[Added 12-8-1980 by Ord. No. 80-23]
Unless a contrary intention clearly appears, the following words and phrases shall have, for the purpose of this article, the meanings given in the following clauses:
ACCESSORY BUILDING OR STRUCTURE
A subordinate building or structure which is an addition to or supplements the facilities provided by a mobile home, such as awnings, cabanas, ramadas, storage structures, carports, porches, fences, skirting or windbreaks.
AWNING
A shade structure supported by posts or columns and partially supported by a mobile home installed, erected or used on a mobile home lot.
AWNING, FREESTANDING
A shade structure supported entirely by columns or posts and not attached to or supported by a mobile home or structure.
AWNING WINDOW
A shade structure supported wholly by the mobile home or building to which it is attached.
CARPORT
An awning or shade structure for a vehicle or vehicles, which may be freestanding or partially supported by a mobile home.
COMMON OPEN SPACE
A parcel or parcels of land or an area of water or a combination of land and water within a development site, designed and intended for the use or enjoyment of residents of the planned residential development, not including streets, off-street parking areas and areas set aside for public facilities. Common open space shall be substantially free of structures but may contain such improvements as are appropriate for the recreation of residents and as are set forth in the development plan as finally approved by the Board. The common open space shall be exclusive of any land designated by the state, county or any other governmental agency for future acquisition for highway use.
[Amended 5-9-1983 by Ord. No. 83-7]
COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT
The person who owns or has charge, care or control of the mobile home development.[1]
CONVENIENCE CENTER
Includes only an office for conducting the business of the mobile park owner related solely to the rental of lots for mobile homes, the rental or sale of those mobile homes and a self-service laundry.
DRIVEWAY
A minor private way used by vehicles and pedestrians on a mobile home lot or common access to a small group of lots or common facilities.
EASEMENT
A vested or acquired right to use land, other than as a tenant, for a specific purpose, such right being held by someone other than the owner who holds title to the land.
FEEDER ASSEMBLY
The overhead or underchassis feeder conductors, including the grounding conductor, together with the necessary fittings and equipment, or a power supply cord listed for mobile home use, designed for the purpose of delivering energy from the source of electrical supply to the distribution panelboard within the mobile home.
FENCE
A vertical structure or enclosure designed as a barrier and erected as a freestanding unit.
GROUND ANCHOR
Any device at the mobile home stand designed for the purpose of securing a mobile home to the ground.
LOT AREA
The total area reserved for exclusive use of the occupants of a mobile home and fronting along a public or private street right-of-way.
[Amended 5-9-1983 by Ord. No. 83-7]
LOT LINE
A line bounding the lot as shown on the accepted plot plan.
MOBILE HOME
A single-family detached dwelling transportable on its own wheels intended for permanent occupancy, contained in one unit, or in two 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.
MOBILE HOME COMMUNITY
A mobile home development and related facilities, including the mobile homes and all residents within the development.
MOBILE HOME LOT
A parcel of land in a mobile home park provided with the necessary utility connections and other appurtenances necessary for the erection thereon of a single mobile home, which is leased by the park owner to the occupants of the mobile home erected on the lot and which fronts along a private or public street right-of-way.
[Amended 5-9-1983 by Ord. No. 83-7]
MOBILE HOME PARK
A tract or parcel (or contiguous parcels) of land under single ownership which has been so designated and improved that it contains two or more mobile home lots available to the greater public for rent and the placement thereon of mobile homes for nontransient occupancy.
MOBILE HOME PARK ELECTRICAL WIRING SYSTEM
All of the electrical wiring, fixtures, equipment and appurtenances related to electrical installations within a mobile home park or subdivision, including the mobile home service equipment.
MOBILE HOME STAND
The outline of the actual mobile home, including the paved portion of any outdoor living area. Proposed or anticipated structural additions to a mobile home, such as carports, cabanas or attached storage areas, shall be considered part of the mobile home stand.
PIER
A concrete pillar 12 to 16 inches in circumference usually placed three feet deep in the ground and used for support of mobile homes.
PORCH
An outside walking area having the floor elevated more than eight inches above grade.
PRIVATE STREET
A private way which affords principal means or access to abutting individual mobile home lots and convenience center. Community management shall be responsible for the maintenance of all private streets.
SKIRTS
Panels specifically designed for the purpose of screening the underside of a mobile home by forming an extension of the vertical exterior walls for the mobile home and covering the entire distance between the bottom of the exterior walls and the ground elevation below.
STORAGE STRUCTURE
A structure located on a mobile home lot which is designed and used solely for the storage and use of personal equipment and possessions of the mobile home occupants.
TIEDOWNS
Any device designed for the purpose of anchoring a mobile home to ground anchors.
WINDBREAK
A vertical wall structure designed and erected as a freestanding unit, the vertical surface of which is not more than 50% open.
[1]
Editor's Note: The definition of "community system (water or sewage)," which immediately followed this definition, was repealed 5-9-1983 by Ord. No. 83-7.
All mobile home parks, where permitted, shall conform to the following standards as well as to other applicable standards in this Subdivision Ordinance.
A. 
Ownership and control. All mobile home parks shall be planned as a unit, and each mobile home park shall be in single ownership and control.
B. 
General layout.
(1) 
All mobile parks shall be laid out with due consideration to slopes and other natural features. Natural drainageways will in no way be impaired by development. Streets should run, where possible, with the contours of the land. Efforts should be made to lay out the mobile home park in other than grid patterns so that long sight distances may be avoided.
(2) 
The objectives of a mobile home park shall be as follows:
(a) 
To develop the site in a manner which preserves the natural inherent livability features of the site.
(b) 
To achieve a careful blending between the exterior design of the mobile home unit and the landscape design of the site.
(c) 
To avoid the conventional practice of straight-grid-patterned streets with units placed at monotonous slant angles.
(d) 
To permit flexibility in lot layout, lot size and design.
(3) 
Public water and sewers must be provided.
[Added 5-9-1983 by Ord. No. 83-7]
Site layout shall be as follows:
A. 
Mobile homes placed on individual lots are encouraged to be placed off-center on the lots, so as to provide a large usable open yard space and outdoor living area in one section of the lot.
B. 
Groups or clusters of units, so placed as to create interior spaces and courtyards, shall be incorporated whenever feasible.
C. 
Mobile homes are encouraged to be arranged in a variety of orientations and are strongly encouraged to have many units with their long axes east-west, offering south exposure to their longest wall and roof areas, and 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.
D. 
When topographic conditions make street orientation for good solar orientation of units difficult or undesirable, lots should be laid out so that units can be oriented to the south to the greatest extent possible.
A. 
General.
(1) 
Access to mobile home parks shall be designed to minimize congestion and hazards at the entrance and exit and allow free movement of traffic on adjacent public roads. At least two points of egress shall be provided. The second point of access, when provided for emergency purposes only, may traverse open space, grass, etc. Exception to this standard may be permitted when main entrance to developments are designed with one-way ingress and egress points.
(2) 
The overall circulation system should be designed to create a functional circulation pattern for safe and convenient access not only for pedestrians but for vehicles as well. The primary concern should be as follows:
(a) 
To create a separation of automobile and pedestrian circulation through a hierarchy of entrance, secondary, primary and walkway systems.
(b) 
To create efficient and safe connections with the existing road systems of the municipality in order to ensure proper ingress and egress to and from the development.
(c) 
To minimize auto intrusion into neighborhood unit.
(d) 
To encourage curvilinear road systems with flowing horizontal and vertical alignments, designed for slow-moving vehicles.
(3) 
In mobile home parks, where units will be sited with the long axis perpendicular to the streets, streets should run in a north-south direction to the greatest possible extent.
(4) 
In mobile home parks where the units will be sited with the long axis parallel to the street, streets should run in an east-west direction to the greatest possible extent.
(5) 
The street design should discourage the unnecessary removal of trees or open space or that which will create erosion because of poor location which generates too much runoff.
B. 
Classification of streets.
(1) 
New residential streets in a mobile home park may be classified as follows:
(a) 
Entrance road. This road shall provide direct access to public streets and shall be designed to allow free movement of traffic on such adjacent public streets.
(b) 
Secondary residential road. This road should be designed to conduct traffic to and from common parking areas and individual lots.
(c) 
Primary residential road. The function of this street is to conduct traffic between secondary and collector roads. Residential lots are discouraged from having frontage on these roads. These streets should be prohibited from providing access to other developments.
(2) 
No parking shall be permitted on the entrance street for a distance of 100 feet from its point of beginning.
(3) 
Entrances may be focused on community buildings, facilities or natural features rather than on residential living areas.
C. 
Street intersections.
(1) 
Multiple intersections involving junction of more than two streets or driveways shall be avoided.
(2) 
Streets entering opposite sides of any street should be laid out either directly opposite one another or with a minimum offset of 150 feet between their center lines.
(3) 
Streets shall be laid out so as to intersect as nearly as possible at right angles, and no street shall intersect any other street at less than 60°.
D. 
Rights-of-way and cartway widths.
(1) 
The following table is a general guide to the dimensional standard for the various classifications of the above streets:
[Amended 5-9-1983 by Ord. No. 83-7]
Right-of-Way
Cartway
Curb or
(feet)
(feet)
Gutter
Sidewalk
Entrance road
40
28
Curb
Optional
Secondary road
30
24
Rolled gutter
Optional
Primary road
40
28
Curb
Mandatory
(2) 
Adequate width to provide utilities, drainage facilities, landscaping and grading shall be required.
(3) 
Roads serving modules of six units or less may reduce the paved area to a minimum width of 22 feet.
(4) 
The Planning Commission may recommend compliance with some or all of the provisions set forth in Subsection I when an analysis of proposed development densities, provisions for off-street parking and projected traffic volumes indicate a need for such compliance.
E. 
Street grades. The maximum street grades, wherever feasible, shall not exceed the following:
(1) 
Entrance road: 6%. At any intersection this grade shall not be greater than 4%.
(2) 
Secondary road: 8%. Short lengths with a maximum grade of 12% may be permitted, provided that traffic safety is assured.
(3) 
Primary road: 6%. Short lengths with a maximum grade of 10% may be permitted, provided that traffic safety is assured.
F. 
Culs-de-sac. The provisions for culs-de-sac shall be regulated by the standards set forth in the Subdivision Code. The Planning Commission may recommend modification of these standards when the physical characteristics indicate a need for such modifications.
G. 
Sidewalks/walkways.
(1) 
Sidewalks shall be provided in locations where pedestrian traffic is concentrated, for example, to the entrance and to the office and other important facilities. Walkways shall preferably be through interior areas removed from the vicinity of streets.
(2) 
Width, alignment and gradient of walkways shall be appropriate for safety, convenience and appearance and shall be suitable for pedestrian use and for the circulation of small-wheeled vehicles such as wheelchairs, baby carriages and service carts.
(3) 
Width shall generally be at least four feet for common walks. Individual walks to units may be reduced to three feet.
(4) 
Sudden changes in alignment and gradient shall be avoided.
(5) 
Walks shall not be used as drainageways.
H. 
Driveways.
(1) 
Driveways shall be provided on the individual mobile home lot where necessary for convenient access to the mobile home stand. Where units are clustered and using common parking areas, lots are not required to provide individual driveways.
(2) 
The driveway designed to serve a single mobile home lot shall be a full-width driveway, a minimum of eight feet wide. If it is used as a walk, it shall be a minimum of 10 feet wide.
[Amended 5-9-1983 by Ord. No. 83-7]
(3) 
The entrance shall have a minimum radius of five feet for adequate safe and convenient ingress and egress.
I. 
Parking standards.
(1) 
Off-street parking spaces shall be provided in sufficient number to meet the needs of the occupants of the development and their guests. Each unit shall be provided with a minimum of two off-street parking spaces, plus an additional car space for each four lots to provide for guest parking.
(2) 
Required car parking spaces shall be located for convenient access to the mobile home stands. At least one car space shall be located on each lot, and the other space may be located in adjacent parking bays.
(3) 
Each parking space shall have a minimum area of 180 square feet.
(4) 
Parking areas shall be designed to permit each motor vehicle to proceed to and from the parking space without the moving of any other motor vehicles.
(5) 
Common parking areas designed for 10 or more cars must be effectively screened from surrounding homes to produce overall visual protection.
[Amended 5-9-1983 by Ord. No. 83-7[1]]
[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance also repealed former Subsection I(6), which immediately followed this subsection, regarding parking requirements in developments designed for the elderly.
A. 
General.
(1) 
The use of shade trees, if deciduous and located properly within the development, can reduce energy use during the summer months while letting through solar radiation to glazing during the winter season.
(2) 
Mobile home lots shall have basic landscape improvements. A reasonable amount of shade and visual relief shall be assured by tree preservation or planting, and lawns shall be established to prevent erosion of the soil.
(3) 
Planting is required to the extent needed to provide screening of objectionable views, adequate shade and a suitable setting for the mobile homes and other facilities.
(4) 
Each mobile home lot shall have at least one shade tree 2 1/2 inches in caliper minimum at time of planting.
[Amended 5-9-1983 by Ord. No. 83-7]
B. 
Buffer yards.
(1) 
Buffer yards are required for mobile home parks along the boundaries between the mobile home park and all adjacent tracts and between the mobile home park and the street. Buffer yards shall comply with the following standards:
(a) 
The buffer yard shall be measured from the mobile home park boundary line.
(b) 
The buffer yard may be coterminous with required front, side or rear yards, and in case of conflict, the larger yard requirements shall apply.
(2) 
No structure, activity or storage of materials shall be permitted in the buffer yard; however, parking of passenger automobiles shall be permitted in the portion of the buffer yard exclusive of the exterior fifty-foot width.
(3) 
All buffer yards shall include a dense screen planting of trees, shrubs or other plant materials, or both, to the full length of the lot line to serve as a barrier to visibility, airborne particles, glare and noise. Such screen planting shall be located within the exterior 50 feet of the buffer yard and shall be in accordance with the following requirements:
(a) 
The screen planting shall be so placed that at maturity it will be not closer than three feet to any street or property line.
(b) 
The screen planting shall be maintained permanently, and any plant material which does not live shall be replaced within one year.
(c) 
A clear sight triangle shall be maintained at all street intersections and at all points where private accessways intersect public streets.
(d) 
The screen planting shall be broken only at points of vehicular or pedestrian access.
(e) 
Spacing of plantings, including staggering of trees where practicable.
(f) 
No screen planting shall be required along streets which form mobile home park boundary lines, provided that:
[1] 
No outdoor activity and no outdoor storage of materials shall be so located to be visible from the adjacent property.
[2] 
Only the front of any mobile home building shall be visible from the adjacent building.
(g) 
Prior to the issuance of any building permit, complete plans showing the arrangement of all buffer yards and the placement, species and size of all plant materials and the placement, size, materials and type of all fences to be placed in such buffer yard shall be reviewed by the Planning Commission, after which the Planning Commission shall certify to the Code Enforcement Officer whether the plans are in conformance with the terms of this article.
(h) 
Where no existing trees are retained along the street right-of-way, trees should be planted at intervals of not less than 50 feet, depending on species, and preferably in a mixture of types rather than in a pure strand of one type.
A. 
Adequate common open space constituting at least 20% of the gross site area shall be provided to meet the needs of mobile home residents.
B. 
Mobile home spaces shall have common open space provided. Some of this open space shall be devoted to active recreation.
C. 
The type of common open space should depend upon the composition of residents the development will accommodate. It can be divided into two broad categories: active and passive recreation.
[Amended 5-9-1983 by Ord. No. 83-7]
D. 
The minimum amount of land that shall be devoted to active recreational facilities is 8% of the gross site area.
[Amended 5-9-1983 by Ord. No. 83-7]
A. 
Outdoor collection stations shall be provided for garbage and trash removal when individual collection is not made and indoor storage is not provided.
B. 
Collection stations shall be located so as to be separated adequately from habitable buildings to avoid being offensive but at the same time be convenient for both collectors and residents. The stations shall be screened and landscaped.
A. 
Mobile home stands.
(1) 
A "mobile home stand" shall be defined as the outline of the actual mobile home, including the paved portion of any outdoor living area.
(2) 
The stand shall provide for practical placement on and removal from the lot of the mobile home and retention of the home on the lot in a stable condition and in satisfactory relationship to its surroundings.
(3) 
The location of each mobile home stand shall be at such elevation, distance and angle in relation to the access street and the mobile home accessway that placement and removal of the mobile home is practical.
(4) 
The mobile home stand shall react as a fixed support and shall, as such, remain intact without unsafe deformation and abnormal internal movement under the weight of the mobile home due to frost action, inadequate drainage, vibration, wind or other forces acting on the structure.
(5) 
The mobile home stand shall include provisions for utility connections.
B. 
Ground anchors and tiedowns.
(1) 
Ground anchors shall be installed at each mobile home stand prior to or when a mobile home is located thereon to permit tiedowns of mobile homes.
(2) 
Mobile homes may be permanently attached to foundations. Stabilizing devices, piers, blocking, underpinning or other types of support may be used.
(3) 
Supports shall be provided not more than 12 feet on centers or less beginning from the front of the mobile home stand. Open-end spacing at the rear line of the mobile home stand shall not exceed three feet.
(4) 
Tiedown hardware shall be resistant to weathering deterioration at least equivalent to that provided by a coating of zinc on steel strapping of not less than 0.30 ounce per square foot of surface coated.
(5) 
Tiedowns when installed shall be capable of resisting an allowable working load equal to or exceeding 3,150 pounds and shall be capable of withstanding a fifty-percent overload without failure.
(6) 
Unless the entire tiedown system, including ground anchors, and the connections to the mobile home is designed by a registered professional engineer or architect, tiedowns shall be placed as follows:
(a) 
Not more than 24 feet on centers beginning from the front line of the mobile home stand (congruent with the front wall of the mobile home). Not more than six feet open-end shall be provided at the rear line of the mobile home stand unless additional ground anchors are installed.
(b) 
Diagonal ties between anchors and the mobile home shall be provided in conjunction with each vertical tiedown.
(7) 
The above requirements in § 265-46B(5) and (6) may be modified where appropriate. However, they must comply with the minimum standards of local, state or federal regulations.
C. 
Skirting.
(1) 
The frame, axles, wheels, crawl space storage and utility connections of all mobile homes shall be concealed from view by skirting.
(2) 
Skirting shall be of durable all-weather construction as manufactured specially for the purpose of covering the undercarriage area. Skirting shall be fastened in accordance with manufacturers' instructions and provide for adequate ventilation as necessary.
All other articles, sections and subsections or other provisions of the Subdivision Ordinance, except as specifically amended by or otherwise inconsistent with this article, shall remain in full force and shall remain valid and be applicable to mobile home parks and this Article IX, except as may be further modified, amended or rescinded by the Board of Commissioners of Marple Township.