Certain words used in this chapter are defined below. Words used in the present tense shall include the future. The singular number shall include the plural, and the plural, the singular. The word "shall" is mandatory and not permissive.
ACCESSORY BUILDING A subordinate building or a portion of the main building on a lot, the use of which is customarily incidental to that of the main or principal building.
ACCESSORY USE A use located on the same lot and of a nature customarily incidental and subordinate to the principal use.
ALTERATIONS A change or rearrangement in the structural parts or in the existing facilities or an enlargement whether by extending on a side or by increasing height or the moving from one location or positions to another.
AREA, BUILDING The total of areas taken on a horizontal plane at the main grade level of the principal building and all accessory buildings, exclusive of uncovered porches terraces and steps.
AREA, LOT The total area within the lot lines measured on a horizontal plane.
BILLBOARD A sign other than one indicating a business conducted on the premises; a sign upon which advertising matter of any character is printed, posted, or lettered; and it may be either freestanding or attached to a surface of a building or other structure.
BOARDINGHOUSE Any dwelling, not a group residence facility, principally used as a residence by (a) more than three unrelated persons per dwelling unit, or (b) any number of persons related by blood, marriage or legal adoption, together with more than two other persons unrelated to each other by blood, marriage or legal adoption per dwelling unit, regardless of whether such residents are maintaining a common household. (For an accessory use by two or fewer unrelated, nontransient residents, see §
430.02J1 of this chapter.) "Boardinghouse" as a permitted use does not include an establishment which is intended to or does provide room and board to persons who, because of a mental or emotional disability, are prone to threatening or harmful behavior; nor does it include an establishment which is intended to or routinely does provide room and board to persons who are criminal offenders. Any establishment providing room and board to individuals which does not fall within this definition or any other definition of a permitted use under this chapter is not a permitted use. A boardinghouse is subject to all rules, requirements and restrictions of this chapter as are applicable to the dwelling type in which the boardinghouse is established.
BUILDING Anything constructed or erected with a fixed or permanent location on the ground, or attached to something having a fixed location on the ground.
BUILDING, FRONT LINE OF The line of that face of the building nearest the front line of the lot. This face includes sun parlors and covered porches whether enclosed or unenclosed but does not include steps or patios.
BUILDING, HEIGHT OF The vertical distance measured from the average elevation of the proposed finished grade at the front of the building to the highest point of the roof for flat roofs, to the deck line of mansard roofs and to the mean height between eaves and ridge for gable, hip and gambrel roofs.
BUILDING LINE An imaginary line located on the lot at a fixed distance from the street right-of-way line and interpreted as being the nearest point that a building may be constructed to the street right-of-way. The building line shall limit the location of porches, patios and similar construction, steps excepted, to the face of this line.
BUILDING, MAIN A building in which is conducted the principal use of the lot on which it is located.
CLEAR SIGHT TRIANGLE The triangular area formed by two intersecting street center lines and a line interconnecting points established on each center line 100 feet from their point of intersection. This entire area is to remain clear of obstructions to sight above a plane established 3 1/2 feet in elevation from grade level at the intersection of the street center line.
CLINIC Any establishment where human patients are examined and treated by doctors or dentists but not hospitalized overnight.
COMMERCIAL Engaging in a business enterprise, activity or other undertaking for profit, including but not limited to, retail stores, service shops, eating and drinking places, professional offices, banks, auto sales and repair, gas stations and motels.
COMMUNICATION TOWER A structure, typically a steel tower, whose principal use is to be utilized for public or private communication and/or data transmission purposes and owned and/or operated by a private corporation or a communication corporation or utility regulated by the Federal Communications Commission most often associated with personal communication service. Communication towers shall be considered to be a different and distinct use than a radio or television antenna not permitted as accessory uses but considered to be a principal use of a parcel of ground.
(a) TOWER HEIGHTThe vertical distance measured from the base of the tower support structure at the grade to the highest point of the structure. If a support structure is on a sloped grade, then the average between the highest and lowest grade shall be used as calculating the antenna height.
(b) TOWER SUPPORT STRUCTUREAny pole, telescoping mast, tower, tripod or any other structure which supports a device used in the transmitting or receiving of radio frequency energy.
(c) CELL SITEA tract or parcel of land that contains a communication tower, its support structure, accessory building(s), and parking, including other uses associated with and ancillary to communication tower transmission.
DWELLING Any structure designed or used as the living quarters for one or more families.
DWELLING TYPE The following:
(a) MULTIPLE-FAMILYA building designed for or occupied exclusively as a residence for three or more families with separate housekeeping, cooking and sanitary facilities for each.
(b) SINGLE-FAMILYA detached, permanent structure designed for or occupied exclusively as a residence for only one family. These shall include conventional custom-made homes, sectional or modular homes, and double section mobile homes permanently combined and made immobile.
(c) TWO-FAMILYA building designed for or occupied exclusively as a residence for two families only, with separate housekeeping, cooking and sanitary facilities for each.
DWELLING UNIT Any building or portion thereof which is designed and used exclusively for residential purposes by one family, and includes complete kitchen and bathroom facilities.
FAMILY One or more persons who live together in one dwelling unit and maintain a common household. May consist of a single person or of two or more persons whether or not related by blood, marriage or adoption. May also include domestic servants and gratuitous guests.
FENCE A combination of materials, usually posts, boards, wires, stakes or rails, that is used as an enclosure, barrier or boundary.
GARAGE, PRIVATE An enclosed or covered space for the storage of one or more motor vehicles, provided that no business, occupation or service is conducted for profit therein nor space therein or more than one car is leased to a nonresident of the premises.
GARAGE, PUBLIC A building or structure where motor vehicles can be temporarily stored or parked.
GROUP RESIDENCE FACILITY A use, established in a dwelling permitted within a zone according to
Table A, which provides room and board to persons who are residents by virtue of requiring specialized services limited to health, social and/or rehabilitative services provided by a governmental agency, the licensed or certified agents of a governmental agency, or any other responsible nonprofit or for profit person or entity. "Group residence facility" as a permitted use does not include an establishment which is intended to or does provide room and board to persons who, because of a mental or emotional disability, are prone to threatening or harmful behavior; nor does it include an establishment which is intended to or does provide room and board to persons who are criminal offenders. Any establishment providing room and board to individuals which does not fall within this definition or any other definition of a permitted use under this chapter is not a permitted use. A group residence facility is subject to all rules, requirements and restrictions of this chapter as are applicable to the dwelling type (i.e., single-family, two-family, multiple-family) in which the group residence facility is established.
HEAVY-DUTY TRUCKS A vehicle that requires having a commercial drivers license (CDL) to operate.
HOME OCCUPATION Any use customarily conducted entirely within a dwelling or in a building accessory thereto and carried on by the inhabitants residing therein, provided that the use is clearly incidental and secondary to the use of the dwelling for dwelling purposes, and that no alterations are made to the exterior appearance of the structure or premises, other than signs as provided herein, including, but not limited to the following occupations: the professional practice of medicine, dentistry, architecture, law and engineering, artists, beauticians, barbers, and veterinarians, excluding stables or kennels.
INTEGRATED CENTER A combination of commercial uses designed, structured and located so as to result in a shopping plaza, mall or other acceptable configuration in one continuous building or architectural modification thereof, under one roof including associated common walls.
JUNK Any worn, cast-off or discarded article or material which is ready for destruction or which has been collected or stored for sale, resale, salvage or conversion to some other use. Any such article or material which unaltered, not needed to be disassembled or unfastened from, or unchanged and without further reconditioning can be used for its original purpose as readily as when new shall not be considered junk.
JUNKYARD The use of more than 100 square feet of the area of any lot for the storage, keeping or abandonment of junk, including scrap material from the dismantling, demolition or abandonment of automobiles or other vehicles or machinery or parts thereof. A "junkyard" shall include an automobile graveyard or motor vehicle graveyard.
KENNEL As used with the terms of this chapter shall include any land, building or part thereof, wherein five dogs and/or cats are kept overnight for the purpose of breeding, hunting, training, renting, buying, boarding, sale, show or as pets. This definition does not apply to such activities when documented in connection with the operation of a veterinary clinic or hospital.
LOT A designated parcel, tract or area of land established by a plat or otherwise as permitted by law and to be used, developed, or built upon as a unit.
LOT AREA The area of a horizontal plane measured at grade and bounded by the front, side and rear lot lines.
LOT, CORNER A lot at the point of intersection of and abutting on two or more intersecting streets or other public spaces the angle of intersection being not more than 135°.
LOT DEPTH The average horizontal distance between the front and rear lot lines.
LOT LINES The lines bounding a lot as defined herein.
LOT OF RECORD Any lot which individually or as a part of a subdivision, has been recorded in the office of Recorder of Deeds of the county.
LOT WIDTH The average horizontal distance across the lot between the side lot lines, measured at the building line.
MANUFACTURING, HEAVY The processing or fabrication of products, including but not limited to: home appliances, office machines, machine tools, dies and gauges, plastic goods, pharmaceutical goods and food products excluding animal slaughtering, curing and rendering of fats, where no process involved will produce noise, vibrations, air pollution, fire hazard, noxious emission or other conditions hazardous to the community health and welfare.
MANUFACTURING, LIGHT The processing or fabrication of products, including but not limited to: electrical instruments, precision instruments, jewelry, timepieces, optical goods, musical instruments, novelties, wood products, printed material, lithographic plates, type composition, ceramics, apparel, film processing, light sheet metal products, where no process will produce noise, vibrations, air pollution, fire hazard, noxious emission or other condition hazardous to the community health and welfare.
MIXED USE To use a building for both residential and commercial or commercial and industrial purposes, each of which is separately a permitted use within the zone.
MOBILE HOME A transportable, single-family dwelling, which may be towed on its own running gear, and which may be temporarily or permanently affixed to real estate, used for nontransient residential purposes and constructed with the same or similar, electrical, plumbing and sanitary facilities as mobile housing, and having a minimum of 600 square feet of floor area.
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.
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 reason of such adoption or amendment.
NONCONFORMING STRUCTURE A structure or part of a structure manifestly not designed to comply with the applicable use or extent of use provisions of this chapter, or amendments heretofore or hereafter enacted, including without limitation such dimensional requirements as lot width, lot depth, building height and required yards, where such structure lawfully existed prior to the enactment of this chapter or amendment or prior to the application this chapter 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 in this chapter or amendments heretofore or hereafter enacted, where such use was lawfully in existence prior to the enactment of this chapter or amendment to its location by reason of annexation.
OPEN SPACE An occupied space open to the sky on the same lot with the building.
OWNER The duly authorized agent, attorney, purchaser, devisee, fiduciary or any person having vested or equitable interest in the lot in question.
OCCUPANCY PERMIT A statement signed by the Zoning Officer setting forth that either a building or structure complies with this chapter or that a building, structure or parcel of land may lawfully be employed for specific uses.
PARKING SPACE An off-street space measuring not less than 10 feet by 20 feet, whether inside or outside of a structure, for the temporary standing of automotive vehicles to be used exclusively as a parking stall for one automotive vehicle. Such space shall be exclusive of all area necessary to gain access to said parking space including turning areas, access aisles, fire lanes, and access drives within the street right-of-way.
PLANNED RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT An area of land, controlled by a landowner, to be developed as a single entity for a number of dwelling units, or combination of residential and nonresidential uses, the development plan for which does not correspond in lot size, bulk, or type of dwelling, or use, density, or intensity, lot coverage and required open space to the regulations established in any one residential district. A planned residential development may include and shall be limited to (i) dwelling units in detached, semidetached, attached, or multi-storied structures, or any combination thereof; and (ii) those nonresidential uses deemed to be appropriate for incorporation in the design of the planned residential development.
PREEXISTING NONCONFORMING LOT Any building lot in an A-1, R-1, R-2, B-1 or B-2 Zone which comprises 7,500 square feet or less land area, or is 75 feet or less in width, and was both developed and had its present property lines established and recorded prior to December 21, 1971.
PRINCIPAL USE The major dominant use of the lot on which it is located.
PROFESSIONAL OFFICE Any office or business conducted by an individual or association who or that must be licensed under the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
PUBLIC HEARING A meeting open to the general public held pursuant to proper public notice.
PUBLIC NOTICE A notice published once a week for two successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the Township. 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 be not more than 30 days and the second publication shall not be less than seven days from the date of the hearing.
PUBLIC RIGHT-OF-WAY Land reserved for use as a road, street, alley, crosswalk, pedestrianway or other public purpose.
RETAIL STORE A business establishment located entirely within an enclosed building which sells goods, services or merchandise to the general public for personal, household or office consumption and which shall not include wholesale, manufacturing or processing of the goods offered for sale.
SIGN Any surface fabric device or structure bearing lettered, pictorial or sculptured matter intended, designed or used to convey information visually and exposed to public view which directs attention to an object, product, place, activity, person, institution, organization or business. The term "sign" does not apply to a flag, emblem or insignia of a nation, political unit, school or religious group.
SIGN, GROSS SURFACE AREA OF The entire area within a single continuous perimeter enclosing the extreme limits of such sign. All signs shall be limited to not more than two faces. All area limitations shall be computed in square feet. Each face of a double-face sign may equal the maximum size permitted for the particular type of sign. When individual letters are used separately on the surface of a building wall, the spaces between said letters shall be included in computing the area of the sign.
SPECIAL EXCEPTION The granting of a modification of the provisions of this chapter as authorized in specific instances listed, and under the terms, procedures and conditions prescribed herein. Special exceptions are administered by the Zoning Hearing Board.
STREET A public way which affords principal means of access to abutting properties.
STREET LINE The dividing line between the street or road right-of-way and the lot.
STRUCTURE A combination of materials that form construction that is safe and stable and includes among other things buildings, stadiums, platforms, radio towers, sheds, storage bins and billboards.
SUBDIVISION The division or redivision of a lot, tract, or parcel of land by any means into two or more lots, tracts, parcels or other divisions of land including changes in existing lot lines for the purpose, whether immediate or future, of lease, partition by the court for distribution to heirs or devisees, transfer of ownership or building or lot development: provided, however, that the division of land for agricultural purposes into parcels of more than 10 acres, not involving any new street or easement of access or any residential dwelling shall be exempted.
SUPPLY YARD A commercial establishment storing or offering for sale building supplies, steel supplies, coal, heavy equipment, feed and grain, and similar goods. Supply yards to not include the wrecking, salvaging, dismantling or storage or automobiles and similar vehicles.
TRAILER, CAMPING AND RECREATIONAL EQUIPMENT Includes travel trailers, pickup coaches, motorized homes and recreational equipment as follows:
(a) TRAVEL TRAILERA portable dwelling unit on a chassis, designed to be towed and used as a temporary dwelling for travel, recreational and vacation purposes, and permanently identified as a travel trailer by the manufacturer of the trailer.
(b) PICKUP COACHA dwelling designed primarily to be mounted on a pickup or other truck chassis with sufficient equipment to render it suitable for use as a temporary dwelling for travel, recreational and vacation purposes.
(c) MOTORIZED HOMEA portable dwelling designed and constructed as an integral part of a self-propelled vehicle.
(d) BOATA vessel designed to travel on water.
TRAILER CAMP A tract of land (i) where two or more trailers are parked; or (ii) which is used or held out for the purpose of supplying to the public a parking space for two or more trailers.
USE The specific purpose for which land or a building is designed, arranged, intended or for which it is or may be occupied or maintained. The term "permitted use" or its equivalent shall not be deemed to include any nonconforming use.
UTILITY Any facility used in rendering service which the public has a right to demand.
VARIANCE The permission granted by the Zoning Hearing Board, following a public hearing that has been properly advertised as required by the appropriate municipal code for an adjustment to some regulation which, if strictly adhered to, would result in an unnecessary hardship, and where the permission granted would not be contrary to the public interest, and would maintain the spirit and original intent of the chapter.
YARD An unoccupied space open to the sky, on the same lot with a building or structure.
(a) YARD, FRONTAn open unoccupied space on the same lot with a main building, extending the full width of the lot and situated between the street right-of-way line and the front line of the building projected to the side lines of the lot. The depth of the front yard shall be measured between the front line of the building and the street right-of-way line. Covered porches whether enclosed or unenclosed shall be considered as part of the main building and shall not project into a required front yard.
(b) YARD, REARAn open unoccupied space on the same lot with a main building, extending the full width of the lot and situated between the rear line of the lot and the rear line of the building projected to the side lines of the lot and rear line of the building. A building shall not extend into the required rear yard.
(c) YARD, SIDEAn open unoccupied space on the same lot with the building situated between the building and the side line of the lot and extending from the front land of the rear land. Any lot line not a rear line or a front line shall be deemed a side line. A building shall not extend into the required side yards.
ZONING A legal and administrative process whereby a municipality divides its territory into districts and applies to each district a number of regulations to control the use of land, the height and bulk of buildings, and the area of ground built upon.
ZONING HEARING BOARD The Zoning Hearing Board of Crescent Township as duly constituted by and established pursuant to this chapter.
ZONING OFFICER The individual authorized by the Township to be the administrator of the daily application of the provisions contained in these zoning standards.
ZONING PERMIT A statement signed by the Zoning Officer indicating that the application for permission to construct, alter or add is approved and in accordance with the requirement of the terms of this chapter.