The purpose of establishing planned shopping
center districts shall be to encourage the logical and timely development
of land for commercial purposes in accordance with the objectives,
policies and proposals of the Comprehensive Plan; to discourage any
use which would interfere with the use of the district as a shopping
and service center for surrounding residential areas; and to assure
suitable design to protect the residential environment of adjacent
and nearby neighborhoods. It is further hereby declared to be the
intent of this district to provide the shopping and service center
with a minimum of traffic congestion, overcrowding of land, noise,
glare and pollution so as to lessen the danger to the public safety.
A building or combination of buildings may be erected, altered or used and a lot may be used or occupied for any of the following purposes and no other. Such selection of uses permitted in Article
XIII, §
250-87, of this chapter and other uses of the same general character, together with accessory uses customarily incidental thereto, as are designated on a general plan for the integrated development of such lot for a shopping center.
The general plan shall include specific evidence
and facts showing that it has considered and made provisions for,
and the development shall be executed in accordance with, the following
essential conditions:
A. The development shall be consistent with the Comprehensive
Plan upon which this chapter is based and with the purpose of this
chapter to promote the health, safety, morals and the general welfare
of the Township.
B. The development shall consist of a harmonious selection
of uses and grouping of buildings, service and parking areas, circulation
and open spaces, planned and designed as an integrated unit in such
manner as to constitute a safe, efficient and convenient retail shopping
center. The distance at the closest point between buildings or groups
of attached buildings shall be not less than 20 feet.
C. The appropriate use of property adjacent to the center
shall be safeguarded. A landscaping plan shall be prepared and submitted
for approval by the Township Commissioners specifically addressing
aesthetics of the center and its relationship to the adjacent properties.
D. All buildings within the center shall be served by
a central sanitary sewage disposal system and public water supply
or available public utilities.
E. Adequate provision shall be made for safe and efficient
pedestrian and vehicular traffic circulation within the boundaries
of the center.
F. Provision shall be made for safe and efficient ingress
and egress to and from public streets and highways serving the center
without undue congestion to or interference with normal traffic flow
within the Township. All points of vehicular access to and from public
streets shall be located not less than 100 feet from any public street
as measured from the center line of the access drive to the center
line of the public street.
G. Adequate off-street parking and loading spaces shall
be provided in accordance with and as an integral part of the plan,
except that required space for individual establishments need not
be provided separately but may be made a component part of such space
jointly serving two or more establishments, provided that in no case
shall the number of parking spaces be less than 5 1/2 spaces
per 1,000 square feet of gross leasable area (GLA).
H. If the development of the center is to be carried
out in progressive stages, each stage shall be so planned that the
foregoing requirements and the intent of this chapter shall be fully
complied with at the completing of any stage. The initial stage of
development shall comprise a total ground-floor area of not less than
25,000 square feet and at least three of the selected and designated
uses.
Preliminary plans for any SC Shopping Center
District use shall be submitted to the Lower Pottsgrove Planning Commission
prior to the issuance of any building permit. If, however, portions
of the project are to be completed in successive stages, a less detailed
sketch or layout of the area not scheduled for immediate development
will suffice initially, provided that as further development occurs
a plan showing all of the required detail shall then be submitted
prior to the construction of any portion. Information to be shown
on all shopping center plans or on attached reports shall include:
A. A plot plan of the lot showing the location of all
present and proposed buildings, sidewalks and other areas to be devoted
to pedestrian use, drives, parking lots, loading and unloading areas
and other construction features on the lot and all buildings, streets,
highways, streams and other topographical features of the lot and
within 50 feet of any lot line.
B. Architectural plans for all proposed buildings.
C. The location, size in square feet, dimensions and
arrangements of areas and buildings devoted to any purpose.
D. A description of the commercial uses proposed, including
approximate number of employees and an indication of the expected
number of customers in sufficient detail to indicate the effects of
those operations in producing traffic congestion, noise, glare, air
pollution, water pollution, fire hazards or safety hazards.
E. Engineering and architectural plans for the treatment
and disposal of sewage including the general drainage system.
F. The stages which will be followed in the construction
of the planned shopping center.
G. For new proposed shopping centers. A market analysis
suitable for the size center proposed, showing the desirability for
a shopping center in the location requested. For these purposes, the
market analysis shall contain but not necessarily be limited to, the
following determinations:
(1)
The trade area of the proposed shopping center.
(2)
The trade area population, present and future.
(3)
Effective buying power in the trade area.
(4)
Net potential customer buying power for stores
in the proposed shopping center.
H. A statement of financial responsibility as to the
developer's ability to proceed with construction and complete the
project as proposed.
I. Upon receipt of preliminary plans for any SC use and
recommendations thereon by the Planning Commission, the Board of Commissioners
shall have the power of approval or disapproval of the plans.
J. Upon approval of the preliminary plan, the developer
shall submit, within one calendar year unless otherwise extended by
the Board of Commissioners, a final development plan to the Planning
Commission for its review and recommendations. The Planning Commission
may require that the final development plan be submitted separately
for the first and each successive stage.
K. The Planning Commission shall determine that each
stage of or all of the final development plan conforms to the intent
of the preliminary plan as approved. The Commission, having reviewed
the final development plan for any or all stages of the development
and finding that it is in compliance with the intent of the preliminary
plan, shall present its recommendations to the Board of Commissioners.
L. Upon approval of the final plan, construction shall
begin in accordance with the approved plan within one year from final
approval unless otherwise extended by the Board of Commissioners.
If the shopping center is to be developed in stages, the initial development
must be completed within two years after the final development plan
has been approved, unless otherwise extended by the Board of Commissioners.
In the event that construction is not started within the specified
time, the Planning Commission shall review the zoning and the progress
which has taken place and, if deemed necessary, recommend to the Board
of Commissioners the reclassification of the property in a manner
consistent with the Comprehensive Plan of Lower Pottsgrove Township.
M. A final development plan, drawn to scale and with controlling dimensions, shall contain all the necessary information and be accompanied by the supporting data as required by this chapter and the Subdivision Ordinance of Lower Pottsgrove Township (Chapter
215).
N. After the final development plan has been approved
and when in the course of carrying out this plan adjustment or rearrangements
of buildings, parking areas, entrances, heights or yards are requested
by the developer and such requests conform to the standards established
by the approved development plan for area to be covered by building
spaces, entrances, height, setback and lot area requirements, such
adjustment may be approved by the Zoning Hearing Board upon application
and after receiving the recommendations of the Township Planning Commission.