The Township encourages industrial development
for all reasonable uses subject to consideration of the health, safety
and welfare of the Township residents. The zoning districts established
in this article are intended to achieve the following:
A. To provide for industrial development which will serve
to compliment the residential and commercial area of the community.
B. To provide sufficient space, in appropriate locations,
to meet the Township's anticipated future needs for industrial activity
with due allowance for the need for a range of choice of sites.
C. To provide that the land most suitable for industry
and related activities will be available to them by prohibiting the
use of such land by new residential development and, at the same time,
to protect residences by separating them from industrial activities.
D. To provide for industrial development which is free
from offensive noise, vibration, smoke, odors, glare, hazards of fire,
traffic difficulties or other objectionable effects and likewise to
prohibit such activity where objectionable effects are indicated or
actually result.
E. To protect industrial uses against developmental congestion
by limiting the bulk of buildings in relation to the land around them
and to one another and by providing sufficient off-street parking
and loading facilities for such development.
F. To promote the most desirable use of land by subdivision
and building development in accord with a well-considered plan, to
promote stable industrial development, to strengthen the economic
base of the Township, to protect the character of industrial areas
and their suitability to particular uses and to conserve the tax revenues
and value of land and buildings throughout the Township.
No lot, parcel or tract of land shall be used and no building or structure shall be erected, altered or remodeled for any use involving the creation of a product or process that causes or creates a dangerous, unhealthy, obnoxious noise, emission, discharge or similar externality that would violate the provisions of §
325-18D.
[Amended by 5-23-2000 by Ord. No. 289]
A. Intent. It is the intent of this section to provide
an industrial district that is:
(1) Compatible with surrounding residential and commercial
districts and which will contain a consistent degree of aesthetic
quality.
(2) Suitable for light manufacturing and assembly, research
and development, wholesale, distribution and service uses.
B. Use regulations. Subject to §
325-124A below, a single building may be erected, altered or used and a lot may be used for any one or more of the following purposes:
(1) Research and development, engineering or testing laboratory.
(2) Administrative activities and offices related to permitted
industrial uses.
(3) Warehouses for wholesale sales, distribution or storage,
provided no materials are stored outside.
(4) Any light machining or manufacturing, testing, repair,
storage or distribution of materials, goods, foodstuffs or products.
(5) Public utility installations providing no materials
are stored outside.
(6) Veterinarian or boarding kennel.
(7) Day care as an accessory use to and within any permitted
use above.
(9) Normal and customary accessory uses.
(10)
Any one of the following uses when authorized as a conditional use by the Board of Supervisors subject to §
325-124 of this chapter:
(a)
Vocational training facility on 75 acres or
more.
(b)
Tower-based wireless communication facilities in accordance
with the provisions and additional conditional use standards as set
forth in the wireless communications facilities provisions section
of this Zoning Ordinance and the applicable sections of the Township's
Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance.
[Amended 3-31-2015 by Ord. No. 422]
(c) Solar energy systems as a principal use.
[Added 7-27-2011 by Ord. No. 392]
(11) Surface land uses affiliated with transmission pipelines subject to §
325-28.3 of this chapter.
[Added 3-11-2015 by Ord. No. 421]
C. Area and bulk regulations. The area and bulk regulations
shall be based upon developable acreage unless stated otherwise. The
following regulations shall apply to all uses permitted in the I-1
District:
[Amended 3-10-2004 by Ord. No. 310]
(1) Lot size (minimum): two acres (gross acreage).
[Amended 3-10-2004 by Ord. No. 310]
(2) Building coverage (maximum): 25%.
[Amended 3-10-2004 by Ord. No. 310]
(3) Total impervious coverage (maximum): 65%.
[Amended 3-10-2004 by Ord. No. 310]
(4) Green area (minimum): 35%.
[Amended 3-10-2004 by Ord. No. 310]
(5) Lot width at street line (minimum): 100 feet.
(6) Lot width at building line (minimum): 150 feet.
(7) Front yard (minimum): 75 feet.
(8) Rear yard (minimum): 50 feet.
(9) Side yard (minimum for each): 35 feet.
(10)
Height (maximum): 35 feet.
(11)
Provided that rear or side yards may be reduced
to zero along a rail siding by the Board of Supervisors upon satisfactory
evidence by the applicant, to the Board's satisfaction, that such
a reduction is prudent and necessary for the proposed use or structure.
D. Performance standards. All uses shall comply with this section and the physical performance standards of §
325-41, and as promulgated on a form provided by the Township, certification or affidavits that the following design standards are to be conformed to by all uses in this district. In all instances, standards adopted by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) shall be deemed the minimal acceptable standards unless superseded by state or federal regulation:
(1) No obnoxious, toxic or corrosive fumes or gases shall
be emitted as result of the use.
(2) No use shall emit offensive odors which are perceptible
at lot lines.
(3) No use shall discharge into the air dust or other
particulate matter.
(4) No use shall emit smoke from operations.
(5) No use shall produce any heat or glare perceptible
at or beyond the lot boundaries.
(6) No use shall utilize lighting in a manner which produces
glare perceptible at or beyond the lot boundaries.
(7) No use shall permit physical vibrations perceptible
at or beyond the lot boundaries.
(8) No use shall emit potentially harmful radiation.
(9) No use shall engage in the production or storage of
any material designed for use as an explosive.
(10)
No use shall engage in the storage of waste
materials on the lot for any period beyond 30 days. Such waste material
storage shall be located behind the front building line of the primary
building and no closer than 50 feet to any rear or side lot line and
shall be completely screened from the view of any street or adjoining
property.
(11)
No use shall discharge an objectionable and/or
potentially dangerous effluent from plant operations.
(12)
No industrial lagoons for chemicals or other
liquid waste shall be permitted.
(13)
No use shall be conducted so that noise, whether sustained or sporadic, shall exceed the level of ordinary conversation at the boundaries of the lot as outlined in §
325-41 of this chapter.
(14)
Where applicable, the regulations in Article
IX, Common Regulations, and Article
XVII, Signs, shall apply for all uses.
(15)
Loading facilities shall not be constructed
within an area bounded by a triangle 50 feet on each side measured
from the nearest point of intersecting street lines.
(16)
Applicant shall show satisfactory intent to
maximize aesthetic quality consistent with the use proposed (i.e.,
landscaping, screening, signs, etc.).
(17)
All uses shall be conducted in compliance with
applicable governmental regulations.
(18)
All activity incident to such operation, except
outside storage of raw materials and/or finished products, shall be
wholly enclosed in suitable, permanent buildings.
(19)
Outside storage of raw materials and/or finished products only within the buildable area of the lot behind the front building line of the main building and in a confined area which shall not exceed 50% of the floor area of the primary facility, nor 20 feet in height and such storage shall be further subject to regulations outlined in §
325-35, Storage, of this chapter.
(20)
Storage of bulk liquids, excluding water, in
aboveground tanks of greater than 10,000 gallons' capacity shall be
prohibited.
E. Condominium or similar type ownership of buildings is permitted in order to provide for the small business. A condominium group must conform to the above Subsection
B; however, zero lot line (party wall) is permitted between units of the building.
F. Industrial parks approved prior to December 8, 1998. The definition of "developable acreage" in §§
325-8 and
325-18C, 325-33B(2)(b) and 325-40H(6) of this chapter shall not apply to industrial parks finally approved by the Township prior to December 8, 1998, pursuant to Sections 702(1)(i) and 704 of the West Whiteland Township Zoning Ordinance of 1986, as amended through November 30, 1998 (the "1986 Zoning Ordinance") and shall not apply to each lot created in such industrial parks (the aforesaid industrial parks and lots are hereinafter referred to as "existing industrial parks"). Development of existing industrial parks shall be governed by the provisions of the 1986 Zoning Ordinance, except as modified and controlled by the following special regulations:
(1) For purposes of area and bulk calculations, "developable
acreage" shall mean the gross acreage of the tract or lot minus existing
or future rights-of-way, floodplain areas, wetlands and steep slopes
of 25% or greater.
(2) Upon full development, the total impervious coverage of all of the lots in the existing industrial park shall be limited to 60% of the aggregate developable acreage, as defined in Subsection
F(1) above, of all of the lots in that existing industrial park.
(3) Existing perimeter vegetation and buffers in an existing
industrial park shall not be removed or disturbed. Perimeter buffers
on lots to be developed after the effective date of this subsection
shall be a minimum of 15 feet in width, where practical, placed at
the property line, right-of-way line or along the rim of stormwater
management basins. In cases where a buffer 15 feet in width is not
practical, a buffer a minimum of 12 1/2 feet in width shall be
provided. The minimum number of shade trees required by Township ordinances
may be increased up to 100% if required by the Township when a buffer
reduction is permitted. The Township shall determine the locations
of the additional shade trees.
(4) Landscaping of the lots to be developed after the effective date of this subsection shall be in accordance with the then-current Chapter
281, Subdivision and Land Development, of the Code of the Township of West Whiteland; provided that full compliance with the landscaping requirements in the perimeter buffer area is not required if the applicant can demonstrate to the Board of Supervisors during the land development approval process that such landscaping requirements are not achievable within the buffer area due to the existing or necessary future utility easements or other such restrictions on the lot, in which case compliance with the landscaping requirements shall be required to the maximum extent possible as determined by the Township considering the existence of the aforesaid restrictions.
(5) Parking stall spaces on lots to be initially developed
after the effective date of this subsection may be nine feet by 18
feet in size.
(6) Except as expressly set forth in this subsection to
the contrary, all of the provisions and regulations of the West Whiteland
Zoning Ordinance of 1986, as amended through November 30, 1998, shall
apply to existing industrial parks.