A.
Unless the context otherwise requires, the following definitions
shall be used in the interpretation and construction of this chapter.
B.
Words used in the present tense include the future; the singular
number shall include the plural, and the plural, the singular; the
word "building" shall include the word "structure"; the word "used"
shall include arranged, designed, constructed, altered, converted,
rented, leased or intended to be used; the word "shall" is mandatory
and not optional; the word "abut" shall include the words "directly
across from."
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
A use or structure subordinate to the principal use of a
building on the same lot and serving a purpose customarily incidental
to the use of the principal building.
Any person who can show written proof that he has authority
to act for the property owner.
A public thoroughfare which affords only a secondary means
of access to abutting property.
An open area, other than a street, used for the display,
sale or rental of new or used motor vehicles or trailers in operable
condition and where no repair work is done.
A building or place of business where gasoline, oil and grease,
batteries, tires and automobile accessories are supplied and dispensed
directly to the motor vehicles trade at retail, and where the following
services may be rendered:
Sale and servicing of spark plugs and batteries.
Tire repair and servicing; no recapping.
Replacement of mufflers and tail pipes, water hose, fan belts,
brake and transmission fluids, light bulbs, floor mats, seat covers
(where this shall not be the principal use), windshield wipers, grease
retainers and wheel bearings.
Radiator cleaning and flushing.
Washing and polishing, not including mechanical and/or automatic
car wash establishments.
Greasing and lubrication.
Installation of fuel pumps and fuel lines.
Minor servicing and replacement of carburetors.
Emergency wiring repairs.
Adjustment and installation of brakes.
Tuning engines, except for grinding valves, cleaning carbon
or removing the head of engines and/or crankcases.
Any similar minor service or repair not listed below under "major
repairs."
MAJOR REPAIRSIn addition to those repairs and services listed above as "minor repairs," any general repair, rebuilding or reconditioning not listed above; collision service including body, frame or fender straightening or repair; painting or paint shops; mechanical car wash establishments; but not including any operations which require the heating or burning of rubber.
Bakeries which are first permitted in the M District only,
including such baking establishments which manufacture quantities
of goods for retail elsewhere than on the premises.
A floor level partly or completely below grade. It shall
be considered a story if more than 33 1/3% of the perimeter walls
of a basement are five feet or more above grade.
A use which allows the conversion of an existing residential-type
dwelling into a number of living units that can be temporarily rented
to guests by the proprietor and which allows for the provision of
breakfast as a part of the rental fee.
[Added 1-7-1991 by Ord. No. 4-1991]
A use which allows the conversion of an existing owner-occupied
residential dwelling to provide a maximum of three additional living
units that can be temporarily rented to guests by the owner/occupant
and which allows for the provision of breakfast as a part of the rental
fee.
[Added 1-7-1991 by Ord. No. 4-1991]
Any structure having a roof supported by columns or walls,
used or intended to be used for the shelter or enclosure of persons,
animals or property. When such a structure is divided into separate
parts by one or more unpierced walls extending from the ground up,
each part is deemed a separate "building," except as regards minimum
side yard requirements.
Any building, such as a store group, which is divided into
separate parts by one or more unpierced walls extending from the ground
up.
The vertical distance measured from the mean level of the
ground surrounding the building to a point midway between the highest
and lowest point of the roof but not including chimneys, spires, towers,
elevator penthouses, tanks and similar projections.
A building in which is conducted the principal use of the
building site on which it is situated. In any residential district,
any dwelling shall be deemed to be a "principal building" on the zone
lot on which the same is located.
Any vehicle other than a private passenger vehicle, including
trucks, trailers and construction equipment.
Any open, unoccupied area which is bounded by three or more
attached building walls.
Any portion of the territory of the municipality within which
certain uniform regulations and requirements or various combinations
thereof apply under the provisions of this chapter.
Any building or portion thereof designed or used exclusively
as the residence or sleeping place of one or more persons, except
a mobile home and as otherwise provided herein.
A group of rental units, generally under single ownership
(but a condominium is not precluded), where there shall not be more
than eight dwelling units contained within each structure; such structures
containing garden apartment units are generally less than four stories
in height, although in the municipality they shall not exceed a height
of two and 2.5 stories or 35 feet.
A structure containing three or more dwelling units, including
but not limited to garden apartments, condominiums and townhouses.
A detached building, designated for or occupied exclusively
by one family and containing not more than one dwelling unit.
Any structure which shall contain one or more dwelling units,
not including a hotel, hospital, nursing home, dormitory, fraternity
or sorority house, rooming house, boardinghouse or other group housing
accommodations. Such other group housing accommodations include but
are not limited to those where each adult occupant is charged, directly
or indirectly, a specific single or recurrent separate rental, occupancy
fee or monetary assessment predetermined in amount by the owner, or
tenant leasing from the owner, the nonpayment of which permits such
owner or tenant to evict the occupant.
[Amended 2-5-2018 by Ord.
No. 2018-1]
Includes a group of not more than eight single-family attached
dwellings separated from each other by common walls, where each unit
contains a separate and private entrance to the outside.
A detached or semidetached building where not more than two
individual family or dwelling units are entirely separated by vertical
walls or horizontal floors, unpierced except for access to the outside
or to a common cellar.
One or more rooms, including a kitchen or kitchenette, and
sanitary facilities in a dwelling structure, designed as a unit for
occupancy by not more than one family for living and sleeping purposes.
The erection, construction, alteration or maintenance by
public utilities or municipal or other governmental agencies of underground
or overhead gas, electrical, steam or water transmission or distribution
systems, including poles, wires, mains, drains, sewers, pipes, conduits,
cables, fire alarm boxes, police call boxes, traffic light signals,
hydrants and other similar equipment and accessories in connection
therewith, reasonably necessary for the furnishing of adequate service
by such public utilities or municipal or other governmental agencies
or for the public health or safety or general welfare, but not including
buildings.
An individual or two or more persons related by blood or
marriage or a group of not more than three persons who are not related
by blood or marriage, living together as a single housekeeping unit
in a dwelling unit.
[Amended 3-2-2020 by Ord.
No. 2020-1]
For the purposes of applying the requirements for off-street
parking and loading, in the case of offices, merchandising or service-type
uses, the gross floor area used or intended to be used by tenants
or for service to the public as customers, patrons, clients or patients,
including areas occupied by fixtures and equipment used for display
or sales of merchandise. It shall not include areas used principally
for nonpublic purposes such as storage, incidental repair, processing
or packaging of merchandise for shop windows, for offices incident
to the management or maintenance of stores or buildings, for toilet
or rest rooms, for utilities or for dressing rooms or fitting or alteration
rooms.
A detached accessory building or a portion of a principal
building used only for the storage of automobiles by the families
resident upon the premises, provided that such garage shall not be
used for storage of more than one commercial vehicle per family and
such vehicle shall not exceed a one-ton rated capacity.
A structure or portion thereof, other than a private garage,
used for the storage, sale, hire, care, repair or refinishing of automobiles,
not including a structure or part thereof used only for storage or
display of automobiles for other than transients.
The Borough Council of the Borough of Towanda.
A building designed for occupancy as the temporary residence
of individuals who are lodged with or without meals and in which no
provision is made for cooking in individual rooms or suites.
An area of land, with or without buildings, used for the
storage outside a completely enclosed building of used and discarded
materials, including but not limited to wastepaper, rags, metal, building
materials, house furnishings, machinery, vehicles or parts thereof,
with or without the dismantling, processing, salvage, sale or other
use or disposition of the same. The deposit or storage on a lot of
two or more unlicensed and wrecked or disabled vehicles or a major
part thereof shall be deemed to be a "junkyard."
The keeping of four or more dogs or like animals that are
more than six months old.
[Added 6-6-1988 by Ord. No. 88-4]
RESIDENTIALA "large-scale residential development" shall be planned for a site of not less than three acres.
COMMERCIALA "large-scale commercial development" shall be planned for a site of not less than five acres.
MANUFACTUREDA "large-scale manufacturing development" shall be planned for a site of not less than 10 acres.
A highway designed in such a manner so as to provide no direct
access to properties abutting its right-of-way and including all highways
designated as "limited access highways" as adopted by the Planning
Commission.
An enclosure which specifically contains a sleeping area
designed for a temporary guest, which area does not provide separate
kitchen facilities for use by the occupant.
[Added 1-7-1991 by Ord. No. 4-1991]
A piece or parcel of land occupied or intended to be occupied
by a principal building or a group of such buildings and accessory
buildings or utilized for a principal use and uses accessory or incidental
to the operation thereof, together with such open spaces as required
by this chapter, and having frontage on a public street.
LOT CORNERA lot abutting upon two or more streets at their intersection or upon two parts of the same street, such streets or parts of the same street forming an interior angle of less than 135°. The point of intersection of the street lot lines is the "corner."
LOT, DEPTHThe mean horizontal distance between the front and the rear lot lines.
LOT LINESThe property lines bounding the lot.
LOT LINE, FRONTThe ultimate right-of-way line of the street or road.
LOT LINE, REARThe lot line opposite and most distant from the front lot line.
LOT LINE, SIDEAny lot line other than a front or rear lot line. A "side lot line" separating a lot from a street is called a "side street lot line."
LOT LINE, STREET OR ALLEYA lot line separating the lot from a street or alley.
LOT WIDTHThe mean width of the lot measured at right angles to its depth. Such a line along which this minimum lot frontage shall be measured at a point which shall coincide with the building setback or front yard line.
LOT AREAThe computed area contained within the lot lines and the ultimate right-of-way line. The area within the right-of-way shall not be computed as part of the "lot area."
A transportable, single-family dwelling intended for permanent
occupancy, office or place of assembly contained in one unit or in
two 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. The unit shall be considered as real property
if it is placed on a permanent foundation.
A parcel of land under single ownership which has been planned and improved for the placement of mobile homes for nontransient use, consisting of two or more mobile home lots. Provisions regulating mobile home parks are set forth in § 325-50 hereof.
A series of attached or semiattached dwelling structures,
where each unit has convenient access to parking space for the use
of the units' occupants. The units, with the exception of the manager's
office or caretaker's unit, are designed to provide sleeping accommodations
for automobile transients or overnight guests.
The Borough of Towanda.
The total acreage, excluding any area within a public right-of-way.
The net land area of any development parcel shall include
only the area contained within the property line and the ultimate
right-of-way line. The area within the right-of-way (public right-of-way
or other thoroughfare) shall not be computed as part of the "net land
area."
Any zone lot in single ownership, where the owner of said
lot does not own any adjoining property, the subdivision of which
could create one or more conforming lots, which does not conform with
the minimum area and/or dimensions required in the district where
such lot is situated or for any special use, as the case may be.
A structure or part of a structure manifestly not designed
to comply with the applicable use provisions in the Zoning Ordinance
or amendments heretofore or hereafter enacted, where such structure
lawfully existed prior to the enactment of such ordinance or amendments
or prior to the application of such ordinance or amendments to its
location by reasons of annexation. Such nonconforming structures include
but are not limited to nonconforming signs.
A use, whether of land or of structure, which does not comply
with the applicable use provisions in the Zoning Ordinance or amendments
heretofore or hereafter enacted, where such use was lawfully in existence
prior to the enactment of such ordinance or amendments or prior to
the application of such ordinance or amendments to its location by
reason of annexation.
Any premises with less than 40 sleeping rooms where persons
are lodged and furnished with meals and nursing care.
An open area for the same uses as a private garage and regulated
as a private garage.
An open area, other than a street or other public way, used
for the parking of automobiles and available to the public whether
for a fee, free or as an accommodation for clients or customers.
The Planning Commission of the Borough of Towanda.
The office of a member of a recognized profession. When conducted
in a residential district, a professional office shall be incidental
to the residential occupancy, shall be conducted by a member of the
residential family entirely within a residential building and shall
include only the offices of doctors or physicians, dentists, optometrists,
ministers, architects, landscape architects, professional engineers,
lawyers, artists, authors, musicians and such other similar professional
occupations which may be so designated by the Zoning Hearing Board
upon finding by the Board that such occupation is truly professional
in character by virtue of the need for similar training and experience
as a condition for the practice thereof and that the practice of such
occupation shall in no way adversely affect the safe and comfortable
enjoyment of property rights in any zone to a greater extent than
for the professional activities listed herein. The issuance of a state
or local license for regulation of any gainful occupation need not
be deemed indicative of professional standing.
RECREATION, COMMERCIALRecreation facilities operated as a business and open to the general public for a fee.
RECREATION, PRIVATE, NONCOMMERCIALClubs or recreation facilities, operated by a nonprofit organization and open only to bona fide members of such organization.
RECREATION, PUBLICRecreation facilities operated as a nonprofit enterprise by the municipality and other governmental entities or any nonprofit organization and open to the general public.
A street, between two intersecting streets, upon which an
R District abuts, or where 50% or more of the abutting street frontage
is in predominantly residential use.
A building containing a single dwelling unit and rooms for
the rooming and/or boarding of at least three persons but not more
than 25 persons by prearrangement for a definite period of not less
than one week.
A seasonal dwelling shall be any detached dwelling not designed
for year-round use by virtue of the absence of central heating and
similar facilities.
A line established by the Subdivision Regulations and/or
Zoning Ordinance generally parallel with and measured from the lot
line, defining the limits of a yard in which no building or structure
may be located above ground, except as may be provided in said codes.
A name, identification, description, display or illustration
which is affixed to or painted or represented directly or indirectly
upon a building, structure or piece of land and which directs attention
to an object, product, place, activity, person, institution, organization
or business. However, a "sign" shall not include any display of official
court or public office notices nor any official traffic control device,
nor shall it include the flag, emblem or insignia of a nation, state,
county, municipality, school or a religious group. A "sign" shall
not include a "sign" located completely within an enclosed building,
except for signs within show windows. Each display surface of a "sign"
shall be considered to be a "sign."
[Amended 11-2-2009 by Ord. No. 2009-2]
A sign which directs attention to a business or profession
conducted or to a commodity, service or entertainment sold or offered
upon the premises where such sign is located or to which it is affixed.
Any illuminated sign on which the artificial light is not
maintained stationary or constant in intensity and color at all times
when such sign is in use. For the purpose of this chapter, any revolving,
illuminated sign shall be considered a "flashing sign."
The entire area within a single continuous perimeter enclosing
the extreme limits of such and in no case passing through or between
any adjacent elements of same. However, such perimeter shall not include
any structural or framing elements lying outside the limits of such
sign and not forming an integral part of the display.
An outdoor sign or billboard which directs attention to a
business, profession, commodity or entertainment conducted, sold or
offered elsewhere than upon the same lot. Under the provisions of
this chapter, "outdoor advertising signs" can be erected on the premises
in any of the nonresidential districts.
Any household whose members are an interactive group of persons
jointly occupying a dwelling unit, including joint access to and use
of all common areas, including living, kitchen, and eating areas within
the dwelling unit, and sharing household activities and responsibilities
such as meals, chores, expenses and maintenance, and whose makeup
is determined by the members of the unit rather than by the landlord,
property manager, or other third party. This does not include a boardinghouse
or rooming house.
[Added 2-5-2018 by Ord.
No. 2018-1]
A use which because of its unique characteristics requires individual consideration in each case by the Planning Commission and the Zoning Hearing Board as specified in Article IX before it may be permitted in the districts enumerated in Article III, §§ 325-12 through 325-19 and the Zoning Schedule.[1] In accordance with the provisions of this chapter, the
Planning Commission and the Zoning Hearing Board may require certain
conditions and safeguards before such a use is permitted.
That portion of a building included between the surface of
any floor and the surface of the floor next above it, or, if there
be no floor above it, then the space between the floor and the ceiling
above it.
STORY, HALFA partial story under gable, hip or gambrel roof, the wall plates of which on at least two opposite exterior walls are not more than four feet above the floor of such story; provided, however, that any partial story shall not be used for residential purposes, other than for a janitor or caretaker or his family.
STORY, FIRSTThe lowest story or the ground story of any building the floor of which is not more than 12 inches below the average contact ground level at the exterior walls of the building.
A public or private thoroughfare not less than 30 feet in
width if in existence prior to the passage of this chapter nor less
than 50 feet in width if established subsequent to the passage of
this chapter which affords the principal means of access to abutting
property, including avenues, places, ways, drives, lanes, boulevards,
highways, roads and any other thoroughfares except an alley.
SIDE STREETAny street, the length of which shall be not more than 50% of the length of the largest street line of the municipality's blocks of which it is part.
PRIMARY STREETSStreets traversing through the municipality and used primarily for through or heavy traffic.
SECONDARY AND COLLECTOR STREETSStreets carrying traffic from minor streets to the major system of primary streets, including principal entrance streets of a residential development and streets for major circulation within such developments.
MINOR STREETSStreets used primarily for access to the abutting properties.
Any change in the structural members of a building, such
as walls, beams, columns or girders.
Anything constructed or erected, the use of which requires
location on the ground or attachment to something having a fixed location
on the ground. Among other things, "structure" includes buildings,
mobile homes, walls, fences and billboards.
Not more than seven consecutive days.
[Added 1-7-1991 by Ord. No. 4-1991]
The full width of the road designated by the governing body
to be the minimum required width of any public right-of-way.
The Zoning Hearing Board may authorize departure to a minor
degree from the terms of this chapter in direct regard to hardship
peculiar to an individual lot in accordance with the procedures set
forth in this chapter.
An open space, as may be required by this chapter, of uniform
width or depth on the same lot with a building or a group of buildings,
which open space lies between the principal building or group of buildings
and the nearest lot line and is unoccupied and unobstructed from the
ground upward, except as herein permitted.
YARD, FRONTAn open space extending the full width of the lot, between the front of the building and the ultimate right-of-way line, unoccupied and unobstructed from the ground upward, except as specified elsewhere in this chapter.
YARD, REARAn open space extending the full width of the lot, between a building and the rear lot line, unoccupied and unobstructed from the ground upward, except as specified elsewhere in this chapter.
YARD, SIDEAn open space extending from the front yard to the rear yard, between a building and the nearest side lot line, unoccupied and unobstructed from the ground upward except as specified elsewhere in this chapter.
The Zoning Hearing Board of the Borough of Towanda.
The Zoning Map or Maps of the Borough of Towanda, Pennsylvania,
dated April 1970, revised June 1987 and September 1987, together with
all amendments subsequently adopted.
The administrative officer, appointed by the Borough Council,
who shall administer and enforce the provisions of this chapter.
[1]
Editor's Note: The Zoning Schedule appears at the end of this
chapter.
