This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Skippack Township Zoning Ordinance of 2008."
The zoning regulations and districts set forth in this chapter are made in accordance with the community development objectives as stated in the Skippack Township Comprehensive Plan of 2001 and are intended to achieve the following goals:
A. 
To promote, protect and facilitate one or more of the following: the public health, safety, morals, general welfare, coordinated and practical community development, proper density of population, civil defense, disaster evacuation, the provisions of adequate light and air, police protection, vehicle parking and loading space, transportation, water, sewerage, schools, public grounds and other public requirements; as well as
B. 
To prevent one or more of the following: overcrowding of land, blight, danger and congestion in travel and transportation, loss of health, life or property from fire, panic or other disasters; as well as
C. 
To provide standards to foster the amount of open space within the Township; to control the intensity of development in areas of sensitive natural resources or natural features in order to reduce or eliminate adverse environmental impacts; to protect the people's right-to clean air, pure water and the natural, scenic, historic, recreational and aesthetic values of the environment; to protect the soils, waterways, trees and other vegetation; and to protect natural and agricultural resources which are a part of the ecological system to which the residents are all bound and therefore are the common property of all the people, including generations yet to come, and which must be protected to ensure the health, safety and welfare of all the people; and
D. 
To provide standards for various types of dwelling units so that all the people may have access to decent, sound and sanitary housing; and to encourage the most appropriate use of land throughout the Township.
In the interpretation and application of this chapter, the provisions hereof shall be held to be the minimum requirements for the promotion of the public health, safety and general welfare. Where the provisions of this chapter impose greater restrictions than those of any other ordinance or regulation, the provisions of this chapter shall be controlling. Where the provisions of any statute, other ordinance or regulation impose greater restrictions than this chapter, the provisions of such statute, ordinance or regulation shall be controlling.
The following Zoning Districts are hereby created:
RA
Residential/Agricultural District
R1
Residential District
R2
Residential District
R3
Residential District
R4
Residential District
R5
Residential/Mobile Home Park District
VR
Village Residential District
NL
Neighborhood Lotting District
AAR2
Active Adult Residential District
AAR4
Active Adult Residential District
VC
Village Commercial District
GC
General Commercial District
SC
Shopping Center District
LI
Limited Industrial District
CF
Correctional Facility District
PR
Park and Recreation District
UT
Utility Transmission District
The boundaries of each zoning district, except the Floodplain Conservation District and the Wireless Overlay District, shall be as shown on the map that follows Article IV of this chapter, which map shall be known as the "Zoning District Map".[1] The Floodplain Conservation District shall be shown on the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Flood Insurance Rate Map for the Township, dated October 19, 2001, as amended. Article X, § 200-120 of this chapter, shall identify the Wireless Overlay District. Said maps and all notations, references, and data shown thereon are hereby incorporated by reference into this chapter, and shall be as much a part of this chapter as if all were fully described herein.
[1]
Editor's Note: The Zoning District Map is on file in the Township Offices and may be examined there during regular office hours.
Where uncertainty exists with respect to the boundaries of the zoning district as indicated on the Zoning District Map, except in the case of the Potential Floodplain Areas Map, the following rules shall apply:
A. 
Where district boundaries are indicated as approximately coinciding with the center lines of streets, highways, railroad rights-of-way, or streams, said district boundaries shall be established at the center lines.
B. 
Where district boundaries are so indicated that they approximately coincide with lot lines, such lot lines shall be construed to be said boundaries or where district boundaries are extensions of lot lines or connect the intersections of lot lines, such lines shall be said district boundaries.
C. 
Where district boundaries are so indicated that they are approximately parallel to center lines of streets or highways, such district boundaries shall be construed as being parallel thereto and at such distance therefrom as indicated on the Zoning District Map.
D. 
Where district boundaries divide a lot, the location of such boundaries shall be determined by the use of the scale shown on the Zoning District Map unless dimensions indicate the boundaries.
Wherever federal, state or county owned property is included in one or more zoning districts, it shall be subject to the provisions of this chapter only insofar as is permitted by the Constitution and Laws of the United States of America and of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. In the case of municipally owned property, the provisions of this chapter shall not apply.