The airport zoning regulations contained in
this article are adopted pursuant to the authority conferred by Act
164 of 1984, codified at 74 Pa.C.S.A. § 5101 et seq. It
is hereby determined that an obstruction has a potential for endangering
the lives and property of users of the Butter Valley Golf Port Airport
and property or occupants of land in its vicinity; that an obstruction
may affect existing and future instrument approach minimums of the
Butter Valley Golf Port Airport; and that an obstruction may reduce
the size of areas available for the landing, takeoff and maneuvering
of aircraft, thus tending to destroy or impair the utility of the
Butter Valley Golf Port Airport and any public investment therein.
Accordingly, the following purposes are the express intent of this
article, addressing the above concerns and supporting the purposes
of this chapter as a whole:
A. To superimpose upon the district regulations of this
chapter such other restrictions and requirements necessary to assure
the public health, safety and general welfare within the vicinity
of general aviation airports.
B. To prevent the creation or establishment of an obstruction
which has the potential to be a public nuisance or which may otherwise
injure the region served by the Butter Valley Golf Port Airport.
C. To prevent the creation or establishment of obstructions
which are a hazard to air navigation by exercise of the municipal
police power to the extent legally possible without compensation.
D. To declare that the prevention of the creation or
establishment or hazards to air navigation; the elimination, removal,
alteration and mitigation of hazards; and the marking and lighting
of obstructions are public purposes for which the municipality may
legitimately raise and expend public funds and acquire land or interest(s)
in land.
In order to carry out the provisions of this
Airport Overlay District, there are hereby created and established
certain zones which include all of the land lying beneath the approach
surfaces, transitional surfaces, horizontal surfaces and conical surfaces
as they apply to the Butter Valley Golf Port Airport. Such zones are
shown on the Washington Township Height Limitation and Zoning District
Map prepared by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, Bureau
of Aviation, and dated Spring 1989, which is hereby made a part of
this article. An area located in more than one of the following zones
shall be regulated in accordance with the most restrictive zone. The
various zones are hereby established and defined as follows:
A. For utility runways:
(1) Visual Approach Surface Zone: the area of land beneath
the visual approach surface. The inner edge of this zone coincides
with the width of the primary surface and is 250 feet wide. The zone
expands outward uniformly to a width of 1,250 feet at a horizontal
distance of 5,000 feet from the primary surface. The center line of
the zone shall be the continuation of the center line of the runway.
(2) Nonprecision Instrument Approach Surface Zone: the
area of land beneath the nonprecision instrument approach surface.
The inner edge of this zone coincides with the width of the primary
surface and is 500 feet wide. The zone expands outward uniformly to
a width of 2,000 feet at a horizontal distance 5,000 feet from the
primary surface. The center line of the zone shall be the continuation
of the center line of the runway.
B. For runways larger than utility runways:
(1) Visual Approach Surface Zone: the area of land beneath
the visual approach surface. The inner edge of this zone coincides
with the width of the primary surface and is 500 feet wide. The zone
expands outward uniformly to a width of 1,500 feet at a horizontal
distance of 5,000 feet from the primary surface. The center line of
the zone shall be the continuation of the center line of the runway.
(2) Nonprecision Instrument Approach Surface Zone where
runway has a visibility minimum greater than 3/4 of a mile: the area
of land beneath the nonprecision instrument approach surface. The
inner edge of this zone coincides with the width of the primary surface
and is 500 feet wide. The zone expands outward uniformly to a width
of 3,500 feet at a horizontal distance of 10,000 feet from the primary
surface. The center line of the zone shall be the continuation of
the center line of the runway.
(3) Nonprecision Instrument Approach Surface Zone where
runway has a visibility minimum as low as 3/4 of a mile: the area
of land beneath the nonprecision instrument approach surface. The
inner edge of this zone coincides with the width of the primary surface
and is 1,000 feet wide. The zone expands outward uniformly to a width
of 4,000 feet at a horizontal distance of 10,000 feet from the primary
surface. The center line of the zone shall be the continuation of
the center line of the runway.
C. For all runways.
(1) Precision Instrument Runway Approach Surface Zone:
the area of land beneath the precision instrument approach surface.
The inner edge of this zone coincides with the width of the primary
surface and is 1,000 feet wide. The zone expands outward uniformly
to a width of 16,000 feet at a horizontal distance of 50,000 feet
from the primary surface. The center line of the zone shall be the
continuation of the center line of the runway.
(2) Transitional Surface Zone: the area of land beneath
the transitional surfaces adjacent to each runway and approach surface
as indicated on the Height Limitation and Zoning District Map.
(3) Horizontal Surface Zone: the area of land beneath
a horizontal surface 150 feet above the established airport elevation.
The perimeter of such surface shall be established by swinging arcs
of 5,000 feet radii from the center of each end of the primary surface
of each runway and connecting adjacent arcs by drawing lines tangent
to those arcs. The horizontal surface zone shall not include the approach
surface zone nor the transitional surface zone.
(4) Conical Surface Zone: the area of land beneath the
conical surface. This zone commences at the periphery of the horizontal
surface and extends outward therefrom a horizontal distance of 4,000
feet.
In any case in which it is desired to remove,
lower or otherwise terminate a nonconforming structure or use or the
approach protection necessary cannot, because of constitutional limitations,
be provided by airport zoning regulations or it appears advisable
that the necessary approach protection be provided by acquisition
of property rights rather than by airport zoning regulations, the
municipality within which the property or nonconforming use is located
or the municipal authority owning the airport or served by it may
acquire by purchase, grant or condemnation, in the manner provided
by the law under which municipalities are authorized to acquire real
property for public purposes, such air right, aviation easement or
other estate or interest in the property or nonconforming structure
or use in question as may be necessary to effectuate the purpose of
this article. In the case of the purchase of any property or any easement
or estate or interest therein or the acquisition thereof by the power
of eminent domain, the municipality making the purchase of exercising
the power shall, in addition to the damages for the taking, injury
or destruction of property, also pay the cost of the removal and relocation
of any structure or any public utility which is required to be moved
to a new location.
In the event of conflict between the airport
zoning regulations contained in this article and any other regulations
contained in this chapter that are applicable to the same area, whether
the conflict is with respect to the height of structures or trees,
the use of land or any other matter and whether the other regulations
were adopted by the Board of Supervisors of Washington Township or
by some other municipality or otherwise, the more stringent limitations
or requirements shall govern and prevail.