Borough of Sellersville, PA Article II Definitions

§ 135-7 Intent.

When used in these regulations, the following words or phrases shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this article, except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning. Any word or term not defined herein shall be used with a meaning of standard usage.

§ 135-8 Word usage.

A. As used in this chapter:

(1) Words used in the present tense imply the future tense.

(2) Words used in the singular imply the plural, and words used in the plural also imply the singular.

(3) The word "person" includes a partnership or corporation as well as an individual.

(4) The word "shall" is mandatory; the word "may" is permissive.

(5) Words such as "building" and "street" are used generally and shall be construed as if followed by the phrase "or part thereof."

(6) The word "lot" includes the words "plot" or "parcel."

B. Specific words and phrases. As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:

AGENT

Any person, other than the subdivider or developer, who, acting for the subdivider or developer, submits to the Borough subdivision or land development plans for the purpose of obtaining approval thereof.

AGRICULTURAL PURPOSES

The use of land for farming, dairying, pasturage, agriculture, horticulture, floriculture, viticulture or animal or poultry husbandry; the necessary accessory uses for packing, treating or storing the produce and equipment or housing and feeding the animals; and/or the use of a structure as a dwelling for a family headed by a full-time farm worker.

APPLICANT

A landowner, subdivider, developer or his authorized agent who submits plans, data and/or applications to the Borough for the purpose of obtaining approval thereof.

APPLICATION

Every application 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 plot or plan or for the approval of a development plan.

BLOCK

A land area bounded by streets.

BOROUGH

Sellersville Borough, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, as represented by the Borough Council or its duly authorized agents.

BOROUGH COUNCIL or COUNCIL

The Sellersville Borough Council.

[Amended 7-7-1997 by Ord. No. 604]

BOROUGH ENGINEER

A professional engineer licensed as such by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and employed by the Borough or engaged as a consultant thereto.

BOROUGH MANAGER/SECRETARY or MANAGER/SECRETARY

The Manager/Secretary to the Sellersville Borough Council.

[Amended 7-7-1997 by Ord. No. 604]

BUILDING

A combination of materials to form a permanent structure having walls and a roof; included shall be all mobile homes and trailers used for human habitation.

(1) ACCESSORY BUILDING A subordinate building located on the same lot as a principal building and clearly incidental and subordinate to the principal building, including but not limited to private garages, carports, utility buildings, toolsheds, noncommercial greenhouses, etc. Any portion of a principal building devoted or intended to be devoted to an accessory use is not an accessory building.

(2) PRINCIPAL BUILDING A building in which is conducted or intended to be conducted any principal use of the lot on which it is located.

BUILDING SETBACK LINE

The rear line of the required front yard. The building setback line shall be measured from the future right-of-way line toward the rear of a lot at least the minimum distance specified in Chapter 160, Zoning, but greater if desired.

CARTWAY

The hard or paved surface portion of any street or that portion of a street customarily used by vehicles in the regular course of travel over the street.

CLEAR SIGHT TRIANGLE

An area of unobstructed vision at street intersections defined by the center lines of the streets and by a line of sight between points on their center lines at a given distance from the intersection of the center lines.

COMMISSION or PLANNING COMMISSION

The Sellersville Borough Planning Commission.

COMMON OPEN SPACE

A parcel or parcels of land or an area of water, or a combination of land and water, within a development site and designed and intended for the use or enjoyment of residents of the development, not including streets, off-street parking areas and areas set aside for other public facilities.

CORNER LOT

See "lot, corner."

COUNTY

Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

CROSSWALK

A designated pedestrian pathway which crosses a street cartway.

CUL-DE-SAC

A secondary street with one end open for vehicular and pedestrian access and the other end terminating in a vehicular turnaround.

CURB

The raised edge of a pavement to confine surface water to the pavement and to protect the abutting land from vehicular traffic.

DEDICATION

The deliberate appropriation of land by its owner for any general and public uses, reserving to himself no other rights than are compatible with the full exercise and enjoyment of the public uses to which the property has been devoted.

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.

DOUBLE FRONTAGE LOT

A lot, other than a corner lot, fronting on two streets.

DRAINAGE FACILITY

Any ditch, gutter, pipe, 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 land development or contiguous land areas.

DRIVEWAY

A private way for the use of vehicles and pedestrians providing access between a street and a parking area or garage within a lot of property.

DWELLING

A building designed and constructed for residential purposes in which people live.

DWELLING UNIT

Any structure or part thereof designed to be occupied as year-round living quarters for one family.

EASEMENT

The right of a person, government agency or public utility company to use public and private land owned by another for a specific purpose.

[Amended 7-7-1997 by Ord. No. 604]

ENGINEER

A professional engineer licensed as such in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

FLOOD

A temporary inundation of normally dry land areas.

(1) DESIGNATED FLOODPLAIN DISTRICTS Those floodplain districts specifically designated in Chapter 160, Zoning, as being inundated primarily by the one-hundred-year flood; included would be areas identified as the Floodplain District (FP), which includes all zones designated on the floodplain diagram.

(2) FLOODPLAINS A relatively flat or low-lying area usually adjoining a stream or watercourse which is subject to partial or complete inundation; an area subject to the unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff of surface waters from any source; and for the purpose of this chapter, the one-hundred-year floodplain has been delineated by the Flood Insurance Study, dated August 1977, as published by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, Federal Insurance Administration.

(3) FLOODWAY The channel of a river or other watercourse and the adjacent land areas required to carry and discharge a flood of the one-hundred-year magnitude.

(4) ONE-HUNDRED-YEAR FLOOD A flood that, on the average, is likely to occur once every 100 years (i.e., that has a one-percent chance of occurring each year, although the flood may occur in any year).

(5) REGULATORY FLOOD ELEVATION The one-hundred-year flood elevation, plus a freeboard safety factor of 1 1/2 feet.

FRONTAGE

The horizontal or curvilinear distance along the street line upon which a lot abuts.[1]

GRADE

To level or rework to a desired gradient.

(1) GRADE LINE The profile of the finished surface along the center line of a street or any other specified path.

(2) GRADIENT The inclination of the grade line from the horizontal expressed as a percentage; slope.

(3) STREET GRADIENT The inclination of the grade line along the center line of a street at its finished surface.

GUTTER

That portion of a right-of-way carrying surface drainage.

HALF OR PARTIAL STREET

A street parallel and adjacent to a property line having a lesser right-of-way width than required for satisfactory improvement and use of the street.

HARDSHIP

A condition not caused by the applicant for which he may request a hardship modification.

IMPROVEMENTS

Pavements, curbs, gutters, sidewalks, water mains, sanitary sewers, storm sewers, grading, street signs and plantings and other items required for the welfare of the property owners and the public.

LAND DEVELOPMENT

The improvement of a lot, tract or parcel of land that involves the installation of streets, driveways and/or parking areas or a subdivision as follows:

[Amended 7-7-1997 by Ord. No. 604]

(1) MAJOR 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 single nonresidential building on a lot or lots regardless of the number of occupants or tenure; or

[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.

(b) A subdivision of land.

(c) Development in accordance with 53 P.S. § 10503(1.1).

(2) MINOR LAND DEVELOPMENT The improvement of one lot or two or more contiguous lots for one principal building, except developments otherwise qualifying as major land developments, and developments for one-family and/or two-family dwellings.

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), the lessee if he is authorized under the lease to exercise the rights of the landowner or other person having a proprietary interest in land.

LOCATION MAP

A map showing the site with relation to adjoining areas.

LOT

A parcel of land used or set aside and available for use as the site of one or more buildings and buildings accessory thereto or for any other purpose, in one ownership and not divided by a street nor including any land within the limits of a public or private street right-of-way upon which said lot abuts, even if the title to such way is in the ownership of the lot. A lot for the purpose of this chapter may or may not coincide with a lot on record.

LOT AREA

The area contained within the property lines of the individual parcels of land as shown on a subdivision or land development plan, excluding any area within a street right-of-way but including the area of any easement or future street right-of-way.

LOT, CORNER

A lot which has an interior angle of less than 135° at the intersection of two street lines. A lot abutting upon a curved street or streets shall be considered a corner lot if the tangents to the curve at the points beginning with the lot or at the points of intersection of the side lot lines with the street right-of-way lines intersect at an interior angle of less than 135°.

LOT LINE

Any boundary line of a lot.

LOT WIDTH

The distance measured between the side lot lines at the established building setback line; in a case where there is only one side lot line, between such lot line and the opposite lot line.

MANAGER

The Sellersville Borough Manager.

MOBILE HOME

A transportable, single-family dwelling intended for permanent occupancy, contained in one unit or in two or more 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.

[Amended 7-7-1997 by Ord. No. 604]

MODIFICATION

A modification of the regulations of this chapter, granted by the Borough Council pursuant to § 135-48 herein, on grounds of practical difficulties or unnecessary hardship, not self-imposed.

MUNICIPALITY

Sellersville Borough, Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

OWNER

The landowner.

PERFORMANCE BOND

An agreement by and between a developer and a bonding company, in favor of the developer and the Borough Council, guaranteeing the completion of physical improvements.

PLAN

The map or plan of a subdivision or land development, whether sketch, preliminary or final.

PLAN, FINAL

A complete and exact subdivision or land development plan prepared for official recording to define property rights and proposed streets and other improvements.

PLANNING COMMISSION

The Sellersville Borough Planning Commission unless otherwise noted.

PLAN, PRELIMINARY

A tentative subdivision or land development plan, in lesser detail than a final plan, showing the salient existing features of a tract and its surroundings and approximately proposed street and lot layout as a basis for consideration prior to preparation of a final plan.

PLAN, RECORD

An exact copy of the approved final plan on any material acceptable to the Bucks County Recorder of Deeds.

PLAN, SKETCH

An informal subdivision or land development plan, not necessarily to scale, indicating salient existing features of a tract and its surroundings and the general layout of the proposed land development for discussion purposes only and not to be presented for approval.

PUBLIC GROUNDS

Includes parks, playgrounds and other public areas; and sites for schools, sewage treatment, refuse disposal and other publicly owned or operated facilities and publicly owned or operated scenic and historic sites.

[Amended 7-7-1997 by Ord. No. 604]

RESUBDIVISION

Any subdivision land development which has been approved by the Borough which changes or proposes to change property lines and/or public rights-of-way not in strict accordance with the approved plan.

REVERSE FRONTAGE LOT

A lot extending between and having frontage on a major street and a minor street with vehicular access solely from the latter.

RIGHT-OF-WAY

Land set aside for use as a street, alley, or other means of travel or for use of utilities.

(1) FUTURE RIGHT-OF-WAY The right-of-way width required for the expansion of existing streets to accommodate anticipated future traffic loads or a right-of-way established to provide future access to or through undeveloped land.

SANITARY SEWER SYSTEM

A system of piping and appurtenances, whether municipally or privately owned, designed for the collection and transmission of liquid and water-carried wastes from residences, commercial buildings, industrial plants and institutions to a wastewater treatment plant for treatment and discharge (not including septic tanks).

SETBACK

The required horizontal distance between a setback line and a property or street line.

SETBACK LINE

A line within a property and parallel to a property or street line which delineates the minimum distance that must be provided between a structure or building and an adjacent street line and/or property line.

SIGHT DISTANCE

The length of street, measured along the center line, which is continuously visible from any point 3.75 feet above the center line to the top of an object six inches high above the pavement.

SPILLOVER PARKING

With respect to:

[Added 11-12-2012 by Ord. No. 682]

(1) Single-family detached dwelling units with a lot width of less than 100 feet, on-street parking;

(2) Twin dwellings, duplex dwellings, townhouses, multiple dwellings, and conversion apartments, a parking area that constitutes an off-street parking space or on or along an alley;

(3) Single-family detached dwelling units with a lot width of 100 feet or greater, and all other residential dwelling units not otherwise specifically identified in this definition, a parking area that constitutes an off-street parking space.

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. Streets are further classified as follows:

(1) PRINCIPAL ARTERIAL HIGHWAYS Provide minimal land access with high degree of travel mobility; serve major centers of urban activity and travel generation; generally serve the highest traffic volume corridors and the longest trip lengths, thus carrying a significant proportion of the total urban area travel; principal arterial routes should be continuous, both internally and between major rural connections.

(2) MINOR ARTERIAL STREETS Provide greater emphasis on land access with a lower level of travel mobility than on principal arterials; include most bus routes not on principal arterials; serve larger schools, industries, hospitals, plus small commercial areas not incidentally served by principal arterials.

(3) COLLECTOR STREETS Provide minimal emphasis on travel mobility, low travel speeds, full land access; penetrate neighborhoods to distribute or collect trips; serve minor travel generators such as local elementary schools, small individual industrial plants, offices, commercial and warehouse locations not served by principal or minor arterials.

(4) LOCAL STREETS Comprise all remaining urban roads and streets, primary purpose is to provide direct access to abutting land and access to the higher order systems; through traffic movement is deliberately discouraged; offers the lowest level of mobility and includes no bus routes.

(a) PRIMARY STREET Designed to provide access to abutting properties and carry traffic from secondary streets to collector streets.

(b) SECONDARY STREETS Designed primarily to provide access to abutting properties.

(c) MARGINAL ACCESS STREET A secondary street which is parallel to and adjacent to an arterial or collector street and which provides access to abutting properties and protection from through traffic.

(d) ALLEY A minor way which is used primarily for vehicular service access to the back or the side of properties otherwise abutting on a street of higher classification. For purposes of this chapter, an alley shall not be classified as a street and thus may not be used as the sole means of access to any parcel.

STREET GRADIENT

The inclination of the grade line along the center line of a street at its finished surface.

STREET LINE

The dividing line between the street and the lot. The street line shall be the same as the existing established legal right-of-way in the case of existing streets, but in cases involving proposed streets, the street line shall be the same as the future right-of-way line.

STRUCTURE

Any man-made object having an ascertainable stationary location on or in land or water, whether or not affixed to the land.

[Amended 7-7-1997 by Ord. No. 604]

SUBDIVIDER

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.

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, partition by the court for distribution to heirs or devisees, transfer of ownership or building or lot development; provided, however, that the division of land for agricultural purposes into parcels of more than 10 acres not involving any new street or easement of access shall be exempted.

[Amended 7-7-1997 by Ord. No. 604]

(1) MAJOR SUBDIVISION The division of a lot or lots into two or more lots for the purpose, whether immediate or future, of transfer of ownership or of building development, where the proposed lots thereby created either have frontage on existing unimproved streets or new streets or easements of access are required.

(2) MINOR SUBDIVISION The division of a lot or lots into two or more lots for the purpose, whether immediate or future, of transfer of ownership, or of building development, proved that the proposed lots thereby created have frontage on existing improved streets; and provided, further, that there is not create by the subdivision any new streets, easements of access, water or sewer line extensions or the need therefor.

THOROUGHFARE

An arterial or collector street.

UNDEVELOPED LAND

Land in parcels sufficiently large for future land development which is presently in agriculture, woodland or lying fallow.

USE

Any activity carried on or intended to be carried on in a building or other structure on a tract of land.

(1) PRINCIPAL USE The primary purpose or purposes for which a lot is occupied and as specified by Chapter 160, Zoning.

(2) ACCESSORY USE A subordinate activity to the principal use for which a lot is occupied and as specified by Chapter 160, Zoning.

WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM

A system of piping and appurtenances, whether municipally or privately owned, designed for the transmission and distribution of safe, potable water from a centralized water supply or source to residences, commercial building, industrial plants or institutions (not including individual on-lot wells).

YARD

An open space unobstructed from the ground up on the same lot with a structure, extending along a lot line or street line and inward to the structure. The size of a required yard shall be measured as the shortest distance between a building and a lot line or street line.

(1) FRONT YARD A yard between a structure and a street line and extending the entire length of the street line. In the case of a corner lot, the yards extending along all streets are front yards.

(2) REAR YARD A yard extending across the full width of a lot and lying between a structure and the property lines opposite the street, or the corner of a triangular lot furthest from the street line and the nearest point of a structure. In the case of a corner lot, no rear yard is required.

(3) SIDE YARD A yard between a structure and a side lot line, extending from the front yard to the rear yard. In the case of a lot having no street frontage or a lot of odd shape, any yard that is not a front yard or a rear yard shall be considered a side yard.

[Amended 7-7-1997 by Ord. No. 604]

(4) REQUIRED YARD The minimum dimension required by Chapter 160, Zoning, for front, side and rear yards.

[1] Editor's Note: The former definition of "future right-of-way," which immediately followed this definition, was repealed 7-7-1997 by Ord. No. 604.