A.
The Fairview Township Community Development Objectives have been
designed to promote, protect and facilitate the public health, safety,
morals, and the general welfare; to coordinate practical community
development and density of population, community facilities and services,
utility services, agricultural, industrial and commercial uses; as
well as, preserve the natural, scenic and historic value in the environment;
and conserve forest areas, wetlands, floodplains, and coastal and
bluff recession hazard areas; through the implementation of the Fairview
Area Comprehensive Plan.
B.
Goals and objectives of the Comprehensive Plan are as follows:
(1)
Objectives.
(a)
To prevent overcrowding of land, blight, danger and congestion
in travel and transportation, loss of health, life or property from
fire, flood and other dangers.
(b)
To preserve prime agricultural and farmland with consideration
to topography, soils type and classification and existing use.
(c)
To provide for the use of land within Fairview Township for
residential housing of fair and affordable types, including single-family
and multifamily dwellings of all types.
(d)
To accommodate reasonable overall community growth, including
population and employment growth, and to create opportunities in the
development of a variety of residential and nonresidential uses.
(2)
Goals.
(a)
Land use goal: To provide and perpetuate a land use pattern
which includes a wide variety of interrelated land uses in proper
proportion, which is able to function efficiently, which features
an optimum degree of compatibility between land uses and between development
and the natural environment, and which enhances the orderly timing
of development.
[1]
Prevent undesirable land use relationships by avoiding the mixing
of incompatible uses, yet still maintain neighborhood conveniences.
[2]
Encourage the concentration of compatible land use in discernible
clusters and limit both "strip" development and irregularly dispersed
development patterns.
[3]
Discourage the indiscriminate spread of commercial and industrial
uses, particularly the encroachment of these uses upon existing or
future residential areas.
[4]
Discourage the adverse scattering of high-density residential
development and encourage such development in areas with infrastructure
support.
[5]
Develop appropriate land use controls to guide future uses and
densities of development in accordance with the Township's land
use plans.
[6]
Allow for a mix of dwelling types, densities, single and multifamily
mixes and appropriate supporting facilities and uses such as recreation,
open space, roads, parking areas, utilities, and employ safety and
aesthetic measures.
[7]
Provide for industrial development activities to include both
traditional industrial development and industrial park development.
[8]
Prohibit the use of temporary structures for permanent use activities.
(b)
Environmental goal: To preserve and enhance the area's
natural and cultural environments.
[1]
Protect unique geologic, vegetative and other ecological areas
to ensure variety in the environment, to serve as outdoor educational
resources, to guard against damage to life and property, and to preserve
the natural amenities upon which the community ultimately depends.
[2]
Protect the groundwater resources in those areas that are dependent
upon on-lot wells for potable water by such methods as restricting
the type and density of development in recharge areas.
[3]
Discourage encroachment upon streams and their floodplains,
ponds, and high water table areas that threatens to degrade the natural
condition of their waters and/or banks.
[4]
Eliminate or carefully control all causes of water pollution
including but not limited to sedimentation, thermal interference,
septic tank outfall, chemicals and hard metals contamination, soil
erosion and siltation, and dumping.
[5]
Provide for the protection of the coastal zone area in an effort
to protect the bluffs and adjacent areas from further degradation
and minimize development encroachment which might have an adverse
effect.
[6]
Protect significant wetland areas from the encroachment of development.
(c)
Aesthetic goal: To enrich the lives of all residents by seeking
to improve the esthetic quality and visual impact of the man-made
environment and by preserving and enhancing the natural environment.
[1]
Prevent the desecration of the area's scenic elements such
as dense woodlands, water bodies, steep slopes and hilltops by relating
all development to natural features.
[2]
Encourage the elimination, isolation or screening of all visual
distractions created by man.
[3]
Encourage the use of landscaping and conservation practices
to enhance the visual quality of the man-made environment.
[4]
Encourage placing utilities underground when practical and encourage
attractive design or blending with the natural environment when underground
placement is not practical.
[5]
Encourage the protection of attractive views in the countryside
and their creation in neighborhoods.
[6]
Control the use of signs in terms of number, type, size and
location and encourage aesthetics and attractiveness in their design.
Prohibit the use of inappropriate sign designs and configurations.
[7]
Promote innovative development concepts such as planned residential
developments which encourage variety in neighborhood and appropriate
architectural design.
[8]
Protect and plan for the protection of air and solar access
to all forms of development, particularly in areas occupied by fauna
and flora.
(d)
Transportation, traffic and circulation goals: To provide the
safe and convenient circulation and movement of goods and people within
the community.
[1]
Provide for the separation of through and local traffic in order
to facilitate movement both within the Fairview area and between neighboring
municipalities and regions.
[2]
Coordinate and integrate the transportation systems of Fairview
Township with that of the county, state and nation.
[3]
Provide for separate pedestrian walkways wherever warranted
by vehicular traffic and other activities.
[4]
Provide for adequate off-street parking in all future developments.
[5]
Support public mass transit services for those without cars
and as a viable option to the private automobile.
[6]
Provide adequate and safe streets and street systems in all
future residential, commercial and industrial subdivisions, while
guarding against over-design.
(e)
Economy goal: To establish a diversified and enduring economic
structure which provides residents with a variety of employment opportunities
while at the same time preserving a healthful, secure, and pleasant
residential environment:
[1]
Provide for future commercial and industrial development by
reserving adequate land areas through various methods such as zoning,
land-banking, industrial park development, LERTA districts, etc.
[2]
Provide for the concentration of commercial and industrial developments
within selected areas by designating these areas in the land use plan
as supported by land use regulations.
[3]
Provide the necessary infrastructure that encourages business
and industrial development; e.g., utilities, streets, police and fire
protection, etc.
[4]
Provide for the economic development potential of the PA 98/I-90
interchange area by encouraging the use of this area for businesses
and industries and allowing for industrial park development.
[5]
Discourage nonconforming uses throughout Fairview Township.
[6]
Establish and perpetuate a local government and business community
relationship conducive to economic development.
(f)
Housing goal: To provide adequate housing for the present and
future residents of the Fairview Township area.
[1]
Increase the supply of decent, safe and sanitary housing in
price ranges affordable to the residents of the area.
[2]
Provide for diversity in housing types and residential areas
so that every family has a fair choice with respect to residential
environment and lifestyle.
[3]
Preserve the existing housing stock through public and private
actions and incentives that encourage housing upkeep.
[4]
Eliminate all substandard housing units by removing those units
beyond salvage and by rehabilitating those units that can be feasibly
salvaged.
[5]
Preserve the residential character and quality of viable residential
areas.
[6]
Allow for planned residential development in areas compatible
with the surrounding land use and adjacent land uses while allowing
for a mix of dwelling types, densities, single and multifamily mixes
and appropriate supporting facilities and uses such as recreation,
open space, roads, parking areas, utilities, while taking into account
safety and aesthetic measures.
(g)
Community facilities and services goal: To provide for facilities,
services and utilities of the quantity and quality necessary to meet
the physical, social, cultural, recreational and aesthetic needs of
the community and to do so in a timely and fiscally responsible manner.
[1]
Provide adequate police, fire and safety protection throughout
the community.
[2]
Provide adequate water, sewerage and solid waste management
services in all areas of the community where existing or planned development
or population densities warrant such services, either through public
facilities or properly installed and maintained private facilities.
[3]
Promote adequate public school facilities, including buildings
and grounds that can serve as multi-use facilities.
[4]
Promote a community recreation program and facilities based
on the needs and desires of the local residents, within available
resources.
[5]
Provide community facilities in an orderly and timely manner
by annually updating the capital improvements program and capital
budget to reflect the public facility needs of the community.
(h)
Energy conservation goal: To promote energy conservation as
a matter of serious public concern.
[1]
Exercise public responsibility in providing direction to energy
conservation efforts in the community.
[2]
Propagate efficient land use patterns that lead to efficient
energy utilization.
[3]
Adopt land use and development controls, building codes and
similar regulations that promote energy efficiencies and revise or
eliminate those that cause or encourage wasteful energy consumption.
[4]
Utilize alternate energy sources in all new governmental buildings
when feasible.
[5]
Encourage the use of alternate energy sources in all other public,
residential, commercial and industrial structures in the community.
[6]
Encourage all residents to adopt an energy conservation attitude.
[7]
Protect solar access to existing future developments.
(i)
Citizen participation goal: To encourage continual discussion
among residents concerning the development of Fairview Township and
encourage their participation in public affairs.
A.
This chapter is inclusive zoning in that no use may be operated in
a district unless it is specifically included as a use by right for
that district, and each parcel shall be limited to one principal or
permitted use per lot.
B.
The Downtown Village Overlay area where a residence may be placed
in a B-1 or B-2 commercial structure shall also be determined as one
principal or permitted use.
C.
Uses not specifically regulated must be presented before the Zoning
Hearing Board. If a use clearly is not permitted by right, conditional
use or as a special exception use by this chapter within any zoning
district, the use is prohibited, except that the Zoning Hearing Board
may permit such use as a special exception use if the applicant specifically
proves to the clear satisfaction of the Zoning Hearing Board that
all of the following conditions would be met:
(1)
Proposed use would be less intensive in external impacts and
nuisances than uses that are permitted in the zoning district.
(2)
Proposed use would be closely similar in impact and character
to uses permitted in that zoning district.
(3)
Use would meet the standards that would apply for a special
exception use.
(4)
Use is not specifically prohibited in that zoning district.
This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Fairview
Township Zoning Ordinance." The map herein referred to, which is identified
as the "Fairview Township Zoning Map," and all the explanatory matter
thereon, is hereby adopted and made part of this chapter.
