Words and phrases shall be presumed to be used in their ordinary
context, unless such word or phrase is defined or interpreted differently
within this article.
In this chapter, when not inconsistent with the context:
A.
Words in the present tense imply also the future tense.
B.
The singular includes the plural.
C.
The male gender includes the female gender.
D.
The term "person" includes an individual, partnership, corporation,
unincorporated association, estate, or any other legally recognized
entity.
E.
The terms "shall," "must," or "will" are always mandatory.
F.
The term "may" is permissive.
The following words and phrases shall have the particular meanings
assigned by this section in the appropriate sections of this chapter:
An improved cartway designed and constructed to provide for
vehicular movement between a public or private road and the off-street
parking and/or loading area for any use other than one single-family
dwelling unit or farm.
The Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, as amended
and codified.[1]
Any person, other than the developer, who, acting for the
developer, submits subdivision and/or land development plans to the
Township for the purpose of obtaining approval thereof.
The tilling of the soil, the raising of crops, horticulture,
and the keeping or raising of livestock, such as alpacas, birds, beavers,
bees, cattle, chinchillas, cows, emus, fish, fowl, foxes, goats, hogs,
horses, llamas, lynxes, minks, ostriches, peacocks, pot-belly pigs,
poultry, rabbits, raccoons, sables, seals, sheep, shellfish, and other
similar animals, for commercial distribution. This definition also
includes noncommercial greenhouses and mushroom houses, as as the
processing and retail sale of goods produced on the farm. This definition
also includes uses devoted to research into agricultural technology
that would change the conduct of normal farming operations.
A private drive intended principally to provide vehicular
access within a vehicular parking compound. Although an aisle provides
interior vehicular circulation, its principal function is to provide
entrance and exit for individual parking spaces. An aisle may not
be used to intersect streets.
A minor right-of-way, privately or publicly owned, primarily
for service access to the rear or sides of properties.
A landowner or developer, as hereinafter defined, who has
filed an application for subdivision or land development, including
his heirs, successors and assigns.
A tract of land that is entirely bounded by streets, public
parks, cemeteries, railroads, watercourses, or any other barrier to
the continuity of development.
The Board of Supervisors of Conewago Township, Adams County,
Pennsylvania.
Any structure with a roof intended for shelter or enclosure
of persons, animals or property.
A detached, subordinate building, not used for habitation,
the construction and use of which is customarily incidental and subordinate
to that of the principal building and located on the same lot as that
occupied by the principal building. Farm buildings not intended for
habitation are considered to be accessory buildings.
The total area taken on a horizontal plane at the main grade
level of the principal building and of all accessory buildings, exclusive
of uncovered patios, decks, awnings, terraces, and steps.
A building which is enclosed within exterior walls or fire
walls, which is built, erected, and framed of component structural
parts, which is designed for housing, shelter, enclosure, and support
of individuals or property of any kind, and which is a main structure
on a given lot.
The actual distance between the closest part of a building,
including roof overhangs.
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The surface of a street, access drive, driveway, or alley
available for vehicular traffic, including travel lanes and parking
lanes.
A natural or artificial watercourse with a definite bed and
banks that confines and conducts the continuous or periodic flow of
water.
An area of unobstructed vision at a street intersection defined
by a line of sight between points at center lines.
The latest version of the Conewago Township Comprehensive
Plan.
The County of Adams, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
The Adams County Planning Commission.
A structure with appurtenant works that carries a watercourse
under or through an embankment.
The raised edge of a pavement to confine surface water to
the pavement and to protect the abutting land from vehicular traffic.
The outside edge of the cartway.
The deliberate assignment of land by its owner to another
party.
A written instrument whereby an estate in real property is
conveyed.
A term used to express the allowable number of dwelling units
per acre of land, exclusive of public rights-of-way and streets.
The magnitude of precipitation from a storm event measured
in probability of occurrence (e.g., ten-year storm) and duration (e.g.,
twenty-four-hour storm) and used in computing stormwater management
control systems for Type II storm distribution.
A reservoir/containment which temporarily contains stormwater
runoff and releases it gradually into a watercourse or stormwater
drainage system.
Any landowner, agent of such landowner, equitable owner,
or tenant with the permission of the landowner for whom subdivision
or land development plans are being or have been made.
An improved cartway designed and constructed to provide vehicular
movement between a public street and a tract of land serving one single-family
dwelling unit or a farm.
Any building or portion thereof designed and used exclusively
for residential occupancy, including those listed below, but not including
hospitals, hotels, boardinghouses, rooming and lodging houses, institutional
houses, tourist courts, and the like, offering overnight accommodations
for guests or patients.
SINGLE-FAMILY DETACHEDA freestanding building containing one dwelling unit for one family. Manufactured homes can be considered single-family detached dwellings if the manufactured home is securely anchored to the permanent foundation, and all of the apparatuses used to transport the unit shall be removed, including the towing hitch. Recreational vehicles shall not be construed as dwellings. Manufactured and modular homes shall be considered single-family detached dwellings so long as they are designed and constructed in accordance with the Uniform Construction Code.[2]
DUPLEX (TWO-FAMILY; SINGLE-FAMILY SEMIDETACHED)A freestanding building containing two dwelling units for two families, arranged in a side-by-side or over-and-under configuration.
MULTIPLE FAMILYA building containing three or more dwelling units, at least one of which must be located above or below the remaining units.
QUADRAPLEXA building containing four dwelling units, each located on ground level, not arranged in a side-by-side layout.
TOWNHOUSEA building containing between three and eight dwelling units, arranged in a side-by-side configuration with two or more common walls.
A building or portion thereof arranged or designed for occupancy
by not more than one family and having separate cooking and sanitary
facilities.
A right-of-way granted for limited use of private land for
a public or quasi-public or private purpose and within which the owner
of the property shall not have the right to make use of the land in
a manner that violates the right of the grantee.
A device used to receive and break down the energy from high-velocity
flows of stormwater, particularly at points of concentrated discharge,
such as pipe outlets.
A professional engineer registered as such in the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania.
The process by which soil particles are detached and transported
by action of natural forces.
Any activity by which earth, sand, gravel, rock, or any other
similar material is dug into, cut, quarried, uncovered, removed, displaced,
relocated, or bulldozed. It shall include the conditions resulting
therefrom.
A general and temporary condition of partial or complete
inundation of normally dry land areas from the overland flow of watercourses
or from the unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff of surface waters
from any source.
The projected heights reached by floods of various magnitudes
and frequencies in the floodplain areas.
The flood which has reached the highest flood elevation above
mean sea level at a particular location.
An area of land adjacent to the channel of a watercourse
which has been or is likely to be flooded, or any area subject to
the unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff of surface waters from
any source.
A measure of surface illumination equal to one lumen per
square foot.
The line of a lot coincident with an abutting right-of-way
line of a street that can be used for vehicular access to the site.
A professional geologist registered as such in the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania.
The slope, expressed in a percent, which indicates the rate
of change of elevation in feet per 100 feet.
A surface not readily penetrated by water under normal pressure
associated with rainfall or other typical conditions associated with
the proposed use. These typically include, but are not limited to,
roads, access drives, interior drives, driveways, buildings, structures,
sidewalks, off-street parking spaces, off-street loading spaces, and
paved recreation courts.
Any structure, including, but not limited to, the provision
of underground or aboveground utilities, as as any physical change
to the surface of the land, including, but not necessarily limited
to, grading, paving, the placement of stormwater management facilities,
sidewalks, signs, traffic control devices, and monuments. This definition
shall expressly exclude the tilling of soil.
A structure designed to direct runoff into the ground (e.g.,
seepage pits, seepage trenches).
Any of the following activities:
The improvement of one lot or two or more contiguous lots, tracts,
or parcels of land for any purpose involving:
A group of two or more residential or nonresidential buildings,
whether proposed initially or cumulatively, or a single, nonresidential
building on a lot or lots regardless of the number of occupants or
tenure; or
The division or allocation of land or space, whether initially
or cumulatively, between or among two or more existing or prospective
occupants by means of, or for the purpose of, streets, common areas,
leaseholds, condominiums, building groups, or other features.
A subdivision of land.
The following activities are excluded from this term:
The conversion of an existing single-family detached dwelling
into not more than two residential units, unless such units are intended
to be a condominium.
The addition of an accessory building/use, including farm buildings,
on a lot or lots subordinate to an existing principal residence or
farm.
The addition or conversion of buildings or rides within the
confines of an amusement park. This exclusion shall not apply to the
newly proposed or newly acquired areas of an existing amusement park,
until the initial land development plans for such parks or areas have
been approved pursuant to the terms of this chapter.
Construction of nonresidential additions or nonresidential accessory
buildings, provided the construction does not result in the following:
Building addition or accessory structure in excess of 1,000
square feet or 10% of the existing building's square footage. Once
the one-thousand-square-foot or ten-percent addition has been reached,
any further expansions will require land development approval.
Increase in employees greater than 5% of the existing staff,
except all principal businesses are entitled to add a minimum of two
employees if allowed elsewhere in this chapter.
Increased stormwater impacts requiring an expansion of existing
stormwater facilities or additional stormwater impact upon neighboring
properties.
Installation of additional access drives providing vehicular
access to or from a public right-of-way.
Need for Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
sewer planning module or exemption.
Impacts on floodplains and/or wetlands.
More than five additional parking spaces.
Any activity involving the clearing, cutting, excavation,
filling, or grading of land or any other activity which alters land
topography or vegetative cover.
The legal, beneficial, equitable owner or owners of land,
including the holder of an option or contract to purchase (whether
or not such option or contract is subject to any conditions), a lessee
(if he is authorized under the lease to exercise the rights of the
landowner), or another person having a proprietary interest in land,
shall be deemed to be a landowner for the purposes of this chapter.
A landscape architect registered as such in the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania.
A land surveyor registered in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
A utility line between a utility main that is located within
a utility easement and the single building which the line serves.
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 and that is not divided by a street.
LOT AREA (MINIMUM)The least amount of land area required to be associated with a principal use, as required by Chapter 155, Zoning.
LOT, CORNERA property having street frontage along two or more contiguous sides or along a single, curved street with an interior angle of less than 135°, as measured along the interior edge of the street right-of-way or, in the event of no right-of-way, along the interior edge of the cartway.
LOT, FLAGA lot that relies upon a thin strip of land for street access whose frontage does not satisfy the minimum width requirements for the respective zone, but that said lot has the required lot width away from the street frontage.
LOT, INTERIORA lot with only one street frontage.
LOT, THROUGH/REVERSE FRONTAGEAn interior lot having frontage on two parallel or approximately parallel streets with vehicular access solely from the street of lesser functional classification.
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A parcel of land that is intended for conveyance to an adjacent
property owner as an addition to the existing lot.
A percentage of the lot area that may be covered with an
impervious surface (e.g., buildings, driveways, parking areas, sidewalks).
The horizontal distance measured between the street right-of-way
line and the closest rear property line, measured perpendicular along
straight street rights-of-way and measured radially along curved street
rights-of-way. On corner and reverse frontage lots, the depth shall
be measured from the street right-of-way of the street of address
to the directly opposite property line.
A recorded boundary line of a lot; however, any line that
denotes an adjoining public or private street or railroad right-of-way
shall be interpreted as the lot line for the purpose of determining
the location of the setbacks required by this chapter.
LOT LINE, FRONTThe lot line coincident with the right-of-way line of a street.
LOT LINE, REARLot lines that are formed at the outermost edge of any rear yard as defined herein.
LOT LINE, SIDELot lines that are formed at the outermost edge of any side yard as defined herein.
The horizontal distance measured between side property lines
along the minimum front yard setback line and at the street right-of-way
line. On corner lots, lot width shall be measured between the right-of-way
line for the nonaddress street and the directly opposite property
line along the minimum front yard setback line, and at the street
right-of-way line along the street of address. In the case of flag
lots, lot width shall be the horizontal distance measured between
side property lines along the front yard building setback line, as
defined herein.
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Any structure intended for, or capable of, permanent human
habitation, with or without wheels, and capable of being transported
or towed from one place to the next, in one or more pieces, by whatsoever
name or title it is colloquially or commercially known, but excluding
transport trucks or vans equipped with sleeping space for a driver
or drivers and travel trailers.
A parcel of land in a manufactured home park, improved with
the necessary utility connections and other appurtenances necessary
for the erection thereon of a single manufactured home, which is leased
by the park owner to the occupants of the manufactured home erected
on the lot.
A parcel of land under single ownership which has been planned
and improved by the placement of two or more manufactured homes for
nontransient use.
A concrete pad used to anchor a manufactured home within
a manufactured home park, including all necessary utility connections.
The disposal of sewage by use of septic tanks, or other safe
and healthful means within the confines of the lot on which the use
is located, as approved by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental
Protection.
The provision of a safe, adequate and healthful supply of
water to a single user from a private .
An off-street space available for the parking of a vehicle.
The parking space shall meet the minimum requirements of this chapter.
The maximum rate of flow of water at a given point and time
resulting from a specified storm event.
A right-of-way, municipally owned or privately owned, which
cuts across a block to furnish access for pedestrians to adjacent
streets or properties.
The map representing a tract of land, including all supplementary data specified in Article IV of this chapter. The following are the types of plans specified by this chapter:
SKETCH PLANAn informal plan, not necessarily to exact scale, indicating salient existing features of a tract and its surroundings, with the general layout of a proposal for consideration prior to the formal submission of a plan. (See §§ 135-10 and 135-15.)
FINAL PLANA subdivision and/or land development plan prepared for official recording as required by statute to define property rights, proposed streets and other public improvements. (See §§ 135-12 and 135-17.)
PRELIMINARY PLANA complete and exact subdivision and/or land development plan, the purpose of which is to authorize the preparation of final plans. (See §§ 135-11 and 135-16.)
The Conewago Township Planning Commission, Adams County,
Pennsylvania.
Public improvements are limited to streets, street signs,
street trees, sidewalks, curbs, survey monuments and markers, landscaping
required by this chapter, storm drainage for dedication or which affects
adjacent properties or streets, sanitary sewer facilities for multiple
use, water supply facilities for multiple use, fire hydrants, and
other such improvements.
A system of conveyance, treatment and discharge that provides
for the safe and healthful disposal of sewage generated by multiple
principal uses that is owned and/or operated by the Conewago Municipal
Authority, including their successors.
Use or extension thereof which is operated, owned or maintained
by a municipality or municipal authority or which is privately owned
and requires a certificate of public convenience approved by the Pennsylvania
Public Utility Commission for the purpose of providing public sewage
disposal and/or treatment, public water supply, storage and/or treatment,
or for the purpose of providing the transmission of energy or telephone
service.
A system of source, treatment, storage, and/or distribution
of domestic water supply to multiple principal uses that is owned
and/or operated by the Hanover Borough Water Department, including
their successors.
A reservoir designed to retain stormwater runoff, with its
primary release of water being through the infiltration of said water
into the ground.
An area secured for public use and which may, but need not,
be improved with streets, utilities, stormwater management facilities,
traffic control facilities, curbs, sidewalks, bicycle lanes or paths,
streetlights, and similar improvements for public benefit or enjoyment.
The existing width or area of land currently owned by the
Township, the state, or some other public agency or authority.
The width or area of land necessary to accommodate present
or future public improvements.
A reservoir designed to retain sediment.
Any system, whether publicly owned or privately owned, for
the collection of sewage or industrial wastes of a liquid nature from
multiple users, and the treatment and/or disposal of the sewage or
industrial waste on one or more of the lots or at any other site,
and which shall comply with all applicable regulations of the Pennsylvania
Department of Environmental Protection.
Any system designed to eliminate sanitary sewage within the
boundaries of the lot.
The Sewage Enforcement Officer of the Township.
The Pennsylvania Sewage Facilities Act, Act 537 of 1966,
as amended.[3]
The official plan for the provision of sewage systems adopted
by the Township pursuant to the Sewage Facilities Act.
A public or private utility system designed to collect, centrally
treat and dispose of sewage from customers in compliance with Pennsylvania
Department of Environmental Protection regulations or regulations
of the Township, whichever is more stringent.
The degree of deviation of a surface from the horizontal.
Slope is expressed in a percentage which indicates the rate of elevation
change in feet per 100 feet.
The latest published version of the United States Department
of Agriculture's Soil Survey for Adams County, Pennsylvania.
Garbage, refuse and other discarded materials, including, but not limited to, solid and liquid waste materials resulting from municipal, industrial, commercial, agricultural, and residential activities. Such wastes shall not include biological excrement nor hazardous waste materials, as defined in the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 40, Chapter 1, Part 261, dated July 1, 1984, or as amended.
A program of controls and measures designed to regulate the
quality and quantity of stormwater runoff from a development while
promoting the protection and conservation of groundwater and groundwater
recharge.
Those controls and measures (e.g., storm sewers, berms, terraces,
bridges, dams, basins, infiltration systems, swales, watercourses,
and floodplains) used to effect a stormwater management program.
Drainage runoff from the surface of the land resulting from
precipitation in any form, including snow and ice melt.
A strip of land over which there is a public or private right-of-way
intended to serve principally as a means of vehicular access to, and
frontage for, abutting properties, as as general traffic circulation.
An alley is not considered a street for the purpose of this chapter.
See "alley" as a separately defined term.
The elevation of a street along the center line of the cartway.
A line defining the edge of a street right-of-way and separating
the street from abutting properties or lots. The street line shall
be the same as the legal right-of-way line.
A street not offered for dedication or whose dedication was
not accepted by the Township.
The division or redivision of a lot, tract or parcel of land
by any means into one, 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 subdivision by lease
of land for agricultural purposes into parcels of more than 10 acres,
not involving any new streets or easements of access or residential
dwelling, shall be exempted.
Where, in the judgment of the Township Engineer, at least
90% (based on the cost of the required improvements for which financial
security was posted) of those improvements required as a condition
for final approval have been completed in accordance with the approved
plan, so that the project will be able to be used, occupied or operated
for its intended use.
A wide, shallow ditch which gathers or carries surface water.
Conewago Township, Adams County, Pennsylvania.
A duly registered professional engineer, licensed as such
by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, employed by the Township or engaged
as a consultant thereto.
The attorney appointed by the Board of Supervisors or the
attorney duly authorized by the Board of Supervisors.
A unit, the use of which is not subordinate or customarily
incidental to a principal unit. A unit of occupancy can be an independent
unit within a building or a separate, detached building.
The specific purpose for which land or a structure is designed,
arranged, intended, occupied, or maintained.
A use customarily incidental and subordinate to the principal
use or building and located on the same lot with this principal use
or building.
The main or primary use of property or a structure.
A permanent or intermittent stream, river, brook, creek,
channel or swale, pond, lake, or other body of surface water carrying
or holding surface water, whether natural or artificial.
A public or private utility system designated to transmit
potable water from a common source to multiple users. Such systems
shall be in compliance with the regulations of the Pennsylvania Department
of Environmental Protection, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC)
or the Township, whichever is more stringent or has authority.
A system for supplying and distributing water to a single
unit of occupancy from a source located on the same lot.
An area drained by a given watercourse.
Those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface water
or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support,
and that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation
typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions, including
swamps, marshes, bogs, and similar areas, and which shall be identified
using that method of the following that delineates the greatest area
of wetlands:
The United States Army Corps of Engineers Technical Report Y-87-1,
Corps of Engineers Wetlands Delineation Manual.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency Wetlands Identification
Delineation Manual, Volume I, Rational Wetland Parameters, and Overview
of Jurisdictional Approach, Volume II, Field Methodology, as most
recently updated or modified.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection's Wetlands
Identification and Delineation, Chapter 105, Dam Safety and Waterways
Management Rules and Regulations, as most recently updated or modified.
An area between the permitted structures and the property
lines.
YARD, FRONTThe area contained between the principal structure and the street right-of-way line, except that where a portion of the site has a front property line that is located away from the street right-of-way and runs generally parallel to the street, the front yard shall also include that area that is located between the principal structure and the front property line that generally parallels the street. (See adjacent diagram.) On corner lots, the front yard shall be that yard located between the principal structure and the adjoining streets. On corner lots that are also through lots, the front yard shall be that yard located between the principal structure and the adjoining street of address and located between the principal structure and the adjoining street that intersects with the street of address.
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YARD, REARThe area contained between the principal structure and the property line directly opposite the street of address. For flag lots, the rear yard shall be that area between the principal structure and that lot line which is directly opposite the above-described front yard. On corner lots that are also through lots, the rear yard shall be that yard that is located directly opposite the adjoining street that intersects with the street of address.
YARD, SIDEThe area(s) between a principal structure and any side lot line(s). On corner lots, the side yard shall be considered that area between the principal structure and the property lines directly opposite the nonaddress street(s). For flag lots, the side yards shall be the area between the principal structure and that one outermost lot line which forms the flag and pole, plus the area on the opposite side of the principal structure. On corner lots that are also through lots, the side yard shall be that yard that is located directly opposite the adjoining street that intersects with the street of address.
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Chapter 155, Zoning, of the Code of Conewago Township.
