The provisions of this article shall be followed for all mobile home parks, as defined in this chapter. These provisions are in addition to other applicable regulations of this chapter. Compliance with Chapter
195, Zoning, is required.
All applications for mobile home developments shall follow the procedures established in the Chapter
195, Zoning. No application for subdivision or land development approval for the construction of a mobile home development will be accepted until the governing body has given approval pursuant to the requirements of Chapter
195, Zoning.
All appropriate regulations of Chapter
195, Zoning, shall be adhered to in mobile home developments. In addition thereto, the following regulations shall apply:
A. Arrangement of structure and facilities. The tract,
including mobile home stands, patios, other dwellings and structures,
and all tract improvements, shall be organized in relation to topography,
the shape of the plot and common facilities. Special attention shall
be given to new mobile home designs and to common appurtenances that
are available.
B. Adaptation to tract assets. Each mobile home unit
or other dwelling or structure shall be fitted to the terrain with
a minimum disturbance of the land and a minimum elevation difference
between the floor level of the unit and the ground elevation under
it. Existing trees and shrubs, rock formations, streams, floodplains,
steep slopes and other natural features of the tract shall be preserved
to the maximum extent practical. Favorable views shall be emphasized
by the plan.
C. Courts and spaces. Groups or clusters of units so
placed as to create interior spaces and courtyards shall be incorporated
whenever feasible.
D. Orientation. Mobile homes are encouraged to be arranged
in a variety of orientations and are strongly encouraged to have many
units with their long sides facing the street, rather than their ends,
in order to provide variety and interest. Site layout shall be designed
to ensure that mobile units are offset to block long uninterrupted
vistas between the units.
E. Street layout. Gridiron layouts and street patterns
unrelated to the topography of the site are to be avoided.
F. Roadways.
(1) Standards. All Township standards for the construction of roads contained in §
168-20, and as subsequently amended, shall be adhered to for all roads in and abutting mobile home developments. For roads maintained as private internal roadways, owned and maintained by the mobile home park operator, the standards shall be as follows:
(a)
Right-of-way: There shall be a forty-foot right-of-way
reserved along all internal streets.
(b)
Pavement: Pavement width of all residential
streets serving as access to mobile home lots shall be not less than
26 feet.
(c)
Grades: Gradients on all residential streets
shall not exceed 10%.
(d)
Culs-de-sac: A paved turnaround area with a
minimum radius of 40 feet shall be provided at the closed end of any
cul-de-sac road. The minimum right-of-way radius shall be 47 feet.
No permanently closed cul-de-sac street shall exceed 500 feet in length
or serve as the sole access to more than 10 mobile home lots.
(2) Access limitations. Mobile home lots may have direct
access only onto roads internal to the development. Direct access
from a mobile home lot shall not be permitted onto the road(s) from
which the mobile home development gains primary access.
G. Pedestrian circulation.
(1) General requirements. All mobile home developments
shall provide safe, convenient, all-season pedestrian walkways of
adequate width for intended use, durable and convenient to maintain,
between individual mobile homes, mobile home development, all community
facilities provided for the residents and off-site pedestrian traffic
generators, such as schools, bus stops, commercial centers, etc. These
pedestrian walkways may parallel vehicular roadways or they may form
a separate but coordinated system away from streets.
(2) Common walk system. Common walks shall have a minimum
width of four feet. Where these walks parallel roadways, they shall
be separated from the road pavement by a distance of at least four
feet.
(3) Individual walks. All dwellings shall be connected
to common walks or to driveways or parking spaces connecting to a
paved street. Such individual walks shall have a minimum width of
two feet.
H. Parking.
(1) Spaces required. Two paved off-street parking spaces
shall be provided for each unit on the same lot therewith.
(2) Design.
(a)
Each space shall be 10 feet by 20 feet.
(b)
No parking space shall be located closer than
five feet to any side or rear lot line.
I. Recreation area. In addition to any requirements of Chapter
195, Zoning, the following regulations shall also apply:
(1) Arrangement. The recreation area shall be designed
as a contiguous area, unless the applicant demonstrates to the satisfaction
of the Board of Commissioners that two or more separate areas would
be preferable. The recreation area shall also have easily identifiable
pedestrian and visual accessibility to all residents of the mobile
home development, although all units do not have to abut the recreation
area.
(2) Design. Recreation areas and facilities shall be provided
to meet the anticipated needs of the residents of the development.
Not less than 3,000 square feet per developable acre, exclusive of
lands within the required buffers, shall be devoted to recreation.
Recreation areas should be of a size, shape and topography that is
conducive to active and passive recreation.
J. Buffers.
(1) General requirements. Along all exterior property
boundary lines, a permanent buffer shall be provided.
(2) Existing buffers. In cases where the property line
of a mobile home development occurs along natural features which function
as buffers, including but not limited to mature vegetation, significant
grade changes or stream valleys which are likely to be permanently
preserved, buffering may be waived along that property line upon approval
of the Township Board of Commissioners upon recommendation of the
Township Planning Commission.
(3) Buffer landscape plan. A landscaping plan shall be submitted with the final plans, in accordance with §
168-33A, showing all pertinent information, including the location, size and species of all individual trees and shrubs to be preserved or planted or, alternately, the general characteristics of existing vegetation masses which are to be preserved.
K. Drainage considerations. The following site drainage
requirements shall apply to all mobile home developments:
(1) Surface water. The ground surface in all parts of development shall be graded and equipped to drain all surface water in a safe, efficient manner. Water shall be captured by inlets or other acceptable means and piped to an appropriate detention facility or outlet point. Design of stormwater drainage facilities shall be in accordance with §
168-24.
(2) Ponds and detention structures. Surface water collectors
and other bodies of standing water capable of breeding mosquitoes
and other insects shall be eliminated or controlled in a manner approved
by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
(3) Wastewater. Wastewater from any plumbing fixtures
or sanitary sewer line shall not be deposited upon the ground surface
in any part of a mobile home development or the surrounding properties.
(4) Erosion and sediment control. All applicable regulations
and permit requirements to prevent accelerated soil erosion and resulting
sedimentation, as stipulated in the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental
Protection Soil Erosion and Sedimentation Control Manual, July 1,
1973, and as subsequently amended, shall be followed by all parties
engaged in establishment of a mobile home development.
The Township Secretary or any other designated
representative of the Upper Gwynedd Township Commissioners may inspect
a mobile home park at reasonable intervals and at reasonable times
to determine compliance with this chapter.
The applicant or developer shall inform the
code enforcement officer of the delivery date of a modular and/or
mobile home. The enforcement officer shall inspect the modular or
mobile home upon its arrival at the site prior to installation to
determine if it meets the standards of Part 5, Standards for the Installation
of Mobile Homes, ANSI/NFPA Publication No. 501A, 1977. The enforcement
officer shall also inspect a modular home after its installation and
prior to occupancy by residents in order to determine its compliance
with installation instructions outlined in the Building Development
System Approval Report, which shall be provided by the applicant or
developer.