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Township of Springfield, PA
Delaware County
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents
F Planned Industrial Districts are designed primarily to make special provision for modern industrial development which is appropriate in selected locations in the Township. In addition, the provisions of the F Planned Industrial Districts are intended to:
A. 
Provide for attractive nonnuisance industrial development in areas designated for such use which are accessible from major roads.
B. 
Encourage industrial development which is compatible with the character of the districts and neighborhoods which adjoin the district.
C. 
Establish buffer, landscaping and other special requirements as set forth herein.
A building may be erected, altered or used and a lot or premises may be used or occupied, subject to Article XIII, for any one of the following uses and no other:
A. 
Permitted principal uses.
(1) 
Business, medical, and professional office or Planned Business Center.
(2) 
Laboratory (scientific or industrial research, testing, experimental), provided that:
(a) 
No processing shall be permitted, except insofar as such processing is incidental to a research, experimental or testing process.
(b) 
There is no commercial production or storage of goods, materials or any other substance for sale, except as may be produced by a small pilot plant or for storage necessary for scientific research.
(3) 
Manufacture of small or novelty products from the following previously prepared and manufactured materials: bones, canvas, cork, feathers, felt, fur, glass, hair, horn, leather and paper.
(4) 
Manufacture of clothing and other textile products, jewelry, optical goods and equipment, watches and clocks and medical, dental, drafting and other professional, scientific or precision instruments.
(5) 
Printing, publishing, bookbinding, engraving, lithographing, reproduction, photofinishing, film processing or similar establishment.
(6) 
Commercial greenhouse, nursery and wholesale florist.
(7) 
Cold storage plants, frozen food plants and lockers and catering plants.
(8) 
Laundry, laundry service, cleaning and dyeing plants.
(9) 
Mail-order merchandise business.
(10) 
General service or contractor's shop, lumber, millwork, carpenter, cabinetmaking, furniture repair, light metal working, electrical, plumbing, roofing or similar shop.
(11) 
Warehouse or storage within a completely enclosed building.
(12) 
Indoor storage building, warehouse, distribution centers and packaging and crating.
(13) 
Municipal use.
(14) 
Public utility use.
B. 
Permitted accessory uses.
(1) 
Accessory use on the same lot with and customarily incidental to any of the above-permitted principal uses.
(2) 
Parking in accordance with § 143-76 herein and with Article XV.
(3) 
Signs in accordance with Article XVI.
(4) 
Public garage accessory to any permitted use.
(5) 
A maximum of three charitable donation bins or containers, provided that such containers are located outside of existing parking spaces, drive aisles, loading areas, and buffer areas or existing landscaped areas.
C. 
Conditional Uses.
(1) 
Any new use proposed in the TND-5 Overlay District and meeting the eligibility criteria in § 143-87B(6) shall be considered a Conditional Use pursuant to Article XIV.
D. 
Uses by special exception.
(1) 
Manufacture of large products from the following previously prepared and manufactured materials: canvas, feather, felt, hair, fur, glass and leather.
(2) 
Manufacture of small paper products (such as stationery, boxes and wallpaper), ceramic products (such as pottery and small tile), small plastic products, small rubber products and wood products.
(3) 
Manufacture of nonalcoholic beverages, cameras and photographic equipment (other than film), hosiery, hats, shoes, textiles and toys.
(4) 
Manufacture, compounding, assembly, processing and distribution of confections, candy, chewing gum and food products, excluding meat and fish and excluding the manufacture, compounding, assembly and processing of alcoholic beverages (but permitting the distribution of beverages), cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, ink, hat bodies, textiles and hosiery.
(5) 
Manufacture, compounding, assembly, processing and distribution of products from the following previously prepared materials: sheet cellophane, polyethylene and similar material, canvas, cloth, rope, cord, twine, glass, china, plastic, feathers, felt, fiber, fur, hair (excluding washing, curling and dyeing), leather, paper, cardboard, ceramics, textiles, wood (excluding chemical treatment or preservation), rubber and synthetic treated fabrics (excluding all rubber and synthetic processing).
(6) 
Light metal processes, including metal finishing, grinding, polishing and heat treatment, metal stamping and extrusion of small products (such as costume jewelry and pins), assembly and manufacture of small electrical appliances, equipment and supplies (such as irons, fans, lighting fixtures, wire, lamps and radio and television receivers) and manufacture of light machinery (such as business machines).
(7) 
Compounding of perfumes and pharmaceutical products.
(8) 
Bottling, warehousing and storage of soft drinks, subject to the following restrictions:
(a) 
The operation shall be conducted within a permanent building.
(b) 
No retail sales shall be made on the premises.
(c) 
Distribution trucks or other vehicles shall be under the supervision and control of the owner of the plant when on the premises.
(d) 
The Zoning Hearing Board shall impose such additional conditions, restrictions and safeguards as may be in the public interest in the event that an application is approved.
(9) 
Combining and processing of food products (excluding meat and fish and the manufacture of basic products from the raw state).
(10) 
Communications towers subject to the standards for communications towers as special exceptions set forth in Article XX, entitled "Zoning Hearing Board," § 143-140C, and communications equipment buildings.
(11) 
Adult entertainment centers, adult theaters, and/or adult bookstores which shall not be located within a four-hundred-foot radius of any other adult entertainment centers, adult theaters, and/or adult bookstores.
(12) 
Tattoo/body piercing establishments.
(13) 
Massage studios.
(14) 
Any use that is considered to be dissimilar to those listed in § 143-73A shall be treated as a special exception.
The maximum height of buildings and other structures attached to buildings erected, enlarged or used shall be 45 feet and three stories, except:
A. 
As provided in Article XVII, § 143-104;
B. 
As provided in Article XIV for applications using the TND Overlay provisions; and
C. 
A public garage shall contain not more than two levels of parking, where each level is a maximum of 15 feet high.
For every building or group of buildings hereafter erected or used for any permitted use, the following regulations shall apply:
A. 
Principal permitted uses.
(1) 
Lot or tract area. Each permitted use or group of buildings or uses permitted on a lot as part of an integrated plan shall have a minimum lot area or tract size of not less than three acres.
(2) 
Lot width at the building line. A lot width at the building line of not less than 200 feet shall be provided.
(3) 
Lot width at the street line. A lot width or frontage of not less than 200 feet shall be provided.
(4) 
Building coverage and impervious surface. Not more than 40% of the lot area shall be occupied by buildings and not more than 75% shall be covered by impervious surfaces.
(5) 
Setbacks. No building shall be located less than 100 feet from the street line or from a side or rear property; provided, however, that if the adjacent property in the Township or a similar district in an adjoining municipality is a residential use or zone, no building or other permanent structure, including off-street loading and unloading facilities, may be erected within 200 feet of an existing dwelling.
A. 
General standards.
(1) 
Each industrial building shall be designed so as to minimize its nonresidential appearance and shall, insofar as practicable, afford minimum external evidence of the nature of the operation conducted therein.
(2) 
The tract of land on which each separate use or group of buildings or uses permitted on a lot as part of an integrated plan is conducted shall be held in single ownership and shall be operated under unified control or management. In the event of multiple ownership, a written agreement between the parties and owners involved shall be submitted to evidence that the development and management will be in accordance with a single plan with common authority and common responsibility.
(3) 
If there are more than two buildings on a lot, the minimum distance between buildings shall be not less than 40 feet.
(4) 
Each use permitted in the district shall be conducted within a completely enclosed building.
(5) 
Each use shall be served by public sewer and water.
(6) 
All utility lines servicing the lot and the permitted buildings and structures shall be placed underground within the lot lines of the property on which the use is located.
(7) 
All mechanical equipment which is not enclosed within a building shall be fully and completely screened from view in a manner compatible with the architectural and landscaping style of the overall tract.
(8) 
The physical design of the development plan shall provide for adequate control of vehicular traffic, make adequate provisions for loading/unloading, off-street parking, trash and recycling areas, public water, public sewer, erosion and sedimentation control, stormwater management, fire protection and other public services and further the amenities of light, air and visual enjoyment.
(9) 
All buildings shall be designed and sited to reflect a sensitivity to existing natural features, to be responsive to solar orientation, wind exposure and energy efficiency and to relate to similar buildings on adjoining tracts in terms of size and scale.
(10) 
All signs, lighting, benches and other structures shall be designed, built and maintained in keeping with the architectural character of the planned industrial district.
(11) 
Public garages shall be designed in accordance with the following:
(a) 
A public garage shall be located behind the plane of the primary facade of any principal building.
(b) 
Any facade of the public garage facing a public street (primary facade) shall be designed with first floor commercial space and liner shops as shown in the Manual of Design Guidelines for the Traditional Neighborhood Development Overlay District.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: Said manual is included at the end of this chapter as Exhibit A.
(c) 
The primary facade of public garage shall have an architectural character consistent with that of the principal buildings on the tract in terms of materials, fenestration and roofline.
(12) 
The storage of product, raw or waste materials exterior to the building shall be prohibited.
(13) 
The display of product exterior to the building shall be prohibited.
(14) 
The retail sales of manufactured or processed product shall be prohibited.
(15) 
Trucks and other vehicles used for the transport of product or raw materials shall be parked or stored to the rear of the lot, premises or building and shall not reduce the availability of required off-street parking spaces need to serve the individual use or overall need of the premises, nor interfere with the vehicular circulation of the lot or premises.
(16) 
Any development or redevelopment proposed in a TND Overlay District shall be in accordance with Article XIV.
B. 
Buffer requirements.
(1) 
Each permitted use shall provide and maintain attractively landscaped grounds and make any other suitable screening provisions which are necessary adequately to safeguard the character of adjacent districts in accordance with Article XVII, § 143-115.
(2) 
Along any property line which directly abuts a residence district in the Township or a similar district in an adjoining municipality, a buffer yard not less than 100 feet in width shall be provided. Thirty feet of such yard space nearest the district or Township boundary line shall be used only as a buffer planting strip on which shall be placed shrubbery, trees or other suitable plantings sufficient to constitute an effective screen and give maximum protection to the abutting district in strict conformance with Article XVII, § 143-116 and in accordance with a landscaping plan approved by the Code Enforcement Officer.
C. 
Vehicular access and traffic considerations.
(1) 
Access barrier. Access to the public highway or street shall be controlled in the interest of public safety. Each building or group of buildings erected in the Planned Industrial District and the parking or service areas shall be physically separated from the highway or street by a curb, planting strip or other suitable barrier against unchanneled ingress or egress of motor vehicles, except for accessways as authorized by Subsection C(2) below.
(2) 
Accessways. Each separate use, grouping of attached buildings or grouping of uses permitted as part of a single integrated project shall have not more than two accessways to any one public highway or street. Neither of such accessways shall be more than 50 feet in width. On major streets, adequate acceleration and deceleration lanes shall be provided. The intent of this provision is to encourage the use of common accessways by two or more permitted highway uses in order to reduce the number and spacing of access points along the highway.
(3) 
Traffic control devices and acceleration and deceleration lanes shall be provided at the expense of the owner.
(4) 
All traffic controls shall be in accordance with Article XVII, § 143-113H.
D. 
Off-street parking and loading.
(1) 
Adequate off-street parking and loading areas shall be provided in accordance with Article XV.
E. 
Signs. All signs shall be in accordance with the applicable requirements of Article XVI.
F. 
Environmental controls. No building may be erected, altered or used and no lot or premises may be used in a special use district which is not in strict conformity with the environmental controls of Article XVII, § 143-113, or which is otherwise noxious or offensive or which constitutes a hazard in the immediately surrounding area. Each permitted use shall provide and utilize such smoke, noise or other control devices as are necessary to assure that the use will not:
(1) 
No building may be erected, altered or used and no lot or premises may be used for any use which is noxious or offensive by reason of odor, dust, vibration, illumination or noise or which constitutes a public hazard, whether by fire, explosion or otherwise, or which is not in strict compliance with Article XVII, § 143-113.
(2) 
All equipment shall provide and utilize such smoke, odor, dust, noise or other control devices as are necessary to assure that the use will not be objectionable as defined below.
(3) 
In determining whether a proposed use is or may become noxious, hazardous or offensive, the proposed use or operation shall comply with the environmental controls of Article XVII, § 143-113 and with any more specific standards of a nationally recognized agency for a particular industry or use as may be subsequently adopted by resolution or ordinance.
(4) 
In the case of an industrial use existing at the effective date of this ordinance, no process shall be more objectionable than a process conducted at such date.
(5) 
The applicant shall demonstrate that:
(a) 
The proposed use will comply with the standards above and all environmental controls in Article XVII, § 143-113.
(b) 
Adequate provisions will be made to reduce and minimize any objectionable elements to the degree necessary to ensure that the proposed use will not be noxious, hazardous or offensive as defined above. In order to determine that adequate safeguards are provided in any case where a use is proposed subject to a special exception, the Zoning Hearing Board may:
[1] 
Require that the applicant submit necessary information, impartial expert judgments and written assurances.
[2] 
Obtain the advice of official agencies or of private consultants.
[3] 
Require that the use comply with such tests or provide such safeguards as may be deemed necessary.
(6) 
Disposal requirements. All trash, garbage, rubbish, recycling and debris of every kind and nature shall be stored within the building in fireproofed rooms and shall be collected and disposed of, as often as may be necessary under the particular circumstances, by private collectors and at no cost to the Township. If dumpster-type containers are used, said containers must be located to the rear or side of a lot, screened from view, and in conformance with the Fire Code.[2] Where multiple uses are permitted, one central disposal area shall be provided for all users in each building.
[2]
Editor's Note: See Ch. 45, Fire Prevention.
G. 
Fencing. A six-foot high opaque fence may be required along rear and/or side property lines which abut any residential or less restrictive zoning district when deemed advisable by the Board of Commissioners.
Approval procedure shall be in accordance with § 143-128.