MIDDLESEX TWP — The board of supervisors approved a series of alterations to the township’s zoning ordinance at its monthly meeting on Wednesday evening, Sept. 18.

This comes after the township made a series of broader and more sweeping alterations to the zoning ordinance in December 2023, to account for the amount of new potential residential and commercial land uses that now exist. These changes clarified the township’s official stance on such matters as agritourism, short-term rentals, brewpubs and tasting rooms, and beekeeping, among others.

“In December … we did more of a major zoning ordinance amendment, where we added a number of conditional uses that were not addressed in the ordinance,” said township manager Jeffrey Winkle. “The zoning amendment this evening was just a few cleanup items.”

Some of the major changes made during Wednesday’s meeting affected sections regarding agritourism and catering. Language was added to both the agritourism and catering/event venue sections, requiring that operators of each apply for a zoning occupancy permit prior to the initial agritourism use, and that operators do not cause “unreasonable noise or disturbances.”

Minor tweaks were made to the ordinance regarding accessory structures and buildings. In particular, the minimum distancing between an accessory structure and its main building was decreased from 10 feet to 5 feet.