[Added 5-22-1953 by Ord. No. 4-20; amended 12-8-1958 by Ord. No. 4-A; 4-6-1959 by Ord. No.
23]
A.
In expansion of the declaration of the legislative intent contained in Article I, § 160-2, it is hereby declared to be the intent of this article with respect to Limited Industrial Zones (as adopted by ordinance and shown on the Whitpain Township Zoning Map attached hereto) to establish reasonable standards for the height and size of buildings, the areas and dimensions of yards and open spaces and the provision of facilities and operation of industries to minimize traffic congestion, noise, glare, air pollution, water pollution and fire and safety hazards in industrial districts.
B.
In an I Limited Industrial District, the following
regulations shall apply.
[Amended 6-1-1959 by Ord. No. 25; 6-3-1968 by Ord. No. 4-23; 3-19-1973 by Ord. No.
4-38; 8-19-1985 by Ord. No. 4-84; 9-4-1985 by Ord. No. 4-83; 8-1-1988 by Ord. No. 4-104; 10-6-1997 by Ord. No. 4-157; 4-5-2005 by Ord. No.
4-205]
A building or group of buildings may be erected,
altered or used and any lot or premises may be used or occupied for
any of the following purposes and no other:
B.
Agriculture.
C.
A use permitted in an R-1 District, with buildings
located and constructed as therein provided.
D.
Dwelling quarters for watchmen and caretakers employed
on the premises shall be permitted in connection with any industrial
establishment.
E.
Medical facilities.
F.
Banking facilities.
G.
The Zoning Hearing Board may, in appropriate cases
and subject to appropriate conditions and safeguards, authorize by
special exception the following uses:
(3)
Warehousing, miniwarehousing, storage and ministorage
facilities, retail and wholesale sales or storage of plumbing supplies,
lumber supplies and building materials and supplies.
(4)
Truck terminals, bulk cargo facilities, truck
or bus storage, garages or repair facilities or contractor's storage
of equipment or supplies.
(5)
Any other lawful and legitimate use not otherwise
specifically provided for in this article.
(6)
Contracting uses. Contracting shall include
offices, supply shops and yards for activities such as building supplies,
cement, electric, heating, plumbing, masonry, painting and roofing.
This use shall include the retail and/or wholesale or storage and
woodworking of lumber, plumbing or other building materials or supplies.
[Added 7-1-2003 by Ord. No. 4-186]
(7)
Newspaper and book publishing and printing.
[Added 7-1-2003 by Ord. No. 4-186]
I.
Mining use. Mining use and mining operations and facilities
shall be permitted, subject to the following regulations and requirements:
[Added 2-19-2002 by Ord. No. 4-177]
(1)
Setbacks. Buildings, including accessory structures
and the outward edge which is a part of any mining operation within
the Township shall be set back from property lines and road frontages
as follows:
(2)
Hours of operation. No mining operations conducted
in the Township shall commence operations of any machinery utilized
in the mining business, including motorized vehicles engaged in the
business, until 7:00 a.m. and all such operations shall cease by 5:00
p.m., prevailing time, Monday through Friday, only.
(3)
Exterior storage. Any exterior storage of mining
product or by-product shall comply with all recognized fire standards
and safety standards and shall be screened from view from adjoining
properties with the planting of an appropriate evergreen screen.
(4)
Deliveries or transport to and from the site.
No deliveries to the location or transportation of product or by-product
of the mining operation shall be conducted except between the hours
of 7:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, only.
(6)
Signage and retail operations. No sale of any
of the mined materials or any other product or by-product of the mining
operation may be sold on the premises where the mining operation is
conducted.
J.
Office buildings subject to the provisions of §§ 160-102, 160-104, 160-106, 160-107, and 160-108 of Article XVII, A-R and A-R-1 Administrative and Research Districts; the required minimum green space area requirement of 50% (see § 160-214); and those provisions contained herein not specifically preempted by these sections.
[Added 2-17-2004 by Ord. No. 4-189]
K.
Adult-oriented establishments. By conditional use,
adult-oriented establishments shall be permitted, subject to the following
regulations and requirements:
(1)
Adult-oriented establishments shall not be permitted
within 1,000 feet of the following uses. A person commits a violation
of this chapter if the person operates or causes to be operated an
adult-oriented establishment within 1,000 feet of:
(a)
A church, synagogue, mosque, temple or building
which is used primarily for religious worship and/or related religious
activities;
(b)
A public or private educational facility, including
but not limited to child day-care facilities, nursery schools, preschools,
kindergartens, elementary schools, private schools, intermediate schools,
junior high schools, middle schools, high schools, vocational schools,
secondary schools, continuation schools, special education schools,
junior colleges and universities. “School” includes the
school grounds, but does not include facilities used primarily for
another purpose and only incidentally as a school;
(c)
A public park or recreational area which has
been designated for park or recreational activities, including but
not limited to passive or active park or parkland, playground, nature
trails, swimming pool, reservoir, athletic field, basketball or tennis
courts, pedestrian/bicycle paths, wilderness areas, or other similar
public land; and
(d)
A licensed premises, licensed pursuant to the
alcoholic beverage control regulations of the commonwealth.
(2)
An adult-oriented establishment shall not be
located within 500 feet of the following uses. A person commits a
violation of this chapter if the person operates or causes to be operated
an adult-oriented establishment within 500 feet of:
(3)
The distance between any uses shall be measured
in a straight line, without regard to the intervening structures or
objects or political boundaries, from the closest exterior wall of
the structure in which each use is located.
L.
Medical marijuana grower/processor (as defined and limited by the
Medical Marijuana Act, Act of April 17, 2016, P.L. 84, No. 16, as
amended.[4]).
[Added 7-18-2017 by Ord.
No. 4-245; amended 9-20-2022 by Ord. No. 4-259]
(1)
No
use of medical marijuana shall be permitted on the premises of a medical
marijuana grower/processor.
[4]
Editor's Note: See 35 P.S. § 10231.101 et seq.
The following uses shall not be permitted:
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Abattoir
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Acetylene gas manufacture and/or storage
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Acid manufacture (hydrochloric, nitric, picric,
sulfuric, sulfanilic, carbolic)
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Ammonia, bleaching powder or chlorine manufacture
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Ammunition manufacture and/or storage
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Arsenal
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Asphalt manufacture or refining
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Blast or reverberatory furnace or foundry
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Bone distillation
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Celluloid manufacture
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Cement manufacture, including cement mixing
plant, lime, gypsum or plaster of paris manufacture
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Coal distillation
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Coke ovens
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Creosote treatment or manufacture
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Dead animal and offal reduction
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Distillation of bones, coal, petroleum, refuse,
grain or wood (except in the manufacture of gas)
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Distillation of tar
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Drop hammer
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Explosives, fireworks and gunpowder manufacture
or storage
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Fat rendering
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Fertilizer manufacture
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Forge plant
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Hog farm
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Incineration, reduction, storage or dumping
of slaughterhouse refuse, rancid fats, garbage, dead animals or offal
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Kiln, except fired by oil, gas or electricity,
maximum capacity of 200 cubic feet
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Oilcloth or linoleum manufacture
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Ore reduction
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Petroleum or kerosene refining, distillation
or derivation of by-products and/or storage
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Potash works
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Power forge (riveting, hammering, punching,
chipping, drawing, rolling or tumbling of iron, steel, brass, copper),
except as a necessary incident to manufacture of which those processes
form a minor part and which are carried on without objectionable noise
outside the plant and permitted as a special exception
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Reduction of fish and animal products and vegetable
oils
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Roasting of coffee, spices and soybeans
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Rolling mill
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Steel furnace, blooming or rolling mill
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Stockyards
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Tar distillation or manufacture
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A.
No smoke shall be emitted from any chimney or other
source visible gray greater than No. 1 on the Ringelmann Chart as
published by the United States Bureau of Mines.
B.
Smoke of a shade not darker than No. 2 on the Ringelmann
Smoke Chart may be emitted for not more than four minutes in any 30
minutes.
C.
These provisions applicable to visible gray smoke
shall also apply to visible smoke of a different color but with an
equivalent apparent opacity.
A.
No emission shall be made which can cause any damage
to health, to animals or vegetation or other form of property or which
can cause any excessive soiling at any point.
B.
No emission of liquid or solid particles from any
chimney or otherwise shall exceed 0.3 grain per cubic foot of the
covering gas at any point.
C.
For measurement of the amount of particles in gases
resulting from combustion, standard correction shall be applied to
a stack temperature of 500° F. and 50% excess air.
Noise shall not violate the Township's Disturbing the Peace Ordinance, at § 83-1 of the Code of Ordinances of Whitpain Township.
Any operation producing intense glare or heat
shall be performed within an enclosed building or behind a solid fence
in such manner as to be completely imperceptible from any point along
the lot lines.
No vibration which is discernible to the human
sense of feeling shall be perceptible without instruments at any point
on the lot lines.
There shall be no activities which emit dangerous
radioactivity at any point. There shall be no electrical disturbance
(except from domestic household appliances) adversely affecting the
operation at any point of any equipment other than that of the creator
of such disturbance.
A.
No flammable or explosive liquids, solids or gases
shall be stored in bulk above the ground; provided, however, that
tanks or drums of fuel are excluded from this provision.
B.
All outdoor storage facilities for fuel, raw materials
and products stored outdoors shall be enclosed by a fence adequate
to conceal the facilities from any adjacent properties.
C.
No materials or wastes shall be deposited upon a lot
in such form or manner that they may be transferred off the lot by
natural causes or forces.
D.
All materials or wastes which might cause fumes or
dust, which constitute a fire hazard or which may be edible or otherwise
be attractive to rodents or insects shall be stored outdoors only
in closed containers.
Every use requiring power shall be so operated
that the service lines, substation, etc., shall conform to the highest
safety requirements known, and shall be so constructed, installed,
etc., as to be an integral part of the architectural features of the
plant or, if visible from abutting residential properties, shall be
concealed by coniferous planting.
All external illumination shall be permitted only in compliance with § 160-220 of this chapter.
[Amended 6-3-1968 by Ord. No. 4-23]
The maximum height of any building erected or used for any use permitted by § 160-142 herein shall be 50 feet.
A.
Floor area ratio. The total floor area of principal
and accessory buildings shall not exceed 40% of the lot area.
[Amended 6-19-1968 by Ord. No. 4-25]
B.
Lot area. No Light Industrial District shall be less
than 10 developable acres, and no individual lot size shall be less
than two acres.
C.
Principal and accessory buildings shall not occupy
more than 20% of the lot area. This area may be increased by a maximum
of 5% for accessory buildings only, provided the minimum green area
is increased by a like percentage. This increase is in addition to
any increases required by the parking space reduction. Accessory buildings
adjacent to a residential zoning district may not exceed a height
of one story or 18 feet.
[Amended 3-7-2006 by Ord. No. 4-216]
D.
Yard requirements.
(1)
Front yard. The required minimum depth of a
front yard shall be as follows:
(2)
Side yards. There shall be two side yards on
each lot, which shall have an aggregate width of not less than 150
feet, neither side yard having a width of less than 50 feet, and provided
that any side yard abutting a street shall have a width of not less
than 100 feet.
[Amended 6-3-1968 by Ord. No. 4-23]
(3)
Rear yard. The required minimum depth of a rear yard shall be 50 feet, subject to exception as provided in Subsection D(4) hereinafter set forth.
(4)
Exceptions for side and rear yards. In no case
(except adjacent to an existing railroad) shall any building be erected,
either upon the surface of or under the ground, closer than 150 feet
to any residential district, nor any parking area be closer than 50
feet to any residential district. No side or rear yard shall be required
for the side or rear of a building abutting on an existing railroad
right-of-way.
[Amended 6-3-1968 by Ord. No. 4-23]
E.
Screening. All front yards and all areas delimited by a side or rear lot line abutting or directly across a street from a residential district and to a depth of 50 feet for the entire length thereof shall be maintained as green areas and planted in grass, shrubs and/or trees, except for necessary ways of access there through, which shall be planted in accordance with a plan approved by the Board of Supervisors following a recommendation by the Planning Commission, which shall, at least, conform to the standards and requirements of § 160-107A of the Code of the Township of Whitpain, including all regulations required for screen buffers.
[Amended 6-3-1968 by Ord. No. 4-23; 6-19-1968 by Ord. No. 4-25; 11-16-1999 by Ord. No.
4-168; 8-3-2004 by Ord. No. 4-204]
Adequate off-street parking and loading space is permitted in accordance with Article XXVII of this chapter.
