For the purpose of this chapter, the terms and words herein
shall be interpreted as follows unless otherwise expressly stated:
A.
Words in the present tense shall include the future tense.
B.
The words "person," "owner," or "developer" include a profit or nonprofit
corporation, company, partnership, association or individual.
C.
Words used in the singular shall include the plural; words used in
the plural shall include the singular.
D.
The words "used" or "occupied," as applied to any land or building,
include the words "intended," "arranged" or "designed to be used or
occupied."
E.
The word "building" includes "structure."
F.
The word "lot" includes the words "plot" or "parcel."
G.
The words "shall" and "will" are always mandatory.
H.
The word "may" is permissive.
Unless otherwise expressly stated, for the purposes of this
chapter, the following words, terms and phrases shall have the meaning
herein indicated:
A subordinate building or a portion of the main building
on a lot, the use of which is customarily incidental to that of the
main or principal building.
A use on the same lot with and of a nature customarily incidental
and subordinate to the principal use; and not occupying more than
40% of the net floor area of any one floor in the principal structure
or not more than 40% of the lot area.
As applied to a building or structure, means a change or
rearrangement in the structural parts or in the existing facilities,
or an enlargement, whether by extending on a side or by increasing
height, or the moving from one location or position to another. Structural
alterations shall include any change in the supporting members of
a building, such as bearing walls, columns, beams or girders.
A building used for the treatment, housing or boarding of
small domestic animals, such as dogs, cats, rabbits and birds or fowl,
by a veterinarian.
The 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, patios, terraces and steps.[1]
A sign other than one indicating a business conducted on
the premises; a sign upon which advertising matter of any character
is printed, posted or lettered; and it may be either freestanding
or attached to a surface of a building or other structure.
Any dwelling in which more than three persons either individually
or as families are housed or lodged for hire with or without meals.
A rooming house or a furnished room house shall be deemed a "boarding
house."
An imaginary line located on the lot at a fixed distance
from the road right-of-way line and interpreted as being the nearest
point that a building may be constructed to the road right-of-way.
The building line shall limit the location of porches, patios and
similar construction, steps excepted, to the face of this line.
Anything constructed or erected with a fixed or permanent
location on the ground, or attached to something having a fixed location
on the ground. Among other things, "structures" include "buildings,"
mobile homes, walls, fences, billboards and poster panels.
The line of that face of the building nearest the frontline
of the lot. This face includes sun parlors and covered porches whether
enclosed or unenclosed but does not include steps or patios.
The vertical distance measured from the average elevation
of the proposed finished grade at the front of the building to the
highest point of the roof for flat roofs, to the deckline of mansard
roofs and to the mean height between eaves and ridge for gable, hip
and gambrel roofs.
A building in which is conducted the principal use of the
lot on which it is located.
The triangular area formed by two intersecting road center
lines and a line interconnecting points established on each center
line, 100 feet from their point of intersection. This entire area
is to remain clear of obstructions to sight above a plane established
3 1/2 feet in elevation from grade level at the intersection
of the road center line.
A use which is not appropriate to the Township as a whole,
but which may be suitable in certain locations within the Township
only when specific conditions and factors prescribed for such cases
within this chapter are present.
A lot or land or part thereof used primarily for the disposal
by abandonment, dumping, burial, burning or other means and for whatever
purpose, of garbage, sewage, trash, refuse, junk, discarded machinery,
vehicles or part thereof or waste material of any kind.
A building designed or used as the living quarters for one
or more families. The terms "dwelling," "one-family dwellings," multiple
dwelling," "two-family dwelling," or "dwelling group" shall not be
deemed to include automobile court, rooming house, tourist home or
hotel.
RESIDENTIAL CONVERSION UNITTo be considered a conversion, any proposed alteration must be confined to the interior of an already existing structural shell. Any proposal to extend the sides or increase the height of an existing structure shall not be considered a conversion and shall be required to meet the appropriate provisions established for that particular use.
SINGLE-FAMILY DETACHEDA dwelling unit accommodating a single family and having two side yards, including a mobile home.
SINGLE-FAMILY SEMIDETACHEDTwo dwelling units accommodating two families, which are attached side by side through the use of a party wall, and having one side yard adjacent to each dwelling unit.
TWO-FAMILY DETACHEDTwo dwelling units accommodating two families, which are located one over the other, and having two side yards.
TWO-FAMILY SEMIDETACHEDFour dwelling units accommodating four families, two units of which are located directly over the other two units. A combination of both the single-family semidetached and the two-family detached structures.
TOWNHOUSE (ROW DWELLING)Three or more dwelling units accommodating three or more families, which are attached side by side through the use of common party walls, and which may have side yards adjacent to each end unit. Each dwelling unit is generally two stories in height, but may conceivably be either one story or three stories in height.
GARDEN APARTMENTThree or more dwelling units accommodating three or more families, which are located one over the other, and which, when more than three units are utilized, are attached side by side through the use of common party walls, and which may have side yards adjacent to each first story end unit. Single story dwelling units are generally built to a height of three stories, but may conceivably be built to a height of only two stores. Each dwelling unit is accessible by a common stairwell.
Any building or portion thereof which is designed and used
exclusive for residential purposes of one family, and includes complete
kitchen and bathroom facilities.
Includes built, constructed, reconstructed, moved upon or
any physical operations on the land required for the building. Excavation,
fill, drainage and the like shall be considered part of the erection.
The erection, construction, alteration or maintenance by
public utilities or municipal department or commissions of underground
or overhead gas, electrical, telephone transmission or distribution
systems, including poles, wires, mains, drains, sewers, pipes, conduits,
cables, towers, fire alarm boxes, traffic signals, hydrants and similar
equipment and accessories in connection therewith, but not including
buildings reasonably necessary for the furnishing of adequate service
by such public utilities or municipal departments or commissions or
for the public health or safety or general welfare.
One or more persons who live together in one dwelling unit
and maintain a common household. May consist of a single person or
of two or more persons, whether or not related by blood, marriage
or adoption. May also include domestic servants and gratuitous guests.
Any parcel of land containing 10 or more acres, which is
used for gain in the raising of agricultural products, livestock,
poultry and dairy products. It includes necessary farm structures
within the prescribed limits and the storage of equipment used. It
excludes the raising of fur-bearing animals, riding academies, livery
or boarding stables and dog kennels.
See "yard, front."
An enclosed or covered space for the storage of one or more
motor vehicles, provided that no business, occupation or service is
conducted for profit therein, nor space therein for more than one
car is leased to a nonresident of the premises.
Any premises used for supplying gasoline, oil, minor accessories
and service for automobiles at retail direct to the motorist consumer,
including the making of minor repairs, but not including major repairs,
such as spray painting; body, fender, clutch, transmission, differential,
axle, spring and frame repairs; major overhauling of engine requiring
removal therefrom of cylinder head or crankcase pan; repairs of radiator
requiring removal thereof; complete recapping or retreading of tires.
The Board of Township Supervisors, of Charleston Township,
Tioga County, Pennsylvania.
See "building, height of."
Any use customarily conducted entirely within a dwelling
or in a building accessory thereto and carried on by the inhabitants
residing therein, providing that the use is clearly incidental and
secondary to the use of the dwelling for dwelling purposes, the exterior
appearance of the structure of premises is constructed and maintained
as a residential dwelling, and no goods are publicly displayed on
the premises other than signs as provided herein; including but not
limited to the following occupations: the professional practice of
medicine, dentistry, architecture, law and engineering; artists, beauticians,
barbers and veterinarians, excluding stables or kennels; and does
not permit the employment of more than two persons not living on the
premises.
Unless otherwise specified, the term "hospital" shall be
deemed to include sanitarium, sanatorium, preventorium, clinic, rest
home, nursing home, convalescent home and any other place for the
diagnosis, treatment or other care of ailments, and shall be deemed
to be limited to places for the diagnosis, treatment or other care
of human ailments.
Any worn, cast-off or discarded article or material which
is ready for destruction or which has been collected or stored for
sale, resale, salvage or conversion to some other use. Any such article
or material which, unaltered, not needed to be disassembled or unfastened
from, or unchanged and without further reconditioning can be used
for its original purpose as readily as when new shall not be considered
junk.
The use of more than 100 square feet of the area of any lot
for the storage, keeping or abandonment of junk, including scrap material
from the dismantling, demolition or abandonment of automobiles or
other vehicles or machinery or parts thereof. A "junkyard" shall include
an automobile graveyard or motor vehicle graveyard.
See "building line."
The dividing line between the road, right-of-way and the
lot.
An off-street space or berth on the same lot with a building
or contiguous to a group of buildings, for the temporary stopping
of commercial vehicles while loading or unloading merchandise or materials
and which abuts upon an alley, street or other appropriate means of
access, and which is not less than 12 feet wide, 45 feet in length
and 14 feet in height.
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.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
The area of a horizontal plane measured at grade and bounded
by the front, side and rear lot lines.
The average horizontal distance between the front and rear
lot lines.
The lines bounding a lot as defined herein.
The horizontal distance across the lot between the side lot
lines, measured at the building line.
A lot, abutting two or more roads at their intersection,
on which the building line for all roads must be observed.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
A lot other than a corner lot.
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.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
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.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
Two portable units, designed and built to be towed on their
own separate chassis and permanently combined on site to form a single
immobile dwelling unit, and having a minimum of 900 square feet of
habitable floor area, shall be regarded as a single-family detached
dwelling, but may be located in a mobile home park at the discretion
of the owner.
A sanitary sewage collection system approved by the Township
and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection in accordance
with Act 537, the "Pennsylvania Municipality Sewage Facilities Act,"
as amended,[2] in which sewage is carried from individual lot or dwelling
units by a system of pipes to a central treatment and disposal plant
which may be publicly or privately owned and operated.
A potable water distribution system approved by the Township
in which water is carried to individual lots or dwelling units by
a system of pipes from a central water source located beyond the limits
of the lot being served which may be publicly or privately owned and
operated.
A single system of piping, tanks or other facilities approved
by the Township and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
in accordance with Act 537, the "Pennsylvania Municipality Sewage
Facilities Act," as amended,[3] serving only a single lot and disposing of sewage in whole
or in part into the soil.
A single system of piping, tanks or other facilities serving
only a single lot and obtaining the water either in whole or in part
from a primary source located within the limits of the lot being served.
An unoccupied space open to the sky on the same lot with
the building.
The duly authorized agent, attorney, purchaser, devisee,
fiduciary or any person having vested or equitable interest in the
lot in question.
An off-street space measuring not less than 10 feet by 20
feet, whether inside or outside of a structure, for the temporary
standing of automotive vehicles to be used exclusively as a parking
stall for one automotive vehicle. Such space shall be exclusive of
all area necessary to gain access to said parking space including
towing areas, access aisles, fire lanes, and access drives within
the road right-of-way.
The duly constituted Planning Commission of Charleston Township,
Tioga County, Pennsylvania.
A map, plan or layout of a subdivision indicating the location
and boundaries of individual properties.
A roofed over structure projecting from the front, side or
rear wall of a building. For the purpose of this chapter, a porch
is considered a part of the principal building and is not permitted
to extend into any required yards.
Any lot, parcel or tract of land and any building constructed
thereon.
The major dominant use of the lot on which it is located.
A meeting open to the general public held pursuant to proper
public notice.
Notice published once each 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 nor less than 14 days from the date
of the hearing.
Land reserved for use as a road, street, alley, crosswalk,
pedestrian way or other public purpose.
Includes public and semipublic uses of a welfare and educational
nature, such as hospitals, nursing homes, schools, parks, churches,
cemeteries, civic centers, historical restorations, fire stations,
municipal buildings, essential public utilities that require enclosure
within a building; airports; fraternal clubs and homes; and nonprofit
recreational facilities.
A public way which affords principal means of access to abutting
properties.
A lot or parcel or part thereof used primarily for the disposal
of garbage, refuse and other discarded materials, including, but not
limited to, solid and liquid waste materials resulting from industrial,
commercial, agricultural and residential activities. The operation
of a sanitary landfill normally consists of:
Mills intended for the primary processing of timber or saw
logs into lumber and shall exclude any secondary processing of the
lumber thus produced.
A vegetative material of sufficient height and density to
conceal from the view of property owners in adjoining residential
districts the structures and uses on the premises on which the screen
planting is located.
See "gas station."
See "essential service installation."
Any surface, fabric device or structure bearing lettered,
pictorial or sculptured matter intended, designed, or used to convey
information visually and exposed to public view, which directs attention
to an object, product, place, activity, person, institution, organization,
or business. The term "sign" does not apply to a flag, emblem or insignia
of a nation, political unit, school or religious group.
The entire area within a single continuous perimeter enclosing
the extreme limits of such sign. All signs shall be limited to not
more than two faces. All area limitations shall be computed in square
feet. Each face of a double-face sign may equal the maximum size permitted
for the particular type of sign. When individual letters are used
separately on the surface of a building wall, the spaces between said
letters shall be included in computing the area of the sign.
Any man-made object having an ascertainable stationary location
on or in land or water, whether or not affixed to the land.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
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 of land for
agricultural purposes into parcels of more than 10 acres, not involving
any new street or easement of access, shall be exempted.
A tract of land:
The specific purpose for which land or a building is designed,
arranged, intended or for which it is or may be occupied or maintained.
The term "permitted use" or its equivalent shall not be deemed to
include any nonconforming use.
The occupancy of a building or of a lot for more than one
use, such as both a business and a residential use; both an industrial
and a residential use, etc.
The permission granted by the Zoning Hearing Board, following
a public hearing that has been properly advertised as required by
this chapter, for an adjustment to some regulation which if strictly
adhered to would result in an unnecessary hardship, and where the
permission granted would not be contrary to the public interest, and
would maintain the spirit and original intent of the chapter.
An unoccupied space open to the sky, on the same lot with
a building or structure.
YARD, FRONTAn open unoccupied space on the same lot with a main building, extending the full width of the lot and situated between the street right-of-way line and the front line of the building projected to the side lines of the lot. The depth of the front yard shall be measured between the front line of the building and the street right-of-way line. Covered porches whether enclosed or unenclosed, shall be considered as part of the main building and shall not project into a required front yard.
YARD, REARAn open unoccupied space on the same lot with a main building, extending the full width of the lot and situated between the rear line of the lot and the rear line of the building projected to the side lines of the lot and the rear line of the building. A building shall not extend into the required rear yard.
YARD, SIDEAn open unoccupied space on the same lot with the building situated between the building and the side line of the lot and extending from the front yard to the rear yard. Any lot line not a rear line or a front line shall be deemed a side line. A building shall not extend into the required side yards.
The Zoning Hearing Board of Charleston Township as duly constituted
by and established pursuant to this chapter.
The individual authorized by the Township Supervisors of
Charleston to be the administrator of the daily application of the
provisions contained in this chapter.
A statement signed by the Zoning Officer indicating that
the application for permission to construct, alter or add is approved
and in accordance with the requirements of the terms of this chapter.
