In accordance with the provisions of Section
501 of Act 247, the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, separate provisions regulating the design, construction and operation of mobile home parks are herein incorporated within this Part
1.
The uses allowed in a mobile home development
shall be as specified in Article
XI of the Township
Zoning Ordinance.
All applications for mobile home developments
shall follow the procedures established in the Zoning Ordinance. 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 the Township
Zoning Ordinance.
All appropriate regulations of the Township
Zoning Ordinance shall be adhered to in mobile home developments.
In addition thereto, the following regulations shall apply:
A. Arrangement of structures 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 of 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 formation, 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 home 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 Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance
of Lower Providence," as subsequently amended, shall be adhered to
for all public roads in and abutting mobile home developments. In
those developments wherein the roads are to be maintained as private
internal roadways, owned and maintained by the mobile home park operator
or owned and maintained in common by the residents/owners of the individual
lots, the standards shall be as follows:
(a)
Rights-of-way. There shall be an equivalent
right-of-way, as defined herein, reserved along those streets which
are designed to function as feeder or collector roads and which connect
major exterior roadways, form major loops, traverse the development
or provide major or important access to adjacent parcels. No equivalent
right-of-way is required on other roads. On those roads where an equivalent
right-of-way is required, parallel parking may be permitted, but perpendicular
or angle parking is discouraged.
(b)
Pavement. The pavement width of all residential
streets serving as access to mobile home lots shall be not less than
26 feet, except that this may be reduced to not less than 22 feet
on a street serving as access to no more than 30 mobile home lots
where parking is prohibited along the road and off-street visitor
parking is provided in common areas within 300 feet of all dwelling
units at a rate of 0.3 space per mobile home.
(c)
Grades. Gradients on all residential streets
shall not exceed 10%.
(d)
Culs-de-sac. A paved turnaround area with a
minimum radius of 50 feet shall be provided at the closed end of any
cul-de-sac road serving as a sole access to four or more mobile home
lots. No permanently closed cul-de-sac street shall exceed 500 feet
in length or serve as the sole access to more than 25 mobile home
lots.
(e)
Other requirements. All other applicable requirements of this Part
1 relating to grades, vertical curves, horizontal curves, tangents between curves, sight distance, construction specifications, intersection alignment, intersection radius, interconnection of adjacent parcels and similar regulations shall be adhered to in all mobile home park developments.
(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.
(3) Conversions. Any road built as a private road and
later proposed for conversion to a public road shall be brought up
to the applicable standards for public roads prior to being ordained
as a public way, unless this requirement is waived by the governing
body subsequent to determining that compliance with the requirement
would have a negative effect on the mobile home development.
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, where they shall
only be required on one side, or they may form a separate but coordinated
system away from streets. Walkways must be provided wherever pedestrian
traffic is concentrated and where school children congregate but may
be waived elsewhere if the applicant successfully demonstrates a lack
of need.
(2) Common walk system. Where a common walk system is
provided and maintained between locations, such 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 streets or to driveways or parking spaces connecting
to a paved street. Such individual walks shall have a minimum of two
feet.
H. Parking spaces required. Two paved off-street parking
spaces shall be provided for each dwelling either on the same lot
therewith or in common parking facilities, provided that parking areas
contained therein are within 150 feet of the mobile home lots for
which they are intended. Parking for any commercial or other nonresidential
use shall follow the requirements otherwise applicable for such uses.
I. Common parking areas. Where common parking facilities are to be used, the parking areas shall conform to §§
123-37 and
123-50 of this Part
1.
J. Common open space. In addition to the requirements
of the Township Zoning Ordinance, the following regulations shall
apply:
(1) Arrangement. The common space shall be designed as
a contiguous area unless the applicant demonstrates to the satisfaction
of the Board of Supervisors that two or more separate areas would
be preferable. The open space 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 common
open space.
(2) Recreation. Recreation areas and facilities shall
be provided to meet the anticipated needs of the residents of the
development. Not less than 25% of the required open space area, 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.
K. Buffers.
(1) General requirements. A permanent buffer shall be provided along all exterior property lines in conformance with §
123-50C of this Part
1.
(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 Supervisors upon recommendation of the Township
Planning Commission.
(3) Buffer landscape plan. A landscaping plan shall be submitted with the final plans, in accordance with §
123-18A(3)(p), 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.
L. Design standards. All the provisions of the Lower
Providence Township Stormwater and Erosion Control Ordinance, as well as design standards and procedures contained in this Part
1, shall be adhered to for all mobile home developments during and after development.
M. Ground cover requirement. Exposed ground surfaces
in all parts of every mobile home development shall be paved or covered
with stone screenings or other solid material or protected with a
vegetative growth that is capable of preventing soil erosion and the
emanation of dust during dry weather. Impervious pavement shall be
kept to a minimum. All ground surfaces shall be appropriately maintained.
N. Lighting facilities. Lighting facilities shall be
provided as needed and arranged in a manner which will protect the
mobile home development residents, neighboring properties and adjacent
highways from direct glare or hazardous interference of any kind.
Lighting facilities shall be required where deemed necessary by the
governing body for the safety and convenience of the mobile home development
residents and shall be installed by the developer.