For the purpose of this article, words used in the present tense
shall include the future. The singular number shall include the plural,
and the plural shall include the singular. The masculine shall include
the feminine and the neuter. The word "shall" is always mandatory.
The word "building" includes "structure" and shall be construed as
if followed by the words "or any part thereof." The phrase "used for"
includes "arranged for"; "person" includes an individual, corporation,
partnership, corporate association or any other legal entity. The
word "includes" or "including" shall not limit the term to the specified
example but is intended to extend its meaning to all other instances
of like kind and character. Except as defined within this article,
all words and phrases shall have their normal meanings and usage.
The following words and phrases shall have the meanings given
in this section:
A subordinate detached building, incidental to and located
on the same lot as the principal building, and used for an accessory
use.
A use clearly incidental and subordinate to and located on
the same lot occupied by the principal use.
The use of land for agricultural purposes, including farming,
dairying, pasturage agriculture, horticulture, floriculture, viticulture
and animal and poultry husbandry and the necessary accessory uses
for packing, treating or storing the produce; provided, however, that
the operation of any such accessory uses shall be secondary to that
of normal agricultural activities, excluding agricultural uses that
produce noxious odors, such as but not limited to the raising of hogs,
pigs or other livestock fed from garbage or offal.
A minor way used primarily for vehicular service access to
the rear or sides of properties fronting on another street.
A story or a portion of a story partly below the average
grade of the surrounding ground with at least half of its height (measured
from floor to ceiling) below the average grade level of the surrounding
ground.
An owner-occupied dwelling offering, for pay, overnight or
short-term lodging and breakfast for transient guests.
A sign indicating a business conducted, a commodity sold
or a service rendered, somewhere other than on the premises, on which
advertising matter of any character is printed, posted or lettered
by any means and is designed for such purposes. A billboard may be
either freestanding or attached to a surface of a building or other
structure.
The Zoning Hearing Board of Mt. Jewett Borough.
An owner-occupied dwelling having two or more sleeping rooms
for rent to persons not related to its owner and where meals are provided.
Mt. Jewett Borough
The governing body of Mt. Jewett Borough.
A roofed structure, whether or not enclosed by walls, to
be used for the shelter, enclosure or protection or, persons, goods,
materials or animals.
The line within a property defining the required minimum
distance between any building and the adjacent right-of-way and/or
property lines.
A facility which offers various indoor recreational opportunities
for its patrons, including such games as pool, billiards, bowling,
video games and similar pursuits.
A use permitted in a particular district, granted by the Borough Council, pursuant to criteria set forth in Article IX, when such use is not permitted outright.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
The construction, reconstruction, renovations, repair, extension,
expansion, alteration or relocation of a building or structure, including
for the placement of mobile homes.
The keeping of four or more dogs that are more than six months
old, owned or not owned, for any period of time.
A building arranged, intended, designed or used as the living
quarters for one or more families living independently of each other
upon the premises. The term "dwelling" shall not be deemed to include
"hotel," "motel" or "rooming house."
SINGLE-FAMILY DWELLINGA building containing only one dwelling unit.
TWO-FAMILY DWELLINGA building containing two dwelling units.
MULTIFAMILY DWELLINGA building containing three or more dwelling units, including apartment houses, apartment hotels, flats, garden apartments and group homes.
DETACHED DWELLINGA dwelling with yards on all four sides.
A building or portion thereof containing one or more rooms
for living purposes, together with separate and exclusive cooking
and sanitary facilities, accessible from the outdoors either directly
or through an entrance hall shared with other dwelling units, and
used or intended to be used by one family.
The erection, construction, alteration or maintenance by
public utilities or municipal departments, authorities or commissions
of underground gas, underground or aboveground electrical, telephone
and cable television transmission or distribution systems, public
water, public sanitary sewer and public storm sewer facilities, including
wires, mains, drains, sewers, pipes, conduits, cables, fire alarm
boxes, traffic signals, hydrants and similar equipment and accessories
in connection therewith for the furnishing of adequate services for
public health, safety and general welfare. Essential services do not
include office buildings, the outside storage of equipment or maintenance
depots.
The sum of the gross area of the several floors of a building
or buildings, excluding basements, measured from the face of the exterior
walls or from the center line of the walls separating two buildings.
The management of forests and timberlands when practiced
in accordance with accepted silvicultural principles, through developing,
cultivating, harvesting, transporting and selling trees for commercial
purposes, which does not involve any land development.
[Added at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions,
Art. I)]
An accessory building used for the storage of automobiles
and personal belongings, either attached to the principal building
or separate.
An area of land, together with any structure thereon, used
for the retail sale of motor fuel and lubricants and incidental services,
such as lubrication and handwashing of motor vehicles, and the sale,
installation or minor repairs of tires, batteries or other automobile
accessories.
The coming together of more than four persons not related
by blood, marriage or adoption in a single housekeeping unit, which
provides the physical and social needs normal to a residence and whose
management is under the direction of a public or semipublic institution
operating in pursuit of the objective.
The vertical distance measured from the average level of
finished grade along all the exterior walls of the building to the
highest point of the roof and to the highest point on any structure,
which rises wholly or partly above the roof.
The primary use of a building on a property (where there
is also located a principal building used as a dwelling) for gainful
employment involving the manufacture, provisions or sale of goods
and/or services.
Any use customarily carried on entirely within a dwelling
by the occupants thereof, which use is clearly incidental and secondary
to the use of the dwelling for dwelling purposes and does not change
the residential character thereof.
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.
The area of a lot, parcel, etc., which is situated within
the property lines of said lot, site, parcel, etc., provided that
the area shall be measured only to the right-of-way line of a street,
road or alley.
Any line dividing a lot from another lot or from an abutting
street or other right-of-way.
A lot at the point of intersection of and abutting on two
or more intersecting streets and which has an interior angle of less
than 115° at the intersection of two street lines.
The assembly, fabrication, manufacture, production, processing,
storage and/or wholesale distribution of goods or products where no
process involved will produce noise, light, vibration, air pollution,
fire hazards or emissions which are noxious or dangerous to neighboring
properties.
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 have been so
designated and improved that they contain two or more mobile home
lots for the placement thereon of mobile homes.
A building or group of buildings containing individual rooms
or apartment accommodations primarily for transients, each of which
is provided with a parking space, and offered principally for rental
and use by motor vehicle travelers. The term "motel" includes, but
is not limited to, auto courts, motor courts, motor inns, motor lodges
or roadside hotels.
The Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code (Act 247 of
1968, as amended by Act 170 of 1988, as further amended by Act 209
of 1990 and Act 131 of 1992), and any further amendments after the
passage of this article.[1]
A business or commercial activity administered or conducted
as an accessory use which is clearly secondary to the use as a residential
dwelling and which involves no customer, client or patient traffic,
whether vehicular or pedestrian, pickup, delivery or removal functions
to or from the premises, in excess of those normally associated with
residential use. The business or commercial activity must satisfy
the following requirements:
[Added at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions,
Art. I)]
The business activity shall be compatible with the residential
use of the property and surrounding residential uses.
The business shall employ no employees other than family members
residing in the dwelling.
There shall be no display or sale of retail goods and no stockpiling
or inventory of a substantial nature.
There shall be no outside appearance of a business use, including,
but not limited to, parking, signs or lights.
The business activity may not use any equipment or process which
creates noise, vibration, glare, fumes, odors or electrical or electronic
interference, including interference with radio or television reception,
which is detectable in the neighborhood.
The business activity may not generate any solid waste or sewage
discharge in volume or type which is not normally associated with
residential use in the neighborhood.
The business activity shall be conducted only within the dwelling
and may not occupy more than 25% of the habitable floor area.
The business may not involve any illegal activity.
A lot, the area or dimensions of which was lawful prior to
the enactment of this article or amendments hereafter enacted, but
which fails to conform to the requirements of the zoning district
in which it is located by reasons of such enactment or amendment.
A structure or part of a structure clearly not designed to
comply with the applicable use or extent of use provision of this
article or any amendment hereafter enacted, where such use was lawfully
in existence prior to the enactment of this article or amendment hereafter
enacted or prior to the application of this article or amendment to
its location by reason of annexation.
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 such ordinance or amendment to its location by reason of annexation.
[Added at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions,
Art. I)]
A lot or structure, the principal use of which is the parking
or storage of motor vehicles for specified time periods or on a rental
basis, but not for commercial or public utility vehicles or the dead
storage of motor vehicles.
An open space with a dustless, all-weather surface or space
in a private garage or other structure with an effective length of
at least 18 feet and a uniform width of at least nine feet for the
storage of one automobile and accessible for a public way.
Any commercial establishment providing services pertaining
to the person, his apparel or personal effects commonly carried on
or about the person, and including automatic teller machines (excluding
drive-in facilities), shoe repair, tailoring and clothes cleaning
(on the premises) of wearing apparel brought to the establishment
by the customer.
The office or studio of a physician, surgeon, dentist, lawyer,
architect, artist, engineer, certified public accountant, accountant,
real estate broker or salesperson, insurance broker or agent, music
teacher or similar occupation.
A formal meeting held pursuant to public notice by the governing
body or planning agency, intended to inform and obtain public comment,
prior to taking action in accordance with the MPC.
A forum held pursuant to notice under 65 Pa.C.S.A. § 701
et seq., known as the "Sunshine Act."
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
A notice published once a week for two successive weeks in
a newspaper of general circulation in the municipality. 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 be not more than 30 days and the second publication shall not
be less than seven days from the date of the hearing.
An owner-occupied residential building having two or more
sleeping rooms for rent and making no provisions for cooking in any
of the rooms.
An evergreen hedge at least six feet high, planted in such
a way that it will block line of sight. The screening may consist
of either one or multiple rows of bushes or trees with a minimum width
of six feet.
A fence, screen planting or wall at least six feet high,
provided in such a way that it will block a line of sight.
Any structure, building, wall or other outdoor surface, or
any device or part thereof, which displays or includes any letter,
word, model, banner, flag, pennant, insignia, device or other representations
used for announcement, direction, advertisement or identification.
Banners and freestanding signs are included and controlled by its
provision. The word "sign" includes the word "billboard" but does
not include the flag, pennant or insignia of any nation, state, city
or other political unit, nor traffic or directional signs where said
signs are placed and under the control of a state or local government.
The area of a sign shall be construed to include all lettering, wording
and accompanying designs and symbols, together with the background
which is incidental to the display itself. Where the sign consists
of individual letters or symbols attached to or painted on a surface,
the area can be drawn to encompass all of the letters and symbols.
A sign which directs attention to a business, profession,
service or industry conducted or to products sold, manufactured, assembled
or offered for sale other than upon the premises where the sign is
displayed.
A sign which directs attention to a business, profession,
service or industry conducted on the premises or to products sold,
manufactured or assembled upon the same premises upon which it is
displayed.
A sign that is designed so that characters, letters or illustrations
can be changed or rearranged without altering the face or the surface
of the sign.
Any mobile or portable sign structure not securely attached
to the ground or to any structure.
Any sign which is supported by structures or supports in
or upon the ground and independent of support from any building.
A use permitted in a particular district, granted by the
Zoning Hearing Board, pursuant to criteria set forth in this article,
when such use is not permitted outright.
That portion of a building located between the surface of
any floor and the next floor above; if there is not more than one
floor, the space between the surface of any floor and the ceiling
next above it shall be considered a story.
A public or private right-of-way, excluding driveways, intended
for use as a means of vehicular and pedestrian circulation which provides
a means of access to abutting property. The word "street" includes
thoroughfare, avenue, boulevard, court, drive, expressway, highway,
lane, alley and road and similar terms.
A line defining the right-of-way boundaries of a street.
Any man-made object having an ascertainable stationary location
on or in land or water, whether or not affixed to the land.
A multifamily dwelling consisting of two or more dwelling
units that are attached side by an unpierced party wall.
That portion of a lot which is unoccupied and open to the
sky and extends from the lot line to the building line.
The ground space on a lot between the street right-of-way
line and the nearest point of the principal building or use, extending
to the side boundaries of the lot and in Residential "R" Districts,
unoccupied except for fences and/or other decorative or landscaping
uses, not to hinder the line of sight from oncoming traffic or existing
structure to entering into traffic.
A yard between the rear lot line and the rear building line
and extending for the full width of the lot.
An open yard space between the side lot line and building
line extending from the front lot line to the rear lot line.
The Zoning Officer of the Borough of Mt. Jewett, or an authorized
representative or agent.
[1]
Editor's Note: See 53 P.S. § 10101 et seq.
