FBC to Guide Incremental Change and Investment

The Borough of Haddonfield NJ was early adaptor of form-based zoning. Mark Keener AIA. AICP played a principal role in creating the code. The new ordinance for Downtown Haddonfield replaced the obsolescing Euclidean zoning code with a code based on urban design standards specifically aimed at preserving and enhancing downtown’s traditional built form. The foundations of the code are four districts and fourteen permitted building types. The bulk requirements of each building type are influenced largely by the traditional architecture and building forms in Haddonfield. Permitted uses are assigned not by zoning district, but by building type. This allows uses to change and evolve while preserving the character of the built environment. An important consideration throughout the code-drafting process was how it would relate with the Borough’s existing Land Development Ordinance Should it be a stand-alone document or a hybrid code incorporated into the existing LDO? Borough officials ultimately decided to nest the form-based code into the structure of the existing, conventional LDO. In doing so, the definitions within the LDO could be retained—with additions and amendments—as could all other procedures and standards such as stormwater requirements. In the end, the result is a hybrid code that conforms with New Jersey land use law.

Project Team

Mark Keener AIA AICP, Robert Brown FAIA, Todd Bressi, Doug Robbins, Matt Wanamaker | with: Robert Kull AICP and Urban Partners

Preservation

Haddonfield replaced the obsolescing Euclidean zoning code with a code based on urban design standards specifically aimed at preserving and enhancing downtown’s traditional built form.

Building Types

The bulk requirements of each building type are influenced largely by the traditional architecture and building forms in Haddonfield