A.
For the purpose of this chapter, words and terms used
herein shall be interpreted as follows:
(1)
Words used in the present tense include the future.
(2)
The singular includes the plural.
(3)
The word "person" includes a corporation, partnership,
and association as well.
(4)
The word "lot" includes the word "plot" or "parcel."
(5)
The term "shall" is always mandatory.
(6)
The word "used" or "occupied," as applied to any land
or building, shall be construed to include the words "intended, arranged
or designed to be used or occupied."
B.
Any word or term not defined herein shall be used
with a meaning of standard usage.
Unless a contrary intention clearly appears,
the following words and phrases shall have, for the purpose of this
chapter, the meanings given in the following clauses:
An accredited medical school within this commonwealth that
operates or partners with an acute care hospital licensed within this
commonwealth.
[Added 4-2-2018 by Ord.
No. 325]
See Subsection A of the definition of "building."
[Amended 12-15-2008 by Ord. No. 288]
A use that is subordinate to the principal use of the land
or of a building on the same lot and customarily incidental thereto.
Areas which are subject to periodic flooding and are classified
as being alluvial by the Soil Survey of Bucks and Philadelphia Counties,
Pennsylvania, Soil Conservation Service, July 1975.
As applied to a building or structure, a change or rearrangement
in the structural parts, or an enlargement or diminution, whether
by extending on a side or by increasing in height, or the moving from
one location or position to another.
Any automatic, mechanical, electric or electronic machine
or device used or designed to be operated as a game or amusement by
the insertion of a coin, token, key, money or other article or by
the payment of money to have it activated. This definition does not
include the following devices: jukeboxes, rides, or merchandise machines
which dispense beverages, food, toilet articles or other tangible
personal property.
A story partly underground but having 1/2 or more of its
height (measured from floor to ceiling) above the average finished
grade level of the adjoining ground. A basement shall be counted as
a story for the purposes of height measurement or for the determination
of square footage or floor area only if the vertical distance between
the ceiling and the average level of the adjoining ground is more
than four feet or if it is used for business or dwelling purposes.
A strip of required yard space adjacent to the boundary of a property, street (existing or proposed) or a zoning district line, not less in width than is designated in this chapter, and on which is placed year-round shrubbery, hedges, evergreens, or other plantings in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. (See also § 340-36.)
A structure having a roof supported by columns, piers, or
walls, used for the housing or enclosure of persons, animals or personal
property.
BUILDING, ACCESSORYA subordinate building located on the same lot as a principal building and clearly incidental and subordinate to a principal building. Any portion of a principal building devoted or intended to be devoted for an accessory use is not an accessory building.
BUILDING, PRINCIPALA building in which is conducted or is intended to conducted the principal use of the lot on which it is located.
The aggregate of the maximum horizontal cross-section area
of all buildings on a lot, excluding cornices, unroofed porches, paved
terraces, decks, steps, eaves, and gutters.
The percentage of the lot area covered by the building area.
That area of a lot that has no development restrictions. The building envelope shall not include the area of any required setbacks (except for driveways which would cross yards), buffer yards, natural features with 100% protection standard and the portion of those natural features that may not be developed or intruded upon as specified in § 340-34, Environmental performance standards.
A building's vertical measurement from the level of the finished
lot grade in front of the building to the highest point of the roofline
or the structure.
An imaginary line, parallel to the street, drawn the full
width of the lot at the closest point to the street of any building
thereon.
The line parallel to the street line at a distance therefrom
equal to the depth of the minimum front yard required for the district
in which the lot is located.
The portion of a street right-of-way normally paved or stoned
and designed or intended for vehicular use.
The individual designated by a patient to deliver medical
marijuana.
[Added 4-2-2018 by Ord.
No. 325]
A story partly underground and having more than 1/2 of its
height (measured from floor to ceiling) below the average finished
grade level of the adjoining ground. A cellar shall not be counted
as a story for the purposes of height measurement or for the determination
of square footage or floor area, nor shall it be used for dwelling,
office or business purposes.
The acquisition, possession, use or transportation of medical
marijuana by a patient, or the acquisition, possession, delivery,
transportation or administration of medical marijuana by a caregiver,
for use as part of the treatment of the patient's serious medical
condition, as authorized by certification by the commonwealth.
[Added 4-2-2018 by Ord.
No. 325]
An entity that:
[Added 4-2-2018 by Ord.
No. 325]
Holds a permit both as a grower/processor and a dispensary;
and
Has a contractual relationship with an academic clinical research
center under which the academic clinical research center or its affiliate
provides advice to the entity, regarding, among other areas, patient
health and safety, medical applications and dispensing and management
of controlled substances.
A use permitted in a particular zoning district pursuant to the provisions of § 340-94.
Real estate, portions of which are designated for separate
ownership and the remainder of which is designated for common ownership
solely by the owners of those portions. Real estate is not a condominium
unless the undivided interests in the common elements are vested in
the unit owners. A condominium is an ownership arrangement and not
a land use; therefore, it is allowed in any district and under the
same restrictions as the use. A condominium is any property and use
which has all of the following characteristics:
The unit (the interior and associated exterior
areas designated for private use in the development plan) is owned
by the occupant.
The unit may be any permitted use.
All or a portion of the exterior open space and any community interior spaces are owned and maintained in accordance with the Uniform Condominium Act, 68 Pa.C.S.A. § 3101 et seq., and in accordance with the provisions for open space, roads, or other development features in this chapter and Chapter 290, Subdivision and Land Development.
[Amended 12-15-2008 by Ord. No. 288]
The final adjudication of any board or other body granted
jurisdiction under any land use ordinance or the Pennsylvania Municipalities
Planning Code (Act 247, as amended)[1] to do so, either by reason of the grant of exclusive jurisdiction
or by reason of appeals from determinations. All decisions shall be
appealable to the court of common pleas of the county and judicial
district wherein the Municipality lies.
A measure of the number of dwelling units per unit of area. It shall be expressed in dwelling units per acre. The density factor is arrived at by dividing the number of dwelling units by the base site area. See § 340-32, Table of Dimensional Requirements, for the density requirements for the various districts, and § 340-35, Site capacity calculations, for the calculation used to determine the net buildable site area.
A final action by an officer, body or agency charged with
the administration of any land use ordinance or applications thereunder,
except the following:
A person, including a natural person, corporation, partnership,
association, trust or other entity, or any combination thereof, which
holds a permit issued by the Department of Health (DOH) of the commonwealth
to dispense medical marijuana.
[Added 4-2-2018 by Ord.
No. 325]
DWELLINGA building containing one or more dwelling units.
SINGLE-FAMILY DWELLINGA building, on a lot, designed and occupied exclusively as a residence for one family, including mobile homes.
TWO-FAMILY DWELLINGA building, on a lot, designed and occupied exclusively as a residence for two families with one family living completely separate from the other.
MULTIFAMILYA building, on a lot, designed and used exclusively as a residence for three or more families.
DETACHEDA building which has no party wall.
SEMIDETACHEDA building which has only one party wall in common with an adjacent building.
ATTACHEDA building which has two party walls in common with adjacent dwellings.
One or more rooms designed and equipped for one family, or
persons living together as one family, to occupy as a residence but
shall not include tourist homes, cabins, lodging houses, hotels, motels,
or other similar places offering overnight accommodations for transients.
The greatest number of persons to be employed on the premises
in question at any one time of the day or night.
One person or two or more persons related by blood, foster
relationship, marriage or adoption, and, in addition, any domestic
servants or gratuitous guests thereof; or one or more persons who
need not be so related, and, in addition, domestic servants or gratuitous
guests thereof, who are living together in a single, nonprofit dwelling
unit and maintaining a common household with single cooking facilities.
A roomer, boarder or lodger shall not be considered a member of the
family.
[Amended 12-15-2008 by Ord. No. 288]
[Amended 12-5-2014 by Ord. No. 312]
Any areas of Silverdale Borough, classified as special flood
hazard areas (SFHAs) in the Flood Insurance Study (FIS) and the accompanying
Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs) dated March 16, 2015, and issued
by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) or the most recent
revision thereof, including all digital data developed as part of
the Flood Insurance Study; and
For areas abutting streams and watercourses where the one-hundred-year
floodplain (one-percent annual chance flood) has not been delineated
by the Flood Insurance Study, the applicant shall submit a floodplain
identification study. The study, prepared by a registered professional
engineer expert in the preparation of hydrologic and hydraulic studies,
shall be used to delineate the one-hundred-year floodplain. The floodplain
study shall be subject to the review and approval of the Borough.
All areas inundated by the one-hundred-year flood shall be included
in the floodplain area.
Areas subject to periodic flooding and listed in the Soil
Survey of Bucks and Philadelphia Counties, Pennsylvania, U.S. Department
of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service, July 1975, as being "on
the floodplain" or subject to "flooding." The following soil types
are floodplain soils:
The sum of the areas of the several floors of the building
or structure, including areas used for human occupancy or required
for the conduct of the business or use, and basements, attics and
penthouses, as measured from the exterior faces of the walls. It does
not include cellars, unenclosed porches, attics not used for human
occupancy, nor any floor space in an accessory building or in the
main building intended or designed for the parking of motor vehicles
in order to meet the parking requirements of this chapter, nor any
such floor space intended and designed for accessory heating and ventilating
equipment.
The ratio of the floor area to the lot area, as determined
by dividing the floor area by the lot area.
The characteristics of the medical marijuana recommended
or limited for a particular patient, including the method of consumption
and any particular dosage, strain, variety and quantity or percentage
of medical marijuana or particular active ingredient.
[Added 4-2-2018 by Ord.
No. 325]
A person, including, a natural person, corporation, partnership,
association, trust or other entity, or any combination thereof, which
holds a permit from the DOH to grow and process medical marijuana.
[Added 4-2-2018 by Ord.
No. 325]
A use, customarily conducted entirely within a dwelling unit
and carried on by the inhabitants thereof, which is clearly incidental
and secondary to the use of the dwelling and which does not change
the character thereof or have any exterior evidence of such secondary
use other than a small nameplate, and in connection therewith there
is not involved the keeping of stock-in-trade for sale to the general
public. A home occupation includes a home-based business.
A soil that is saturated, flooded, or ponded long enough
during the growing season to develop anaerobic conditions that favor
the growth and regeneration of wetlands vegetation. Wetlands vegetation
is those plant species that have adapted to the saturated soils and
periodic inundations occurring in wetlands. The following soils, classified
in the Soil Survey of Bucks and Philadelphia Counties, Pennsylvania,
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service, July 1975,
are hydric soils:
A document issued by the DOH that permits access to medical
marijuana.
[Added 4-2-2018 by Ord.
No. 325]
A measure of the intensity of use of a piece of land. It
is measured by dividing the total area of all impervious surfaces
within the site by the base site area.
Those surfaces which do not absorb rain. All buildings, parking
areas, driveways, roads, sidewalks, and any areas in concrete, asphalt,
paving blocks (brick, stone, or other material) and packed stone shall
be considered impervious surfaces within this definition. In addition,
other areas determined by the Borough Engineer to be impervious within
the meaning of this definition will also be classified as impervious
surfaces.
The landside edges of lakes and ponds from established shoreline
to an upland boundary. Lake and pond shorelines shall be measured
100 feet from the spillway crest elevation.
Natural or artificial bodies of water which retain water,
exclusive of detention basins. Artificial ponds may be created by
dams or result from excavation. The shoreline of such water bodies
shall be measured from the spillway crest elevation rather than the
permanent pool if there is any difference. Lakes are bodies of water
two or more acres in extent. Ponds are any water bodies less than
two acres in extent.
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.
The area contained within the property lines of the individual
parcels of land shown on a subdivision plan or required by this chapter.
For lots existing at the time of enactment of this chapter, the calculation
of the lot area shall include the area within the right-of-way of
the frontage street, provided that the property lines extend to the
center line of the street within the deed.
This chapter establishes a minimum lot area for the various
zoning districts and in some instances for a particular use. The minimum
lot area shall not include any area within the existing or designated
future street right-of-way, or any area required as open space under
this chapter, or the area of any easement which would interfere with
the proposed use of the lot.
The average lot area for all dwelling units of a single type.
Individual lots may be smaller or larger than the average, provided
that the average size is maintained and that all other standards of
this chapter are met.
A lot which has an interior angle of less than 135° at
the intersection of two street lines. A lot abutting upon a curved
street or streets shall be considered a corner lot if the tangents
to the curve at the points of intersection of the side lot lines intersect
with the street lines at an angle of less than 135°. A parcel
of land at the junction of and fronting on two or more intersecting
streets.
The "front of a lot" shall be construed to be the portion
nearest the street. For the purpose of determining yard requirements
on corner lots and through lots, all sides of a lot adjacent to the
streets shall be considered frontage, and yards shall be provided
as indicated under "yards" in this chapter.
The street line is the front lot line. In the case of a corner
lot, both street lines shall be deemed front lot lines.
Any lot line, except the front lot line, which is parallel
to, or within 45° of being parallel to, and does not intersect
any street line. If the rear lot line is less than 10 feet in length
or if the lot forms a point at the rear, the rear lot line shall be
deemed to be a line 10 feet in length within the lot, between the
side lot lines, parallel to and at a maximum distance from the front
lot line. For a corner lot, the lot line opposite the street line
which the front of the principal building faces shall be considered
the rear lot line.
The lines bounding a lot, provided that any street lines
shall be considered lot lines for purposes of this chapter.
Any lot line which is not a front lot line or rear lot line.
DEPTHDepth of a lot shall be considered to be the distance between the midpoints of straight lines connecting the foremost points of the side lot lines in front and the rearmost points of the side lot lines in the rear.
WIDTHWidth of a lot shall be considered to be the distance between straight lines connecting the front and rear lot lines at each side of the lot, measured across the rear of the required front yard; provided, however, that width between side lot lines at their foremost points (where they intersect street lines) shall not be less than 80% of the required lot widths, except in the case of lots on the turning circle of culs-de-sac, where the 80% requirement shall not apply.
A lot which is part of a subdivision recorded in the office
of the Bucks County Recorder of Deeds or a lot or parcel described
by metes and bounds, the description of which has been so recorded.
The width of a lot measured at the minimum front yard line.
Marijuana for certified medical use as legally permitted
by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania with Act 16.
[Added 4-2-2018 by Ord.
No. 325]
Any facility used to house delivery vehicles for supplying
marijuana plants or seeds to one or more grower or processors and/or
dispensaries.
[Added 4-2-2018 by Ord.
No. 325]
A dispensary or a grower/processor of marijuana for medical
purposes.
[Added 4-2-2018 by Ord.
No. 325]
A transportable, single-family dwelling unit intended for
permanent occupancy, contained in one unit, or in two units or more
units designed to be joined into one integral unit capable of again
being separated for repeated towing, which arrives at a site complete
and ready for occupancy except for minor and incidental unpacking
and assembly operations, and constructed so that it may be used without
a permanent foundation.
A parcel of land in a mobile home park, improved with the
necessary utility connections and other appurtenances necessary for
the erection thereon of a single mobile home.
The portion of a tract to be developed in any district that may not be developed in accordance with provisions of this chapter. The land must be reserved from development because it is the portion of a natural resource that must be protected in accordance with § 340-34 of this chapter.
A building or other structure, use, or lot, lawful when created,
which, by reason of design, size, or use, does not conform to the
requirements of the district or districts in which it is located.
An area on a property for the standing, loading, and unloading
of vehicles to avoid undue interference with the public use of streets
and alleys.
Space containing a minimum area required by this chapter
for the parking of an automobile. In determining the dimensions of
an off-street parking space, access drives and aisles shall not be
included.
Land used for recreation, resource protection, amenity, or buffers that is freely accessible to all residents and is protected by the provisions of this chapter and Chapter 290, Subdivision and Land Development, to ensure that it remains in such uses. Open space does not include land occupied by buildings, roads, or road rights-of-way, nor does it include the yards or lots of any dwelling unit or parking areas as required by the provisions of this chapter. Open space shall be left in a natural state, except in the case of recreation uses, which may contain impervious surfaces. Such impervious surfaces shall be included in the calculation of the impervious surface ratio.
A measure of the intensity of land use. It is arrived at
by dividing the total amount of open space within the site by the
base site area.
An accessory building used for the storage of motor vehicles
and farm equipment, which may include one commercial vehicle, and
for the storage of not more than two private noncommercial vehicles
owned and used by persons other than the owner or tenant of the premises.
A public water system is any municipal or privately owned
water system for the distribution and sale of water, in accordance
with the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. A public sewer
is any municipal or privately owned sewer system in which sewage is
collected from buildings and piped to an approved sewage disposal
plant or central septic tank disposal system and approved by the Sanitary
Water Board and Bucks County Department of Public Health. It may also
be referred to as an "off-lot" or "off-site" sewer.
The registry established by the DOH for all medical marijuana
organizations and practitioners.
[Added 4-2-2018 by Ord.
No. 325]
The legal right-of-way of a street as established by the
commonwealth, Borough, or other appropriate governing authority and
currently in existence.
The right-of-way deemed necessary to provide adequate width
for future street improvements and utility construction.
An area of trees and other vegetation located in areas adjoining
and upgradient from surface water bodies and designed to intercept
surface runoff, wastewater, subsurface flow, and deeper groundwater
flows from upland sources for the purpose of removing or buffering
the effects of associated nutrients, sediment, organic matter, pesticides,
or other pollutants prior to entry into surface waters and groundwater
recharge areas.
Any substance that contains any of the waste products or
excrement or other discharge from the bodies of human beings or animals
and any noxious or deleterious substances being harmful or inimical
to the public health, or to animal or aquatic life, or to the use
of water for domestic water supply or for recreation, or which constitutes
pollution under the Act of June 22, 1937 (P.L. 1987, No. 394), known
as the “Clean Streams Law," as amended.[2]
Any structure, device, display or part thereof, or device
attached thereto or painted or represented thereon, located outside,
on or within the building in such a manner that the sign is viewed
from outside the building, which shall be used for the purpose of
bringing the subject thereof to the attention of the public or which
displays or includes any letter, word, motto, banner, pennant, flag,
insignia, device or representation which is in the nature of an advertisement,
announcement, direction or attraction, but not including the flag,
emblem, or insignia of the United States of America, the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania, or any political subdivision thereof.
The ownership of a lot by one or more persons, partnerships,
or corporations, which ownership is separate and distinct from that
of any adjoining lot.
All land area within the site as defined by the deed. Area
shall be calculated from an actual site survey rather than from the
deed description.
The area of a tract of land remaining after subtracting land that is not contiguous to the subject property, land previously subdivided, future road rights-of-way and existing utility rights-of-way from the site area. See Site capacity calculation, § 340-35, of this chapter.
The area of a tract that is suitable for development. It is the area of a tract that does not contain any natural resource protection area. It can be determined for a particular tract of land by completing the calculations in § 340-35.
Areas of at least 3,000 square feet in size where the average
slope exceeds 15% which, because of this slope, are subject to high
rates of stormwater runoff and, therefore, erosion and flooding.
A tank which contains substances as regulated under the Storage
Tank and Spill Prevent Act (STSPA) and which meets the following criteria:
a stationary tank, 250 gallons or more of capacity, with greater than
90% of its capacity aboveground. Specific exceptions to this definition
are included within the STSPA.
A tank which contains substances as regulated under the Storage
Tank and Spill Prevention Act (STSPA) and which meets the following
criteria: a tank with 110 gallons or more of capacity with 10% or
greater of its capacity beneath the ground surface. Specific exceptions
to this definition are included within the STSPA.
That part of a building located between a floor and the floor
or roof next above. The first story of a building is the lowest story
having 75% or more of its wall area above grade level.
A watercourse, having banks and channel, which has a continuous
flow of water or has a flow of water for a majority of the year.
A public or private open way used or intended
to be used for passage or travel by automotive vehicles. If private,
such way must be used or intended to be used as the principal means
of access to an abutting lot or lots or to more than two dwellings
on a lot on which a private way is exclusively located.
Streets are further classified as follows:
ARTERIAL ROADDesigned for large volumes and high-speed traffic, with access to abutting properties restricted.
COLLECTOR ROADDesigned to carry a moderate volume of fast-moving traffic from primary and secondary streets to arterial streets, with access to abutting properties restricted.
PRIMARY STREETDesigned to carry a moderate volume of traffic, to intercept secondary streets, to provide routes to collector streets and to community facilities, and to provide access to abutting properties.
RURAL ROADDesigned at present to provide access to abutting properties; the design in the future will be identical to the design for primary streets.
SECONDARY STREETDesigned to provide access to abutting properties and a route to primary streets.
MARGINAL-ACCESS STREETA secondary street which is parallel to and adjacent to an arterial or collector road and which provides access to abutting properties and protection from through traffic.
DUAL-PURPOSE STREETA private cul-de-sac street used or intended to be used for both passage of travel by automotive vehicles and as an airstrip, allowable only within an airpark, subject to the limitations contained in the definition of that term in the Table of Uses hereunder. A dual-purpose road may abut or be connected to a rural road or secondary street.
ALLEYA minor vehicular right-of-way, which may or may not be legally dedicated to the Borough, that serves as a secondary means of access to the rear or side of properties that otherwise abut a street.
The dividing line between the street and the lot. The street
line shall be the same as the legal right-of-way, provided that the
street line shall be not less than 25 feet from the center line of
any street.
Anything constructed or erected with a fixed location on
the ground or attached to something having a fixed location on the
ground, including trailers.
A watercourse, having a channel, which is part of the natural
or man-made stormwater drainage system. Stormwater runoff is the only
source of water flow. Floodplain soils may or may not be found within
a swale.
A lot or premises used for occupancy by two or more trailers
or mobile home units for any length of time.
Any vehicle designed, intended, arranged, or used for living,
eating, sleeping, business or other similar purposes, whether arranged
to stand on wheels or rigid supports.
An area that is radial to the trunk of a tree in which no
construction activity shall occur. The tree protection zone shall
be 15 feet from the trunk of the tree to be retained or the distance
from the trunk to the dripline, whichever is greater. Where there
is a group of trees or woodlands, the tree protection zone shall be
the aggregate of the protection zones for the individual trees.
Any activity, occupation, business or operation carried on,
or intended to be carried on, in a building or other structure or
on a tract of land.
[Added 11-7-2011 by Ord. No. 292]
A use located on the same lot with a principal use and clearly
incidental or subordinate to, and in connection with, the principal
use.
[Added 11-7-2011 by Ord. No. 292]
The main use on a lot.
[Added 11-7-2011 by Ord. No. 292]
Any natural or artificial stream, river, creek, ditch, channel,
canal, waterway, gully or ravine in which water flows in a definite
direction or course, either continuously or intermittently, and has
a defined bed and banks.
Those areas that are inundated and saturated by surface water
or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support,
and that under normal circumstances does support, a prevalence of
vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions,
including swamps, marshes, bogs and similar areas. In addition, the
definition of “wetlands” as presented by the Corps of
Engineers Wetland Delineation Manual, January 1987, Part II, Section
26 (or as amended), shall also be used.
The transitional area extending from the outer limit of the
wetland.
One-fourth acre or more of wooded land where the largest
trees measure at least six inches in diameter at breast height (dbh)
or 4.5 feet from the ground. The woodland shall be measured from the
dripline of the outer trees. Woodlands are also a grove of trees forming
one canopy where 10 or more trees measure at least 10 inches in diameter
at breast height (dbh).
YARD, FRONTAn area that is unobstructed from the ground up, except for permitted projections and plantings, extending across the full width of a lot and lying between the street line and the nearest point of the principal building.
YARD, REARAn area that is unobstructed form the ground up, except for permitted projections and plantings, extending across the full width of a lot and lying between the rear lot line of the lot, or the corner of a triangular lot furthermost from the front lot line, and the nearest point of the principal building.
YARD, SIDEAn area that is unobstructed from the ground up, except for permitted projections and plantings, between the side lot line of a lot and the nearest point of the principal building and extending from the front yard to the rear yard.
