[Ord. 331, 11/17/1999, § 9.100]
2.
Conditional uses shall be reviewed first by the Planning Commission,
which shall provide recommendations to the Board of Supervisors. The
Board shall call and hold a public hearing and thereafter shall decide
to approve or reject the proposed conditional use as presented, or
approve it with specific conditions.
[Ord. 331, 11/17/1999, § 9.200]
1.
Applications for conditional uses shall be submitted to the Township
Secretary who shall send them to the Township Engineer to determine
if they are complete in accordance with the requirements for the written
statement and site plan described below.
2.
The written statement shall demonstrate, where applicable considering
the site, that the following concerns will be addressed:
A.
The applicant is the owner of record of the property for which the
conditional use is sought.
B.
A detailed description of the property is provided as a basis for
determining if it is a bonafide conditional use.
C.
The proposed use will not endanger the public health and safety if
located where proposed, and will not deteriorate the environment or
generate nuisance conditions.
D.
The use is compatible with, or will support the existing and projected
development in the neighborhood of the site.
E.
The use can be accommodated on the site within the lot area, setback
and coverage requirements of the zone district with no variances needed,
or at worst minor variances.
F.
The use will have access to public sanitary sewer and water lines
and will drain to a storm sewer or established drainageway.
G.
The use will not generate excessive traffic congestion or dangerous
conditions on streets abutting the property, unless such congestion
will be overcome by off-site improvements provided by the developer.
H.
Areas of the property to be disturbed but not covered by buildings,
driveways or parking will be landscaped and maintained.
I.
Driveways to the property will be located as remote as possible from
street intersections, and adequate sight distances will be available
at access points for entering and departing vehicles as well as for
through traffic on abutting roads.
3.
The accurately drawn and scaled illustrative site plan shall show
the arrangement of the proposed use on the site, including:
A.
Property lines around the periphery of the site, indicating bearings
and straight line and arc distances in feet; and area of the property
in square feet.
B.
Land and/or building use on adjacent properties and across an intervening
street.
C.
Abutting public streets, including paved and right-of-way widths.
D.
Existing and proposed buildings and structures on the site by use,
number of stories and distance of building walls along edges of the
property from nearest property line.
E.
Land surface elevations sufficient to indicate grading that will
be necessary to provide for the proposed use and its access to a public
street.
F.
Driveway or driveways into the property from abutting streets, internal
driveways, and parking area layout with each parking space delineated.
G.
Signs to remain or proposed, indicating sign width and height, location
relative to property lines and distance from top of sign to ground
below.
H.
Plan for collecting and disposing of stormwater.
I.
Proposed landscaping where required by this chapter; site lighting
within parking lots, for security or for building wall washers, showing
height above ground and lighting fixture proposed; as well as other
pertinent information to illustrate the proposal.
[Ord. 331, 11/17/1999, § 9.300]
1.
All conditional uses are site specific; that is, the particular use
must be compatible with the proposed site and its neighborhood.
2.
In reviewing the written statement and site plan described above,
the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors, shall consider the
following factors, depending on the nature of the proposal:
A.
The amount of traffic that could be potentially generated by the
use.
B.
The extent of earthmoving on the site to accommodate the use.
C.
The types of uses that are located adjacent to or across the street
from the proposal.
D.
The safety of vehicular entrances to the proposed use in terms of
sight distances and congestion at the access point.
E.
The extent of variances from the requirements of this chapter requested
to accommodate the proposal.
F.
The impact of the size and scale of the proposal upon surrounding
properties, as well as the effect of lighting, night operations, and
signage.
G.
The adequacy of on-site parking and circulation into and out of the
parking areas, as well as pedestrian circulation.
[Ord. 331, 11/17/1999, § 9.400]
1.
The Township Engineer, having received the application, shall review
it for completeness and adherence to the regulations of this Part.
In the event that the applicant requests a public hearing at the time
that he/she makes the application, the Township Secretary, or the
Zoning Officer in the Secretary's absence, shall advise the Engineer
that he must complete his review and report by the time of the next
Planning Commission meeting, the date of which shall be the starting
date for purposes of scheduling the public hearing.
2.
The Township Engineer may contact the person who prepared the application
to make him/her aware of deficiencies or omissions the Engineer has
uncovered during the review. The Engineer shall provide his review
comments to the Planning Commission which shall place the application
on the agenda of its next Planning Commission meeting.
3.
The Planning Commission shall review the application together with the Township Engineer's report, and shall send its recommendations to the Board of Supervisors in writing. The Commission may recommend approval of the application as presented, approval conditioned on certain specific revisions, or denial, based on clear reasons derived from § 27-903, above, and/or deviations from particular stipulations of this Part.
4.
The Board of Supervisors shall call and hold a public hearing no
later than 60 days after the applicant has made a request in writing
for the hearing. The public notice (see definition) shall include
a description of the proposed conditional use and the location of
the site. The applicant shall be informed of the date, time and place
of the hearing at least 14 days prior to the date, and the affected
property shall be posted in at least one conspicuous location at least
seven days before the hearing with the same information as in the
public notice.
5.
Within 45 days after the conclusion of the hearing, the Board shall
render a written decision on the application and shall inform the
applicant of it personally or by mail no later than the day after
the date of the decision. When the application is contested or denied,
the decision shall be accompanied by findings of fact and conclusions
based on them, together with reasons for the conclusions. Conclusions
based on any provisions of this Part, any other Township ordinance
or regulation, or the State Planning Code, 53 P.S. § 10101
et seq., shall contain a reference to the provision relied on and
the reasons why the conclusion is deemed appropriate in the light
of the facts found.
6.
Failure of the Board of Supervisors to render its decision within
45 days after the hearing, or to commence the hearing within 60 days
of the applicant's request for it, shall result in a deemed approval
of the application as submitted, unless the applicant has agreed in
writing or on the hearing record to an extension of time.
7.
If the applicant fails to accept all of the conditions attached to
approval, the approval shall be considered denied. The applicant shall
inform the Zoning Officer within 30 days after the decision of his/her
agreement to accept the conditions.
8.
Acceptance by the applicant of all attached conditions shall serve
as an authorization for the Zoning Officer to issue a building or
occupancy permit, which shall depict any conditions attached to approval.
Failure of the applicant to apply for a building, or occupancy permit
if no building permit is required, within one year from the date of
the Board's decision, shall render the approval void.
[Ord. 331, 11/17/1999, § 9.500]
1.
When approving a conditional use, the Board of Supervisors shall
be specific about exactly what is approved. Approval may include future
expansion if requested by the applicant and agreed to by the Board,
but only for specific expansions on land already owned, or under option
to be purchased by the applicant.
2.
Any expansion proposed after the initial specific approval shall
require reapplication to the Planning Commission for recommendation
and the Board of Supervisors for decision.
3.
Any property in a use which is listed as a conditional use in Part 4 of this chapter for the zone district where the property is located at the time of adoption of this chapter or subsequent amendment affecting the property, may continue to operate as usual, but if expansion is proposed, application shall be made as required by § 27-902 of this Part.
