The D Residential Apartment District is designed to make special provisions for apartment development. The district is also designed to permit other uses related to apartments and to establish regulations to maintain or improve the character of the district.
A building may be erected, altered or used and a lot or premises may be used or occupied, subject to the provisions of Article XIII, for any one of the following uses and no other:
A. 
Permitted principal uses.
(1) 
Any use permitted in the A Residence District in accordance with Article IV.
(2) 
Apartment house or unified apartment development, subject to the special requirements of § 143-30.
(3) 
Public transit station, exclusive of any transit vehicle storage, garage or service areas.
B. 
Permitted accessory uses.
(1) 
Any permitted accessory use in the A Residence District in accordance with Article IV.
(2) 
Accessory use on the same lot with and customarily incidental to any of the above-permitted uses and not detrimental to a residential neighborhood.
(3) 
Parking in accordance with Article XV and Article IV, § 143-14B(2).
(4) 
Signs in accordance with Article XVI.
(5) 
No impact Home-based business, as detailed in § 143-9, Terms defined, provided the following eight requirements are satisfied.
(a) 
The business activity shall be compatible with the residential use of the property.
(b) 
The business shall employ no employees other than family members residing in the dwelling.
(c) 
There shall be no display or sale of retail goods and no stockpiling of inventory.
(d) 
There shall be no outside appearance of a business.
(e) 
The business or activity may not use any equipment or process which creates noise, vibration, glare, fumes, odors or electronic interference, including interference with radio or television reception.
(f) 
The business activity may not generate any solid waste or sewage discharge which is not normally associated with residential use.
(g) 
The business activity conducted may not occupy more than 25% of the floor area.
(h) 
The business activity may not involve any illegal activity.
(6) 
Communications antennas, when mounted on one of the following existing locations: public utility transmission tower; public or municipal structure; public or municipal building; other building or structure. Proposed locations shall be considered in the order listed. After all viable options for that alternative have been exhausted, the next location may be considered. The applicant shall not propose one of the latter locations if a preceding alternative is available within a 1/2 mile radius of the proposed location. Equipment buildings associated with communications antennas shall be permitted as a Conditional Use and shall be a maximum of 250 square feet.
(7) 
Public transit station parking area for commuters and employees, provided that such parking area shall not exceed 50,000 square feet nor be created, maintained or otherwise established by any transit company unless in conjunction with an existing or planned station, and provided further that such parking area is entirely within 500 feet of said station and such parking area and its approaches are surfaced in a manner satisfactory to the Code Enforcement Officer. It shall be the duty of any transit company desiring to create, establish or alter any such parking area to present to the Code Enforcement Officer detailed specifications of the surfacing materials to be used and plans showing the size of the proposed parking area, its distance from the station and the location of the proposed means of ingress and/or egress, and no permit shall be issued until the Code Enforcement Officer has determined that the proposed parking area is in complete conformity with the terms of this ordinance, the Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance and the Stormwater Management Ordinance.
C. 
Uses by special exception.
(1) 
Educational use and religious use as more fully set forth in § 143-14C(1).
D. 
Any uses proposed in a TND Overlay District shall be in accordance with Article XIV.
The maximum height of dwellings and other structures erected, enlarged or used shall be 35 feet and two stories, except as provided in Article XVII, §§ 143-104 and 143-111, or when proposed in a TND Overlay District, shall be in accordance with Article XIV.
A. 
Single-family detached dwellings. Every building hereafter erected or used as a single-family detached dwelling shall comply with the area and bulk regulations as prescribed for the A Residence District as set forth in § 143-16.
B. 
Apartments. Every building hereafter erected or used as an apartment house shall comply with the following regulations:
(1) 
Tract size. A minimum tract size of five acres shall be provided.
(2) 
Tract frontage. Each tract shall have a frontage of not less than 200 feet.
(3) 
Gross density. The gross density for apartment development shall not exceed 10 dwelling units per acre.
(4) 
Building coverage. Not more than 25% of the total area of the tract shall be occupied by buildings.
(5) 
Impervious surface. Not more than 50% of the total area of the tract shall be covered by impervious surfaces.
(6) 
Setbacks. There shall be a setback of 50 feet from every property boundary of the tract.
C. 
Uses by special exception. The area and bulk regulations for uses by special exception shall be established after analyzing the particular use which is proposed. In determining such regulations, the following shall be considered:
(1) 
The nature of the use and related activities conducted therewith, in particular, the space needs or requirements of such uses and activities.
(2) 
The area and bulk regulations set forth in this ordinance for uses which are similar to those proposed, but in no case less than those set forth above.
(3) 
Recognized space standards published in the professional planning and design literature for architects, engineers and allied professionals for educational or religious structures and uses.
(4) 
The area required for off-street parking.
A. 
General.
(1) 
The proposed apartment house or apartment development shall be designed so as to provide a desirable and harmonious addition to the general environment of the area, and each group of apartment buildings permitted on a single lot shall constitute a single architectural project or unit.
(2) 
Each apartment building or group of apartment buildings permitted on a tract shall be designed and operated as a single management and maintenance unit, with common yards, open spaces, parking or buildings.
(3) 
An apartment house shall not contain more than six dwelling units and shall not exceed 150 feet in length.
(4) 
Condominium development, or where apartments are converted into condominiums, shall be owned and operated under the Pennsylvania Unit Property Act of July 1963, or as amended.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: See now the Uniform Condominium Act, 68 Pa.C.S.A. § 3101 et seq.
(5) 
The minimum distance between adjacent buildings shall be 70 feet.
(6) 
No less than 50% of the area of a tract shall be landscaped and unpaved.
B. 
Special buffer planting requirements. Along each side and rear property line, a buffer planting strip of not less than 15 feet in width shall be provided on which shall be placed shrubbery, trees or other suitable plantings sufficient to constitute an effective screen and give maximum protection to the abutting properties, in accordance with Article XVII, § 143-116.
C. 
Vehicular access and traffic considerations.
(1) 
Each development involving two or more apartment buildings shall have not more than two accessways to any one public highway or street, and in no case shall an individual apartment house have more than one such accessway. Where feasible, interior access shall be provided via a minor street and not a major highway or street. The intent of this provision is to encourage the use of common accessways in order to reduce the number and closeness of access points along the highway and to discourage vehicular access from or to buildings directly off a major highway or street.
(2) 
No accessway shall be more than 30 feet in width, nor be located closer than 100 feet from the intersection of any other accessway.
(3) 
The proposed development and its access facilities shall be designed so as to minimize traffic congestion. In determining the suitability of a proposed accessway and other traffic facilities, factors to be considered are those such as existing and contemplated traffic volumes; the location and number of access points in the vicinity; the relationship of proposed accessways or adjacent uses and sight distance; and the conformity to the highway design and construction regulations and other related requirements of the Township.
D. 
Off-street parking and loading. All parking, access and service areas shall comply with the provisions of Article XV.
E. 
Public utility requirements. Each permitted use shall be served by public sewer and water, and all utility lines servicing an apartment development shall be placed underground within the lot lines of the property on which the use is located.
F. 
Environmental controls. All development shall conform to the environmental control regulations of Article XVII, § 143-113.
G. 
Fencing. A six-foot-high opaque fence may be required along rear and/or side property lines which abut an A, B or C Residence District, when deemed advisable by the Board of Commissioners.
H. 
Any development or redevelopment proposed in a TND Overlay District shall be in accordance with Article XIV.