A.
B.
The intent
is to carefully control the creation of new lots and the arrangement
of traffic access through conditional use approval of a planned commercial
development. Once such framework is established, the intent is to
then permit most individual commercial uses as permitted-by-right
uses within such approved development.
This is defined as a development approved as a conditional use under the standards of § 275-83 or as a lot that exists and includes a minimum of 40,000 square feet of gross indoor retail floor area.
Only the following are permitted-by-right uses in the PC District, provided that the requirements for specific uses in Article XX are met:
A.
B.
The following uses are permitted by right either within
an approved planned commercial development or on lots of record that
existed and had a lot area of less than eight acres prior to this
chapter being adopted:
(2)
Swimming pool, public or semiprivate.
(4)
Township-owned use.
(5)
Publicly owned recreation.
(7)
Crop farming.
(10)
U.S. Postal Service facility.[8]
[8]
Editor's Note: Former §§ 202,
Approval of Engineer required; specifications; 203, Street construction
specifications; 204, Concrete curb specifications; 205, Sidewalk specification;
206, Permits and 207, Driveways, which immediately followed this subsection,
were repealed 4-7-2008 by Ord. No. 03-08.
Only the following uses are permitted by special exception in the PC District, provided that the requirements for specific uses in Article XX are met:
Only the following uses are permitted conditional uses in the PC District, provided that the requirements for specific uses in Article XX and this article are met:
The following lot and setback regulations shall apply to uses in the PC District, unless a more restrictive requirement is stated in Article XX (for a particular use) or elsewhere in this chapter.
A.
Minimum lot area: 43,560 square feet.
B.
Maximum lot coverage: 40% for buildings, 70% for total
impervious coverage. A minimum of 30% of the lot area shall be covered
with landscaping and an all-season ground cover.
C.
Minimum lot width: 150 feet, except 300 feet at the
existing right-of-way line of any arterial street for any lot from
which a use or uses will have a driveway or access drive entering
onto.
D.
Minimum lot depth: 100 feet.
E.
Minimum front yard setback: 60 feet from the future
street right-of-way line.
G.
Minimum side yard, minimum rear yard, maximum height,
shared parking and driveways. The same standards as are listed for
the GC District apply, except that a minimum building setback of 150
feet shall be required from an existing dwelling or residential district
boundary, whichever is more restrictive.
B.
Staged construction. If development is to occur in
progressive stages, each stage shall be planned and occur so that
the purposes and requirements of this chapter are fully complied with
at the completion of each stage.
C.
Lot regulations. Any lot proposed to be created presently
or in the future within a planned commercial development shall be
capable of complying with the lot and setback regulations of this
district.
E.
Traffic access.
(2)
Traffic improvements. Based upon a traffic study, the applicant may be required to fund or place sufficient funds in escrow for traffic improvements (such as a traffic signal) that will eventually be needed to serve the development. See § 275-20.
(3)
Right-of-way dedications. Based upon a traffic study,
an applicant may be required to dedicate sufficient land for needed
widening of arterial or connector streets. Also, an applicant may
be required by the Board of Commissioners, if recommended by the Planning
Commission, to dedicate sufficient land for needed realignments of
intersections that abut the tract.
(4)
Coordinated access. Any planned commercial development
shall make the absolute maximum use possible of interior streets and/other
access interior to the tract, as opposed to numerous driveways entering
onto an arterial street.
(5)
Alternative street access.
(a)
This Subsection E(5) is intended to be carried out as part of the conditional use approval process for a planned commercial development, in coordination with the PennDOT highway occupancy permit process, and after considering any comments provided by PennDOT, the Planning Commission and the Township Engineer and after considering any traffic study submitted and the Comprehensive Plan, as amended, and any public input received at meetings.
(b)
The Board of Commissioners may require that
traffic access occur from one street, and not another, or from both
streets. The applicant shall prove that all proposed access points
are the most logical and reasonable considering impacts upon abutting
streets and in full consideration of impacts on nearby homes.
(c)
The Board of Commissioners may require that
no new direct traffic access that would involve left-hand turns onto
and off of an arterial street, except at an intersection where a traffic
signal exists or has been funded in escrow, if reasonable access could
be provided using another street deemed adequate by the Board of Commissioners.
(d)
The Board of Commissioners may require that
deed restrictions, enforceable by the Township, be placed on each
affected lot within a planned commercial development to ensure that
each future use fully complies with the overall approved system of
vehicle access.
(e)
Certain additional access point(s) may be appropriately
designed and approved to only serve emergency vehicles.
G.
Loading docks. An applicant shall prove to the satisfaction
of the Township that loading docks routinely serving three or more
tractor-trailer trucks have been located within reason to seek to
minimize their visibility from dwellings, public streets and existing
and planned expressways. No new loading dock routinely served by tractor-trailer
trucks shall be located within 75 feet of the existing right-of-way
of a public street.
