Borough of Perkasie, PA Definitions

A use including live entertainment involving persons (which may include, but is not limited to, waiters, waitresses, dancers, clerks, contractors or others) displaying uncovered male or female genitals or nude or nearly nude female breasts (including but not limited to the wearing of only pasties) or engaging in simulated or actual specified sexual activities related to some form of monetary compensation paid to a person, company or organization operating the use or to persons involved in such activity.

A use including live entertainment involving persons (which may include, but is not limited to, waiters, waitresses, dancers, clerks, contractors or others), which regularly features persons who appear in a state of seminudity or live performances which are characterized by specified sexual activities; provided, however, that it shall be unlawful to appear in a state of nudity in any such facility.

(3)

"Nudity" means the showing of the human male or female genital, pubic area or buttocks with less than a fully opaque covering; the showing of the female breast with less than a fully opaque covering of any part of the nipple; the exposure of any device, costume, or covering which gives the appearance of or simulates the genitals, pubic hair, anal cleft, perineum anal region or pubic hair region; or the exposure of any device worn as a cover over the nipples and/or areola of the female breast, which device simulates and gives the realistic appearance of nipples and/or areola. The prohibition against nudity set forth herein shall not apply to:

Any child under 10 years of age; or

CELLULAR TELECOMMUNICATIONS FACILITY

Any individual exposing a breast in the process of breastfeeding an infant under two years of age.

ADULT MOVIE THEATER

A use involving the presentation typically to three or more persons at one time of motion pictures, video tapes or similarly reproduced images distinguished or characterized by an emphasis on depiction of specified sexual activities for observation by patrons therein and that is related to some form of monetary compensation by the persons viewing such matter.

ADULT USE

This shall include only the following: adult arcade, adult bookstore or adult novelty store, adult movie theater, massage parlor or adult live entertainment use.

ALLEY

A public or private way permanently reserved as a secondary means of access to the rear or side of two or more abutting properties.

ALLUVIAL SOILS

See "soils on floodplain."

[Amended 3-16-2015 by Ord. No. 985]

ALTERATIONS

As applied to a building or structure, a change or rearrangement in the structural parts or an enlargement, whether by extending on a side or by increasing in height, any change in use from one use classification to another, or the moving from one location or position to another.

ANTENNA

A device used to collect or transmit telecommunications or radio signals. Examples are panels, microwave dishes and single poles known as "whips."

AUTHORITY

A body politic and corporate created pursuant to the Act of May 2, 1945 (P.O. 382, No. 164), known as the "Municipality Authorities Act of 1945." (See 53 P.S. § 301 et seq.)

AWNING or CANOPY

A roof-like cover which extends over doors, entrances, windows, or outdoor service areas. Any part of a structure which forms an integral part of the building design or structure shall not, for purposes of this chapter, be considered an "awning" or "canopy."

BOARD

Any body granted jurisdiction under this chapter or under the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, Act 247, as amended (see 53 P.S. § 10101 et seq.) to render final adjudications.

BOARDER

A person occupying a room or rooms used or intended to be used for living and sleeping but not for cooking or eating purposes, and paying compensation for lodging or board and lodging by prearrangement for a week or more at a time to the owner of the room or rooms.

BUFFER YARD

A strip of required yard space adjacent to the boundary of a property, district, or road of a width not less than that designated by this chapter, and on which is placed shrubbery, hedges, evergreens, or other suitable plantings of sufficient height and density to meet the requirements of Borough ordinances and to constitute an effective screen and give maximum protection and immediate screening to an abutting property or district. Structures, parking, stormwater detention facilities, and storage or display of materials are not permitted within buffer yards.

BUILDING

A structure having a roof which is used for the shelter or enclosure of persons, animals or property. The word "building" shall include any part thereof.

BUILDING, ACCESSORY

A subordinate building located on the same lot as a principal building and devoted or intended to be devoted to an accessory use. Any portion of a principal building devoted or intended to be devoted to an accessory use is not an "accessory building."

BUILDING, PRINCIPAL

A building in which is conducted or is intended to be conducted the principal use of the lot on which it is located.

BUILDING, SETBACK LINE

The rear line of the minimum required front yards measured from the right-of-way line. In the event no right-of-way line exists, said line shall be measured from the front property line.

BUILDING SPACING

The minimum distance between buildings measured from the outermost wall or projection to the nearest point on another building.

A cellular telecommunications facility consists of the equipment and structures involved in receiving telecommunication or radio signals from a mobile radio communications source and transmitting those signals to a central switching computer which connects the mobile unit with the land-based telephone lines.

CONDITIONAL USE

A use permitted in a particular zoning district pursuant to the provisions of § 186-128.

CONDOMINIUM

An ownership arrangement and not a land use; therefore, it is allowed in any district under the same restrictions of the residential land use that comprises it. A condominium shall not negate lot or other requirements intended to provide adequate light, air and privacy. A "condominium" is a dwelling unit having all of the following characteristics:

The unit, the interior and associated exterior areas designated for private use in the development plan, is owned by the occupant.

The unit may be any permitted dwelling type.

(3)

All or a portion of the exterior open space and any community interior spaces are owned and maintained in accordance with Uniform Condominium Act, 68 Pa.C.S.A. § 3101 et seq., and in accordance with the provisions for open space, roads or other development features as specified in this chapter and Chapter 164, Subdivision and Land Development.

DECISION

Final adjudication of any board or other body granted jurisdiction under this chapter or the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, Act 247, as amended (see 53 P.S. § 10101 et seq.) to do so, either by reason of the grant of exclusive jurisdiction or by reason of appeals from determinations. All decisions shall be appealable to the Court of Common Pleas of Bucks County and the judicial court wherein the Borough lies.

DECK

An exterior floor system supported on at least two opposing sides by an adjoining structure and/or posts, piers, or other independent supports.

DENSITY

A measure of the number of dwelling units per unit area. The unit area for the R-1A and R-1B Residential Districts is the net buildable site area. The unit area for all other districts is the base site area. "Density" shall be expressed in dwelling units per acre.

DETERMINATION

Final action by an officer, body or agency charged with the administration of this chapter or applications thereunder, except the following:

The governing body.

The Zoning Hearing Board.

FLOODPLAIN, ONE-HUNDRED-YEAR

"Determinations" shall be appealable only to the boards designated as having jurisdiction for such appeal.

DWELLING

A building designed and occupied for residential purposes containing one or more dwelling units and not including a hotel, motel, boarding house, tourist home, institutional or nursing home, personal care facility, guesthouse, bed and breakfast, or residential club. See § 186-18B for definitions of specific dwelling types.

DWELLING UNIT

Any room or group of rooms located within a building and forming a single habitable unit with sanitary and other facilities which are used or intended to be used for living, sleeping, cooking and eating by one family.

EASEMENT

A right-of-way granted for limited use of land or a restriction placed on land for specific purposes. Easement areas will affect the use of land and calculation of land available for development under the terms of this chapter.

EAVES

The lowest horizontal line of a sloping (e.g., gable, hip, gambrel) roof.

EMPLOYEE

An employee, assistant or associate, agent, contractor, or representative who acts in interest or profits from a business, industry, home office or occupation, or other enterprise.

ENFORCEMENT OFFICER

The zoning officer, building inspector, or other individual appointed by the Borough to enforce this chapter within the jurisdiction of the Borough.

EXPANSION

An addition to the floor area of an existing building, an increase in size of any other structure, or an increase in that portion of a tract of land occupied by an existing use.

FACADE

The exterior wall, face, or plane of a building.

FAMILY

One or more persons, related by blood, adoption or marriage, living and cooking together as a single housekeeping unit, or a number of persons living and cooking together as a single housekeeping unit though not related by blood, adoption, or marriage.

FENCE

A man-made construction of any material or combination of materials erected to enclose or screen areas of land, including a wall.

FLOOD

A temporary inundation of normally dry land areas.[2]

The area of land which is likely to be inundated during a one-hundred-year flood.

FLOODPLAIN (AREA OR DISTRICT)

A relatively flat or low land area which is subject to partial or complete inundation from an adjoining or nearby stream, river or watercourse; and/or any area subject to the unusual and rapid accumulation of surface waters from any source.[3]

[Amended 3-16-2015 by Ord. No. 985]

FOREST

See "woodlands" definition.

HEARING

An administrative proceeding conducted by the Borough Council or the Zoning Hearing Board pursuant to this chapter.

HOME OCCUPATION

A routine, accessory and customary use conducted within or administered from a portion of a dwelling or its permitted accessory building that is clearly incidental and secondary to the principal residential use. See § 186-18H, Accessory uses.

IMPERVIOUS SURFACE

Those surfaces that do not absorb water. All buildings, parking areas, driveways, roads, sidewalks and any areas in concrete, asphalt, packed gravel or stone, and any other such areas as determined by the Borough Engineer shall be considered "impervious surfaces" within this definition. All decks and pools are impervious surfaces.

IMPERVIOUS SURFACE RATIO

The "impervious surface ratio" is a measure of the intensity of use of a piece of land. It is measured by dividing the total area of all impervious surfaces within the site by the base site area.

[Amended 10-6-2014 by Ord. No. 978]

LOT

A designated parcel, tract, or area of land established by a plat or subdivision plan approved by Perkasie Borough and recorded in the Bucks County Recorder of Deeds Office, or by a condominium plan, planned community, or other plan creating unit ownership and to be used, developed or built upon as a unit.

LOT, ACCREDITED ZONING

A parcel of land which fronts upon or has private right-of-way access to a Borough-maintained street as designated on the Official Map of Public Streets, meets the dimensional requirements of this chapter and, by documentary evidence acceptable to the Zoning Officer, is held in separate and distinct ownership from all abutting land.

LOT AREA

The total area of a lot lying within the lot lines and shall specifically exclude the area of any easement within the aforesaid lot lines, except for Borough electric department easements.

LOT AREA PER DWELLING UNIT

The amount of lot area, whether occupied by structures or not, that exists for each dwelling unit located on the lot.

LOT, CORNER

A lot which has an interior angle of less than 135° at the intersection of two street lines. A lot abutting upon a curved street or streets shall be considered a "corner lot" if the tangents to the curve at the points beginning with the lot or at the points of intersection of the side lot lines with the street right-of-way lines intersect at an interior angle of less than 135°.

LOT COVERAGE

The proportion of the lot area, expressed as a percentage, that is covered by the maximum horizontal cross section of all principal and accessory buildings (including balconies, decks, patios, porches, breezeways, and carports), and outside storage of materials.

LOT LINE

Any boundary line of a lot.

LOT LINE, FRONT

Any lot line which is parallel to or within 45% of being parallel to a street line, except for a lot line that is itself a street line, and except that in the case of a corner lot, the owner shall have the option of choosing which of the two lot lines that are not street lines is to be considered a "front lot line." In the case of a lot having no street frontage or a lot of an odd shape, the lot line nearest a street shall be considered a "front lot line."

LOT LINE, REAR

Any lot line which is parallel to or within 45° of being parallel to a street line, except for a lot line that is itself a street line, and except that in the case of a corner lot, the owner shall have the option of choosing which of the two lot lines that are not street lines is to be considered a "rear lot line." In the case of a lot having no street frontage or a lot of an odd shape, only the one lot line furthest from any street shall be considered a "rear lot line."

LOT LINE, SIDE

Any lot line which is not a street line or a rear lot line.

LOT WIDTH

The distance at the required minimum front yard line between the side lot lines or, in a case where there is only one side lot line, between such side lot line and the opposite rear lot line or street line. The lot width for a single-family semidetached dwelling shall be measured from the side lot line to the wall in common with an adjoining dwelling.

MASSAGE

The performance of manipulative exercises using the hands and/or a mechanical or bathing device on a person's skin other than the face or neck by another person(s) that is related to certain monetary compensation, and which does not involve persons who are related to each other by blood, adoption, marriage or official guardianship.

It shall not be any of the following activities:

Treatment by a licensed physician, a licensed chiropractor, a licensed osteopath, a nationally certified masseur or masseuse, a licensed practical nurse or a registered professional nurse;

Electrolysis treatment by a licensed operator of electrolysis equipment;

(c)

Hospitals, nursing homes, medical clinics or medical offices;

(d)

Barbershops or beauty parlors which offer massage to the scalp, the face, the neck or shoulders only; and

(e)

Athletic facilities of an educational institution including an alumni club, or a philanthropic or charitable institution.

MASSAGE PARLOR

An establishment that meets all of the following criteria:

Massages are conducted (see definition).

SPECIFIED SEXUAL ACTIVITIES

The person conducting the massage is not licensed as a health care professional or a licensed massage therapist by the state.

(3)

The massages are not conducted within a licensed hospital, nursing home, physical therapist, personal care center or office of a medical doctor or chiropractor.

(4)

The massages are conducted within private or semiprivate rooms.

(5)

The use is not clearly a customary and incidental accessory use to a permitted exercise club or to a high school or college athletic program.

MEDIATION

A voluntary negotiating process in which parties in a dispute mutually select a neutral mediator to assist them in jointly exploring and settling their differences, culminating in a written agreement which the parties themselves create and consider acceptable.

MIXED-USE BUILDING

A building designed to contain a mixture of uses consisting of commercial, office, retail or service businesses, which are permitted, as specified, in combination with a residential use.

[Added 6-20-2022 by Ord. No. 1045]

MOBILE HOME

A transportable, single-family dwelling intended for permanent occupancy, contained in one unit or in two or more units designed to be joined into one integral unit capable of again being separated for repeated towing, which arrives at a site complete and ready for occupancy, except for minor and incidental unpacking and assembly operations, and constructed so that it may be used without a permanent foundation. For the purposes of this chapter, any inhabited "mobile home" shall be considered a detached dwelling unit and as such shall be subject to all applicable regulations in this chapter or other municipal ordinances.

MOBILE HOME LOT

A parcel of land in a mobile home park improved with the necessary utility connections and other appurtenances necessary for the erection thereon of a single mobile home.

MOBILE HOME PARK

A parcel or contiguous parcels of land which has been so designated and improved that it contains two or more mobile home lots for the placement thereon of mobile homes.

MODULAR HOME

A dwelling unit erected on a foundation and made of one or more sections built in a factory. The unit shall not be constructed or equipped with a permanent hitch or other device allowing it to be moved other than for the purpose of moving to a permanent site. A "modular home" is also known as a prefabricated or manufactured dwelling. The completed unit shall meet the building code in effect. (See Chapter 70, Building Construction, in the Code of the Borough of Perkasie.)

MUNICIPAL ENGINEER

A professional engineer licensed as such in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, duly appointed as the engineer for Perkasie Borough.

NONCONFORMING LOT

A lot, the area or dimension of which was lawful prior to the adoption or amendment of this chapter, but which fails to conform to the requirements of the zoning district in which it is located by reasons of such adoption or amendment.

NONCONFORMING STRUCTURE

A structure or part of a structure manifestly not designed to comply with the applicable use provisions of this chapter or amendment heretofore or hereafter enacted, where such structure lawfully existed prior to the enactment of this chapter or amendment or prior to the application of such ordinance or amendment to its location by reason of annexation. Such "nonconforming structures" include, but are not limited to, nonconforming signs.

NONCONFORMING USE

A use, whether of land or of a structure, which does not comply with the applicable use provisions of this chapter or amendment heretofore or hereafter enacted, where such use was lawfully in existence prior to the enactment of this chapter or amendment, prior to the application of this chapter or amendment to its location by reason of annexation.

OPEN SPACE

Land held in common ownership, protected by easement, dedicated to the public or identified in another suitable manner in accordance with this chapter as "open space." To qualify as "open space," such land shall be used only for "open space" uses, recreation, amenity, buffer or resource protection. "Open space" does not include land occupied by buildings, roads or road rights-of-way, nor does it include the yards or lots of individual or group dwelling units as required by the provisions of this chapter in §§ 186-18 and 186-20. "Open space" shall be left in its natural state, except in the case of recreation uses. All impervious surfaces within "open space" areas shall be countable as part of the total impervious surface area in arriving at impervious surface ratio for the development.

OPEN SPACE RATIO

A measure of intensity of land use. It is arrived at by dividing the total amount of open space within the site by the gross site area.

PATIO

A level, concrete structure adjacent to a principal building and not covered by a permanent roof.

PERSON

Includes corporation, partnership and association as well as the individual.

PORCH

A permanently roofed structure which may be glassed or screened, usually attached to or part of and with direct access to or from a building and greater than 25 square feet in area.

PREMISES

A separate lot or tax parcel with individual frontage abutting the street line. A "premises" may include more than one occupant as in an office complex or shopping center.

PUBLIC HEARING

A formal meeting held pursuant to public notice by the governing body or planning agency, intended to inform and obtain public comment prior to taking action in accordance with the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, Act 247, as amended (See 53 P.S. § 10101 et seq.).

PUBLIC MEETING

A forum held pursuant to notice under 65 Pa.C.S. Chapter 7, as amended (related to open meetings).

PUBLIC NOTICE

Notice published once each week for two successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the municipality. Such notice shall state the time and place of the hearing and the particular nature of the matter to be considered at the hearing. The first publication shall not be more than 30 days and the second publication shall not be less than seven days from the date of the hearing.

RECREATIONAL VEHICLE

A motor vehicle designed as a mobile home for travel or camping required to be licensed in accordance with the provisions of the Motor Vehicle Code. See 75 Pa.C.S.A. § 101 et seq.

REPORT

Any letter, review, memorandum, compilation or similar writing made by any body, board, officer or consultant other than a solicitor to any other body, board, officer or consultant for the purpose of assisting the recipient of such report in the rendering of any decision or determination. All reports shall be deemed recommendatory and advisory only and shall not be binding upon their recipient, board, officer, body or agency, nor shall any appeal be therefrom. Any report used, received or considered by the body, board, officer or agency rendering a determination or decision shall be made available for inspection to the applicant and all other parties to any proceeding upon request, and copies thereof shall be provided at cost of production.

SIGN

Any permanent or temporary structure or part thereof or any device attached, painted or represented, directly or indirectly, on a structure or other outdoor surface that shall display or include any letter, work, insignia, flag or representation used as or which is in the nature of an advertisement, announcement, visual communication, direction or which is designed to attract the eye or bring the subject to the attention of the public. See § 186-74 for definitions of specific sign types.

SITE

A parcel or parcels of land which are intended to have one or more buildings or intended to be subdivided into one or more lots.

SITE AREA, BASE

The area of a tract of land remaining after subtracting land which is not contiguous, land previously subdivided and existing road and utility rights-of-way from the site area. (See § 186-56, Site capacity calculation.)

SITE AREA, NET BUILDABLE

A calculated area for various districts taking into consideration protected natural resources. It can be determined for a particular tract of land by completing the site capacity calculations found in § 186-56.

[Amended 10-6-2014 by Ord. No. 978]

SOILS ON FLOODPLAIN

Areas subject to periodic flooding and listed in the Official Soil Survey provided by the US Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service, Web Soil Survey (http://websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov/) as being on the floodplain or having a flooding frequency other than none.

[Amended 3-16-2015 by Ord. No. 985]

SPECIAL EXCEPTION

A use permitted in a particular zoning district pursuant to the provisions of § 186-102, Special exceptions, and Articles VI and IX of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, 53 P.S. § 10101 et seq.

This term includes any of the following:

Human genitals in a state of sexual stimulation or arousal.

Acts of human masturbation, sexual intercourse or sodomy.

(c)

Fondling or erotic touching of human genitals, pubic region, buttocks or female breasts.

The term does not include any of the following:

Medical publications or films or bona fide educational publications or films.