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City of Butler, PA
Butler County
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents
[Amended 8-29-2002 by Ord. No. 1523; 5-7-2004 by Ord. No. 1551; 4-28-2011 by Ord. No. 1639; 11-21-2013 by Ord. No. 1679]
In the M-1 District, the land and structures may be used and structures may be erected, altered, enlarged and maintained for any of the following light industrial uses that are not obnoxious or offensive by reason of the emission of odor, dust, noise, smoke, gas, fumes, cinders, vibration, refuse matter or water-carried waste:
A. 
Automobile sales and service, and boat and trailer sales and service, including: gasoline service stations, major repairs, body and fender work, painting, upholstering, tire repair and retreading and battery manufacture. Auto sales and service need not be within an enclosed building.
B. 
Billboards.
C. 
Boat building.
D. 
Brewery.
E. 
Building materials sales and storage.
F. 
Cleaning and dyeing establishment using nonflammable cleaning fluids.
G. 
Community garage or parking area, public or private.
H. 
Distribution plant, including parcel delivery, ice and cold storage plant, bottling plant and food commissary or catering establishment.
I. 
Feed and garden sales.
J. 
Foundry, casting of only lightweight nonferrous metal.
K. 
Freight or truck terminal.
L. 
Iron, steel or other metal fabrication, no foundry, drop hammer or punch press over 30 tons capacity.
M. 
Contractor's establishment, including storage of equipment.
N. 
Laboratory, experimental, photo or motion picture, film or testing.
O. 
Landscape gardener's sales and service.
P. 
Laundry (commercial), laundromat, dry cleaning.
Q. 
Lumber storage, millwork and sales.
R. 
Machine shop.
S. 
Machinery, repair and sales.
T. 
Manufacture, fabrication and maintenance of electric and neon signs, billboards, commercial advertising structures, light sheet metal products, including heating and ventilating ducts and equipment, cornices, eaves and the like.
U. 
Manufacturing, fabricating, compounding, assembling or treatment of articles of merchandise from the following previously prepared materials: bone, canvas, cellophane, clay, cloth, cork, feathers, felt, fiber, paper, plastics, precious or semiprecious stones or metals, shell, straw, textiles, tobacco, wood and yarns.
V. 
Manufacture, processing, packaging or treatment of such products as bakery goods, beverages, cosmetics, drugs, perfumes, pharmaceuticals, perfumed toilet soap and food products, not including fish smoking, curing or canning and the rendering of fats and oils.
W. 
Manufacture of appliances, electrical or mechanical; instruments, electronic, musical, precision or the like; machines, electronic or mechanical for home or office and the like; phonographs, radios, telephones or other instruments or machines for receiving, reproducing or transmitting sound; watches and clocks; toys; and novelties and rubber and metal hand stamps.
X. 
Planing mill.
Y. 
Plumbing, heating or electrical contracting business.
Z. 
Printing, lithographing, type composition, ruling and binding establishments.
AA. 
Public utility corporation buildings, structures, facilities and installations.
BB. 
Repair shops, small electronics for consumers.
CC. 
School, industrial/trade.
DD. 
Selling of poultry, rabbits and fish, including the killing, cleaning and dressing and the temporary keeping of live poultry or rabbits on the premises.
EE. 
Stone or monument works.
FF. 
Veterinary establishment or animal hospital.
GG. 
Wholesale business, any scrap metal, pipe or heavy building materials to be stored in building or behind a ten-foot solid fence.
HH. 
Municipal recreation facilities, buildings, libraries and firehouses.
II. 
Storage, not including explosives or inflammables; garbage; offal or dead animals; petroleum and petroleum by-products in excess of an amount necessary for use on the premises; rags, paper, metal or junk.
JJ. 
Entertainment and sports facilities, small.
KK. 
Banks, financial and lending institutions with or without drive-through windows.
LL. 
Restaurants and bars.
MM. 
Offices.
NN. 
Bus depots.
OO. 
Retail and wholesale stores selling food, clothing, confections, drugs, flowers, furniture, hardware, appliances, office supplies, sundries, jewelry, toys, guns, automotive parts, bicycles, groceries, books, music, cards, business equipment, and other manufactured articles.
PP. 
Animal shelters.
QQ. 
Animal kennels, private.
RR. 
Animal kennels, commercial.
SS. 
Data center.
TT. 
Research and development facilities.
UU. 
Convenience store.
VV. 
Heavy equipment sales and rental.
WW. 
 Gasoline and fuel sales.
XX. 
Entertainment and sports facilities, large.
YY. 
Barber and beauty shops.
ZZ. 
Business support enterprises.
AAA. 
  Car washes in enclosed buildings.
BBB. 
  Car washes with open bays.
CCC. 
  Check-cashing shops.
DDD. 
  Office parks.
EEE. 
  Pawn shops.
FFF. 
  Repair shops, equipment and large items.
GGG. 
  Mini-warehouse/storage facility.
HHH. 
  Storage of petroleum and gas products.
III. 
Storage of vehicles (commercial, boats, RVs, cars, etc.) in an enclosed building.
JJJ. 
Recycling facilities (less than 1,000 square feet and/or more than 1,000 square feet).
KKK. 
  Medical and dental clinics.
[Added 8-28-2014 by Ord. No. 2014-1692]
Accessory uses in the M-1 District shall be as follows:
A. 
Signs as prescribed in Article XVII.
B. 
Uses customarily incidental to any permitted use including residential facilities used by an owner, caretaker or watchman.
C. 
Office, restaurant, recreation area or structure, school, museum or hospital, provided that it is incidental to a permitted use.
D. 
Sheds, garages and other customary accessory structures for existing one- and two-family dwellings (nonconforming uses), subject to development standards as set forth in the R-3 Zoning District.
[Added 4-28-2011 by Ord. No. 1639]
E. 
Home occupations, no on-site customer service.
[Added 11-21-2013 by Ord. No. 1679]
[Amended 7-7-1988 by Ord. No. 1309; 9-7-1989 by Ord. No. 1322; 11-21-2013 by Ord. No. 1679]
Conditional uses in the M-1 District shall be as follows:
A. 
Light industrial uses similar to any principal permitted use listed above but not specifically listed, subject to the provisions of the development standards in § 260-69, are permitted.
B. 
One-person-occupancy rooms on the second or higher floor of a building existing at the date of adoption of this subsection, provided that a separate entrance is provided for the floor or floors containing the rooms, at least 350 square feet of lot area is available for each room and at least one on-lot parking space is set aside for each two rooms or fraction thereof.
C. 
Personal care homes.
D. 
Homeless shelters.
E. 
Nursing homes.
F. 
Home occupations with on-site customer service.
G. 
Hotels/motels.
H. 
Sleeping rooms.
I. 
Correctional facilities.
J. 
Colleges/universities.
K. 
Big-box retail.
L. 
Farmers' markets, permanent.
M. 
Gas station/mini mart.
N. 
Manufactured home sales.
O. 
Mixed-use buildings, residential upper floors.
P. 
Amusement arcades.
Q. 
Restaurants with drive-through windows.
R. 
Storage of vehicles (commercial, boats, RVs, cars, etc.) on a fenced-in lot.
[Added 11-21-2013 by Ord. No. 1679]
Uses permitted by special exception in the M-1 District shall be as follows, and the approval of which shall require a public hearing as provided in § 260-132D(1) through (3):
A. 
Boarding homes for sheltered care.
B. 
Transitional dwellings.
C. 
Group care facilities.
[Amended 2-20-1997 by Ord. No. 1430; 8-29-2002 by Ord. No. 1523; 11-21-2013 by Ord. No. 1679]
Any permitted principal and/or accessory use, conditional use, and special exception shall be subject to the following development standards:
A. 
Structure. Permitted industrial activity shall be carried on only in buildings meeting the specifications of the Pennsylvania Uniform Construction Code (PA UCC).
B. 
Lighting.
(1) 
All parking and loading areas and paved walkways on any industrial property shall be lighted so as to produce one footcandle of light intensity, as measured three feet above the pavement throughout the area.
(2) 
No lighting on any industrial property shall produce a glare upon adjacent public roads or adjacent properties.
C. 
Noise.
(1) 
No noise, as measured along the boundary separating residential or commercial districts from the M-1 District, shall exceed 50 decibels, whether or not such noise is intermittent or steady.
(2) 
No noise, as measured along any property line within the M-1 District, shall exceed 75 decibels, whether steady or intermittent.
D. 
Smoke.
(1) 
No waste material of any kind may be burned in the open air on any industrial property. Enclosed incinerators are permitted, provided that all other requirements of this chapter and other applicable ordinances are met.
(2) 
In no case shall smoke emitted from any heating or manufacturing process exceed those requirements of the State Department of Environmental Protection currently in effect.
E. 
Dust, dirt, gases and odors.
(1) 
Manufacturing processes producing dust and dirt shall be confined within a completely enclosed area.
(2) 
Dust, dirt, gases and odors shall be gathered within the building housing the manufacturing process producing such by-products or within equipment designed for collecting or processing such products.
F. 
Glare. All operations that produce glare or sky-reflected light shall be conducted in an enclosed area, so that no glare is discernible beyond the boundaries of the M-1 District.
G. 
Vibration. Vibration from any operation within the M-1 District shall not be discernible outside the property in which the vibration-producing equipment is located.
H. 
Outside storage.
(1) 
All outside storage of materials shall be screened from view from any adjacent public street or from beyond the edge of the M-1 District by a solid fence at least six feet high or solid hedge at least six feet high at maturity and at least three feet high when planted.
(2) 
Outdoor storage of liquids shall be either in vented underground tanks, required if liquids are flammable, or in tanks set at grade, surrounded by a dike of sufficient height and bulk to contain the maximum capacity of the tanks if ruptured.
I. 
Water use. Water may be drawn from underground sources, provided the well is set back more than 150 feet from the boundary of the M-1 District, unless prohibited by Ordinance No. 1580, known as the "Non-Use Aquifer Ordinance of the City of Butler, Pennsylvania."[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: See Ch. 148, Groundwater.
J. 
Liquid waste.
(1) 
All requirements of the State Department of Environmental Protection shall be met in the construction and operation of all on-site industrial liquid sewage disposal plants.
(2) 
If an industrial operation is connected to a public or community sewage system, the amount and quality of sewage may not exceed that normally produced by 30 residences per acre for each industrial acre. Owners of industrial operations shall provide the operators of public or community sewage systems to which the industry is connected with a chemical analysis of proposed sewage, and the operator has the right to refuse entrance into the system of any sewage components that may interfere with the normal cycle of the sewage treatment plant.
(3) 
In no case shall liquid wastes be dumped or permitted to flow or seep into a stream or drainage way.
(4) 
Liquid wastes that cannot be disposed of on the site shall not be permitted to accumulate.
K. 
Solid waste. Solid wastes shall not be permitted to accumulate in an open storage area on any property.
L. 
Remainder of property. All areas of any industrial property not covered by buildings or paved shall be planted in grass or other ground cover.
There are no area regulations except as necessary to comply with yard, off-street parking, loading and unloading and height regulations as set forth in this article.
Where the zone boundaries are adjacent to a residential zone or front on a street, the opposite side of which is zoned residential, the following yard regulations shall be observed:
A. 
Side and rear yards. For buildings not exceeding 40 feet in height, side or rear yards shall be 25 feet; for buildings exceeding 40 feet in height, side or rear yards shall be increased five feet for each 10 feet or portion thereof by which the building exceeds 40 feet in height.
B. 
Front yard. No building, main or accessory, shall be closer to the street than the established building line of adjacent residences on the same side of the street if such exist; if there is no established building setback line within the block, the building setback line shall be 20 feet. Chimneys, cooling towers, elevator shafts and similar structures shall not be counted as to height for yard purposes.
A. 
Side yards. Any required side yard shall be landscaped for at least 15 feet parallel to the zone boundary line and the planting may include lawn, trees and shrubs. Driveways to the rear yard may be placed in the remaining required side yard.
B. 
Rear yards. Any required rear yard shall be provided with a shield from an adjacent residential zone property consisting of a solid masonry wall or solid board fence or permanent evergreen hedge not less than six feet in height, which shield may be extended along a residential zone boundary line on the side yard line to the front yard building setback line.
C. 
Front yards. Any required front yard shall be landscaped with any combination of lawn, shrubs, flowers and trees and maintained in a neat and orderly manner. No use, other than driveways to the front entrance or parking lot of a main building, may be made of any required front yard. If the front yard is utilized for parking, a planting strip of not fewer than four feet in width must be provided next to the front sidewalks and side street sidewalks if on a corner lot.
There are no height regulations, except as limited by yard available to satisfy yard regulations where adjacent to residential zones.
Off-street parking shall be in accordance with the provisions of Article XVIII.
Off-street loading and unloading shall be provided in accordance with Article XVIII.