (App.Div.1999) the Court applied the principles therein to an application to construct a 125-foot tower in an area that abutted the Garden State Parkway right-of-way, zoned single-family residential with a minimum lot size of one acre. A township ordinance permitted such towers in non-residential zones if located 200 feet from a residential zone and the applicant submitted evidence that construction of the tower was necessary for the efficient and effective provision of services and addressed whether existing towers or structures could be utilized as alternate sites. Id. at 169, 734 A.2d 826. The board was justified in denying the variance in part because the applicant had failed to comply with the procedural and information requirements of the ordinance. The Court concluded "that the grant of this variance, in a zone recently singled out by the municipality as inappropriate for the proposed use, does not satisfy the second prong of the negative criteria, that the variance will not 'substantially impair the intent and purpose of the zone plan and zoning ordinance'." Id. at 174, 734 A.2d 826 (quoting N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70(d)).