Specific Terms.
ACCESSORY BUILDING
A building subordinate to and detached from the main building
on the same lot and used for purposes customarily incidental to the
main building.
ALLEY
A public thoroughfare, other than a minor street, which affords
only secondary means of access to abutting properties and not intended
for general traffic circulation.
APPLICANT
A landowner or developer, as hereinafter defined, who has
filed an application for development including his heirs, successors
and assigns.
APPLICATION FOR DEVELOPMENT
Every application, whether preliminary or final, required
to be filed and approved prior to start of construction or development
including, but not limited to, an application for a building permit,
for the approval of a subdivision plat or plan or for the approval
of a development plan.
BLOCK
An area bounded by streets.
BUFFERING (BUFFER AREA)
A strip of land intended to separate and partially obstruct
the view of two adjacent land uses or properties from one another.
Normally the area is landscaped and kept in open space use.
BUILDING
Any structure having a roof supported by columns or walls
and intended for the shelter, housing or enclosure of persons, animals
or chattels and including covered porches or bay windows and chimneys.
BUILDING LINE
A line parallel to the front, side or rear lot so as to provide
the required yard.
CARTWAY
Portion of a street or alley which is improved, designated
or intended for vehicular use.
CHAIRMAN
The Chairman of the Town of Bloomsburg Planning Commission.
CLEAR SIGHT TRIANGLE
An area of unobstructed vision at street intersections. It
is defined by lines of sight, measured at a driver eye height of 3 1/2
feet, between points at a given distance from the intersection of
the street center lines.
COMMISSION
The Town of Bloomsburg Planning Commission.
COMMON ELEMENTS
Land amenities, parts of buildings, central services and
utilities and any other elements and facilities owned and used by
all unit owners and are designated as common elements. These elements
may include, but are limited to:
A.
The land on which the building is located and portions of the
building which are not included in a unit.
B.
The foundation, structural parts, supports, main walls, roofs,
basements, halls, corridors, lobbies, stairways, entrances and exits
of the building.
C.
The yards, parking areas and driveways.
D.
Portions of the land and building used exclusively for the management,
operation or maintenance of the common elements.
E.
Installation of all central services and utilities.
F.
All other elements of the building necessary or convenient to
its existence, management, operation, maintenance and safety or normally
in common use.
G.
Such other facilities as are designated as common elements.
CONDOMINIUM
Real estate, portions of which are designated for separate
ownership and the remainder of which is designated for common ownership
solely by the owners of those portions. Real estate is not a condominium
unless the undivided interests in the common elements are vested in
the unit owners.
CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION
The community association which administers and maintains
the common property and common elements of a condominium.
COUNTY
County of Columbia, Pennsylvania.
CROSS-WALK
A right-of-way, publicly or privately owned, intended to
furnish access of pedestrians.
CUL-DE-SAC
A minor street open at one end for vehicular and pedestrian
access with the opposite end terminating in a vehicular turn around.
CULVERT
A structure with appurtenant works which carries a stream
or drainage water under or through an embankment or fill.
CURB
A stone or concrete boundary usually marking the edge of
the roadway or paved area.
CURB CUT
The opening along the curbline at which point vehicles may
enter or leave the roadway.
CUT
An excavation. The difference between a point on the original
ground and designated point of lower elevation of the final grade.
Also, the material removed in excavation.
DEVELOPER
Any landowner, agent of such landowner or tenant with the
permission of such landowner, who makes or causes to be made a subdivision
of land or a land development.
DEVELOPMENT PLAN
The provisions for development, including a planned residential
development, a plat of subdivision, all covenants relating to use,
location and bulk of buildings and other structures, intensity of
use or density of development, streets, driveways and parking facilities,
common open space and public facilities.
DRAINAGE
B.
The removal of surface water or groundwater from land by drains,
grading or other means which include runoff controls to minimize erosion
and sedimentation during and after construction of development, the
means for preserving the water supply and the prevention or alleviation
of flooding.
DRAINAGE FACILITY
Any ditch, gutter, culvert, storm sewer or other structure
designed, intended or constructed for the purpose of diverting surface
waters from or carrying surface waters off streets, public rights-of-way,
parks, recreational areas or any part of any subdivision or contiguous
land areas.
DRAINAGE SYSTEM
Pipes, swales, natural features and man-made improvements
designed to carry drainage.
DRIVEWAY
A private roadway providing access for vehicles to a parking
space, garage, dwelling or other structure.
DWELLING
A building or structure designed for living quarters for
one or more families, including homes which are supported either by
a foundation or are otherwise permanently attached to the land, but
not including, hotels, boarding/rooming houses or other accommodations
used for transient occupancy.
DWELLING, INDUSTRIALIZED HOUSING
Any structure designed primarily for residential occupancy,
except a mobile home, which is wholly or in substantial part made,
fabricated, formed or assembled in manufacturing facilities for installation
or assembly and installation on the building site in such a manner
that all concealed parts or processes of manufacture cannot be inspected
at the site without disassembly, damage or destruction.
DWELLING, MANUFACTURED (MOBILE) HOME
A transportable, single-family dwelling intended for permanent
occupancy, office or place of assembly contained in one unit, or in
two units designed to be joined into one integral unit capable of
again being separated for repeated towing, which arrives at a site
complete and ready for occupancy except for minor and incidental unpacking
and assembly operations, and constructed so that it may be used without
a permanent foundation. For floodplain management purposes, this definition
includes park trailers, travel trailers and other similar vehicles
located on site for greater than 180 consecutive days.
DWELLING, MULTIPLE
A building used or designed as a residence for two or more
independent dwelling units. The building, arranged as a horizontal
and/or vertical string or strings of two or more dwelling units which,
together, comprise the building and which share horizontal or vertical
common portions (walls, floors or ceilings) with one another. This
definition includes double houses, row houses, condominiums, apartment
houses and conversion apartments.
DWELLING, SINGLE
A building used by one family, having only one dwelling unit and having two side yards including, but not limited to, individual mobile home dwellings meeting minimum habitable floor area requirements as set forth within the Bloomsburg Zoning Ordinance [Chapter
27].
EASEMENT
A grant of one or more property rights by the property owner
to and/or for the use by the public, a corporation or another person
or entity.
ENGINEER, MUNICIPAL
A registered professional engineer in Pennsylvania designated
by the Town of Bloomsburg to perform the duties of engineer as herein
specified.
ENGINEER, PROFESSIONAL
An individual licensed and registered under the laws of the
Commonwealth to engage in the practice of engineering. A professional
engineer may not practice land surveying unless licensed as set forth
in P.L. 534, No. 230; however, a professional engineer may perform
engineering land surveys.
ENGINEERING LAND SURVEYS
Surveys for:
A.
The development of any tract of land including the incidental
design of related improvements, such as line and grade extension of
roads, sewers and grading but not requiring independent engineering
judgment; provided, however, that tract perimeter surveys shall be
the function of the professional land surveyor.
B.
The determination of the configuration or contour of the earth's
surface, or the position of fixed objects thereon or related thereto
by means of measuring lines and angles and applying the principals
of mathematics, photogrammetry or other measurement methods.
C.
Geodetic or cadastral surveys, underground survey and hydrographic
survey.
D.
Sedimentation and erosion control surveys.
E.
The determination of the quantities of materials.
F.
Tests for water percolation in soils.
G.
The preparation of plans and specifications and estimates of
proposed work as described herein.
ENGINEERING SPECIFICATIONS
The engineering specifications of the Town of Bloomsburg
regulating the installation of any required improvements or for any
facility installed by any owner, subject to public use.
EROSION
The detachment and movement of soil or rock fragments or
the wearing away of the land surface by water, wind, ice and gravity.
EXCAVATION
Any act by which earth, sand, gravel, rock or any other similar
material is dug into, cut, quarried, uncovered, removed, displaced,
relocated or bulldozed. It shall also include the conditions resulting
therefrom.
EXISTING CONDITIONS
Land use present at the time a drainage/stormwater management
plan is submitted. However, a more impervious existing condition can
be used if the developer can document that a more impervious condition
was present at the time the Town adopted this Chapter. For computation
purposes, meadow or good woods/forest shall be used for existing pervious
conditions. For existing areas consisting of a combination of pervious
and impervious cover, either a composite of meadow, good woods/forest
and impervious/parking shall be used or the various precomputed composite
covers for developed areas shall be used.
EXISTING GRADE
The vertical location of the ground surface prior to excavation
or filling.
FILL
Any act by which earth, sand, gravel, rock or any other material
is placed, pushed, dumped, pulled, transported or moved to a new location
above the natural surface of the ground or on top of the stripped
surface and shall include the conditions resulting therefrom. The
difference in elevation between a point on the original ground and
a designated point of higher elevation on the final grade. The material
used to make a fill.
FINISHED GRADE
The proposed elevation of the land surface of a site after
completion of all site preparation work.
FUTURE RIGHT-OF-WAY
A.
Right-of-way width required for the expansion of existing streets
to accommodate anticipated future traffic loads.
B.
A right-of-way established to provide future access to or through
undeveloped land.
GOVERNING BODY
Bloomsburg Town Council, Columbia County, Pennsylvania.
IMPROVEMENTS
Any man-made immovable item which becomes part of, placed
upon or is affixed to real estate.
LAND DEVELOPMENT
A.
The improvement of one lot or two or more contiguous lots, tracts
or parcels of land for any purpose involving:
(1)
A group of two or more residential or nonresidential buildings,
whether proposed initially or cumulatively or a nonresidential building
on a lot or lots regardless of the number of occupants or tenure.
(2)
The division or allocation of land or space, whether initially
or cumulatively, between or among two or more existing or prospective
occupants by means of or for the purpose of streets, common areas,
leaseholds, condominiums, building groups or other features.
LANDOWNER
The legal or beneficial owner or owners of land including
the holder of an option or contract to purchase (whether or not such
option or contract is subject to any condition), a lessee if he is
authorized under the lease to exercise the rights of the landowner
or other person having a proprietary interest in land, shall be deemed
to be a landowner for the purpose of this Chapter.
LOT
Land occupied or to be occupied by a building and its accessory buildings, or by a dwelling group and its accessory buildings, together with such open spaces as are required under the provisions of Chapter
27 of the Town of Bloomsburg Code of Ordinances, having not less than the minimum area and width required by said Chapter for a lot in the district in which such land is situated and abutting on a street or private road over which perpetual access is provided.
LOT AREA
The total area within the lot lines of a lot, excluding any
street rights-of-way.
LOT, REVERSE FRONTAGE
A lot extending between and having frontage on an arterial
street and a minor street, and with vehicular access solely from the
latter.
MOBILE HOME LOT
A parcel of land in a mobile home park improved with the
necessary utility connections and other appurtenances necessary for
the erection thereon of a single mobile home.
MOBILE HOME PARK
A parcel or contiguous parcels of land which has been so
designated and improved that it contains two or more mobile home lots
for the placement thereon of mobile homes.
MASTER DEED
A legal instrument under which title to real estate is conveyed
and by which a condominium is created and established.
OPEN SPACE, COMMON
A parcel or parcels of land or an area of water, or a combination
of land and water within a development site, designed and intended
for the use or enjoyment of residents of a development, not including
streets, off-street parking areas and areas set aside for public facilities.
OPEN SPACE
The unoccupied space open to the sky on the same lot with
the building, not including parking lots.
PERSON
Any individual or group of individuals, corporations or partnership.
PERVIOUS SURFACE
A surface that generally permits the infiltration of water
into the ground.
PLAN, COMPREHENSIVE
The Development Policy Plan (Master Plan) and/or Future Land
Use Plan and/or Official Map or other such plans, or portions thereof,
as may be adopted, pursuant to statute, for the area of the Town of
Bloomsburg in which the subdivision or land development is located.
PLAN, SKETCH
An informal plan, not necessarily to exact scale, indicating
salient existing features of a tract and its surroundings and the
general layout of a proposed subdivision or land development.
PLAT
The map or plan of a subdivision or land development, whether
preliminary or final.
A.
FINAL PLATA complete and exact subdivision or land development plan, prepared for official recording as required by statute, to define property rights and proposed streets and other improvements. Definition of "final plat" shall include minor plat.
B.
PRELIMINARY PLATA tentative subdivision or land development plan, in lesser detail than a final plan, showing approximate proposed street and lot layout as a basis for consideration prior to preparation of a final plan.
PRINCIPAL BUILDING OR PRINCIPAL USE
The basic purpose for which a building or land area is occupied
or intended to be occupied as opposed to accessory or incidental uses,
usually classifiable as residential, commercial, manufacturing or
public in nature.
PROFESSIONAL CONSULTANTS
Persons who provide expert or professional advice, including
but not limited to architects, attorneys, certified public accountants,
engineers, geologists, land surveyors, landscape architects, or planners.
PROFILE LINE
The profile of the center line of the finished surface of
the street, which shall be midway between the sidelines of the street.
PUBLIC GROUNDS
Includes:
A.
Parks, playgrounds, trails, paths and other recreational areas
and other public areas.
B.
Sites for schools, sewage treatment, refuse disposal and other
publicly owned or operated facilities.
C.
Publicly owned or operated scenic and historic sites.
PUBLIC HEARING
A formal meeting held pursuant to public notice by the Town
Council or Planning Commission, intended to inform and obtain public
comment prior to taking action.
PUBLIC MEETING
A forum held pursuant to notice under the Act of July 3,
1986 (P.L. 388, No. 84), known as the "Sunshine Act."
PUBLIC NOTICE
Notice published once each week for two successive weeks
in a newspaper of general circulation in the Town of Bloomsburg. Such
a notice shall state the time and place of the hearing and the particular
nature of the matter to be considered at the hearing. The first publication
shall not be more than 30 days and the second publication shall not
be less than seven days from the date of the hearing.
REAL ESTATE
Any fee, leasehold or other estate or interest in, over or
under land, including structures, fixtures and other improvements
and interests which by custom, usage or law pass with a conveyance
of land though not described in the contract of sale or instrument
of conveyance. Real estate includes parcels with or without upper
or lower boundaries and spaces that may be filled with air or water.
RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCE
Any method, process or substance whose supply is rejuvenated
through natural processes and subject to those natural processes remains
relatively constant including, but not limited to, biomass conversion,
geothermal energy, solar and wind energy and hydroelectric energy
and excluding those sources of energy used in the fission and fusion
process.
RESERVE STRIP
A strip of land adjacent to a street intended to control
access to the street from an adjacent property.
RIGHT-OF-WAY
A strip of land acquired by reservation, dedication, forced
dedication, prescription or condemnation and intended to be occupied
by a road, crosswalk, railroad, electric transmission line, oil or
gas pipeline, water line, sanitary storm sewer and other similar uses;
generally, the right of one to pass over the property of another.
RIGHT-OF-WAY, STREET
A public thoroughfare for vehicular traffic and/or pedestrian
traffic, whether designated as a street, highway, thoroughfare, parkway,
road, avenue, boulevard, lane, alley or however designated.
RUNOFF
The surface water discharge or rate of discharge of a given
watershed after a fall of rain or snow that does not enter the soil
but runs off the surface of the land.
SANITARY SEWER (PUBLIC)
A sanitary sewage collection method in which sewage is carried
from the site by a system of pipes to a central treatment and disposal
plant.
SCREENING
A device or materials used to conceal one element of a development
from other elements or from adjacent or contiguous development. Screening
may include one or a combination of the materials of sufficient mass
to be opaque or that shall become opaque after a specified period
of time and which shall be maintained in an opaque condition, walls,
berms or plantings.
SEDIMENTATION
The process by which mineral or organic matter is accumulated
or deposited by wind, water or gravity. Once this matter is deposited
(or remains suspended in water), it is usually referred to as "sediment."
SEPTIC SYSTEM
An underground system with a septic tank used for the decomposition
of domestic wastes and is also referred to as an onlot system.
SERVICE DRIVE (PRIVATE)
A service way providing a secondary means of private access
to abutting property and not intended for general traffic circulation.
SHADOW ANALYSIS
A graphic representation of shadows cast by nature, landscaping,
screening and structures plotted with regard to topography, slope
and direction at 9:00 a.m., noon and 3:00 p.m. on the date of the
Winter Solstice.
SIDEWALK
A paved, surfaced or leveled area, parallel to and usually
separated from the street, used as a pedestrian walkway.
SIGHT DISTANCE
The length of roadway visible to the driver of a passenger
vehicle at any given point on the roadway when the view is unobstructed
by traffic. Such length of roadway shall be measured at a driver eye
height of 3 1/2 feet.
SLOPE
The face of an embankment or cut section, any ground whose
surface makes an angle with the plane of the horizon. Slopes are usually
expressed in a percentage based upon vertical difference in feet per
100 feet of horizontal distance.
SOIL STABILIZATION
Chemical or structural treatment of a mass of soil to increase
or maintain its stability or otherwise to improve its engineering
properties.
SOLAR ENERGY
Radiant energy (direct, diffused or reflected) received from
the sun at wave lengths suitable for conversion into thermal, chemical
or electrical energy.
SOLAR ENERGY COLLECTOR
Any device, structure or part of a device or structure which
is used primarily to transform solar energy into thermal, chemical
or electrical energy, including any space or structural component
specifically designed to retain heat derived from solar energy.
SOLAR ENERGY SYSTEM
A complete design or assembly consisting of a solar energy
collector, an energy storage facility (where appropriate) and components
for the distribution of transformed energy to the extent that they
cannot be used jointly with a conventional energy system. Passive
solar energy systems which use the natural properties of materials
and architectural components to collect and store solar energy without
using any external mechanical power are included in this definition
if they do not fulfill structural or other functions.
SOLAR SKYSPACE
The space between a solar energy collector and the sun which
must be free of obstructions that shade the collector to an extent
which precludes its cost-effective operation.
SOLAR SKYSPACE EASEMENT
A right, expressed as an easement, covenant or condition
or other property interest in any deed or other instrument executed
by or on behalf of any landlord which protects the solar skyspace
of an actual, proposed or designated solar energy collector at a described
location by forbidding or limiting activities or land uses that interfere
with access to solar energy.
STORMWATER DETENTION
Any storm drainage technique that retards or detains runoff,
such as a detention or retention basin, parking lot storage, rooftop
storage, porous pavement, dry wells or any combination thereof.
STORMWATER MANAGEMENT FACILITIES
Facilities designed to reduce peak flows and/or volumes,
such as stormwater management ponds, underground storage, rooftop
storage and pervious parking.
STREAM
A watercourse having a source and terminus, banks and channel
through which waters flow at least periodically.
STREET
Includes street, avenue, boulevard, road, highway, freeway,
parkway, lane, alley, viaduct and any other ways used or intended
to be used by vehicular traffic or pedestrians, whether public or
private.
A.
ARTERIAL STREETThis classification includes highways which provide intracounty or intermunicipal traffic of substantial volumes. Generally, these highways should accommodate operating speeds of 55 miles per hour.
B.
COLLECTOR STREETThis classification is intended to include those highways which connect minor streets to arterial highways and generally serve intracounty and intramunicipal traffic. They may serve as traffic corridors connecting residential areas with industrial, shopping and other services. They may penetrate residential areas. Generally, these highways will accommodate operating speeds of 35 to 45 miles per hour or under.
C.
MINOR STREETThis classification is intended to include streets and roads that provide direct access to abutting land and connections to higher classes of roadways. Traffic volumes will be low and travel distances generally short. These streets and roads should be designed for operating speeds of 25 miles per hour or under.
STREET GRADE
The officially established grade of the street upon which
a lot fronts or, in its absence, the established grade of the other
streets upon which the lot abuts, at the midpoint of the frontage
of the lot thereon. If there is no officially established grade, the
existing grade of the street at such midpoint shall be taken as the
street grade.
STREET WIDTH
The shortest distance between the lines delineating the right-of-way
of a street.
STRUCTURE
Any man-made object having an ascertainable stationary location
on or in land or water, whether or not affixed to the land. For floodplain
management purposes, a walled and roofed building, including a gas
or liquid storage tank, that is principally above ground, as well
as a manufactured home.
SUBDIVIDER
The owner or authorized agent of the owner of a lot, tract
or parcel of land to be subdivided for sale or development under the
terms of this Chapter.
SUBDIVISION
The division or redivision of a lot, tract or parcel of land
by any means into two or more lots, tracts, parcels or other divisions
of land including changes in existing lot lines for the purpose, whether
immediate or future, of lease, transfer of ownership or building or
lot development; provided, however, that the subdivision by lease
of land for agricultural purposes into parcels of more than 10 acres,
not involving any new street or easement or access or residential
dwellings, shall be exempted.
A.
MAJOR SUBDIVISIONAny subdivision involving more than five lots, parcels of land or other divisions of land whether or not they involve new streets, additional utilities or other facilities immediate or future.
B.
MINOR SUBDIVISIONThe subdivision of a single lot, tract or parcel of land into five or fewer lots, tracts or parcels of land for the purpose, whether immediate or future, of transfer of ownership or of building development, providing lots, tracts or parcels of land thereby created have frontage on an improved public street or streets and providing further that there is not created by the subdivision any new street, street easement, easement of access or need therefor.
SUBSTANTIALLY COMPLETED
Where, in the judgment of the Town Engineer, at least 90%
(based on the cost of the required improvements of which financial
security was posted pursuant to § 509 of the Municipalities
Planning Code) of those improvements required as a condition for final
approval have been completed in accordance with the approved plan,
so that the project will be able to be used, occupied or operated
for its intended use.
SURFACE DRAINAGE PLAN
A plan showing all present and proposed grades and facilities
for stormwater drainage.
SURVEYOR, PROFESSIONAL LAND
An individual licensed and registered under the laws of this
Commonwealth to engage in the practice of land surveying.
SWALE
A low-lying stretch of land characterized as a depression
used to carry surface water runoff.
TOPOGRAPHIC MAP
A map showing the elevations of the ground by contours or
elevations.
TOPOGRAPHY
The configuration of a surface area showing relative elevations.
TOP SOIL
Surface soils and subsurface soils which presumably are fertile
soils and soil material, ordinarily rich in organic matter or humus
debris. Topsoil is usually found in the uppermost soil layer called
the A Horizon.
TOWN
The Town of Bloomsburg, Columbia County, Pennsylvania, Town
Council, its agents or authorized representatives.
TOWN COUNCIL
The Town Council of the Town of Bloomsburg, Columbia County,
Pennsylvania.
TRANSFERABLE DEVELOPMENT RIGHTS
The attaching of development rights to specified lands which
are desired by the Town of Bloomsburg to be kept undeveloped, but
permitting those rights to be transferred from those lands so that
the development potential which they represent may occur on other
lands within the Town where more intensive development is deemed by
the Town of Bloomsburg to be appropriate.
UNDEVELOPED LAND
Any lot, tract or parcel of land which has not been graded
to or in any other manner prepared for the construction of a building.
UNIT
A part of the property, structure or building designed or
intended for any type of independent use, which has direct exit to
a public street or way or to an easement or right-of-way leading to
a public street or way and includes a proportionate undivided interest
in the common elements, which is assigned to the property, structure
or building.
UTILITY, PUBLIC OR PRIVATE
A.
Any agency which under public franchise or ownership, or under
certificate of convenience and necessity, provides the public with
electricity, gas, heat, steam, communication, rail transportation,
water, sewage collection or other similar service.
B.
A closely regulated private enterprise with an exclusive franchise
for providing a public service.
WATERCOURSE
A permanent stream, intermittent stream, river, brook, creek
or a channel or ditch for water, whether natural or man-made.
WETLANDS
Areas that are periodically or permanently inundated by surface
or ground water and support vegetation adapted for life in saturated
soil. Wetlands include swamps, marshes, bogs and similar areas.