This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Leacock
Township Zoning Ordinance of 2003," "Zoning Ordinance" or "Ordinance."
The Board of Supervisors of the Township of Leacock, pursuant
to the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code (MPC), Act 247 of
1968, P.L. 805; as reenacted and amended by Act 170 of 1988, P.L. 1329, Article
VI, Zoning, and as may be amended, hereby enacts and ordains this chapter as the Leacock Township Zoning Ordinance of 2003.
No uses shall be permitted in any zone which directly violate
any Township ordinance or code.
All development shall be subject to the provisions and requirements delineated in Chapter
265, Subdivision and Land Development; Chapter
253, the Leacock Township Stormwater Management and Earth Disturbance Ordinance; the Pennsylvania Uniform Construction Code or any relevant construction code in effect.
General intent. In accordance with the MPC, it is the intent,
purpose and scope of this chapter to protect and promote public safety,
health and morals; to facilitate coordinated development; to provide
for the general welfare by guiding the development of and protecting
various amenities and conveniences; to promote future governmental,
economic, practical, social and cultural facilities; to provide for
development and growth, as well as to improve governmental processes
and functions; to guide uses of land and structures, types and locations
of streets, public areas and other facilities; to promote the conservation
of energy through the use of land planning practices and the effective
utilization of renewable energy resources; to promote proper density
of population, vehicle parking and loading areas, and to prevent the
overcrowding of land, blight, danger and congestion in travel and
transportation; to prevent loss of life, health or property, where
possible, from flood, fire, panic or other dangers; and to minimize
land use conflicts as may presently exist or which may be foreseen.
General goals and objectives. This chapter is enacted in accordance
with a comprehensive planning program, which has established goals
and policies for the type, location, timing and density appropriate
for various forms of development, as set forth in the 2001 Leacock
Township Comprehensive Plan. Consideration has been given to the character
of the Township and its various parts, together with the suitability
of these various parts for particular uses. Additionally, this chapter
and its supporting Comprehensive Plan were developed in conjunction
and coordination with the Comprehensive Plan for Lancaster County.
The County's Comprehensive Plan presents policies regarding residential,
commercial, and industrial development, farmland preservation, and
regional development responsibilities in the form of urban growth
boundaries. By its location and nature, Leacock Township is not an
appropriate candidate for an urban growth area, and the Leacock Township
Board of Supervisors has established a primary policy of preserving
the rural character of the Township while recognizing the responsibility
to plan for Leacock's fair share of development without promoting
or inducing excessive additional growth or development. This chapter
is enacted to support the following general goals and objectives:
A. To preserve, promote and protect agriculture. Agriculture in Leacock
Township and Lancaster County is a special nonreplaceable resource
which needs to be preserved for the benefit of the state, region,
county and this Township. This is true because:
(1) The open space of this county is valuable for the health, safety
and general welfare of its inhabitants.
(2) The soils and climate of this county enable its farmers to produce
the largest value of agricultural goods of any nonirrigated county
in the nation. Lancaster County has the greatest concentration of
Class 1 prime agricultural soils of any county in the nation.
(3) The farmland of Lancaster County has cultural value to its own citizens
and also is an attraction to tourists.
(4) The aesthetic value of the farmland of Lancaster County is of special
significance.
(5) The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has, by provisions in the MPC, special
tax assessments, publications of various departments, and by statements
of officials, shown an interest in preserving agricultural land.
(6) The economic viability of farming in the Township should be protected
and enhanced.
B. To protect agricultural areas and meet the Township's responsibility
for providing its fair share of development. Residential growth should
be directed to areas that will be served by public utilities, especially
public sewers.
C. To attract light industrial activities by providing space free from
residential and other nonindustrial land use intrusions and by providing
an optimum level of public services. Additionally, old, existing commercial
centers should be utilized, and "strip" development and scattered
commercial development should be avoided.
D. To protect residential areas from incompatible nonresidential land
uses.
E. To transform the scattered residential pattern which presently exists
into more concentrated and identifiable residential areas.
F. The Board of Supervisors of the Township of Leacock recognizes the
Township has large areas devoted to agricultural and rural uses. The
Board of Supervisors also recognizes that tourism is an important
commercial use in the Township. The Board deems it desirable to provide
temporary housing for tourists in a form which most readily comports
with the predominant nature of the Township.
G. The Board of Supervisors also declares that it is the goal of this
chapter to improve the quality of life of all developmentally disabled
persons and to integrate developmentally disabled persons into the
mainstream of society by ensuring the availability of community residential
opportunities in the Township.
H. Adult uses.
(1) The Board of Supervisors of the Township of Leacock desires to reduce
adverse external effects which it perceives may or will result from
a concentration of so-called commercial "adult" activities in the
Township. The Board of Supervisors believes that these adverse effects
may be reduced by geographic dispersal of these operations.
(2) The Board of Supervisors has been advised that the experience of
Boston, Massachusetts's "contaminant" approach and concentration of
adult uses into a "combat zone" has brought with it a proliferation
of pimps, pickpockets and prostitutes, as well as an assortment of
other unsavory characters and crimes of violence, such as stabbings
and muggings. Other cities such as Phoenix, Arizona, have conducted
adult businesses studies and have concluded that a concentration of
adult businesses correlates with a higher degree of sex crimes, as
much as 11 times the rate in other areas, and that even with a single
adult business, the rate of sex crimes is at least three times as
great. Furthermore, the experience of the City of New York shows that
complaints of rape, robbery and assault are approximately 70% higher
where adult businesses are concentrated and that both job losses are
higher and sales are lower in such areas.
(3) An eighty-six-page comprehensive study by the Department of City
Planning of the City of Los Angeles indicated that a concentration
of adult entertainment uses results in increased crime and greater
police enforcement problems and that the Los Angeles Police links
concentration of such businesses and increased crime in the Hollywood
area and, in addition, indicates that some citizens fear to walk the
streets and that some businesses have left the area or modified their
hours of operation as a result of such adult entertainment uses.
(4) The Board of Supervisors perceives that the experience of other communities
could be repeated in Leacock Township and believes that it is not
necessary for the Board of Supervisors to withhold legislation until
such deleterious effects occur in Leacock Township and further believes
that it has a right to rely on the experiences of other cities; and
(5) The Board of Supervisors believes that the concentration of adult
businesses is detrimental, physically by creating blight and subsequent
deterioration of property values; economically by decreasing patronage
of traditional businesses; and socially by attracting crime. Therefore,
the Board has adopted regulations that specifically seek to control
and regulate these adult uses.