Town of Tonawanda, NY Article IX G-I General Industrial District

[Amended 1-11-1988 by L.L. No. 1-1988]

§ 215-65 Permitted uses.

[Amended 6-2-2008 by L.L. No. 3-2008]

Except as otherwise provided herein, any other use shall be permitted in a G-I General Industrial District, provided that the same does not violate any law, ordinance, rule or regulation applicable thereto and does not have an adverse impact on the Town as a whole. The Town Board or its officials or duly appointed representatives shall have the right to demand whatever information or proof is required to assure that the spirit, intent and ultimate performance of such will protect the good and welfare of the Town of Tonawanda, New York. Adult uses, as defined in § 215-97, shall not be subject to this requirement.

§ 215-66 Prohibited uses; exceptions.

A. Any residential use, including but not limited to trailer camps, tourist cabins, automobile tourist courts, tourist camps or parks, motels or hotels, hospitals or institutional use, is prohibited within the G-I General Industrial District. This prohibition shall not apply to a caretaker's or watchman's quarters. The provisions of this section shall be subordinate to the provisions of § 215-69 wherever the latter shall apply.

B. Junkyards, waste transfer or disposal, land mining and stockyards shall not be permitted.

§ 215-67 Performance standards use permits.

[Amended 3-26-2007 by L.L. No. 2-2007; 6-2-2008 by L.L. No. 3-2008; 8-29-2016 by L.L. No. 1-2016]

Performance standard use permits may be required by the Planning Board or the Town Board for any proposed use or operation, except adult uses, as defined in § 215-97, within the G-I General Industrial District if deemed to be in the best interests of the Town of Tonawanda, New York.

§ 215-68 Design standards.

A. Property fronting on Grand Island Boulevard and River Road shall be governed by Plate L regarding minimum front building line.[1] Rear and side lines shall be governed by type of construction as established by the New York State Uniform Fire Prevention and Building Code,[2] unless otherwise noted in Subsection B of this section. All other streets shall have building lines and height limitations as prescribed in §§ 215-56, 215-57 and 215-58 unless otherwise noted in Subsection B.

[1] Editor's Note: Plate L is included at the end of this chapter.

[2] Editor's Note: See Ch. 54, Building Code Administration.

B. Any use located on property in the General Industrial District having frontage on River Road shall satisfy the following design standards:

(1) Minimum front building line setbacks from the River Road street line shall be a minimum of 50 feet.

(2) Those standards outlined in Article XIII regarding off-street parking shall be complied with.

(3) Off-street parking areas shall not be used for any purpose other than the parking of vehicles.

(4) Off-street employee parking areas shall not be located in the front building line setback area.

(5) Parking areas for visitors, customers or clients may be located within the front building line setback area, provided that they are limited to a single row of parking spaces and the necessary access road to said parking spaces.

(6) All parking areas shall be paved with an asphaltic or concrete surface and properly drained.

(7) Off-street loading areas shall only be used for the loading and unloading of goods.

(8) Space required and allocated for any off-street loading facility shall not be used to satisfy the space requirements for off-street parking. An off-street loading space shall not be used for repairing or servicing of motor vehicles.

(9) Loading areas shall not be located in the front building line setback area or in a side or rear yard if adjoining a residential use.

(10) A minimum depth of 50 feet of the building line setback area shall be landscaped. The area must serve as the outer border of the developed land area as defined by this chapter. Such landscaping shall include trees, shrubs, hedges, grass or any combination thereof. Parking areas as described in Subsection B(5) may be located within this area thereby reducing the amount of landscaped area accordingly, provided that a minimum depth of 20 feet of the building line setback area is landscaped as measured from the street line to the parking area.

(11) Parking areas shall not exceed 6,000 square feet in uninterrupted area.

(12) Landscaping, such as elevation changes, shrubs, fences or hedges, must be used to screen parking and loading yards from public streets. Where fences are used, they should not exceed a maximum of four feet in height and should consist of stone, iron or wood materials. Chain link, metal, concrete block, plastic, fiber glass and plywood fences are not acceptable.

(13) A minimum of one deciduous tree of two-inch minimum trunk diameter, as measured eight inches above ground, shall be planted in the building line setback area for each 50 feet of frontage on River Road.

(14) All buildings or additions thereto shall be designed by a registered architect or a licensed professional engineer and shall comply with all laws, ordinances, rules and regulations.

(15) All office and light industrial buildings shall be of masonry construction, its equivalent or better. No such building or additions shall be covered with sheet or corrugated aluminum, asbestos or iron, except when such materials form an integral part of a curtain wall panel or insulated sandwich wall.

(16) For all office and light industrial buildings, the outside face of walls exposed to public streets shall be finished with face brick, its equivalent or better, and the outside faces of walls abutting such walls exposed to public streets shall be so finished to a minimum depth of 15 feet.

§ 215-69 Residential subdivisions and industrial uses near residential areas.

In a residential subdivision with lots averaging less than one acre which has heretofore been laid out within any former industrial district or which is within the C General Business District created by this chapter, additional dwellings may be erected and occupied within any block which contains two or more dwellings situated on such lots. No use other than a use permitted in a business district may be established on any portion of such block, provided that this restriction shall not apply to any premises more than two acres in area or more than 200 feet distant from any existing dwelling. In no case, however, shall a building or structure for any type of industrial use be allowed within 300 feet of any residential area, regardless of the number of dwellings on any particular block in such residential area, whether such residential area is within the Town of Tonawanda or not, unless allowed under the performance standards zoning procedure and permitted by the Town Board.