It shall be unlawful for any person or persons, firm, association
or corporation to build or maintain a driveway across any curb or
sidewalk along a public highway without first obtaining from the Upper
Moreland Township Board of Commissioners a permit therefor before
such work is begun. The permit shall be in force for the period of
90 days from its date.
Before such permit is issued and said work begun, a written
application on a blank form, to be furnished for that purpose by the
said Board of Township Commissioners, must be filed with the Department
of Highways, setting forth the purpose for which the said highway,
road, street, avenue, public lane, public alley, sidewalk or footpath
is to be opened, excavated or occupied and the location of the said
proposed work and, in such application, the applicant shall agree
to assume all liability for all or any damages to person or property
accruing to the public or to the said Township which may or might
result from the opening, excavating or occupying of said highway,
road, street, avenue, public lane, public alley, sidewalk or footpath.
All placements within the cartway or the sidewalk area shall be subject
to the right of the Township to thereafter require the same to be
relocated.
Before the issuance of a permit the applicant shall make payment to the Township of the fees required by the fee schedule adopted by the Board of Commissioners and found in Chapter
140, Fees, Rates and Permits, §
140-27, of the Upper Moreland Township Code.
All measurements required to be made in applying the above fees
shall be made by the Highway Department and should include any enlargement
of openings which may be required to be made as an incident of the
repair of such paving.
The following standards shall apply to the construction or reconstruction of all driveways after the effective date of this article for residential dwellings, except for those dwellings provided for in Article
IV, Construction Standards for Driveways and Parking Areas for Commercial, Industrial and Multifamily Uses, of this chapter. Where the provisions of Chapter
300, Subdivision and Land Development, of this Code refer to the "standards" as applicable to driveways with respect to single-family dwellings, that reference shall be deemed to refer to this §
295-15.
A. Except as otherwise required by Chapter
350, Zoning, of this Code, every residential dwelling unit shall be provided with a minimum of two off-street parking spaces of at least nine feet in width and 18 feet in depth. Such parking spaces shall be constructed of paving as herein provided or shall be provided in a garage connected to a street by a driveway constructed in accordance with the provisions hereof.
B. No driveway shall be less than nine feet in width at any point.
C. Driveways shall be located no less than 40 feet from a street intersection
and shall provide reasonable sight distance at intersections with
streets. Driveways shall be located so as not to cause the following:
(1) Interference to the traveling public;
(2) A hazard to the free movement of normal highway traffic;
(3) Areas of undue traffic congestion on the highway; or
(4) Interference with drainage of the highway.
D. Material standards. Driveways and parking areas shall be constructed
of either asphalt or reinforced concrete on an approved firm subgrade.
The paving shall be constructed both as to materials and workmanship
in accordance with the specifications and standards established by
the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, now in force or hereafter
revised, except as expressly set forth herein:
(1) Asphalt. A driveway or parking area shall have a thickness of six
inches, consisting of a base course of 2A modified stone with a compacted
thickness of four inches and a surface of ID-2A wearing course with
a compacted thickness of two inches.
(2) Concrete. A driveway or parking area shall have a minimum thickness
of six inches of three-thousand-pounds-per-square-inch concrete reinforced
with six-inch by six-inch wire mesh, No. 9 wire.
(3) Sidewalks crossing a driveway and driveway aprons shall be constructed of reinforced concrete as set forth in Subsection
D(2) above, with a one-half-inch premolded expansion joint placed where the sidewalk or driveway apron abuts a concrete curb.
E. Provisions for drainage and stormwater runoff shall be approved by
the Township Engineer.
F. No driveway shall be constructed closer than three feet to a property
line of the lot, except in the R-4 Residential District, where a driveway
may be located no closer than one foot to the property line of the
lot. Lots with a frontage of 100 feet or less shall have only one
curb cut for a driveway, and any one property may not have more than
two curb cuts, except where a frontage exceeds 300 feet or where internal
vehicular patterns require additional curb cuts.
G. The Board of Commissioners shall be authorized to permit deviations
where they determine that the literal application of any of these
standards would result in undue hardship or be unnecessary.
Any owner, person, firm, association or corporation who shall
violate any of the provisions of this article or who shall fail to
comply with the conditions or requirements of any permit granted in
accordance with the provisions of this article shall, upon conviction
thereof, be liable to pay a fine or not less than $50 nor more than
$600 for each and every offense. A new and separate offense shall
be deemed to have been committed for each day that said violation
exists. All fines imposed by the article are recoverable by summary
proceedings before any magisterial district judge in the Township
of Upper Moreland and, upon recovery thereof, all such fines are to
be paid into the treasury of the Township. In default of the payment
of any fine imposed by any magisterial district judge under the provisions
of this article, the person or persons so offending may be committed
to the jail, workhouse or other penal institution of Montgomery County
for a period not exceeding 30 days.