[Ord. 559, 9/4/2012]
1.
Unless a contrary intention clearly appears, the following words
and phrases shall have, for the purpose of this chapter, the meanings
in the following clauses.
2.
For the purpose of this chapter, words and terms used herein shall
be interpreted as follows:
A.
Words used in the present tense include the future.
B.
The singular includes the plural.
C.
The word "person" includes a corporation, partnership and association
as well as the individual.
D.
The words "lot," "plot" and "parcel" are synonymous.
E.
The word "Commission" and the words "Planning Commission" always
mean the Lower Southampton Township Planning Commission.
F.
The word "Supervisor" and the words "Board of Supervisors" always
mean the Lower Southampton Township Board of Supervisors.
G.
The word "shall" always signifies "is compelled to" or "it is mandatory
to."
3.
Any word or term not defined herein shall be used with a meaning
of standard usage.
[Ord. 559, 9/4/2012]
As used in this part, the following terms shall have the meanings
indicated:
Either a street or driveway providing access to a lot.
Any person other than the developer who, acting for the subdivider,
submits to the Township subdivision or land development plans for
the purpose of obtaining approval.
A right-of-way or secondary service access to the side or
rear of abutting properties.
Any person who submits to the Board of Supervisors subdivision
or land development plans for the purposes of obtaining approval thereof.
Every application, whether sketch, 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.
A professional architect registered by the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania.
An earth mound with a maximum slope of 3:1, covered with
grass, shrubbery or ground cover, and which is intended to block views
or create landscape interest.
Off-street bikeways laid out on private property, public
right-of-way, or open space and recreational areas.
Lanes located on the paved surface of a roadway, street or
highway or on the shoulder of a roadway, street or highway.
General term used to designate all facilities that explicitly
provide for bike travel.
An area bounded by streets or by a combination of streets,
parks, open spaces or municipal boundary line.
Any structure having a roof, supported by columns, piers or
walls, including tents, lunch wagons, trailers, dining cars, camp
cars, mobile homes or other structure on wheels, or having other supports;
any unroofed platform, terrace or porch having a vertical face higher
than three feet above the level of the ground from which the building
is measured. A building may include more than one dwelling unit. This
definition shall not include motor vehicles.
BUILDING, ACCESSORYA subordinate building located on the same lot as a principal building and clearly incidental and subordinate to the principal building. Any portion of a principal building devoted or intended to be devoted to an accessory use is not an accessory building.
BUILDING, PRINCIPALA building in which is conducted, or is intended to be conducted, the principal use of the lot on which it is located.
The total of areas taken on a horizontal plane at the main
grade level of the principal building and all accessory buildings
exclusive of uncovered porches, terraces and steps.
Front. The rear line of the minimum front yard, as herein designated
for each use and each district, measured at a distance equal to and
no greater than the minimum front yard from the street line.
Side. A line parallel to the side lot line at a distance therefrom
equal to the depth of the minimum side yard required.
Rear. A line parallel to the rear lot line at a distance from
the rear lot line equal to the depth of the minimum rear yard required.
The diameter of the trunk of a tree, measured at a point
on the trunk six inches above natural groundline for trees of up to
four inches in caliper and at a point 12 inches above the ground for
trees over four inches in caliper. For measuring existing trees to
determine whether they are a forest resource, caliper measurements
shall be taken at a point on the trunk 4 1/2 feet above the natural
groundline for trees over six inches in caliper.
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.
A line midway between and parallel to two street lines.
An area of unobstructed vision at street intersections defined
by lines of sight between points at a given distance from the intersection
of the street right-of-way lines.
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.
A publicly or privately owned pedestrian right-of-way which
crosses a cartway.
Any street that has only one end open for vehicular and pedestrian
ingress and egress. The other end of such street shall be terminated
in a vehicular turnaround.
The number of dwelling units per unit of area, expressed
in dwelling units per acre.
Any ditch, pipe, culvert, storm sewer or structure designed,
intended or constructed for the purpose of diverting surface water
from or carrying surface waters off streets, public rights-of-way,
parks, recreational areas, or any part of any subdivision or land
development.
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.
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, ways and parking facilities,
common open space and public facilities. The phrase "provisions of
development plan" when used in this chapter shall mean the written
and graphic materials referred to in this definition.
A residential building containing one or more dwelling units.
Any room or group of rooms located within a building, and
a single habitable unit with facilities which are used or intended
to be used for living, sleeping, cooking and eating by one family.
Granted right of use by one landowner over the land or lands
of another without ownership of the soil.
A licensed professional civil engineer registered by the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
For the purpose of clearly identifying the extent of the
Township Engineer's responsibility in the review of subdivisions
and land developments, the following engineering considerations are
defined. The Engineer shall make recommendations indicating approval
or disapproval of the proposed subdivision or land development based
solely upon the various engineering considerations identified below
as they are reflected in the submitted plans:
Dimensions of lots or parcels.
Contours, soil conditions.
Surface-subsurface drainage conditions and plans.
Lighting plans.
Utility plans.
Location and design of entrance and exit accessways.
Road specifications.
Profiles.
Sewage disposal.
Garbage disposal.
Conformance of the plans in all respects with the performance standards in the Lower Southampton Township Zoning Ordinance (Chapter 27).
Improvements, materials, construction methods, workmanship.
Landscape and buffer plans.
Traffic impact study.
Water service.
The process by which soil and bedrock are worn away by the
action of wind, water, climate or chemical action.
The smallest roots of a tree, which are responsible for most
of the absorption of nutrients into the tree; most are located within
the top 12 inches of the soil.
The area along a natural watercourse which is periodically
overflowed by water therefrom and which has been designated by ordinance
of Lower Southampton Township pursuant to the Lower Southampton Township
Floodplain Ordinance and Map.[1]
Areas adjoining any streams, ponds or lakes subject to a
one-hundred-year-recurrence interval flood, as delineated by the following
studies or a study conducted by an expert in the preparation of hydrological
studies and the delineation of flood lines: Flood Insurance Study,
Township of Lower Southampton, Pennsylvania, Bucks County, United
States Department of Housing and Urban Development, Federal Insurance
Administration.
Area subject to periodic flooding and listed in the Soil
Survey of Bucks County, United States Department of Agriculture, Soil
Conservation Service, September 2002 (or latest revised), as soils
subject to periodic flooding.[2]
The area comprising 1/4 acre or more of wooded land where
the largest trees measure at least six inches diameter at breast height
(dbh), 4 1/2 feet from the ground, or a grove of trees forming
one canopy where 10 or more trees measure at least 12 inches diameter
at breast height.
Unless otherwise provided in this chapter, impervious surfaces
are those surfaces which do not absorb water. Any area which has been
or is proposed to be modified from grass, dirt, vegetation, wooded
or ground cover, including but not limited to the area of all buildings,
parking areas, driveways, roads, sidewalks and any areas in concrete,
asphalt, porous pavers and packed stone shall be considered impervious
surfaces.
Any street for which the Township, county or commonwealth
has maintenance responsibility and which has an approved surface.
Those physical additions, installations and changes —
such as approved streets, curbs, sidewalks, water mains, sewers,
drainage facilities, public utilities and other appropriate items
— required to render land suitable for the use proposed.
Natural or artificial bodies of water which retain water
a least six months out of the year.
Any of the following activities:
The improvements of one lot or two or more contiguous lots,
tracts or parcels of land for any purpose involving:
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
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.
A subdivision of land.
"Land development" does not include development which involves:
The conversion of an existing single-family detached dwelling
or single-family semidetached dwelling into not more than three residential
units, unless such units are intended to be a condominium;
The addition of an accessory building, including farm building,
on a lot or lots subordinate to an existing principal building; or
The addition or conversion of buildings or rides within the
confines of an enterprise which would be considered an amusement park.
For the purposes of this subsection, an amusement park is defined
as a tract or area used principally as a location for permanent amusement
structures or rides. This exclusion shall not apply to newly acquired
acreage by an amusement park until initial plans for the expanded
area have been approved by the proper authorities.
A professional landscape architect registered by the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania.
A street which has one point of intersection with the same
road. In its simplest form, a loop street enters a tract, follows
a course through it, and returns to the same road at some distance
from the other intersection.
A designated parcel, tract or area of land established by
a plat or otherwise as permitted by law and to be used, developed
or built upon as a unit.
CORNER LOTA 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°.
REVERSE FRONTAGE LOTA lot extending between and having frontage on a major street and a minor street with a vehicular access solely from the minor street.
THROUGH LOTAn interior lot with frontage on two parallel streets.
The area contained within the property lines of the individual parcels of land as shown on a subdivision. The lot area shall be measured to the street line and shall include the area of any easement for subsurface facilities, but excluding any area required as open space and any other areas as may be specifically excluded by the terms of Chapter 27, Zoning.
The mean distance from the future right-of-way of the lot
to its opposite rear line, measured in the general direction of the
side lines of the lot.
The lines bounding a lot.
LOT LINE, FRONTA line abutting the street at the future right-of-way line.
LOT LINE, REARAny lot line parallel to or within 45° of being parallel to a future right-of-way, and except that, in the case of a corner lot, the owner shall have the option of choosing which of the two lot's lines that are not street lines is to be considered a rear lot line. In the case of a lot having no street frontage or a lot of an odd shape, only the one lot line farthest from any street shall be considered a rear lot line.
LOT LINE, SIDEAny lot boundary line which is not a street line or a rear lot line.
The distance between the side lot lines at the required building
setback line. In a case where there is only one side lot line, lot
width shall be measured between such side lot line and the opposite
rear lot or future right-of-way.
The Township Manager appointed as such by the Township Board
of Supervisors.
A metal pipe of at least three-fourths-inch diameter and
at least 30 inches in length.
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.
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.
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.
A stone or concrete monument with a flat top at least four
inches square, containing a reference point, and at least 30 inches
in length. It is recommended that the bottom sides be at least two
inches greater than the top to minimize movements caused by frost.
A building providing separate living quarters for two or
more families.
A body politic and corporate created pursuant to the Act
of May 2, 1945 (P.L. 382, No. 164), known as the "Municipalities Authority
Act of 1945."[3]
A lot the area or dimension of which was lawful prior to the adoption or amendment of Chapter 27, Zoning, but which fails to conform to the requirements of the zoning district in which it is located by reason of such adoption or amendment.
A structure or part of a structure manifestly not designed to comply with the use or extent of use provisions of Chapter 27, Zoning, or amendment heretofore or hereafter enacted, where such structure lawfully existed prior to the enactment of Chapter 27 or its amendment or prior to the application of Chapter 27 or amendment to its location by reason of annexation. Such nonconforming structures include, but are not limited to, nonconforming signs.
A use, whether of land or structure, which does not comply with the applicable use provisions in Chapter 27, Zoning, or amendment heretofore or hereafter enacted, where such use was lawfully in existence prior to the enactment of Chapter 27 or amendment or prior to the application of Chapter 27 or amendment to its location by reason of annexation.
An area on a lot used for parking a vehicle(s), to which
there is access from the street.
A continuous way designated for pedestrians and separated
from the lanes used by motor vehicles.
A complete and exact subdivision and/or land development
plan, including all required supplemental data, prepared for official
recording as required by statute, to define property rights and proposed
streets and other improvements.
A subdivision and/or land development plan (including all
data required to be submitted) showing the pertinent existing features
of a tract and its surroundings and proposed street and lot layout
as the basis for consideration prior to preparation of a final plan.
An informal plan to scale, indicating salient existing features
of a tract and its surroundings and the general layout of the proposed
subdivision and/or land development, for discussion purposes only
and not to be presented for approval.
An exact copy of the approved final plan on opaque linen
of standard size, prepared for necessary signatures and recording
with the Bucks County Recorder of Deeds.
The Planning Commission of Lower Southampton Township, Bucks
County, Pennsylvania.
The map or plan of a subdivision or land development, whether
preliminary or final.
Removal of branches from a tree using proper tools and approved
cutting techniques.
Includes:
A formal meeting held pursuant to public notice by the Board
of Supervisors or Planning Commission, intended to inform and obtain
public comment, prior to taking action in accordance with this chapter.
A forum held pursuant to notice under the Act of July 3,
1986 (P.L. 388, No. 84), known as the "Sunshine Act," 53 P.S. § 271
et seq.[4]
Notice published once each week for two successive weeks
in a newspaper of general circulation in the Township. Such 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.
A strip of land occupied or intended to be occupied by a
street, alley, crosswalk, sanitary or storm sewer, stream, drainage
ditch or for another special use. The usage of the term "right-of-way"
for land plotting purposes in the Township shall mean that every right-of-way
hereafter established and shown on a final record plan is to be separate
and distinct from lots or parcels adjoining such right-of-way and
not included with the dimensions of areas of such lots or parcels.
EXISTING RIGHT-OF-WAYThe present legal right-of-way as established by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or other appropriate governing body and currently in existence.
FUTURE RIGHT-OF-WAYThe right-of-way width required for the expansion of existing streets to accommodate anticipated future traffic loads; a right-of-way established to provide future access to or through undeveloped land.
ULTIMATE RIGHT-OF-WAYThe legal street; the area or public way owned or acquired by the Township or the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania at the time of subdivision by dedication; that line from which all future property setbacks are measured; the street line.
See "cartway."
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.
The process by which mineral or organic matter is accumulated
or deposited by moving wind, water or gravity. Once this matter is
deposited (or remains suspended in water), it is referred to as sediment.
See "building setback line."
PUBLIC SEWERA public sewer is a sewer system owned and/or operated by the Township or by the Lower Southampton Municipal Authority in which sewage is collected from buildings from more than one lot and/or dwelling unit and piped to an approved sewage disposal system. It may also be referred to as "off-lot" or "off-site" sewer.
PRIVATE SEWERAn on-lot sewage disposal system providing for disposal of effluent from only one building or a group of buildings on a single lot.
COMMUNITY LAND APPLICATION SYSTEMTreated effluent from two or more homes that is applied to the land.
The required 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. Sight distance measurement shall be made
from a point 3.5 feet above the center line of the road surface to
a point 0.5 feet above the center line of road surface.
The "site" shall be defined as the total land area to be
proposed for subdivision or land development.
All land area within the site as designed in the deed and
as measured by an actual site survey.
A field test conducted by a person qualified according to
the rules and regulations of the Bucks County Department of Health
to determine the suitability of the soil for on-site sanitary sewage
disposal facilities by measuring the absorptive capacity of the soil
at any given location and depth.
Includes street, avenue, boulevard, road, highway, freeway,
parkway, lane, alley, viaduct or any other ways used or intended to
be used by vehicular traffic or pedestrians whether public or private.
Streets are further defined and classified as follows:
Thoroughfares.
Expressways. Designed for large volumes and high-speed traffic
with access limited to grade-separated intersections.
Regional arterial street. Designed for large volumes and high-speed
traffic. Traffic mixture is predominately serving regional or throughput
traffic needs with access to abutting properties controlled.
Community arterial street. Designed to carry a moderate volume
of high-speed traffic from collector streets or serving as a connection
between other arterial streets with access to abutting properties
controlled. Traffic mixture is predominately from local community
with some regional traffic.
Community collector street. Designed to carry a moderate volume
of medium-speed traffic from collector and local streets with predominantly
local community traffic.
Local streets.
Neighborhood collector/primary residential street. Designed
to carry a moderate volume of local traffic, to intercept local/secondary
residential streets, to provide routes to collector streets and facilities,
and to provide access to abutting properties.
Local streets/secondary residential street. Designed to provide
local access to the abutting properties and a route to neighborhood
collectors/primary residential streets.
Marginal access street. A secondary street which is parallel
to and adjacent to an expressway, arterial or collector street, and
which provides access to abutting properties and protection from through
traffic.
Driveway. Generally a private street for the use of vehicles
and pedestrians, providing access between a public street and a parking
area within a lot or property.
Alley. A minor accessway used primarily for vehicular service
access to the back or the side of properties otherwise abutting on
a street.
The dividing line between the street and the lot. The street
line shall be the same as the legal right-of-way line, provided that:
(1) the street right-of-way line shall be not less than 25 feet from
the center line of any road or street; and (2) where a future right-of-way
width for a road or street has been officially established, then the
street right-of-way line shall be the side line of the future right-of-way
so established.
Any man-made object having an ascertainable stationary location
on or in land or water, whether or not affixed to the land.
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 subdivision by lease
of land for agricultural purposes into parcels of more than 10 acres,
not involving any new street or easement of access or any residential
dwelling, shall be exempted.
MAJOR SUBDIVISIONThe change in existing lot lines of the division of a single lot, tract or parcel of land or parcel thereof into three or more lots, tracts or parcels of land for the purpose, whether immediate or future, of lease, transfer of ownership or of building development.
MINOR SUBDIVISIONThe division of a single lot, tract or parcel of land into two 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 having frontage on an improved public street or streets.
The term "subdivision" includes resubdivision and, when appropriate
to the context, shall relate to the process of subdividing or to the
land subdivided.
The Board of Supervisors of Lower Southampton Township, Bucks
County, Pennsylvania.
A professional land surveyor registered by the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania.
A professional engineer registered by the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania, designated by the Supervisors to perform the duties
of a Township Engineer.
The combination of mainly physical measures that reduce the
negative effects of motor vehicle use, alter driver behavior, and
improve conditions for nonmotorized street uses.
The line marking the outer edges of the branches of the tree.
An area that is radial to the trunk of a tree in which no
construction activity shall occur. The TPZ shall be 15 feet from the
trunk of the tree to be retained or the distance from the trunk to
the dripline, whichever is greater. Where there is a group of trees
or woodlands, the TPZ shall be the aggregate of the protection zones
for the individual trees.
Any activity, occupation, business or operation carried on
or intended to be carried on in a building or other structure or on
a tract of land.
Those services rendered by public utility corporations, municipalities
or municipal authorities, including but not limited to electricity,
gas, telephone, television, water and sewerage, including the appurtenances
used in connection with the supplying of such services (buildings,
wires, pipes, poles and the like).
A modification allowed to a specific requirement of this chapter, granted only in accordance with the provisions of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code and § 22-408 of this chapter. Requests for waivers shall be submitted with plans.
Any natural or artificial swale, stream or structure in which
water flows continuously or intermittently.
A system for supplying and distributing water to a single
dwelling or other single building from a source located on the same
lot.
A system for supplying and distributing water from a common
source to two or more dwellings and/or other buildings within a single
neighborhood.
A public water system is any municipal water supply system
or any private system dedicated or intended to be dedicated to the
Township and which serves more than one lot or dwelling.
An inventory of the source, quantity, yield and use of groundwater
and surface water resources within the Township.
Areas of wetlands, streams, watercourses or waterway corridors
designated as "waters of the commonwealth" by the Department of Environmental
Protection.
These areas that are inundated or saturated by surface water
or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support,
and under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation
typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions.
The area comprising 1/4 acre or more of wooded land where
the largest trees measure at least six inches diameter at breast height
(dbh), 4 1/2 feet from the ground, or a grove of trees forming
one canopy where 10 or more trees measure at least 12 inches diameter
at breast height.
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 the structure and a lot line or street
line.
The following types of yards are hereby established:
Front yard. The required space across the full width of the
lot, extending from the street line to the nearest structure on the
lot, exclusive of steps, overhanging eaves, gutter or cornices.
Side yard. The required space extending from the required front
yard to the required back yard, except as provided for accessory buildings,
extending from the side line of the lot to the nearest structure on
the lot. The width of the side yard shall be measured at right angles
to the side line of the lot.
Rear yard. The required space extending the full width of the
lot except as provided for accessory buildings. The rear yard shall
extend from the rear lot line to the nearest structure on the lot.
The depth of the rear yard shall be measured at right angles to the
rear line of the lot. If the lot is not rectangular, then it should
be measured in the general direction of the side yard line.
[2]
Editor's Note: The former Soil Conservation Service is now
the Natural Resources Conservation Service.
[3]
Editor's Note: The Municipality Authorities Act of 1945 (53
P.S. § 301 et seq.) was repealed by Act 22 of 2001 (June 19,
2001, P.L. 287, No. 22). See now the Municipality Authorities Act,
53 Pa.C.S.A. § 5601 et seq.
[4]
Editor's Note: The Sunshine Act, 65 P.S. § 271 et seq.
1986, July 3, P.L. 388, No. 84, was repealed 10-15-1998 by P.L. 729,
No. 93; see now Sunshine Act, 65 Pa.C.S.A. § 701 et seq.
