Township of West Whiteland, PA Office Districts

Encourage campus-type office buildings, institutional and/or laboratory and research development.

Serve as a transition from commercial or industrial uses to residential uses.

Use regulations. A lot may be used for any one or more of the following purposes. Conditional use review shall be required only for those uses listed below in § 325-15.1B(7) or when a project exceeds one or more of the thresholds specified in § 325-124A of this chapter.

[Amended 11-24-2015 by Ord. No. 428]

Office building.

Medical services.

Research and development facility, including laboratories and similar facilities for engineering and/or testing of materials, processes, or products.

Facilities for the care of animals, including veterinary offices and clinics and animal boarding and day-care facilities.

Uses allowed by Article X, Institutional District, subject to compliance with the provisions of that article.

Accessory uses incidental to those permitted above. No eating establishment shall be permitted unless for the exclusive use of the owners, employees, patrons, and guests of the principal use.

Any one of the following uses when authorized as a conditional use by the Board of Supervisors subject to § 325-124 of this chapter:

Day-care center (see § 325-27).

Fitness facility.

Any of the uses permitted in § 325-18.B(1), (2), (5), (6), and (7), provided that the performance standards in § 325-18D are met.

Area and bulk regulations. Where units within a structure or upon a tract are to be owned under a condominium arrangement, the following regulations shall be applied to the entire area over which the pertinent condominium association has interest (i.e., all of the condominium units in the aggregate as well as all common property directly owned by the association) and not to the individual condominium units. The dimensions of the individual condominium units shall be at the discretion of the developer and need not comply with this section. The provisions of this section are subject to modification in accordance with the terms of Exhibit 4, Bonus Menu, of this chapter.[1] Where bonuses are employed, the Township shall determine whether they have been properly calculated and applied in the course of conditional use review; in the event conditional use review is not required, such determination shall be made during the land development review.

Minimum gross lot area: 2.00 acres.

Maximum building coverage: 20% of net lot area.

Maximum impervious coverage: 50% of net lot area.

Minimum lot width at street line: 150 feet.

Minimum lot width at building line: 300 feet.

Minimum front yard: 75 feet.

Minimum rear yard: 50 feet.

(8)

Minimum side yard: 50 feet.

(9)

Maximum structure height: 40 feet.

[Amended 10-11-2017 by Ord. No. 439]

Editor's Note: Exhibit 4 is included as an attachment to this chapter.

Design standards.

All activity incidental to the use shall be conducted within completely enclosed buildings and/or structures.

All uses in this district shall be subject to a requirement that connection is made to public water and sewage disposal facilities.

Particular emphasis shall be placed upon traffic circulation and aesthetics, including architecture, landscaping and screening so as to insure the proper blending of uses in this district with surrounding uses.

§ 325-15.1 O/R – Office/Residential District.

Purpose.

To accommodate the development of projects that integrate residential and nonresidential uses to create live-work communities providing high aesthetic quality and facilitating transit by means other than private automobiles for daily needs.

To provide suitable accommodation for uses that require the ease of access afforded by Lincoln Highway and nearby mass transit.

To accommodate development that will serve as a transition between the higher density permitted in the Town Center district and the lower densities elsewhere in the Township, as well as between the highway-oriented uses along Lincoln Highway and residential uses.

Use regulations. A lot may be used for any one or more of the following purposes. Conditional use review shall be required only when a project exceeds one or more of the thresholds specified in § 325-124A of this chapter.

Office building.

Research and development facility, including laboratories and similar facilities for engineering and/or testing of materials, processes, or products.

Continuing education facility.

Fitness facility.

Day-care facility for adults or children, subject to compliance with the applicable provisions of § 325-27 of this chapter.

Medical services.

Uses allowed by Article X, Institutional District, subject to compliance with the provisions of that article.

(8)

Accessory uses incidental to those permitted above.

(9)

Residential uses, subject to the provisions of § 325-15.1D of this chapter.

[Amended 11-24-2015 by Ord. No. 428]

(10)

Retail store/trade, provided that no part of any structure related to such use shall be farther than 750 feet from the intersection of the center lines of Lincoln Highway and Ship Road. Vehicle fueling stations are permitted only as a component of a convenience store.

[Added 5-22-2019 by Ord. No. 447]

Regulations for nonresidential uses. Where units within a structure or upon a tract are to be owned under a condominium arrangement, the following regulations shall be applied to the entire area over which the pertinent condominium association has interest (i.e., all of the condominium units in the aggregate as well as all common property directly owned by the association) and not to the individual condominium units. The dimensions of the individual condominium units shall be at the discretion of the developer and need not comply with this section. The provisions of this section are subject to modification in accordance with the terms of Exhibit 4, Bonus Menu, of this chapter.[1] Where bonuses are employed, the Township shall determine whether they have been properly calculated and applied in the course of conditional use review; in the event conditional use review is not required, such determination shall be made during the land development review.

Minimum gross lot area: 2.00 acres.

Maximum building coverage: 25% of net lot area.

Maximum impervious coverage: 65% of net lot area.

Minimum lot width at street line: 100 feet.

Minimum lot width at building line: 150 feet.

Minimum front yard:

Seventy-five feet from Lincoln Highway, Ship Road, and Whitford Road.

Twenty-five feet from all other streets.

Minimum rear yard: 50 feet.

(8)

Minimum side yard: 35 feet.

(9)

Maximum structure height: 40 feet, except that this may be increased to 50 feet provided that:

[Amended 10-11-2017 by Ord. No. 439]

For each additional one foot over 40 feet, all other yard requirements shall be increased by one foot; or

Due to topographic or other site conditions, the Board as advised by the Planning Commission determines the effect of the increased height to be inconsequential with regard to internal site design and off-site visibility.

Editor's Note: Exhibit 4 is included as an attachment to this chapter.

Regulations for residential uses and for structures that have a combination of residential and nonresidential uses. For the purposes of this section, facilities ancillary to and supportive of a residential community where the use of such facilities is limited to residents of that community and their guests shall be deemed a component of such residential use and shall not be interpreted as a nonresidential use. Such uses may include, but are not necessarily limited to, fitness centers, swimming pools and other facilities for active recreation (whether indoor or outdoor), community rooms and gathering areas, game rooms, media rooms, and business centers.

Single-family dwellings.

Single-family dwellings are permitted when in compliance with the area and bulk regulations of the R-2 Residential Zoning District.

No lot to be developed with a single-family detached dwelling shall have frontage along Lincoln Highway.

No individual single-family dwelling shall have direct driveway access to Lincoln Highway.

Two-family and multifamily dwellings. The provisions of this section are subject to modification in accordance with the terms of Exhibit 4, Bonus Menu, of this chapter.[2] Where bonuses are employed, the Township shall determine whether they have been properly calculated and applied in the course of conditional use review; in the event conditional use review is not required, such determination shall be made during the land development review.

Minimum gross lot area: 10.00 acres.

Maximum building coverage: 25% of net lot area.

Maximum impervious coverage: 65% of net lot area.

(d)

Minimum lot width at street line: 100 feet.

(e)

Minimum lot width at building line: 150 feet.

(f)

Minimum front yard:

Seventy-five feet from Lincoln Highway, Ship Road, and Whitford Road.

Twenty-five feet from all other public streets.

Ten feet from private streets and other motor vehicle accessways.

(g)

Minimum rear yard: 50 feet.

(h)

Minimum side yard: 50 feet.

(i)

Maximum structure height: 40 feet, but not more than three stories above grade, except that this may be increased to 50 feet and four stories above grade, provided that:

For each additional one foot over 40 feet, all other yard requirements shall be increased by one foot; or

Editor's Note: Exhibit 4 is included as an attachment to this chapter.

High-density single-family option. Tracts with a gross tract area of 40 acres or more shall be eligible for development under the high-density single-family option. This option allows eligible tracts to be developed with a combination of single-family detached dwellings, two-family dwellings, and townhouse dwellings in accordance with the following regulations.

[Added 5-22-2019 by Ord. No. 447[3]]

Minimum gross tract area: 40 acres.

Maximum building coverage: 25% of net tract area.

Maximum impervious coverage: 65% of net tract area.

(d)

At least 50% of the proposed dwelling units shall be single-family detached dwellings, which shall comply with the following regulations:

Minimum lot size: 7,000 square feet.

Minimum lot width at the building line: 70 feet.

Minimum front yard: 20 feet.

[4]

Minimum side yard: five feet; however, no portion of any single family detached dwelling shall be closer than 15 feet to any portion of any other single-family detached dwelling.

[5]

Minimum rear yard: 25 feet. Covered decks that are not permanently enclosed and patios shall be permitted to project a maximum of 10 feet into the rear yard.

[6]

Maximum structure height: 35 feet.

(e)

Not more than 50% of the proposed dwelling units shall be two-family or townhouse dwellings, which shall comply with the following regulations:

Two-family and townhouse dwelling units may be placed on individual lots with front and rear yards, on individual building footprint lots, or developed as condominium units under the Pennsylvania Uniform Condominium Act, provided that twin and townhouse dwelling development is consistent with the area and bulk regulations below.

Minimum building setback:

[a]

From Lincoln Highway: 150 feet.

[b]

Whitford Road: 75 feet.

[c]

From all other public streets: 25 feet.

[d]

From private streets: 10 feet.

[e]

From tract perimeter where the perimeter is not defined by a street or otherwise provided for above: 40 feet.

Minimum building separation: 30 feet.

[4]

Maximum structure height: 40 feet, but not more than three stories above grade.

(f)

Minimum permanent open space: 30% of gross tract area.

Lands within road rights-of-way or within any residential lot for private ownership shall not be counted toward this requirement. Environmentally constrained lands and lands within other types of right of-way may count toward this requirement; however, this section shall not be interpreted to supersede § 281-47 of the Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance, so if the permanent open space fails to satisfy the minimum requirements of that section, the developer may still be subject to payment of a fee in lieu of open space for the unmet portion.

The distance from a residential lot to a permanent open space area shall not exceed 300 feet.

(g)

As a minimum, sidewalks shall be provided on one side of all streets, except that sidewalks shall not be required along Lincoln Highway if an alternative means of pedestrian access satisfactory to the Township is provided through the development to connect to existing streets on the perimeter of the tract.

Editor's Note: This ordinance also redesignated former Subsection D(3) as Subsection D(4).

Dwelling units in combination with other uses. Where units within a structure or upon a tract are to be owned under a condominium arrangement, the following regulations shall be applied to the entire area over which the pertinent condominium association has interest (i.e., all of the condominium units in the aggregate as well as all common property directly owned by the association) and not to the individual condominium units. The dimensions of the individual condominium units shall be at the discretion of the developer and need not comply with this section. The provisions of this section are subject to modification in accordance with the terms of Exhibit 4, Bonus Menu, of this chapter.[4] Where bonuses are employed, the Township shall determine whether they have been properly calculated and applied in the course of conditional use review; in the event conditional use review is not required, such determination shall be made during the land development review.

Where a structure or tract includes dwelling units in combination with other uses, the regulations of § 325-15.1C, above, shall apply.

[Amended 11-24-2015 by Ord. No. 428]

Where dwelling units are provided pursuant to the provisions of Article X, Institutional District, then the regulations of said Article X shall be controlling in lieu of this Article VI.

[4]

Editor's Note: Exhibit 4 is included as an attachment to this chapter.

Industrial parks approved prior to December 8, 1998. The definition of "developable acreage" found elsewhere in this chapter shall not apply to industrial parks finally approved by the Township prior to December 8, 1998, pursuant to Sections 702(1)(i) and 704 of the West Whiteland Township Zoning Ordinance of 1986, as amended through November 30, 1998, and shall not apply to each lot created in such industrial parks (the aforesaid industrial parks and lots are referred to herebelow as "existing industrial parks"). The provisions of this chapter, including the above standards for the O/R Zoning District, are hereby modified as follows as applied to existing industrial parks:

For purposes of area and bulk calculations, "developable acreage" shall mean the gross acreage of the tract or lot minus existing or future road rights-of-way, floodplain areas, wetlands, and areas with slopes of 25% and greater.

Upon full development, the total impervious coverage of all of the lots in the existing industrial park shall be limited to 60% of the aggregate developable acreage, as defined in § 325-15.1E(1), above, of all of the lots in that existing industrial park.

[Amended 11-24-2015 by Ord. No. 428]

Except as modified hereabove, all other provisions and regulations of this chapter shall apply to existing industrial parks.

§ 325-15.2 O/C – Office/Commercial District.

Purpose.

To accommodate the development of projects that integrate retail commercial and office-type uses at high-visibility locations that are not well suited for residential use.

To accommodate nonresidential uses that require the ease of access afforded by Lincoln Highway and nearby mass transit facilities.

Use regulations. A lot may be used for any one or more of the following purposes, except that no sexually oriented business shall be permitted. Conditional use review shall be required only when a project exceeds one or more of the thresholds specified in § 325-124A of this chapter.

Retail stores and service establishments, including convenience stores, personal service shops, and shopping centers, provided that the gross floor area of any building accommodating any of these use(s) shall not exceed 12,000 square feet, except as provided for below.

Office building.

Medical services.

Eating and drinking establishments.

Banks and other financial institutions and services.

Research and development facility, including laboratories and similar facilities for engineering and/or testing of materials, processes, or products.