[Added by Ord. 07-613, 3/13/2007, § 1]
It is the intent of the West Norriton Township Revitalization
and Traffic Management Overlay District to serve as a mandatory overlay
district by conditional use in order to eliminate blight, improve
the overall appearance of the Township, improve traffic safety and
reduce congestion. This district shall apply to any subdivision and
land development application and shall not be limited by a grant of
waiver of land development. It is the intent of this overlay district
to meet the following objectives:
A. To establish parking standards with the specific intent of coordinating
traffic between adjoining properties.
B. To reduce access points to improve traffic safety, circulation, and
coordination.
C. To provide standards for screening of serving and loading areas,
HVAC equipment, and other areas determined to detract from the aesthetic
qualities of the streetscape.
D. To regulate outdoor dining activities for the benefit of customers
and pedestrians, while also preserving required parking and safe vehicular
circulation.
E. To minimize the potential for increased traffic congestion by providing
incentives that require shared access points, cross-access easements,
shared parking areas, and quality public spaces.
F. To increase the number of pedestrian and vehicular connections between
adjacent properties to provide complimentary and coordinated development
of adjacent properties.
G. To provide regulating standards which require orderly, well-planned
development and to ensure that the new buildings and additions enhance
the surrounding streetscape, including incentives for burial of existing
utilities within the right-of-way.
H. To use scale, building orientation and landscaping to establish community
identity.
I. To effectively and efficiently regulate the establishment and maintenance
of businesses requiring outdoor storage of vehicles, type and heights
of signage, equipment or merchandise.
J. To establish a walkable streetscape by promoting a pedestrian orientation
of streets and buildings and providing a safe and convenient interconnected
sidewalk network.
[Added by Ord. 07-613, 3/13/2007, § 1]
The West Norriton Township Revitalization and Traffic Management
Overlay District shall be an overlay to the underlying zoning districts
in the areas as depicted on the West Norriton Township Zoning Map.
The following shall apply to the overlay district:
A. The provisions and requirements of the West Norriton Township Revitalization
and Traffic Management Overlay District shall be additional and supplemental
to the underlying district provisions and uses.
B. The West Norriton Township Revitalization and Traffic Management
Overlay District shall apply as particularly identified on the West
Norriton Township Zoning Map.
[Added by Ord. 07-613, 3/13/2007, § 1]
Any applicant desiring to improve property, submit a land development or perform an alteration to an existing building located in the West Norriton Township Revitalization and Traffic Management Overlay District is required to apply for and obtain conditional use approval pursuant to the provisions of §
27-1708 of this chapter, and said application shall be governed by the standards and criteria set forth §
27-13B04 below.
[Added by Ord. 07-613, 3/13/2007, § 1; and amended
by Ord. 07-617, 9/11/2007]
1. Applicants shall be required to pursue, where physically feasible,
cross-easement agreements with neighboring property owners for the
purpose of creating a cohesive and efficient parking configuration
and traffic circulation plan.
2. Applicants shall be required to investigate the feasibility of and
to reduce, to the extent possible, the number of existing curb cuts
in order to improve traffic safety and circulation.
3. Appropriate fenced and/or landscaped screening shall be required
around all HVAC equipment, service and loading areas, trash receptacles,
and other areas deemed appropriate by the Board of Commissioners.
A privacy fence, landscaped buffer and/or low shrubs shall provide
screening along the side and rear property boundaries to residential
and institutional zoning districts.
4. To the extent feasible, applicants shall provide pedestrian and vehicular
connections with adjacent properties to facilitate circulation.
5. Applicants shall be required to investigate the feasibility of and,
to the extent possible, consolidate two or more parcels, under separate
ownership, prior to development, with the purpose of providing a more
unified development.
6. The applicant shall appropriately landscape along the backside of
the public sidewalk with low shrubs, ornamental walls and earth shaping.
Where it is determined by the Board of Commissioners that insufficient
space exists for such landscaping, they may be located elsewhere on
the lot, at locations determined acceptable by the Board.
7. The applicant shall renovate existing building facades to provide
a combination of masonry materials, such as stone, stucco, or brick
in combination with wood or simulated wood siding, and decorative
elements around windows and doors, such as columns, pediments, and
shutters, and new roof plan where flat roofs presently exist.
8. The applicant shall bring the front facade wall and sidewalk into conformity with §
27-13B04, Subsection
17, contained herein.
9. Outdoor dining may be permitted, subject to the following:
A. The Board of Commissioners may limit the volume of music, hours of
operation and outdoor lighting of the outdoor dining area so as to
minimize its impact on neighboring properties.
B. Outdoor cooking shall not be permitted.
C. Planters, posts with ropes, iron fencing or other removable enclosures
are encouraged and shall be used as a way of defining the area occupied
as outdoor seating.
D. Refuse facilities shall be provided.
E. Advertising or promotional features shall be limited to umbrellas
or canopies.
F. Outdoor dining shall not impede pedestrian traffic flow.
G. Floor area devoted to outdoor dining shall be provided with off-street parking in the same fashion as required for restaurant use at §
27-1410F(6) herein.
10. All outside lighting on the premises, including sign lighting, shall
be arranged, designed and shielded or directed so as to protect the
abutting streets and highways and adjoining property from the glare
of lights, and lighting shall be so shielded that the source of the
light shall not be visible from any point outside the premises. No
flashing or intermittent or moving lights shall be permitted, either
freestanding, attached to a facade, or as a part of an approved sign.
11. The following dimensional requirements shall apply to all properties
within the Revitalization and Traffic Management Overlay District:
A. Maximum building height: three stories, not to exceed 35 feet.
B. Front, side and rear yard setbacks: The front, side and rear yard
setbacks shall be no less than 10 feet, unless adjacent to an existing
residential zoning district, in which case the minimum side and rear
yard setbacks shall be 30 feet.
C. Parking setback. All parking shall be set back a minimum of 10 feet
from the ultimate right-of-way along all Ridge Pike frontages. The
parking setback along all collectors or residential streets may be
zero feet from the ultimate right-of-way. A minimum of 10 feet from
the curbline shall be provided for the placement of sidewalks, landscaping
and utilities.
12. Occupation of ultimate right-of-way. Any right-of-way outside of
the cartway shall be preserved for sidewalks and green area between
the curbline and the front yard setback along the entire Ridge Pike,
Egypt, Orchard and Trooper Road frontages.
13. Minimum green area: 15%, which may include any green area in the right-of-way as provided in §
27-13B04, Subsection
12. If 15% green area is physically impossible, the applicant shall make a contribution in lieu of green area to the Township. Such contribution will be based on the assessed value of the property.
14. A maximum of one thirty-foot curb cut per street frontage shall be
provided, unless additional curb cuts are approved by the Township
Commissioners in order to accommodate existing or proposed circulation
deemed desirable by the Township, including installation of one-way
movements limiting existing or proposed driveways to entrance or exit
only. The applicant shall reduce the number and width of existing
curb cuts when practicable.
15. The following sign standards shall apply in addition to the regulations set forth in Part
16, Signs, of the West Norriton Township Code, as amended. Where the regulations of Part
16 are in conflict with the standards of this section, this section shall control.
A. No off-premises advertising shall be permitted.
B. The maximum height of freestanding signs shall be 10 feet. Ground
monument signs are encouraged.
C. The maximum height of wall-mounted signs shall be 15 feet, provided
that in no event shall any portion of a sign extend above the roof
eave line of the building to which the sign is attached.
D. Illumination of signs shall be from white or amber color sources
only. Illumination shall be from interior sources only, unless the
Board of Commissioners shall approve lighting from exterior sources,
which shall include a stipulated maximum wattage.
E. Signs with moving parts or signs with changeable copy (including
digital reader boards) and light sources which shall flash or pulsate
more than once per 24 hours shall be prohibited, except for signs
indicating time, date and weather.
F. Signs shall not exceed 50 square feet per side.
G. Signs shall be located behind (out of) the ultimate right-of-way
of adjoining roads, except when a pillar agreement shall be agreed
to between the applicant and the Township.
16. The Township Board of Commissioners may permit an applicant to bury
all utilities along Ridge Pike frontage in lieu of payment of Act
209 traffic impact fees.
17. Pedestrian standards.
A. Sidewalks are required to connect the street frontage sidewalks to
all front building entrances, parking areas, central open space and
any other destination that generates pedestrian traffic.
B. Sidewalks shall connect to existing sidewalks on abutting tracks
and other nearby pedestrian destination points and transit stops.
C. Striped crosswalks shall be installed at any major intersection,
at the discretion of the Township Board of Commissioners.
D. Sidewalks shall be a minimum of four feet in width and separated
from the curbline by a minimum of five feet of grass and landscaped
area, which shall, in any event, comply with the design standards
contained herein, unless specifically waived by the Board of Commissioners.
E. All sidewalks and pedestrian connections shall be located a minimum
of five feet from any buildings to allow for landscaping, unless arcades
or entryways are part of the facade.
18. Hotel use permitted.
A. On lots having a minimum area of three acres, a hotel may be permitted,
provided that the following regulations in addition to those required
by the Revitalization and Traffic Management Overlay District shall
also apply:
(1)
The lot shall contain a minimum of 100 feet of frontage along
Ridge Pike.
(2)
The maximum height of a hotel shall not exceed five stories
nor be greater in overall building height than 65 feet.
(3)
Any building used in whole or in part for hotel purposes shall
be set back a minimum of 100 feet from a residential zoning district.
(4)
Public sanitary sewer and water, or an alternate system approved
by the Board of Commissioners, shall be provided.
(5)
Where the hotel use shall be provided with shared parking opportunities with adjoining properties or uses, such as restaurant, office building, retail store or banquet facility, then the required parking per each rental unit shall be one parking space; otherwise the regulations of Part
14, §
27-1410, shall apply. Accessory activities such as dining, snack or exercise facilities that are limited to use by hotel lodgers shall not require additional parking.
(6)
During the consideration of the conditional use approval, the
applicant shall provide plans and procedures to be approved by the
Board of Commissioners, which shall demonstrate satisfactory provisions
for firesafety, emergency access, and emergency evacuation.
19. The Board of Commissioners may modify or waive specific requirements of this section as well as the requirements of Part
14, General Regulations, §
27-1410, Required Off-Street Parking and Loading, if the Board determines an improved development plan or better vehicular or pedestrian circulation will result.