A. 
Purpose.
(1) 
The purpose of this district is to:
(a) 
Require a unified and coordinated arrangement of buildings, loading areas, and parking areas, together with carefully designed traffic access and landscaping.
(b) 
Plan for commercial areas as integrated units, to provide an efficient, safe, convenient and attractive shopping area.
(2) 
This district also recognizes that the PC District adjoins heavily traveled roads, necessitating careful vehicular access control.
B. 
The intent is to carefully control the creation of new lots and the arrangement of traffic access through conditional use approval of a planned commercial development. Once such framework is established, the intent is to then permit most individual commercial uses as permitted-by-right uses within such approved development.
Only the following are permitted-by-right uses in the PC District, provided that the requirements for specific uses in Article XX are met:
A. 
The following uses are only permitted by right within an approved planned commercial development:
(1) 
All uses listed as permitted by right in the GC District except the following:
(a) 
Uses listed in Subsection B below, which are not required to be within a planned commercial development.
(b) 
Wholesale sales or warehousing.
(c) 
Campground.
(2) 
Fast-food restaurant,[1] with or without drive-through service.
[1]
Note: See additional requirements in § 275-189.
(3) 
Tavern or nightclub.
(4) 
Auto repair garage.[2]
[2]
Note: See additional requirements in § 275-189.
B. 
The following uses are permitted by right either within an approved planned commercial development or on lots of record that existed and had a lot area of less than eight acres prior to this chapter being adopted:
(1) 
Drive-in theater.[3]
[3]
Note: See additional requirements in § 275-189.
(2) 
Swimming pool, public or semiprivate.
(3) 
Place of worship.[4]
[4]
Note: See additional requirements in § 275-189.
(4) 
Township-owned use.
(5) 
Publicly owned recreation.
(6) 
Plant nursery,[5] including exterior storage and display.
[5]
Note: See additional requirements in § 275-189.
(7) 
Crop farming.
(8) 
Home occupation, major or minor or no-impact home-based business.[6]
[Amended 12-20-2004 by Ord. No. 10-04]
[6]
Note: See additional requirements in § 275-190.
(9) 
Essential services.[7]
[7]
Note: See additional requirements in § 275-190.
(10) 
U.S. Postal Service facility.[8]
[8]
Editor's Note: Former §§ 202, Approval of Engineer required; specifications; 203, Street construction specifications; 204, Concrete curb specifications; 205, Sidewalk specification; 206, Permits and 207, Driveways, which immediately followed this subsection, were repealed 4-7-2008 by Ord. No. 03-08.
(11) 
Co-located commercial communications antenna.[9]
[Added 3-19-2001 by Ord. No. 03-01]
[9]
Note: See additional requirements in § 275-189.
Only the following uses are permitted by special exception in the PC District, provided that the requirements for specific uses in Article XX are met:
A. 
The following uses are special exception uses only if located within a planned commercial development:
(1) 
Adult indoor movie theater, adult bookstore, cabaret or massage parlor.[1]
[1]
Note: See additional requirements in § 275-189.
B. 
Dormitory, serving a college, university or primary or secondary school that is located within Bethlehem Township, provided such dormitory is set back a minimum of 60 feet from the lot line of any existing dwelling or residential district.
Only the following uses are permitted conditional uses in the PC District, provided that the requirements for specific uses in Article XX and this article are met:
A. 
Emergency services station.[1]
[1]
Note: See additional requirements in § 275-189.
B. 
Planned commercial development, within the provisions of § 275-83.
The following lot and setback regulations shall apply to uses in the PC District, unless a more restrictive requirement is stated in Article XX (for a particular use) or elsewhere in this chapter.
A. 
Minimum lot area: 43,560 square feet.
B. 
Maximum lot coverage: 40% for buildings, 70% for total impervious coverage. A minimum of 30% of the lot area shall be covered with landscaping and an all-season ground cover.
C. 
Minimum lot width: 150 feet, except 300 feet at the existing right-of-way line of any arterial street for any lot from which a use or uses will have a driveway or access drive entering onto.
D. 
Minimum lot depth: 100 feet.
E. 
Minimum front yard setback: 60 feet from the future street right-of-way line.
F. 
Paved area setbacks. See § 275-144G.
G. 
Minimum side yard, minimum rear yard, maximum height, shared parking and driveways. The same standards as are listed for the GC District apply, except that a minimum building setback of 150 feet shall be required from an existing dwelling or residential district boundary, whichever is more restrictive.
A. 
Minimum tract area: eight acres. See definition of "tract" in § 275-24.
B. 
Staged construction. If development is to occur in progressive stages, each stage shall be planned and occur so that the purposes and requirements of this chapter are fully complied with at the completion of each stage.
C. 
Lot regulations. Any lot proposed to be created presently or in the future within a planned commercial development shall be capable of complying with the lot and setback regulations of this district.
D. 
Paved area setbacks. See § 275-144G.
E. 
Traffic access.
(1) 
Traffic study. See § 275-179.
(2) 
Traffic improvements. Based upon a traffic study, the applicant may be required to fund or place sufficient funds in escrow for traffic improvements (such as a traffic signal) that will eventually be needed to serve the development. See § 275-20.
(3) 
Right-of-way dedications. Based upon a traffic study, an applicant may be required to dedicate sufficient land for needed widening of arterial or connector streets. Also, an applicant may be required by the Board of Commissioners, if recommended by the Planning Commission, to dedicate sufficient land for needed realignments of intersections that abut the tract.
(4) 
Coordinated access. Any planned commercial development shall make the absolute maximum use possible of interior streets and/other access interior to the tract, as opposed to numerous driveways entering onto an arterial street.
(5) 
Alternative street access.
(a) 
This Subsection E(5) is intended to be carried out as part of the conditional use approval process for a planned commercial development, in coordination with the PennDOT highway occupancy permit process, and after considering any comments provided by PennDOT, the Planning Commission and the Township Engineer and after considering any traffic study submitted and the Comprehensive Plan, as amended, and any public input received at meetings.
(b) 
The Board of Commissioners may require that traffic access occur from one street, and not another, or from both streets. The applicant shall prove that all proposed access points are the most logical and reasonable considering impacts upon abutting streets and in full consideration of impacts on nearby homes.
(c) 
The Board of Commissioners may require that no new direct traffic access that would involve left-hand turns onto and off of an arterial street, except at an intersection where a traffic signal exists or has been funded in escrow, if reasonable access could be provided using another street deemed adequate by the Board of Commissioners.
(d) 
The Board of Commissioners may require that deed restrictions, enforceable by the Township, be placed on each affected lot within a planned commercial development to ensure that each future use fully complies with the overall approved system of vehicle access.
(e) 
Certain additional access point(s) may be appropriately designed and approved to only serve emergency vehicles.
F. 
Landscaping. See § 275-172.
G. 
Loading docks. An applicant shall prove to the satisfaction of the Township that loading docks routinely serving three or more tractor-trailer trucks have been located within reason to seek to minimize their visibility from dwellings, public streets and existing and planned expressways. No new loading dock routinely served by tractor-trailer trucks shall be located within 75 feet of the existing right-of-way of a public street.
A. 
Off-street parking. See Article XVII.
B. 
Signs. See Article XVIII.
C. 
Site plan review. See § 275-178, which requires site plan review by the Planning Commission for nonresidential principal buildings.
D. 
Transportation improvements. See § 275-20.
E. 
Buffer yards and screening. See § 275-171D.
F. 
Utilities. All commercial, industrial and institutional uses shall be served by both public water and public sewage service.