[Ord. 1973-1, 2/5/1973, § 200]
As used in these regulations, words expressed in their singular
include their plural meanings; and words expressed in the plural include
their singular meanings. The word "person" includes a corporation,
unincorporated association and a partnership, as well as an individual.
The words "building" and "street" are used generally and shall be
construed as if followed by the phrase "or part thereof." The word
"may" is permissive; the words "shall" and "will" are mandatory.
[Ord. 1973-1, 2/5/1973, §§ 210 — 261;
as amended by Ord. 1988-1, 8/1/1988; and by Ord. 1990-5, 8/6/1990,
§ 3]
The following words and phrases, when used in these regulations,
shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, 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.
Any person, other than the developer, who, acting for the
developer, submits to the Commission and governing body plans for
the purpose of obtaining approval thereof.
A right-of-way providing secondary vehicular access to the
side or rear of two or more properties.
As applied to a building or structure, a change or re-arrangement
in the structural parts or an enlargement, whether by extending on
a side or increasing in height, or the moving from one location or
position to another.
LOT AREAThe area contained within the property lines of individual parcels of land shown on a subdivision plan, excluding any area within a street right-of-way, and including the area of any easement.
BUILDING AREAThe 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.
FLOOR AREAThe sum of the areas of the several floors of a building structure, including areas used for human occupancy and basements, attics and penthouses, measured from the exterior faces of the walls. It does not include cellars, unenclosed porches, attics not used for human occupancy or any floor space in an accessory building or in the main building intended and designed for the parking of motor vehicles in order to meet the parking requirements of this chapter or any such floor space intended and designed for accessory heating and ventilating equipment.
A story, partly underground but having 1/2 or more of its
height (measured from floor to ceiling) above the average level of
the adjoining ground. A basement shall be counted as a story for the
purpose of height measurement or determining floor area only if the
vertical distance between the ceiling and the average level of the
adjoining ground is more than five feet or if used for business or
dwelling purposes.
Any body granted jurisdiction under a land use ordinance
or under this chapter to render final adjudications.
An erection or structure intended for use and occupancy as
a habitation or for some purpose of trade, manufacture, ornament or
other use; any structure affording shelter to persons, animals or
property. The word "building" shall include any part thereof.
ACCESSORY BUILDINGA 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.
PRINCIPAL BUILDINGA building in which is conducted or intended to be conducted the principal use of the lot on which it is located.
That percentage of the plot or lot area covered by the building
area.
A vertical distance measured from the mean elevation of the
proposed finished grade at the front of the buildings to the highest
point of the roof for flat roofs, to the deck lines of mansard roofs
and to the mean height between eaves and ridge for gable, hip and
gambrel roofs.
A line within a property defining the required minimum distance
between any structure and the adjacent street line.
The portion of a street or alley intended for vehicular use.
A story, partly underground and having more than 1/2 of its
height (measured from floor to ceiling) below the average level of
the adjoining ground. A cellar shall not be considered in determining
the permissible number of stories or square footage nor shall it be
used for dwelling purposes.
An area of unobstructed vision at street intersections defined
by two street lines and by a line of sight between two points on the
street lines at a given distance from the intersection.
The Watsontown Area Joint Planning Commission, unless otherwise
noted.
The complete plan for the continuing development and redevelopment
of the Watsontown Area as recommended by the Planning Commission and
currently adopted by the governing body.
A use permitted in a particular zoning district by the Borough
Council pursuant to the provisions of this chapter and Article VI
of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, 53 P.S. § 10601
et seq.
Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, unless otherwise noted.
Final adjudication of any board or other body granted jurisdiction
under any land use ordinance or this chapter to do so, either by reason
of the grant of exclusive jurisdiction or by reason of appeals from
determinations. All decisions shall be appealable to the court of
common pleas of the county and judicial district wherein the Borough
lies.
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.
Final action by an officer, body or agency charged with the
administration of any land use ordinance or applications thereunder,
except the following:
The Borough Council;
The Zoning Hearing Board; or
The Planning Commission, only if and to the extent the Planning
Commission is charged with final decision, on preliminary or final
plans under the subdivision and land development or planned residential
development ordinances. Determinations shall be appealable only to
the Boards designated as having jurisdiction for such appeal.
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.
A zoning district as laid out on the Zoning Map, along with
the regulations pertaining thereto.
A lot with front and rear street frontage.
A minor vehicular right-of-way providing access between a
street and a parking area or garage within a lot or property.
A building containing one or more dwelling units.
SINGLE-FAMILY DETACHED DWELLINGA dwelling having only one dwelling unit from ground to roof, independent outside access and open space on all sides.
SINGLE-FAMILY ATTACHED DWELLINGA dwelling containing only one dwelling unit from ground to roof, independent outside access and a portion of one or two walls in common with adjoining dwellings.
MULTIPLE-FAMILY DWELLINGA dwelling containing two or more dwelling units not having independent outside access and not having party walls forming a complete separation between individual dwelling units. Single-family attached dwellings are specifically excluded from this definition.
DWELLING UNITAny room or group of rooms located within a residential building and forming a single habitable unit with facilities which are used or intended to be used for living, sleeping, cooking and eating by one family.
One or more persons related by blood, marriage or adoption
and any domestic servants or gratuitous guests thereof or a group
of not more than five persons who need not be so related and any domestic
servants or gratuitous guests thereof who are living together in a
single nonprofit dwelling unit and maintaining a common household
with single cooking facilities. A roomer, boarder or lodger shall
not be considered a member of a family.
Any structure constructed of wood, metal, wire mesh or masonry
erected for the purpose of screening one property from another either
to assure privacy or protect the property screened. For the purpose
of this chapter, a masonry wall is considered to be a fence; also,
for the purpose of this chapter, when the term "lot line" is used
in relation to fences, it shall be synonymous with "rear yard," "side
yard" and "front yard" line(s).
The Watsontown Borough Council, the McEwensville Borough
Council or the Delaware Township Board of Supervisors, whichever body
has jurisdiction for any matter involving this chapter.
Any device designed to produce heating and/or process steam
or, as an accessory use to the production of heating and/or process
steam, to generate electrical energy, which uses as its fuels two
or more of the following: coal (bituminous or anthracite); coke; natural
gas; propane; fuel oil; untreated wood waste (sawdust and/or wood
chips); and/or untreated, clean, dry white paper waste. Industrial
incinerators shall be operated only within industrial facilities pursuant
to the provisions of this chapter.
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 having a
remaining term of not less than 40 years or other person having a
proprietary interest in land shall be deemed to be a landowner for
the purposes of this chapter.
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.
LOT OF RECORDA lot which has been recorded in the office of the Recorder of Deeds of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania.
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 tangent to the curve at the points beginning within the lot or at the points of intersection of the side lot lines with the street lines intersecting at an angle of less than 135°.
THROUGH LOTAn interior lot having frontage on two parallel or approximately parallel streets.
LOT DEPTHThe main distance from the street line of the lot to its opposite rear line measured in the general direction of the side lines of the lot.
LOT WIDTHThe distance measured between the side lot line at the required building setback line. In a case where there is only one side lot line, between such lot line and the opposite rear lot line or street line.
Any boundary line of a lot.
REAR LOT LINEAny lot line which is parallel to or within 45° of being parallel to a street line, except for a lot line that is itself a street line and, in the case of a corner lot, the owner shall have the option of choosing which of the two lot 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 furthest from any street shall be considered a rear lot line.
SIDE LOT LINEAny lot line which is not a street line or a rear lot line.
STREET LINESee "street line."
Minor streets, parallel and adjacent to major traffic streets
providing access to abutting properties and control of intersections
with the major traffic street.
Any lot, parcel or plot of ground upon which three or more
mobile homes occupied for dwelling or sleeping purposes are located
for more than 30 days.
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 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."[1]
A lot the area or dimension of which was lawful prior to
the adoption or amendment of this chapter, 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 this chapter
or amendment heretofore or hereafter enacted, where such structure
lawfully existed prior to the enactment of this chapter or amendment
or prior to the application of this chapter 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 of structure, which does not comply
with the applicable use provisions in this chapter or amendment heretofore
or hereafter enacted, where such use was lawfully in existence prior
to the enactment of this chapter or amendment, or prior to the application
of this chapter or amendment to its location by reason of annexation.
A permit stating that all work indicated on a building permit
has been satisfactorily completed or, in cases not involving construction,
a proposed new use is in conformity with the chapter and the building
or lot may be occupied.
Includes:
A formal meeting held pursuant to public notice by the Borough
Council 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.[2]
Notice published once each week for two successive weeks
in a newspaper of general circulation in the Borough. 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.
Any letter, review, memorandum, compilation or similar writing
made by any body, board, officer or consultant other than a solicitor
to any other body, board, officer or consultant for the purpose of
assisting the recipient of such report in the rendering of any decision
or determination. All reports shall be deemed recommendatory and advisory
only and shall not be binding upon the recipient, board, officer,
body or agency, nor shall any appeal lie therefrom. Any report used,
received or considered by the body, board, officer or agency rendering
a determination or decision shall be made available for inspection
to the applicant and all other parties to any proceeding upon request,
and copies thereof shall be provided at cost of reproduction.
A lot extending between and having frontage on an arterial
or collector street and a local street with vehicular access solely
from the latter.
Land set aside for use as a street, alley or other means
of travel.
A person occupying any room or group of rooms forming a single
habitable unit used or intended to be used for living and sleeping,
but not for cooking or eating purposes, and paying compensation of
lodging or board and lodging by pre-arrangement for a week or more
at a time to an owner or operator. Any person occupying such room
or rooms and paying such compensation without pre-arrangement or for
less than a week at a time shall be classified, for purposes of this
chapter, not as a roomer, boarder or lodger but as a guest of a commercial
lodging establishment (motel, hotel, tourist home).
A facility designed to combust residential and/or industrial
wastes in compliance with all applicable federal, state, county and
local regulations pertaining to the disposal and combustion of residential
and/or industrial wastes and the disposal of waste streams resulting
therefrom; provided, the incinerator shall be part of a solid waste
plan approved by the applicable governing body and the County of Northumberland.
Co-generation facilities, which utilize wastes as fuels as part of
processes producing electrical energy, gases and/or chemicals, are
not, for the purpose of this definition, sanitary incinerators.
A facility operated to provide in-ground burial of residential
and/or industrial wastes subject to all applicable federal, state
county and local regulations pertaining to the operation of such facilities.
Hazardous waste disposal sites and low-level or high-level radiological
materials disposal or storage sites are not, for the purposes of this
chapter, considered sanitary landfills.
Any sewer, sewage system, sewage treatment works or parts
thereof designed, intended or constructed for the collection, treatment
or disposal of liquid waste (including industrial waste).
A use permitted in a particular zoning district pursuant
to the provisions of this chapter and Articles VI and IX of the Pennsylvania
Municipalities Planning Code, 53 P.S. § 10601 et seq., and
53 P.S. § 10901 et seq.
That part of a building located between a floor and the floor
or roof next above. The first story of a building is the lowest story,
having 75% or more of its wall area above grade level. A half-story
is a story under a gable, hip or gambrel roof, the wall plate of which
on at least two opposite exterior walls is not more than two feet
above such story.
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.
ARTERIAL STREETStreets serving large volumes of comparatively high speed traffic, including those facilities designated Class 1 and 2 highways by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.
COLLECTOR STREETStreets which, in addition to giving access to abutting properties, intercept minor streets and provide routes to community facilities and major traffic streets.
LOCAL STREETStreets primarily used for access to abutting properties and generally serving internally developed areas.
The dividing line between the street and the lot. The street
line shall be the same as the legal right-of-way; provided that, where
a future right-of-way width for a road or street has been established,
then that width shall determine the location of the street line.
Any man-made object having an ascertainable stationary location
on or in land or water, whether or not affixed to the land.
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.
ACCESSORY USEA use located on the same lot with a principal use and clearly incidental or subordinate to and customary in connection with the principal use.
PRINCIPAL USEThe main use on a lot.
Relief granted pursuant to the provisions of this chapter
and Articles VI and IX of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning
Code, 53 P.S. § 10101 et seq.
Any water works, water supply works, water distribution system
or part thereof designed, intended or constructed to provide or distribute
potable water.
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.
FRONT YARDA 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. In the case of a lot other than a corner lot that fronts on more than one street, the yards extending along all streets are front yards.
REAR YARDSA yard between a structure and a rear lot line and extending the entire length of the rear lot line.
SIDE YARDA 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.
The duly appointed municipal official designated by all governing
bodies as the administering and enforcing officer for this chapter.
A building permit or occupancy permit or both, whichever
is required in a specific circumstance.
