Township of West Norriton, PA REVITALIZATION AND TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT OVERLAY DISTRICT

[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:

To establish parking standards with the specific intent of coordinating traffic between adjoining properties.

To reduce access points to improve traffic safety, circulation, and coordination.

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.

To regulate outdoor dining activities for the benefit of customers and pedestrians, while also preserving required parking and safe vehicular circulation.

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.

To increase the number of pedestrian and vehicular connections between adjacent properties to provide complimentary and coordinated development of adjacent properties.

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.

To use scale, building orientation and landscaping to establish community identity.

To effectively and efficiently regulate the establishment and maintenance of businesses requiring outdoor storage of vehicles, type and heights of signage, equipment or merchandise.

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; and amended by Ord. 07-617, 9/11/2007]

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.

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.

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.

To the extent feasible, applicants shall provide pedestrian and vehicular connections with adjacent properties to facilitate circulation.

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.

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.

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.

The applicant shall bring the front facade wall and sidewalk into conformity with § 27-13B04, Subsection 17, contained herein.

Outdoor dining may be permitted, subject to the following:

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.

Outdoor cooking shall not be permitted.

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.

Refuse facilities shall be provided.

Advertising or promotional features shall be limited to umbrellas or canopies.

Outdoor dining shall not impede pedestrian traffic flow.

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:

Maximum building height: three stories, not to exceed 35 feet.

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.

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.

No off-premises advertising shall be permitted.

The maximum height of freestanding signs shall be 10 feet. Ground monument signs are encouraged.

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.

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.

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.

Signs shall not exceed 50 square feet per side.

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.

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.

Sidewalks shall connect to existing sidewalks on abutting tracks and other nearby pedestrian destination points and transit stops.

Striped crosswalks shall be installed at any major intersection, at the discretion of the Township Board of Commissioners.

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.

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.

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.