The opinion of the Court was delivered by
COLEMAN, J.
This appeal requires us to determine whether two amendments to the Township of Manalapan’s (Township) zoning ordinance that exclude Home Depot U.S.A., Inc. (Home Depot) from Manalapan’s C-1 regional commercial shopping-center district are substantially consistent with the Township’s Master Plan (Master Plan). A majority in the Appellate Division, in an opinion published at 272 N.J.Super. 1, 639 A.2d 318 (App.Div.1994), held the amendments not arbitrary, capricious or unreasonable, and therefore substantially consistent with the Master Plan. We agree and affirm.
[372]*372I
A.
Before 1990, the Township created a C-l regional commercial shopping-center district through its zoning ordinance. The entire C-l district is comprised of approximately 100 acres divided into two tracts. The C-l district is bounded by Syms Road to the north, Craig Road to the south and U.S. Highway 9 to the east. Plaintiff Manalapan Realty, L.P. (Realty) is the owner of one of the two tracts consisting of approximately fifty-seven acres. Before October 1990, Realty built the Manalapan Mall on a portion of its property that contains approximately 186,000 square feet of commercial space.
On October 16, 1990, Realty submitted an application to the Township Planning Board (Board) for preliminary site-plan approval to expand its commercial-retail space to approximately 500,000 square feet and to rename the mall the Manalapan Epicenter (Epicenter). The proposed Epicenter included a number of anchor stores, one of which was to be a “home improvement center” operated by Home Depot. Home Depot engages in a form of merchandising known as “warehouse selling” or “warehouse format of selling.” This concept represents an expansion of traditional retail stores. Examples of warehouse selling stores are Toys “R” Us, Staples, an office supply store, and Shopper’s Food Warehouse, a warehouse approach to supermarkets.
When the application for site-plan approval was submitted, and at the time of the first public hearing on the application on May 9, 1991, the Manalapan Land Use and Development Ordinance (Manalapan Ordinance), § 130.94, permitted the following pertinent uses in a commercial shopping center:
(l)
(a) Retail stores, shops and markets.
(b) Personal services.
(c) Offices and business services.
(d) Banks and fiduciary institutions.
[373]*373(e) Indoor recreation facilities.
********
(2) Civic center uses____
(3) Temporary buildings____
(4) Farms.
One of the issues raised during the hearings before the Board on the site-plan application was whether Home Depot was a “retail store,” a permitted use under the ordinance, or a “warehouse,” a use not permitted under the ordinance. In addition, substantial public opposition to Home Depot as a proposed tenant in the Epicenter emerged. Off-site traffic and the nature of the Home Depot business were major concerns of the Board and members of the public as well. In an effort to resolve these and other concerns, Realty’s experts met with the Township Committee, the Board and their respective planning experts. Two members of the Board also served as members of the Township Committee. While the Board conducted hearings on the application, it was formulating simultaneously a master plan pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-28 to guide the projected growth in the Township through the year 2010. On June 13, 1991, the Board requested its professional planner to address the question whether a Home Depot is a permitted retail use in the C-l district. On June 27, 1991, the Board’s senior supervising planner,. Richard S. Cramer, advised the Board that Home Depot was a permitted retail store under the existing ordinance.
The Board conducted further public hearings on May 23 and July 18, 1991. After strong public opposition to Home Depot continued, the Township Committee adopted two amendments to the zoning ordinance on July 24,1991. The first amendment more specifically defined the meaning of retail stores, shops and markets as permitted uses in the C-l district. It provided:
(a) Retail stores, shops and markets including establishments engaged in the selling of paint, glass, wallpaper, or hardware items for household use, but not including any establishment engaged in the sale of lumber or building materials or storing, displaying, or selling materials outside a completely enclosed building.
[Manalapan Ordinance, § 130.94.]
[374]*374The second amendment added a subsection to define “building materials” as used in the amendment. It defined .“building materials” as:
[m]aterials that can be arranged, united or joined to construct a building or structure. Such materials include, but are not limited to, rough or dressed lumber, millwork, roofing, shingles, wallboard, molding, plywood, sheetrock, bricks, doors, windows, paneling, concrete block, tiles, cabinets or plumbing fixtures.
[Manalapan Ordinance, § 130.52.]
Both amendments were adopted after the Board, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-26, found the proposed amendments to be substantially consistent with the Master Plan adopted shortly before the amendments were enacted.
B.
On September 11,1991, Realty filed its first complaint in lieu of prerogative writs challenging the validity of the amendments to the zoning ordinance. At the Board’s next meeting, on September 12,1991, the Board approved Realty’s site plan application without Home Depot as an anchor tenant. The Board’s resolution stated that after the zoning ordinance was amended during the pendency of the site-plan application, Realty modified its application to withdraw Home Depot as an anchor tenant. On October 1, 1991, Realty filed another complaint in lieu of prerogative writs challenging the Board’s failure to resolve whether Home Depot was a permitted use prior to the amendments to the ordinance.
The Appellate Division accurately described the disposition of the two complaints by the Law Division and the issues raised in the appeal:
The trial court consolidated these actions. Subsequently, it granted Home Depot leave to intervene as a plaintiff. After a six day bench trial, the trial court issued a written opinion [dated September 23,1992] which concluded that the amendment to Manalapan’s zoning ordinance was arbitrary and capricious and therefore invalid. The trial court also concluded that the proposed Home Depot store was a permitted use under Manalapan’s prior zoning ordinance, which was reinstated as a result of the invalidation of the amended ordinance. Consequently, the trial court vacated the paragraphs of the Board’s resolution which had left this question for later resolution in the event the ordinance were invalidated. Thereafter, Realty [375]*375and Home Depot filed motions to compel defendants to reimburse them for various litigation expenses. These motions were granted in part and denied in part.
The Township Committee appeals from the parts of the judgment declaring that the amended zoning ordinance is invalid and that the proposed Home Depot store is a permitted use under the now reinstated prior ordinance. The Township Committee also appeals from the post-judgment order awarding Realty and Home Depot various litigation expenses. The Board appeals from the part of the judgment which declares the Home Depot store to be a permitted use and from the post-judgment order awarding plaintiffs various litigation expenses. Realty and Home Depot cross-appeal from the parts of the post-judgment order which denied an award of the full amount of litigation expenses which they had sought. We consolidate the two appeals.
[Manalapan, supra, 272 N.J.Super. at 7-8, 639 A.2d 318.]
The Appellate Division reversed the Law Division and concluded that “the essential parts of Manalapan’s amended zoning ordinance excluding retail stores which sell lumber or building materials ... are valid. Although the definition of ‘building materials’ contained in this amended ordinance may be too broad, any invalid part of that definition would be severable from the remainder of the ordinance and thus would not affect its validity.” Id. at 8, 639 A.2d 318. The case was remanded to the Law Division to consider Realty’s claim that the definition of building materials is overly broad. Id. at 15, 639 A.2d 318. The Appellate Division also found the amended ordinance was properly adopted even if in response to public opposition, id. at 12, 639 A.2d 318; that the ordinance as amended does not represent spot zoning, id. at 13-14, 639 A.2d 318; and that the amended ordinance is not inconsistent with the Master Plan. Id. at 13, 639 A.2d 318.
Judge Wefing filed a separate opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part. Id. at 15, 639 A.2d 318. She concluded that the amended ordinance is inconsistent with the Master Plan and is therefore violative of the Municipal Land Use Law, N.J.S.A. 40:55D-62a. Id. at 20, 639 A.2d 318. She also concluded that banning the sale of “building materials” in the C-l zone is “over inclusive” and invalidates the ordinance because there is no rational relationship between the ordinance amendments and the alleged evils sought to be addressed. She felt no purpose would be served [376]*376by remanding the matter to the Board “to offer belated justifications for a defective ordinance.” Ibid.
II
The ordinary effect of the filing of a notice of appeal is to deprive the trial court of jurisdiction to act further in the matter unless directed to do so by an appellate court, or jurisdiction is otherwise reserved by statute or court rule. Rolnick v. Rolnick, 262 N.J.Super. 343, 365-66, 621 A.2d 37 (App.Div.1993); Pressler, Current N.J. Court Rules, comment 1 on R. 2:9-1(a) (1994). Here, however, the parties continued with the litigation in the trial court and before the Board after the appeals were filed. We, therefore, feel compelled to refer to these proceedings conducted during the pendency of the appeal to the Appellate Division. We do so out of caution, to complete the procedural history and to make clear what we do not decide.
The notice of appeal was filed with the Appellate Division by the Township on November 16, 1992, and by the Board on November 30, 1992, from the trial court’s judgment dated October 16, 1992. The Appellate Division rendered its decision on March 14, 1994. Notwithstanding the pendency of these appeals, on July 7, 1993, Realty submitted a final site-plan application to the Board that included Home Depot as an anchor tenant. The Board denied the application on December 2, 1993. Two days after the appeals were decided, the trial court on March 16, 1994, granted a motion in aid of litigant’s rights, see Rule 2:9-l(a), and approved Realty’s final site-plan application that included Home Depot as an anchor tenant. That favorable decision was subject to future approval by the Board of an architectural plan for five free-standing pad site stores. The Board filed an appeal from the March 16,1994 order. The Township and the Board filed separate appeals from an order of the trial court dated January 28,1994, invalidating an ordinance that controls site-plan application fees. Those three appeals are pending disposition in the Appellate Division. We question, without deciding, whether the trial court had jurisdiction to enter the [377]*377March 16, 1994, order involved in one of the pending appeals. See Neger v. Neger, 93 N.J. 15, 38 n. 11, 459 A.2d 628 (1983). In any event, we do not decide those appeals even though our decision may render moot the appeal from the March 16 order.
In addition effective December 14,1994, the Township Committee adopted new land-use regulations identified as Development Regulations of the Township of Manalapan (1994) (Development Regulations). The regulations contain a new definition of “building materials” in an apparent attempt to comply with the Appellate Division majority’s concern that the definition in Manalapan Ordinance, § 130.52, was too broad. The new definition is as follows:
“Building Materials” means materials that can be arranged, united, or joined to support, frame, enclose, sheath, or be otherwise fashioned into a building or structure. Such materials include, but are not limited to, rough or dressed lumber, millwork, roofing, wallboard, molding, plywood, sheetrock, bricks, doors, windows, paneling, or concrete block.
[Development Regulations, § 2.4 at 2-6.]
Realty and Home Depot appeal to this Court as of right, Rule 2:2-1(a)(2), based on Judge Wefing’s dissenting opinion. No petition for certification was filed. Brandenburg v. Brandenburg, 83 N.J. 198, 203, 416 A.2d 327 (1980). Consequently, the discussion that follows is limited to a review of the single issue on which the dissent was filed, namely, whether the amendments to the ordinance are substantially consistent with the Master Plan.
Ill
Realty argues that the Appellate Division exceeded the scope of appellate review when it rejected findings made by the trial court. That argument must be analyzed in the context of the issues before the trial court. The Law Division described the issues in the following manner:
The plaintiffs allegations can be divided into 2 major categories: (1) challenges to the ordinance amendments and (2) challenges to certain portions of the Planning Board’s September 13, 1991 Resolution. The plaintiff has also brought a claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
[378]*378With regard to the amendments, the plaintiff claims that they are unlawful as inverse spot zoning. Moreover, the plaintiff asserts the amendments violate substantive due process since their enactment was arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable; discriminates against Home Depot; is not supported by substantial credible evidence; bears no rational relationship to the alleged public interest sought to be advanced; and is inconsistent with the Manalapan Master Plan.
The trial court found that because the amended ordinance prohibits all stores in the C-l district from selling certain building materials such as lumber and from selling any materials in an unenclosed building, “the law [of] inverse spot zoning is [not] applicable in these circumstances.” It also found no violation of 42 U.S.C.A. § 1983.
The trial court, however, found the amendments to the ordinance arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable because they “were targeted specifically at prohibiting Home Depot as a tenant in the Epicenter.” The trial court also determined that “no rational relationship between the ordinance amendments and the defendant’s purported objectives” existed and the purported objectives “do not in any way achieve the stated purpose of a comprehensive zoning plan.”
Contrary to Realty’s contention, the Appellate Division did not make new factual findings in violation of the scope of appellate review articulated in cases such as Meshinsky v. Nichols Yacht Sales, Inc., 110 N.J. 464, 475, 541 A.2d 1063 (1988), and Rova Farms Resort, Inc. v. Investors Ins. Co. of Am., 65 N.J. 474, 483-84, 323 A.2d 495 (1974). Rather, the Appellate Division disagreed with some of the trial court’s legal conclusions because they were inconsistent with well-established law. A trial court’s interpretation of the law and the legal consequences that flow from established facts are not entitled to any special deference. State v. Brown, 118 N.J. 595, 604, 573 A.2d 886 (1990); Dolson v. Anastasia, 55 N.J. 2, 7, 258 A.2d 706 (1969); Pearl Assurance Co. Ltd. v. Watts, 69 N.J.Super. 198, 205, 174 A.2d 90 (App.Div.1961).
That a municipality may change its zoning ordinance during the pendency of a site plan application is beyond question. This is so even if the ordinance is amended in direct response to a [379]*379particular application. See Morris v. Postma, 41 N.J. 354, 362, 196 A.2d 792 (1964); Burcam Corp. v. Planning Bd. Township of Medford, 168 N.J.Super. 508, 512, 403 A.2d 921 (App.Div.1979); William M. Cox, New Jersey Zoning and Land Use Administration, § 28-3.5 at 435 (1994 ed.). Because the enactment of, or amendment to, a zoning ordinance is a legislative act, the Township’s governing body is permitted to enact an amendment in response to objections to a proposed use of land as long as the amendment is consistent with the Municipal Land Use Law (MLUL). Hyland v. Mayor & Township Comm. of Morris, 130 N.J.Super. 470, 479-80, 327 A.2d 675 (App.Div.), aff'd o.b., 66 N.J. 31, 327 A.2d 657 (1974). Consequently, even if Home Depot was a permitted use under the prior ordinance, the Township was free to change the ordinance in direct response to Realty’s site-plan application that included Home Depot as an anchor tenant.
As a legislative body, the Township Committee has the authority to decide which types of stores it will allow as permitted uses within its commercial district where no fundamental right is involved. See Pierro v. Baxendale, 20 N.J. 17, 118 A.2d 401 (1955). Given that the amendments to the ordinance do not infringe upon a fundamental right of Realty or Home Depot, the Appellate Division properly confined its review to a determination whether the presumption of validity that attached to the amendment had been overcome. Bell v. Township of Stafford, 110 N.J. 384, 395, 541 A.2d 692 (1988); Zilinsky v. Zoning Bd. of Adj. of Verona, 105 N.J. 363, 368, 521 A.2d 841 (1987); Kozesnik v. Township of Montgomery, 24 N.J. 154, 167, 131 A.2d 1 (1957). See Urban v. Planning Bd. of the Borough of Manasquan, 124 N.J. 651, 659-60, 592 A.2d 240 (1991). Viewed in this context, the Appellate Division did not exceed the scope of appellate review.
IV
Realty and Home Depot challenge the amended ordinance as inconsistent with the Master Plan that was adopted two months prior to enactment of the amendments. They assert that [380]*380the Master Plan, in failing to reflect dissatisfaction with either the proposed application of Home Depot and/or the existence of a Channel Home Center in the district, implicitly regards a home improvement center as a permitted use. They argue that the amendments to the ordinance are therefore inconsistent with the Master Plan. The Township asserts that the Master Plan designated the C-l district as a regional commercial shopping center available for mixed uses but not available for all uses. The Township argues further that because the Master Plan is expressed in general terms it is of limited relevance in determining whether Home Depot is a permitted use.
The Legislature has enabled municipalities, through the exercise of the police power, to enact and amend zoning ordinances. Riggs v. Township of Long Beach, 109 N.J. 601, 610, 538 A.2d 808 (1988); Taxpayers Ass’n of Weymouth Township v. Weymouth Township, 80 N.J. 6, 20, 364 A.2d 1016 (1976), appeal dismissed and cert. denied, 430 U.S. 977, 97 S.Ct. 1672, 52 L.Ed.2d 373 (1977). A presumption of validity attaches to a zoning ordinance that may be overcome only if an opponent of the ordinance establishes the ordinance is “clearly arbitrary, capricious or unreasonable, or plainly contrary to fundamental principles of zoning or the [zoning] statute.” Bow & Arrow Manor, Inc. v. Town of West Orange, 63 N.J. 335, 343, 307 A.2d 563 (1973); accord Zilinsky, supra, 105 N.J. at 368, 521 A.2d 841. An ordinance or amendment thereto must advance one of the fifteen general purposes of the MLUL specified in N.J.S.A 40:55D-2. Riggs, supra, 109 N.J. at 611, 538 A.2d 808. Where, as here, an ordinance does not infringe upon a fundamental right, there is no requirement that it recite “tangible, specific objectives promoted by the ordinance in order to be valid.” Zilinsky, supra, 105 N.J. at 371, 521 A.2d 841; Bell, supra, 110 N.J. at 395, 541 A.2d 692. Finally, the ordinance must be substantially consistent with the land-use plan element and the housing plan element of the Master Plan except for a few statutory exemptions not pertinent to this case. See Zilinsky, supra, 105 N.J. at 367, 521 A.2d 841; N.J.S.A 40:55D-62a. The only aspect [381]*381of the Riggs standard pertinent to this case is whether the amendments to the ordinance are substantially consistent with the land-use element of the Master Plan.
The MLUL, N.J.S.A. 40:55D-5, defines a master plan as “a composite of one or more written or graphic proposals for the development of the municipality as set forth in and adopted pursuant to [N.J.S.A. 40:55D-28J.” A planning board is charged with the responsibility of preparing, adopting and amending a master plan “to guide the use of lands within the municipality in a manner which protects public health and safety and promotes the general welfare.” N.J.S.A. 40:55D-28a. A master plan must contain two elements: 1) “objectives, principles, assumptions, policies and standards upon which the constituent proposals for the physical, economic and social development of the municipality are based,” and 2) “[a] land use plan element.” N.J.S.A. 40:55D-28b. Although the statute lists a number of other elements that may be included in a master plan, they are discretionary with the municipality. Cox, supra, § 40-1 at 580.
The Master Plan must be examined in light of the Epicenter as a planned commercial development on contiguous acreage of the size specified by the ordinance “to be developed according to a [site] plan as a single entity containing one or more structures with appurtenant common areas to accommodate commercial or office uses or both and any residential and other uses incidental to the predominant use as may be permitted by ordinance.” N.J.S.A. 40:55D-6. The Master Plan does not have the operative effect of a zoning ordinance. But the land-use element of the Master Plan “is required to be the basis for any zoning ordinance.” Cox, supra, § 40-2 at 581.
Development of the Master Plan was underway before Realty’s site-plan application was submitted. The Township planning consultant, Richard Cramer, initially presented the Master Plan to the Board in April 1990. The Board held a public hearing on the Master Plan on May 7, 1990, after complying with the notice requirements of N.J.S.A. 40.-55D-13. Cramer incorporated a [382]*382number of changes recommended by both the Board and the general public and re-submitted the Master Plan to the Board in April 1991. The last public hearing was held on April 25, 1991. On May 23, 1991, further corrections were made and the Master Plan was adopted by the Board. While the Master Plan was under consideration, Home Depot was identified in Realty’s October 1990 site-plan application as an anchor tenant of the proposed Epicenter. On the parcel of land immediately contiguous to the proposed Epicenter, a Channel Home Center was located for an unspecified period prior to April 1991 when the Master Plan was resubmitted to the Board.
The Master Plan identifies the C-l district as follows: “Regional Commercial Shopping Center District located northwest of the Intersection of Craig Road and Route 9. Presently developed as the Manalapan Mall with expansion area available for mixed commercial uses.” Commercial land in the Township is divided into two categories, retail and office. Retail use comprises 83.54 percent of all commercial land in the Township. The Route 9 corridor that includes the Manalapan Mall is the major shopping area on Wilson Avenue. Land use along Route 9 has developed largely as a commercial corridor.
N.J.S.A. 40:55D-28b(2)(b) directs that the land-use element of the Master Plan must take into account “the existing and proposed location, extent and intensity of development of land to be used in the future for varying types of ... commercial ... purposes or combination of purposes; and stating the relationship thereof to the existing and any proposed zone plan and zoning ordinance.” Once the Master Plan was adopted the Township was authorized by the MLUL to amend its zoning ordinance “relating to the nature and extent of the uses of land and of buildings and structures” within the Township, but “all of the provisions of such zoning ordinance or any amendment or revision thereto shall either be substantially consistent with the land use plan element ... of the master plan or designed to effectuate such plan elements.” N.J.S.A 40:55D-62a.
[383]*383Another provision of the MLUL authorized the Township through its zoning ordinance to “[l]imit and restrict buildings and structures ... according to their type and the nature and extent of their use____” N.J.S.A. 40:55D-65a. Both the majority and dissenting judges in the Appellate Division accepted the Township’s statement that the purposes for amending the ordinance were to protect the general welfare by preserving the retail character of the C-1 district, to control the intensity of development, to eliminate the hazards of fire, and to eliminate impediments to pedestrian circulation. See N.J.S.A 40:55D-2a, b, g, i and k. Other purposes were also stated. Those reasons establish a reasonable relationship between the amendments and the objectives of the zoning ordinance. See also Zilinsky, 105 N.J. at 371, 521 A.2d 841. The objectives of the ordinance amendments need not be stated in the ordinance but may be provided, as occurred here, when the ordinance is attacked. Ibid.
We reject Realty’s and Home Depot’s arguments that the amendments banning Home Depot from the C-1 district are inconsistent with the Master Plan because the Master Plan expressed no disapproval, reluctance or hesitation with respect to. the application of Home Depot or the Channel Home Center located in the C-l district when the Master Plan was adopted. The Board that prepared and adopted the Master Plan also determined pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-26a that the proposed zoning amendments are substantially consistent with the Master Plan. Such a determination by the Board is entitled to deference and great weight. See In re Adoption of N.J AC. 7:26B, 128 N.J. 442, 449-50, 608 A.2d 288 (1992); Waste Management of Central Jersey, Inc. v. State, 278 N.J.Super. 56, 64, 650 A.2d 379 (App.Div. 1994). See also Kramer v. Board of Adj., Sea Girt, 45 N.J. 268, 296-97, 212 A.2d 153 (1965).
The Legislature has not defined what is meant by “substantially consistent” with a master plan. “When construing legislation, in the absence of a specific definition, we give words their ordinary and well-understood meanings.” Great Atl. & Pac. [384]*384Tea Co. v. Borough of Point Pleasant, 137 N.J. 136, 143-44, 644 A.2d 598 (1994); Levin v. Township of Parsippany-Troy Hills, 82 N.J. 174, 182, 411 A.2d 704 (1980). The only interpretation of “substantially consistent” that will not defeat the objective of the MLUL is to give these words their plain meaning. Substantial means “[hjaving substance; not imaginary, unreal, or apparent only; true, solid, real,” The Compact Oxford English Dictionary 1947 (2d ed. 1993), or, “having real existence, not imaginary[;] firmly based, a substantial argument.” The New Lexicon Webster’s Dictionary of the English Language 987 (1987). Thus, the concept of “substantially consistent” permits some inconsistency, provided it does not substantially or materially undermine or distort the basic provisions and objectives of the Master Plan.
Realty’s and Home Depot’s reliance on the existence of a Channel Home Center in the C-l zone is misplaced. Revision of the proposed master plan was started in April 1990 and the first public hearing on it was conducted in May 1990, six months before Realty’s application was submitted. Under the ordinance in effect in April 1990 Channel Home Center was regarded by Cramer, the Board’s senior planner, as a retail store, a permitted use under the ordinance. Thus, if Channel was a permitted use, it was protected by virtue of N.J.S.A. 40:55D-68, and a revision of the Master Plan or amendments to the ordinance could not alter its status. See Dresner v. Carrara, 69 N.J. 237, 240, 353 A.2d 505 (1976). In contrast, Home Depot was not operating in the C-l district when either the Master Plan or the ordinance amendments were adopted. It therefore acquired no vested rights under N.J.S.A. 40:55D-68. Nor was a site-plan approval granted under the preamended ordinance with Home Depot as a tenant, thereby giving it a protected status by virtue of N.J.S.A. 40:55D-49a. Moreover, the Channel Home Center building was converted to a Grand Union supermarket, according to counsel for the Township, by the time the amendments were adopted in July 1991.
Furthermore, the amendments are not invalidated simply because traffic problems that a Home Depot may generate [385]*385could have been resolved during the site-plan stage and by strict enforcement of existing regulations rather than through zoning amendments. The judiciary cannot evaluate such a policy determination based on the private views of judges. The wisdom of a zoning ordinance or an amendment thereto “is reviewable only at the polls.” Kozesnik, supra, 24 N.J. at 167, 131 A.2d 1; see also Clary v. Borough of Eatontown, 41 N.J.Super. 47, 69-70, 124 A.2d 54 (App.Div.1956). Where the validity of an ordinance is debatable, the validity of the ordinance must be upheld under the “no discernible reason” standard. Zilinsky, supra, 105 N.J. at 369, 521 A.2d 841; Bow and Arrow Manor, Inc., supra, 63 N.J. at 343, 307 A.2d 563. The amendments under consideration are at least debatable.
We agree with Professor Cox that because the land-use element of a master plan forms the basis for any zoning ordinance, it would be helpful for a master plan specifically to identify uses deemed compatible and incompatible in a particular zone. Indeed, such specificity might assume heightened importance in a commercial zone. But in reality, “planners and planning boards cannot think of everything and new uses come into existence fairly regularly.” Cox, supra, § 40-2 at 581.
The Master Plan calls for mixed commercial uses within the C-l district. However, “mixed” does not signify every type of commercial use, though the amended ordinance permits a variety of commercial uses. The amended ordinance prohibits the sale of lumber and large items described as “building materials.” Also, the amended ordinance discourages congestion in accordance with the Master Plan. It requires the most appropriate commercial uses, and the Township Committee determined that the sale of lumber and large items of “building materials” are not appropriate commercial uses in the zone. Nor does the Master Plan purport to allow the sale of lumber or large items described as “building materials” in the zone. The decision not to permit the sale of “building materials” can serve valid zoning purposes and “cannot categorically be adjudged an arbitrary and unreasonable exercise [386]*386of the zoning power.” Zilinsky, supra, 105 N.J. at 371, 521 A.2d 841. We are persuaded that the Appellate Division’s conclusion that the amended ordinance was substantially consistent with the Master Plan is eminently correct. As the majority in the Appellate Division observed:
The Master Plan simply designates the C-l district as a “[rlegional commercial shopping center district ... with expansion area available for mixed commercial uses.” There is no inconsistency between this designation and the exclusion of retail stores which sell lumber or other building materials. The Manalapan Mall will continue to be a “regional commercial shopping center” containing “mixed commercial uses,” even though stores which sell lumber or building materials are prohibited. Indeed, the retail uses within the mall may be expanded even though this one type of business operation is prohibited.
[Manalapan Realty, supra, 272 N.J.Super. at 13, 639 A.2d 318.]
Finally, we note that under the time of decision rule, Lizak v. Faria, 96 N.J. 482, 495, 476 A.2d 1189 (1984), and Lake Shore Estates, Inc. v. Denville Township Planning Bd., 255 N.J.Super. 580, 589, 605 A.2d 1106 (App.Div.1991), aff'd o.b., 127 N.J. 394, 605 A.2d 1073 (1992), we have examined the definition of “building materials” contained in the Development Regulations and find it satisfies the Appellate Division’s over-breadth concerns. This latest definition is sufficiently precise to exclude the wholesale and/or retail sale of lumber and other bulky building materials in the C-l district which were traditionally sold in lumberyards. Indeed, the December 14,1994, comprehensive regulations permit lumberyards in the C-3 district, defined as general commercial. The Development Regulations also permit lumber and building materials to be sold in the Limited Business-Millhurst district. Development Regulations, supra, § 5.2.A, at 5-3, exhibit 5-4 at 5-40; id. at § 5.5.E.1.b at 5-24 to -25. We do not decide whether those regulations are otherwise valid.
Even though any new application to operate a Home Depot in the Township will be controlled by the Development Regulations, this appeal is not moot because they may be challenged also on the basis that they are not substantially consistent with the Master Plan.
The judgment of the Appellate Division is affirmed.