Unless otherwise expressly stated, the following terms shall,
for the purpose of this Chapter, have the meaning given herein:
1.
Words used in the present tense imply the future tense.
2.
Words used in the singular imply the plural.
3.
The word "person," includes a partnership or corporation as well
as an individual.
4.
The word "shall" is to be interpreted as mandatory; the word "may"
as directory and complied with unless waived.
[Ord. 5/6/1974; as amended by Ord. 2/1/1979, § IV;
by Ord. 12/4/1980, §§ I and II; by Ord. 9/3/1981, § I;
by Ord. 9/1/1983; by Ord. 4/4/1985, §§ 7 and 8; by
Ord. 6/1/1989, § VII; by Ord. 6/3/1993, § 1; by
Ord. 1996-1, 1/2/1996, §§ II, III, IV, V and VI; by
Ord. 2002-9, 12/9/2002, §§ 1, 2, 3, 4 and 10; and by
Ord. 2009-3, 9/25/2009, § 1]
Any person, other than the developer, who, acting for the
developer, submits to the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors
subdivision or land development plans for the purpose of obtaining
approval thereof.
The use of land for farming, dairying pasturage, apiculture,
horticulture, floriculture, viticulture and animal and poultry husbandry
and the necessary accessory uses for packing, treating or storing
the produce and equipment and for housing and feeding the animals
and housing the equipment. The use of land as a place for the location
of a dwelling is not an agricultural use.
A landowner or developer, as hereinafter defined, who has
filed an application for development including his heirs, successors
and assigns.
Every application, whether 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 or zoning
permit, for the approval of a subdivision plot or plan or for the
approval of a land development plan.
An area bounded by streets.
The Hopewell Township Board of Supervisors.
The portion of a street or alley right-of-way which is improved,
designated or intended for vehicular traffic.
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.
The plan, or parts thereof, which have been adopted by the
Board of Supervisors, showing its recommendations for such systems
as: land uses, parks and recreation facilities, water supply, sewerage
and sewage disposal, garbage disposal, transportation highways, civic
centers and other public improvements which affect the development
of the Township.
A lot abutting upon two streets at their intersection.
The amount which the Township Engineer estimates that the
Township would be required to expend in order to complete the required
improvements proposed by a subdivider or land developer in a subdivision
or land development plan, in the event the subdivider or land developer
fails to complete such improvements within the time set forth in the
subdivision or land development plan or otherwise agreed upon, which
estimate shall take into consideration anticipated inflation in construction
costs, bid preparation costs and other costs which the Township will
incur in the event it is required to complete the proposed improvements.
A right-of-way, Township or privately owned, at least five
feet wide, which cuts across a block to furnish access for pedestrians
to adjacent streets or properties.
The raised edge of a pavement to confine surface water to
the pavement and to protect the abutting land from vehicular traffic.
The outside edge of the cartway.
Any landowner, agent of such landowner or tenant with the
permission of such landowner, who makes or causes to be made land
development.
A lot fronting on two streets other than a corner lot.
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 land development or contiguous
land areas.
A minor vehicular surface other than a street providing access
from a street or private road to a lot.
Any structure, or part thereof, designed to be occupied as
living quarters as a single housekeeping unit.
A right-of-way for a limited purpose; a space within which
no structure may be built.
Any driveway or other entrance from a public or private road.
A field road providing access to agriculturally used fields and not
providing access to any residential, commercial or industrial structure
is not considered an easement of access.
A professional engineer licensed as such in the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania.
Those areas designated and delineated by the Flood Insurance Study (FIS) and Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs) issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) effective September 25, 2009, or their successors, and regulated by the Hopewell Township Floodplain Management Ordinance of 2009 [Chapter 8] or its successors.
The horizontal or curvilinear distance along the street line
upon which a lot abuts.
(A) The right-of-way width required for the expansion of
existing streets to accommodate anticipated future traffic loads.
(B) A right-of-way established to provide future access to or through
undeveloped land.
The slope expressed in a percent which indicates the rate
of change of elevation in feet per hundred feet.
That portion of a right-of-way carrying surface drainage.
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.
Any of the following activities:
The improvement 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
tenants.
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 shall not include:
The conversion of an existing single-family detached dwelling
or single-family semi-detached dwelling into not more than three residential
units, unless such units are intended to be a condominium.
The addition of an accessory building not to be used exclusively
in connection with the agricultural use of the property containing
less than 1,000 square feet of ground floor area or the addition of
a building to be used exclusively in connection with the agricultural
use of the property containing less than 5,000 square feet of ground
floor area, which accessory building is subordinate to an existing
principal building.
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), a lessee if he is
authorized under the lease to exercise the rights of the landowner,
or other person having a proprietary interest in land.
A map showing the site with relation to adjoining areas.
A plot or tract or parcel of land which is, or in the future,
may be offered for sale, lease conveyance, transfer or improvement
as one unit, regardless of the method or methods in which title was
acquired. It may be vacant, devoted to a certain use, occupied by
a structure or occupied by a group of structures that are united by
a common interest or use.
[Amended by Ord. No. 2-2018, 6/7/2018]
The area contained within the property lines of individual
lots of land, including any area within a street right-of-way and
including the area of any easement.
The width of a lot measured parallel to and, in the Agricultural Conservation, Residential and Residential II Zones, 35 feet distant from, and in the Industrial and Commercial Zones 50 feet distant from the right-of-way line of a road or street currently maintained by Hopewell Township or by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, or the right-of-way line of a private road designed and improved in accordance with the provisions of §§ 22-504 through 22-507, 22-602 and 22-603 of this chapter or by the right-of-way line of a private road not so improved excepting that a tract or lot may not have its lot width measured by reference to such unimproved road or street, if such unimproved road or street is utilized by or provides access to any other lot or tract or to the improvements thereon located.
A transportable, single-family dwelling intended for permanent
occupancy, office or place of assembly contained in one unit or in
two 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 can 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, which is leased by the
park owner to the occupants of the mobile home erected on the lot.
A parcel of land, under single ownership which has been planned
and improved for the placement of mobile homes for nontransient use,
consisting of two or more mobile home lots.
A building providing separate living quarters for three or
more families.
The owner of record of a parcel of land.
An agreement by and between a contractor and a bonding company
in favor of the developer and the Board of Supervisors guaranteeing
the completion of physical improvements.
The map of a land development, whether sketch, preliminary
or final.
PLAN, FINALA complete and exact land development plan, prepared as for official recording, to define property rights and proposed streets and other improvements.
PLAN, PRELIMINARYA tentative land development plan, in lesser detail than a final plan, showing the salient existing features of a tract and its surroundings and approximate proposed street and lot layout as a basis for consideration prior to preparation of a final plan.
PLAN, SKETCHAn informal 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.
Hopewell Township Planning Commission.
Includes (A) parks, playgrounds and other public areas; and
(B) sites for school, sewage treatment, refuse disposal and other
public owned or operated facilities.
A Township sanitary sewer system approved and permitted by
the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
A Township water supply system or a comparable common water
supply system approved and permitted by the Pennsylvania Department
of Environmental Protection.
Any land development which has been approved by the Township
which changes, or proposes to change property lines and/or public
rights-of-way not in strict accordance with the approved plan.
A lot extending between and having frontage on a major street
and a minor street with vehicular access solely from the latter.
Land opened for use as a street, alley or crosswalk.
The required horizontal distance between a setback line and
a property or street line.
SETBACK, FRONTThe distance between the street line and the front setback line projected the full width of the lot.
SETBACK, REARThe distance between the rear lot line and the rear setback line projected the full width of the lot.
SETBACK, SIDEThe distance between the side lot line and the side setback line projected from the front yard to rear yard.
A line within a property and parallel to a property or street
line which delineates the required minimum distance that must be provided
between a structure or building and an adjacent street line and/or
property line.
Street includes 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:
ARTERIAL STREETA street or road which is used primarily for fast or heavy traffic including all roads designated as Federal-Aid Highways by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.
COLLECTOR STREETA street which carries traffic from minor streets to the major system of arterial streets, including the principal entrance streets of a residential development and streets within such a development.
HALF OR PARTIAL STREETA street parallel and adjacent to a property line having a lesser right-of-way width than required for a satisfactory improvement and use of the street.
MARGINAL ACCESS STREETMinor streets parallel and adjacent to major traffic streets providing access to abutting properties and control of intersections with the major traffic street.
MINOR STREETA street which is used primarily for access to the abutting properties.
SERVICE STREET OR ALLEYA minor street which is used primarily for vehicles' service access to the back or the side of properties otherwise abutting a street.
The officially established grade of the street upon which
a lot fronts or in its absence the established grade of other streets
upon which the lot abuts at the midway of the frontage of the lot
thereon. If there is no officially established grade, the existing
grade of the street at such midpoint shall be taken as the street
grade.
A line defining the edge of a street right-of-way and separating
the street from abutting property or lots. Commonly known as the "street
right-of-way line."
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, transfer of ownership or building or
lot development. Provided, however, that the division by lease of
land for agricultural purposes into parcels of more than 10 acres,
not involving any new street or easement of access, or residential
dwellings, shall be exempted.
[1]Land in parcels sufficiently large for future land development
which is presently in agriculture, woodland or lying fallow.
[1]
Editor’s Note: The former definition of “tract,”
which immediately followed this definition, was repealed by Ord. No.
2-2018, 6/7/2018.
