The Professional and Business Office District
is to provide appropriate locations primarily for office and related
uses. The regulations which apply within the district are designed
to encourage the formation and continuance of a quiet, compatible
and uncongested environment for business and professional offices
intermingled harmoniously with residences and certain limited service
uses. Specifically, it is the intent of the district to:
A. Discourage any
encroachment by unrestricted commercial or industrial establishments
or other uses which might adversely affect the specialized office,
service and residential character of the district.
B. Encourage the
conversion of existing dwellings to office use in order to encourage
the preservation of sound residential structures, which maintains
the visual character and architectural scale of existing development.
C. Attract professional
office and service uses which do not generate large volumes of traffic
and continuous customer turnover.
D. Encourage the
orderly, well-planned development of professional and business offices
and limited service establishments within the district when a proliferation
of unrestricted commercial usage would be undesirable.
[Amended 9-17-1990 by Ord. No. 301]
In the PBO Professional and Business Office
District, a building or group of buildings may be erected, altered
or used and a lot may be used or occupied for any of the following
uses and no other:
A. Professional
offices for doctors, dentists, chiropractors or any other licensed
practitioner of the healing arts for humans and lawyers, engineers,
architects, urban planners, accountants, economic consultants and
business and management consultants.
B. Business offices
providing credit services, security and commodity brokerage, real
estate sale, employment counseling, insurance sales, advertising and
mailing and stenographic services.
C. Single-family and two-family dwellings, in accordance with the requirements of the R-3 Residence District with respect to area and height regulations as set forth in §
300-203E.
D. Mixed-use structures containing any combination of permitted uses as set forth in Subsections
A through
C, provided that in a mixed-use structure used in part for residential purposes, a maximum of three dwelling units shall be permitted.
E. Accessory uses
on the same lot with and customarily incidental to any of the above-permitted
uses.
F. No-impact home-based businesses in accordance with the standards set forth in §
300-26 herein.
[Added 3-15-2004 by Ord. No. 436]
[Added 6-1-1998 by Ord. No. 372]
The following special exception uses shall be
permitted:
A. As a special exception only, communications antennas, in accordance with the provisions of §
300-25, mounted on an existing public utility transmission tower, existing building or other existing structure, and communications equipment buildings only upon a showing, in addition to any other that may be required under this chapter, that denial of such a special exception would have the effect of prohibiting the provision of personal wireless service. Communications towers are not permitted.
The following regulations shall apply in the
Professional and Business Office District:
A. Lot area. A minimum of 40,000 square feet shall be provided for every principal building erected or used for any use permitted in this district. In addition, a lot width of not less than 150 feet at the right-of-way shall be provided. Conversion of an existing structure to any use permitted according to §
300-415 on a lot smaller than 40,000 square feet may be permitted as a special exception by the Zoning Hearing Board, provided that all required parking can be properly located on the same lot or on an adjacent lot to which access is legally guaranteed, that all additions to principal buildings be located at least 20 feet from all property lines and that all parking be located at least 15 feet from all property lines. The structural appearance of any building to be converted, in terms of roofing, siding, entryways and porches, windows and other exterior features visible from the public way, shall not be altered other than to repair or replace the original material or style of the building. The Zoning Hearing Board may, to encourage conversion of an existing viable building, permit a bonus of not more than 10% impervious coverage above that permitted in Subsection
B herein. In allowing any conversion, the Zoning Hearing Board shall attach any reasonable standards it deems appropriate to ensure that said use(s) are developed in a manner consistent with other uses in the district and are compatible with said uses.
B. Building coverage.
Not more than 25% of the area may be covered by buildings, and total
impervious coverage shall not exceed 70%.
C. Yard requirements.
(1) Front yard.
There shall be a front yard on each lot which shall be not less than
50 feet in depth from the street line.
(2) Side yards.
On each interior lot there shall be two side yards having an aggregate
width of not less than 60 feet, neither side yard having a width of
less than 20 feet.
(3) Rear yard.
There shall be a rear yard on each lot, the depth of which shall not
be less than 40 feet, except that an accessory-use structure may be
erected within the rear yard not closer to any property line than
15 feet.
D. Height. The
maximum height of buildings or structures hereinafter erected or enlarged
in a Professional and Business Office District shall be 35 feet, not
to exceed three stories, exclusive of basements. For any building
or structure accessory to a building used for office and/or residential
purposes, the maximum height shall be 15 feet.
E. Maximum building
dimension. The greatest dimension of a structure measured parallel
to exterior building walls shall be 125 feet. For circular or partially
circular buildings, the diameter or assumed diameter shall not exceed
150 feet.
In the event of new construction on a vacant
lot or where a dwelling has been removed, the design of the structure
shall be consistent with the predominant character of buildings within
the district.
The number of parking spaces shall be in accordance with Article
XXXII of this chapter.
A. For double-parking
bays, 15% of the area of each parking space may be maintained in grass,
provided that the grass is separated from the paved area by a suitable
wheel stop or bumper.
B. For parking areas of more than 20 cars, a minimum of 10% of the parking area shall be devoted to interior parking lot landscaping, exclusive of any other landscaping or buffering requirements and exclusive of the grass area permitted under Subsection
A herein. The landscaping required individual landscaped area shall contain less than 200 square feet; the minimum horizontal dimension of any such area shall be 10 feet.
C. The owners of
two or more adjacent lots may elect to share common parking facilities
according to the following requirements:
(1) An application
to do so shall be filed jointly by all affected lot owners with the
Zoning Officer, accompanied by a plan showing the location of all
proposed parking, parking reserve areas and accessways as well as
all buildings which shall use the common parking area.
(2) The aggregate
number of parking spaces required for all uses which will share the
common parking area may be reduced up to a maximum of 25% if the applicant
can demonstrate to the Zoning Officer's satisfaction that a greater
efficiency is effected by joint use of a common parking area or that
other circumstances warrant such reduction (i.e., complementary operating
hours of the uses which will be sharing the parking area). Regardless
of the number of spaces actually developed, a parking area to accommodate
the aggregate number of parking spaces normally required shall be
fully designed, and the area which is proposed to be eliminated shall
be shown as "Parking Reserve Area." Such area shall be required to
be developed as designed, if and when the Zoning Officer determines
the need. All reserve areas not utilized for parking shall be landscaped
according to an approved plan.
(3) For purposes of determining the number and location of accessways pursuant to §
300-420 below, the entire area devoted to common parking shall be considered as one parking lot.
(4) Some portion
of the common parking area shall be within 200 feet of an entrance,
regularly used by patrons, into each use served by the common parking
area.
(5) An application
to permit shared common parking shall be contingent upon each lot
owner obtaining any necessary access easements and rights-of-way.
The following regulations shall pertain to access
for all lots to be developed in the PBO District and shall also govern
on lots to be redeveloped in this district to the maximum extent feasible:
A. Accessways leading onto a public street shall be built to the dimensional requirements specified in §
270-49 of Chapter
270, Subdivision and Land Development.
B. The spacing of access drives should be 200 feet apart on center, but if lesser spacing is necessary and adequate justification is made for more than one access point, then compliance with §
270-49A(8) of Chapter
270, Subdivision and Land Development, should be demonstrated.
[Amended 8-1-2011 by Ord. No. 517]
Along a side or rear property line which is adjacent to a residential or institutional district, the owner shall place and maintain a Buffer Type 2 as described in §
270-68D(5) of Chapter
270, Subdivision and Land Development.