Township of Lower Gwynedd, PA D Business District

A retail store selling or leasing for local neighborhood use one or more of the following items at retail: food, groceries, meats, vegetables, fruit, drugs, cosmetics, hardware, clothing, jewelry, watches, optical goods, nursery stock or musical, professional or scientific instruments.

(b)

An office, bank or financial institution.

(c)

A personal service shop of a dressmaker, shoe repairer, tailor or hairdresser.

(d)

Medical offices of a private practitioner, other than a clinic.

(e)

An undertaker, but not including a crematorium.

(f)

A baker, confectioner or custom shop for the production of articles to be sold only on the premises.

(g)

A restaurant and a catering establishment, when authorized as a special exception by the Zoning Hearing Board.

(h)

Dog and cat kennels when authorized as a conditional use by the Board of Supervisors, subject to the following criteria which will be applicable only to such uses:

(1)

The entire business and all of its operations shall be conducted indoors with soundprooflng designed to insure that any noise made by the dogs and cats would not be a nuisance to adjoining properties.

(2)

Any such kennel shall be separated by at least 500 feet from any other kennel.

(i)

When permitted by special exception, a single building of up to 25,000 square feet of gross floor area (not including unoccupied basement areas) which is used in conjunction with elderly housing, residential nursing care facilities and personal care facilities existing primarily on the same or an immediately adjoining tract or lot and which contains one or more of the following uses: offices, private garage, private bus parking spaces and maintenance facilities.

(j)

A municipal use.

(k)

Any use similar to those specified in subsections (a) to (g) hereof when authorized as a special exception by the Zoning Hearing Board.

§ 1280.03 Prohibited uses.

[Ord. 233A. Passed 6-18-1987; Ord. 364. Passed 7-26-1999. Ord. 376. Passed 9-25-2000]

Any use not complying with this chapter is prohibited in a "D" Business District. The following uses are specifically prohibited:

(a)

Public garages.

(b)

Motor vehicle sales.

(c)

Motor vehicle service or repair [except that such service and repair shall be permitted within a building authorized under Section 1280.02(h) above].

(d)

Motor vehicle rental or leasing.

(e)

Gasoline service stations.

(f)

Parking lots incidental to any of the uses set forth in Subsections (a) to (e) hereof.

(g)

Trucking terminals.

§ 1280.04 Lot area and width.

[Ord. 233A. Passed 6-18-1987]

(a)

Minimum Lot Area. In a "D" Business District, a lot area of not less than 20,000 square feet shall be provided for every building or use.

(b)

Minimum Lot Width. A lot width of not less than 100 feet shall be provided for every building or use.

§ 1280.05 Yards.

[Ord. 233A. Passed 6-18-1987; Ord. 328. Passed 7-22-1996; Ord. 438. Passed 11-15-2005]

(a)

Front Yard. In a "D" Business District, there shall be a front yard on each lot which shall not be less than 10 feet.

(b)

Side Yards. There shall be two (2) side yards on each lot, neither of which shall be less than 5 feet, with an aggregate side yard requirement of 30 feet.

(c)

Rear Yards. There shall be a rear yard on each lot which shall not be less than 30 feet.

(d)

District Yard. No side or rear yard adjacent to any residential district shall be less than 50 feet in depth.

(e)

Corner Lots. Yards for corner lots are regulated by Section 1298.09.

§ 1280.06 Lot coverage.

[Ord. 233A. Passed 6-18-1987; Ord. 438. Passed 11-15-2005]

(a)

Building Coverage. In a "D" Business District, the total building coverage shall not exceed 30%.

(b)

Impervious Coverage. The total impervious coverage shall not exceed 65%.

§ 1280.07 Building height.

[Ord. 233A. Passed 6-18-1987]

The maximum height for buildings or other structures erected or enlarged in a "D" Business District shall be 30 feet, not exceeding two stories.

§ 1280.08 Off-street parking and loading.

[Ord. 233A. Passed 6-18-1987; Ord. 438. Passed 11-15-2005]

(a)

Parking and Loading. In a "D" Business District, all-weather parking and loading facilities shall be provided in accordance with Chapter 1294.

(b)

Setbacks. No parking, loading or driveway area shall be located in any required front yard setback or closer than five (5) feet to any side or rear property line except as required for normal ingress and egress only. In the case of any property line being adjacent to a single-family residential district, no parking, loading or driveway area shall be located closer than 25 feet to such property line except as required for normal ingress and egress.

§ 1280.09 Special requirements.

[Ord. 233A. Passed 6-18-1987; Ord. 251. Passed 2-16-1988; Ord. 364. Passed 7-26-1999; Ord. 369. Passed 12-13-1999; Ord. 399. Passed 5-21-2002; Ord. 400. Passed 5-21-2002; Ord. 438. Passed 11-15-2005]

(a)

Signs. Signs shall be permitted in accordance with Chapter 1292.

(b)

Gross Building Area. The maximum size building that may be erected on a lot shall be 6,500 gross square feet, whether on a single or multiple levels. All usable or occupied floor space shall be included in the area calculation.

(1)

Bonus for Interconnection and Shared Driveway. By conditional use, the Board of Supervisors may permit up to ten-percent increase in the allowable impervious coverage and up to a one-hundred-percent increase in the allowable gross floor area of a building when an applicant provides for an interconnecting driveway and shared parking with an adjacent property. Any such interconnection and shared parking must be designed to the satisfaction of the Township Engineer; be in compliance with all applicable requirements of the Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance for parking lots; and be memorialized on the final plans as well as in such recorded easement agreements as shall be deemed necessary by the Township Solicitor. When approved by the Board of Supervisors and the Township Engineer, a shared entry driveway may serve as the interconnection contemplated by this paragraph.

(2)

Bonus for Interconnection, Shared Driveway and Increased Front Yard Setback. By conditional use, the Board of Supervisors may permit the maximum size of a building which may be erected on a lot in the "D" Business District to be up to 25,000 gross square feet when provision is specifically made to permit the possibility of both an interconnecting driveway with an adjoining property also zoned “D” Business and a shared entry driveway with the same adjoining property, and further provided that the entirety of such a building is set back at least 450 feet from the center line of Bethlehem Pike. In such a building only, a day-care facility shall be considered a permitted use.

[Added 12-8-2009 by Ord. No. 469]

(c)

Landscaping. All development in the "D" Business District shall be designed and maintained in accordance with the landscape provisions of the Subdivision Regulations. In addition, there shall be a suitable and effective landscape barrier at the edge of the property adjacent to any public street. Such buffer strip shall be at least 10 feet wide and shall channel motor vehicle ingress and egress from the property providing a maximum of one access road per 100 feet of frontage and in no case more than two access roads per property.

(d)

Utilities. All development in the "D" Business District shall be served by public sewer and water. All utilities serving a permitted use in this district shall be underground.

(e)

Outdoor Land Use. There shall be no outdoor storage or display of goods or materials, other than nursery stock plants, for marketing, storage or any other purpose. The outdoor storage of trash shall be designed and maintained to be completely screened from view by a landscape buffer.

(f)

Hazardous Uses. No building shall be erected, altered or maintained, and no lot shall be used for any purpose, trade or business, that is noxious, offensive or potentially injurious to health by reason of odor, noise, dust, smoke, heat, gas, radiation or vibration.

(g)

Building Spacing. The distance at the closest point between any buildings shall be not less than 30 feet.

(h)

Site Lighting. Exterior lighting provided in conjunction with any building or use shall be placed not higher than 14 feet above grade and shall be screened so as not to permit the source of illumination to be seen from off the premises. Only color corrected types of illumination shall be used. The hours of illumination of such lights shall be limited to hours of business operation and shall otherwise be extinguished between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. of the following day, prevailing time.[1]

[1]

Editor's Note: Former Subsection (i), Detention Basins, which immediately followed this subsection, was repealed 8-22-2017 by Ord. No. 513.

§ 1280.10 (Reserved) [1]

[1]

Editor's Note: Former Section 1280.10, Application procedure, was repealed 2-21-1995 by Ord. No. 314.