Township of Lower Allen, PA Article II Terminology

§ 220-6 Definitions; word usage.

A. Word usage.

(1) The following words are defined in order to facilitate the interpretation of the chapter for administrative purposes and in the carrying out of duties by appropriate officers and by the Zoning Hearing Board.

(2) Words used in the present tense include the future tense.

(3) The singular includes the plural.

(4) The word "person" includes a natural person, corporation, partnership, limited-liability company, business trust, other association, government entity, estate, trust or foundation.

(5) The word "lot" includes the words "plot," "tract" or "parcel."

(6) The term "shall" is always mandatory.

(7) The word "used" or "occupied" as applied to any land or building shall be construed to include the words "intended, arranged or designed to be used or occupied."

B. Wherever a reference document is cited with a publication date, the phrase "as amended" is assumed to follow the date.

C. Unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the following words shall, for the purpose of this chapter, have the meanings herein indicated. Such definitions shall take precedence of other definitions contained within other Township codes and ordinances.

ABANDONMENT

The relinquishment of property or a cessation of the use of the property by the owner with the intention neither of transferring rights to the property to another owner nor of resuming the use of the property.

ACCESS DRIVE

A private drive providing pedestrian and/or vehicular access and point of dropoff between a public or private street and a parking area within a land development, and any driveway servicing two or more units of occupancy on a single lot or contiguous lots.

ACCESSORY STRUCTURE

A structure subordinate to and detached from the principal building on the same lot and used for purposes customarily incidental to the principal structure. Such structures shall also include utility sheds and bath houses.

ACCESSORY USE

A use customarily incidental and subordinate to the principal use of the main building or land and located on the same lot with such principal use or main building.

ACREAGE, NET

That land area remaining upon the exclusion of any portions of a tract located within existing and proposed rights-of-way (excluding utility rights-of-way), environmentally sensitive areas (e.g., wetlands, floodplains or slopes) in excess of 25%, those areas designated for nonresidential uses, including but not limited to limited neighborhood commercial areas and common open space.

ACT

The Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, Act 247, as amended.[1]

ADULT BUSINESS

As defined within Chapter 59, Sexually Oriented Businesses, of the Code of the Township of Lower Allen.

[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I)]

AGRICULTURAL USE

The use of land for the growing and/or production of field crops, livestock and livestock products for the production of income, including but not limited to the following:

(1) Field crops, including barley, soybeans, corn, hay, oats, potatoes, rye, sorghum and sunflowers.

(2) Livestock, including dairy and beef cattle, goats, horses, sheep, hogs, poultry, game birds and other animals, excluding dogs.

(3) Livestock products, including milk, butter, cheese, eggs, meat, fur and honey.

AGRICULTURAL USES, INTENSIVE (AGRIBUSINESS)

Includes, but is not necessarily limited to:

(1) Slaughter areas.

(2) Areas for the storage or processing of manure, garbage or spent mushroom compost.

(3) Structures housing more than 50 animal units.

(4) Confined livestock operations or concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO). Federal regulations define a CAFO as an animal feeding operation that:

(a) Confines more than 1,000 animal units (AU); or

(b) Confines between 301 and 1,000 AU and discharges pollutants into waters of the United States through a man-made ditch, flushing system or similar man-made device, or directly into waters of the United States that originate outside of and pass over, across or through the facility or otherwise come into direct contact with the animals confined in the operation. Animal quantities equivalent to 1,000 AU are 1,000 slaughter and feeder cattle; 700 mature dairy cattle; 2,500 swine each weighing more than 55 pounds; 30,000 laying hens or broilers (if a facility uses a liquid manure system); and 100,000 laying hens or broilers (if a facility uses continuous overflow watering).

AGRICULTURAL USES, NONINTENSIVE

Any agricultural use that is other than intensive agricultural use, as defined, but may include retail sale of agricultural products as an accessory use.

AGRICULTURE

The production, keeping or maintenance, for sale, lease or personal use, of plants and animals useful to man, including but not limited to forages and sod crops; grains and seed crops; dairy animals and dairy products and poultry and poultry products; livestock, including beef cattle, sheep, swine, horses, ponies, mules or goats or any mutations or hybrids thereof, including the breeding and grazing of any or all of such animals; bees and apiary products; fur animals; trees and forest products; fruits of all kinds, including grapes, nuts and berries; vegetables; nursery, floral, ornamental and greenhouse products; or lands devoted to a soil conservation or forestry management program.

AIRPORT

Any area of land or water which is used or intended to be used for the landing and takeoff of aircraft, and any appurtenant areas which are used or intended to be used for airport buildings or air navigation facilities or rights-of-way, together with all airport buildings and facilities thereon.

ALLEY

A public thoroughfare, other than a minor street, which affords only a secondary means of access to abutting property and is not intended for general traffic circulation.

ALTERATION

As applied to a building or structure, any change or rearrangement in the structural parts or in the existing facilities, or an enlargement, whether by extending on a side or by increasing in height, or the moving from one location or position to another.

(1) STRUCTURAL Any change in the supporting members of a building, such as bearing walls, columns, beams or girders.

ALTERNATIVE TOWER STRUCTURE

Man-made trees, clock towers, tall steeples, light poles and similar alternative design mounting structures that camouflage or conceal the presence of antennas on towers.

AMENDMENT

A change, which includes revisions to the zoning text and/or the Official Zoning Map, and the authority for any amendment lies solely with the Board of Commissioners.

ANIMAL HOSPITAL

A building used for the treatment, housing or boarding of small domestic animals, such as dogs, cats, rabbits and birds or fowl, by a veterinarian.

ANTENNA

Any system of wires, rods, discs, panels, flat panels, dishes, whips, or other similar devices used for the transmission or reception of wireless signals. An antenna may include an omnidirectional antenna (rod), directional antenna (panel), parabolic antenna (disc) or any other wireless antenna. An antenna shall not include tower-based wireless communications facilities, defined below. An antenna shall not include private-residence-mounted satellite dishes or television antennas or amateur radio equipment, including, without limitation, ham or citizen band radio antennas.

[Amended 10-24-2016 by Ord. No. 2016-04; 12-27-2021 by Ord. No. 2021-05]

ANTENNA HEIGHT

The vertical distance measured from the base of the antenna support structure at grade to the highest point of the structure. If the support structure is on a sloped grade, then the average between the highest and lowest grades shall be used in calculating the antenna height.[2]

ANTENNA, SATELLITE DISH

A parabolic or dish-shaped antenna, or any other apparatus or device that is designed for the purpose of receiving electromagnetic or other types of signals.

APARTMENT

A dwelling unit within a multiple dwelling. This classification includes apartments in apartment houses, bachelor apartments, studio apartments and kitchenette apartments. Accessory apartments and conversion apartments, as defined herein, shall not be included in the classification.

(1) ACCESSORY An independent dwelling unit incorporated within an existing single-family detached dwelling without any substantial external modification.

(2) CONVERSION An existing dwelling unit that is or was converted to a dwelling for more than one family without substantially altering the exterior of the building.

(3) EFFICIENCY OR STUDIO A single unit providing complete independent living facilities for one or more persons, including permanent provisions for living, sleeping, eating, cooking and sanitation, but not including separate room(s) for sleeping.

(4) GARDEN A three-story multifamily dwelling, containing one-story dwelling units, having a common means of access.

APARTMENT HOUSE

See "dwelling, multifamily."

APPLICANT

A landowner or developer, as hereinafter defined, who has filed an application, including his heirs, successors and assigns.

APPLICATION FOR DEVELOPMENT

Every application, whether preliminary, tentative or final, required to be filed and approved prior to the start of construction or development, including but not limited to an application for approval of a subdivision plat or plan or for the approval of a development plan.

APPOINTING AUTHORITY

The Lower Allen Township Board of Commissioners, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania.

AREA

(1) BUILDING See "building area."

(2) GROSS LAND The gross land area of any development parcel or parcels, including the area contained within the property line and the ultimate right-of-way line. The area within the right-of-way is computed as part of the gross land area.

(3) LOT The area contained within the property lines of a lot or as shown on a subdivision plan, excluding space within any street, but including the area of any easement.

(4) NET The net land area of any development parcel, including only the area contained within the property line and the ultimate right-of-way line. The area within the right-of-way (public or private) is not computed as part of the net land area.

BASEMENT

That portion of a building that is partially or wholly below ground level. This portion is not a completed structure and serves as a substructure or foundation for a building. A basement shall be counted as a story for the purpose of height measurement if the vertical distance between the ceiling and the average level of the adjoining ground is more than five feet.

BED-AND-BREAKFAST ESTABLISHMENT

A home occupation providing, for compensation, sleeping accommodations and breakfast for transient guests (see also "home occupation"). Bed-and-breakfast establishments as a principal use shall be defined as a boarding home.

BILLBOARD

A sign displaying changeable advertising copy which pertains to a business, organization, event, person, place, service or product not principally located or sold on the premises upon which said sign is located, and shall include public service messages, political campaign advertisements and other noncommercial speech.

BLOCK

An area of land bounded by streets.

BOARD

The Lower Allen Township Zoning Hearing Board.

BOARDING HOME

A building arranged or used for the lodging, with or without meals, of either transient or permanent residents for compensation. This definition includes rooming houses, lodging houses and bed-and-breakfast establishments operated as a principal use.

BUFFER YARD

See "yard, buffer."

BUILDING

Any structure having a roof supported by columns or walls and intended for the shelter, housing or enclosure of persons, animals or chattels, including covered porches, decks and patios, whether enclosed or unenclosed, storage/utility sheds.

(1) DETACHED A building surrounded by open space on the same lot.

(2) PRINCIPAL A building or, where the context so indicates, a group of buildings in which is conducted the principal use of the lot on which such building is located.

BUILDING AREA

The total of the areas taken on a horizontal plane at the main grade level of the principal building and all accessory buildings, exclusive of uncovered porches, terraces and steps.

BUILDING ENVELOPE

That portion of a lot located within the minimum prescribed front, rear and side yard setbacks and/or required distances between structures.

BUILDING HEIGHT

The vertical distance measured from the average elevation of the proposed finished grade at the front of the building to the highest point of the roof for flat roofs, to the deckline of mansard roofs and to the mean height between the eaves and ridge for gable, hip and gambrel roofs.

BUILDING LINE

A line formed by the intersection of a horizontal plane and a vertical plane that coincides with the exterior surface of a building or structure on any side. In the case of a cantilevered or projected section of a building, except overhanging eaves, gutters and cornices, the vertical plane will coincide with the most projected surface.

BUILDING OR STRUCTURE SETBACK LINE

A line within a lot which is equidistant from a lot line and which represents the minimum separation distance between the property line and the building line as determined by the yard requirements of this chapter.

BUILDING PERMIT

Written permission issued by the proper municipal authority for construction activity regulated by the Pennsylvania UCC, as amended by Chapter 70, Building Construction and Safety Standards, of the Township Code.

BUILDING SUPPLY ESTABLISHMENT

A commercial establishment storing or offering for sale building supplies, home improvement materials and similar goods.

CAMPGROUND

A parcel of land used by campers for seasonal, recreational or other similar temporary living purposes, in buildings of a movable, temporary or seasonal nature, such as cabins, tents or shelters.

CARPORT

A covered space, open on at least three sides, for the storage of one or more vehicles and accessory to a principal or accessory building.

CARTWAY

That portion of a street or alley which is improved, designed or intended for vehicular use.

CELLAR

A story partly underground and having more than half of its clear height below the average level of the adjoining ground. A cellar shall not be considered in determining the maximum number of stories.

CEMETERY

Land used or intended to be used for the burial of the deceased, including a columbarium and mausoleum when operated in conjunction with the cemetery and within its boundaries.

CENTRAL PUBLIC SPACE

An area in the core neighborhood of a TND development that includes either public recreation land, common open space, or a combination of both.

CHURCH

A building or structure or groups of buildings or structures which by design and construction are primarily intended for the conducting of organized religious services and accessory uses.

CLEAR SIGHT TRIANGLE

An area of unobstructed vision at street or driveway intersections. It is defined by lines of sight, measured at a driver eye height of 3.5 feet, between points at a given distance from the intersection of the streets' center lines.

CLUB and/or LODGE

A building and/or structure utilized as a private club offering food and/or drink privileges.

CLUSTER

A development design technique that concentrates buildings on a part of a site to allow the remaining land to be used for recreation, common open space and preservation of environmentally sensitive areas.

CO-LOCATION

The mounting of one or more WCFs, including antennas, on a preexisting structure, or modifying a structure for the purpose of mounting or installing a WCF on that structure.

[Added 10-24-2016 by Ord. No. 2016-04; amended 12-27-2021 by Ord. No. 2021-05]

COMMERCIALLY REASONABLE

Terms and pricing that are reasonably consistent with similar wireless facility leases and agreements within a fifty-mile radius of the Township.

[Added 12-27-2021 by Ord. No. 2021-05]

COMMERCIAL MOBILE SERVICE

Any mobile service (as defined in Section 153 of the Federal Communications Act of 1934, as amended[3]) that is provided for profit and makes interconnected service available to the public or to such classes of eligible users as to be effectively available to a substantial portion of the public. It includes but is not limited to personal communications services (PCS), cellular radiotelephone service and paging.

COMMERCIAL, REGIONAL

A use containing a wide range of retail and service establishments, having one or more anchor stores, which draws its clientele from a forty-five-mile driving radius.

COMMON CARRIER

Any person engaged as a common carrier for hire, in interstate or foreign communications by wire or radio or in interstate or foreign radio transmission of energy, but a person engaged in radio broadcasting shall not, insofar as such person is so engaged, be deemed a common carrier.

COMMON ELEMENTS

Land amenities, parts of buildings, central services and utilities and any other elements and facilities owned and used by all unit owners and designated as common elements. These elements may include, but are not limited to:

(1) The land on which the building is located and portions of the building which are not included in a unit;

(2) The foundation, structural parts, supports, main walls, roofs, basements, halls, corridors, lobbies, stairways, entrances and exits of the building;

(3) The yards, parking area and driveways;

(4) Portions of the land and building used exclusively for the management, operation or maintenance of the common elements;

(5) Installations of all central services and utilities;

(6) All other elements of the building necessary or convenient to its existence, management, operation, maintenance and safety or normally in common use; and

(7) Such other facilities as are designated as common elements.

COMMON OPEN SPACE

See "open space, common."

COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION

A homeowners' association organized to own, maintain and operate common facilities and to enhance and protect their common interests.

CONDITIONAL USE

A use permitted, and approved by the Board of Commissioners, in a particular zoning district upon demonstration by an applicant that such use in a specified location will comply with all the conditions and standards for the location or operation of the use as specified in this chapter.

CONDOMINIUM

Real estate, portions of which are designated for separate ownership and the remainder of which is designated for common ownership solely by the owners of those portions. Real estate is not a condominium unless the undivided interests in the common elements are vested in the unit owners.

CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION

The community association which administers and maintains the common property and common elements of a condominium.

CONFERENCE CENTER

A facility that is constructed for and devoted to meetings and meeting space.

CONSERVATION AREAS

Environmentally sensitive and valuable lands protected from any activity that would significantly alter their ecological integrity, balance or character, except in cases of overriding public interest. Such areas include wetlands, floodplains, steep-sloped lands and heavily wooded areas.

CONSTRUCTION

The construction, reconstruction, renovation, repair, extension, expansion, alteration or relocation of a structure, including the placement of manufactured (mobile) homes.

CONTINUING CARE RETIREMENT COMMUNITY

A series of improvements on a parcel of land used to provide housing, boarding and health care for persons of retirement status, extending from independent living to skilled nursing accommodations, whether by rental or contract for services, including, but not limited to, facilities for the following specific uses:

(1) Apartment residences.

(2) Room residences.

(3) Attached and detached single-family dwellings.

(4) Health care housing.

(5) Accessory use facilities designed primarily for the use of residents, employees and guests:

(a) Dining facilities, including kitchens and food storage.

(b) Health care provider offices and treatment facilities.

(c) Fitness facilities, including but not limited to swimming pools, spas, saunas, gymnasiums, exercise equipment rooms and supporting facilities.

(d) Stores for retail sale of goods and services for the convenience of residents, including but not limited to banking, pharmacy, dry cleaning, laundry, food stuffs, sundries, reading materials, gifts, beauty salons and barbershops.

(e) Religious worship facilities.

(f) Auditoriums and other group meeting facilities.

(g) Outdoor exercise trails and athletic facilities for residents' use.

(h) Library and computer facilities.

(6) Administrative offices and conference rooms.

(7) Continuing care retirement community (CCRC) support facilities as accessory uses:

(a) Property maintenance facilities such as garages, trade shops, material storage, repair equipment, landscaping equipment.

(b) Laundry facilities.

(c) Trash storage facilities.

CONVENIENCE STORE

Any retail establishment offering for sale prepackaged food products, household items, energy products and other goods commonly associated with the same and having a gross floor area of less than 5,000 square feet.

CORE NEIGHBORHOOD

The area in a traditional neighborhood development (TND) that has been designated as such on the TND Overall Master Plan, and that contains a mix of residential, commercial and public uses in accordance with Article XVI, Traditional Neighborhood Development (TND) Overlay District, of this chapter.

COUNTRY CLUB

See "golf course."

COUNTY

The County of Cumberland, Pennsylvania.

COURT

An unoccupied open space, other than a yard, on the same lot with a building, which is bounded on two or more sides by the walls of such building.

(1) INNER A court enclosed on all sides by exterior walls of a building or by exterior walls and lot lines on which walls are allowable and which does not extend to a street, alley, yard or other outer court.

(2) OUTER A court enclosed on not more than three sides by exterior walls and lot lines on which walls are allowable, with one side or end open to a street, driveway, alley or yard.

COVERAGE, IMPERVIOUS

That portion or percentage of the lot area covered by all impervious materials.

CREMATORIUM

A facility utilized for cremation purposes.

CROSSWALK

A right-of-way, publicly or privately owned, intended to furnish access of pedestrians.

CULVERT

A structure with appurtenant works which carries a stream or drainage water underground or through an embankment or fill.

CURB

A stone or concrete boundary usually marking the edge of the roadway or paved area.

CURB CUT

The opening along the curbline at which point vehicles and/or pedestrians may enter or leave the roadway.

CUT

An excavation; the difference between a point on the original ground and a designated point of lower elevation of the final grade; also, the material removed in excavation.

DAY CARE FACILITIES, CHILD/ADULT

(1) DAY CARE FACILITY A facility not in a private residence, enrolling four or more children or adults in need of supervised day care and where tuition, fees or other forms of compensation for care are charged. Such facility shall employ licensed personnel and shall be licensed by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

(2) FAMILY DAY CARE FACILITY A residence offering babysitting services and day care services for four to six children or adults unrelated to the resident household and meeting all applicable licensing/registration requirements of the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare.

(3) GROUP DAY CARE FACILITY A residence offering babysitting services and day care services for seven to 11 children or adults unrelated to the resident household and meeting all applicable licensing/registration requirements of the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare.

DECISION

The final adjudication of the Zoning Hearing Board.

DECK

A flat, floored, roofless area adjoining a dwelling unit.

DENSITY

A term used to express the allowable number of dwelling units per acre of land.

(1) NET DENSITY The number of dwelling units per net acre.

(2) GROSS DENSITY The number of dwelling units per gross acre.

DEVELOPER

Any landowner who makes or causes to be made a subdivision of land or a land development.

DEVELOPMENT

Any man-made change to improved or unimproved real estate, including but not limited to buildings or other structures, storage of equipment and materials, filling, grading, paving, excavation, mining, dredging or drilling operations and the subdivision of land.

(1) CONVENTIONAL Development other than open space or planned residential development.

(2) LOW-IMPACT (LID) A stormwater management approach with a basic principle that is modeled after nature: manage rainfall at the source using uniformly distributed decentralized microscale controls. LID's goal is to mimic a site's predevelopment hydrology by using design techniques that infiltrate, filter, store, evaporate, and detain runoff close to its source. Techniques are based on the premise that stormwater management should not be seen as stormwater disposal. Instead of conveying and managing stormwater in end-of-pipe facilities located at the bottom of drainage areas, LID addresses stormwater through smaller landscape features located at the lot level.

(3) PLANNED RESIDENTIAL An area of land controlled by a landowner to be developed as a single entity for a number of dwelling units or combination of residential and nonresidential uses, the development plan for which does not correspond in lot size, bulk, type of dwelling or use, density, or intensity, lot coverage and required open space to the regulations established in any one district created from time to time under the provisions of this chapter.

DEVELOPMENT PLAN

The provisions for development, including a planned residential development, a plat of subdivision, all covenants relating to use, location and bulk of buildings and other structures, intensity of use or density of development, streets, ways and parking facilities, common open space and public facilities. The phrase "provisions of the development plan," when used in this chapter, shall mean the written and graphic materials referred to in this definition.

DISPLAY AREA, OUTDOOR

An outdoor area of a tract utilized for purposes of displaying articles for sale as part of a retail establishment, such as the display of nursery stock, vehicular sales and farm equipment sales. Display areas shall not include outdoor storage as defined herein.

DISTRIBUTED ANTENNA SYSTEMS (DAS)

Network of spatially separated antenna sites connected to a common source that provides wireless service within a geographic area or structure.

[Added 10-24-2016 by Ord. No. 2016-04]

DISTRIBUTION CENTER

An establishment engaged in the receipt, storage and distribution of goods, products, cargo and materials.

DRAINAGE

(1) Surface water runoff; and/or

(2) The removal of surface water or groundwater from land by drains, grading or other means which include runoff controls to minimize erosion and sedimentation during and after construction of development, the means for preserving the water supply and the prevention or alleviation of flooding.

DRAINAGE FACILITY

Any ditch, gutter, culvert, storm sewer or other structure designed, intended or constructed for the purpose of diverting surface waters from or carrying surface waters off streets, public rights-of-way, parks, recreational areas or any part of any subdivision or contiguous land areas.

DRAINAGE SYSTEM

Pipes, swales, natural features and man-made improvements designed to carry drainage.

DRIVE-THROUGH EATING ESTABLISHMENT

An eating establishment where patrons may place orders and/or be served in their automobiles.

DRIVE-THROUGH SERVICE FACILITY

An establishment which, by design, physical facilities or service or by packaging procedures, encourages or permits customers to receive services, obtain goods or be entertained while remaining in their motor vehicles.

DRIVEWAY

A private roadway providing access for vehicles to a residential parking space, garage, dwelling or other structure.

DRIVEWAY, SHARED

A private driveway servicing two residential units of occupancy and designed to the standards of this chapter.

DUMP

A lot or land or part thereof used primarily for disposal by abandonment, dumping, burial or other means and for whatever purpose of garbage, sewage, trash, refuse, junk, discarded machinery, vehicles or parts thereof or waste material of any kind.

DWELLING

A building or structure designed for living quarters for one or more families, including industrialized housing and manufactured (mobile) homes which are supported either by a foundation or are otherwise permanently attached to the land, but not including hotels, boardinghouses or rooming houses or other accommodations used for transient occupancy. This definition of "dwelling" shall also include permanently attached model homes intended for residential purposes upon the completion of the development.

(1) ACCESSORY A second dwelling unit either in or added to an existing single-family detached dwelling, or in an accessory structure on the same lot as the primary dwelling, for use as a complete, independent living facility with provision within the accessory dwelling for cooking, eating, sanitation and sleeping. Such a dwelling is an accessory use to the main dwelling.

(2) AGE-RESTRICTED A dwelling authorized under the federal Fair Housing Act, as amended by the Housing for Older Persons Act of 1995,[4] which requires that the dwellings be limited to those intended for, and solely occupied by persons 55 years of age or older.

(3) INDUSTRIALIZED HOUSING Any structure designed primarily for residential occupancy, except a manufactured (mobile) home, which is wholly or in substantial part made, fabricated, formed or assembled in manufacturing facilities for installation or assembly and installation on the building site in such a manner that all concealed parts or processes of manufacture cannot be inspected at the site without disassembly, damage or destruction.

(4) MANUFACTURED (MOBILE) HOME A transportable, single-family detached dwelling intended for permanent occupancy, contained in one unit or in two or more 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 which is constructed so that it may be used without a permanent foundation. For Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) floodplain management purposes, this definition includes park trailers, travel trailers and other similar vehicles located on site for greater than 180 consecutive days.

(5) MULTIFAMILY A building used by three or more families living independently of each other and doing their own cooking, including apartment houses.

(6) SINGLE-FAMILY ATTACHED (TOWNHOUSE) A dwelling containing at least three but not more than six dwelling units attached side by side by the use of a common wall, with end units having a side yard or front yard for corner lots.

(7) SINGLE-FAMILY DETACHED A building used by one family, having only one dwelling unit and two side yards or, for corner lots, a side yard and a front yard, and shall include family care facilities.

(8) TWO-FAMILY ATTACHED A building used by two families, with one dwelling unit arranged over the other and having two side yard, or, for corner lots, a side yard and a front yard.

(9) TWO-FAMILY OR TWIN SIDE-BY-SIDE A building used by two families, with one dwelling unit arranged next to the other, and each unit having one side yard or front yard for corner lots.

(10) ZERO LOT LINE A single-family detached dwelling with the building positioned on a lot in such a manner that one or more of the building's sides rest directly on a lot line.

DWELLING GROUP

A group of two or more single-family, two-family or multifamily dwellings occupying a lot in one ownership.

DWELLING UNIT

A single unit providing complete independent living facilities for one or more persons, including permanent provisions for living, sleeping, eating, cooking and sanitation.

EASEMENT

A grant of one or more property rights by the property owner to and/or for the use by the public, a corporation or another person or entity.

EATING ESTABLISHMENT

Any form of restaurant and/or tavern open to the public, dispensing food and drink.

(1) FAST-FOOD An establishment that serves prepared food generally packaged in wrappers and/or disposable containers. Such food can be consumed either on- or off-site.

(2) FREESTANDING An eating establishment which wholly occupies a given building.

ELECTRIC SUBSTATION

An assemblage of equipment, for purposes other than generation or utilization, through which bulk electric energy is passed for the purpose of switching or modifying its characteristics to meet the needs of the general public. This definition includes transformer substations.

ELECTRIC TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION FACILITIES

Electric public utilities transmission and distribution facilities, including substations.

EMERGENCY

A condition that:

[Added 10-24-2016 by Ord. No. 2016-04]

(1) Constitutes a clear and immediate danger to the health, welfare, or safety of the public; or

(2) Has caused or is likely to cause facilities in the rights-of-way to be unusable and result in loss of the services provided.

ENGINEERING LAND SURVEYS

(1) Surveys for the development of any tract of land, including the incidental design of related improvements, such as line and grade extension of roads, sewers and grading, but not requiring independent engineering judgment; provided, however, that tract perimeter surveys shall be the function of the professional land surveyor.

(2) Surveys for the determination of the configuration or contour of the earth's surface or the position of fixed objects thereon or related thereto by means of measuring lines and angles and applying the principals of mathematics, photogrammetry or other measurement methods.

(3) Geodetic or cadastral surveys, underground survey and hydrographic survey.

(4) Sedimentation and erosion control surveys.

(5) Surveys for the determination of the quantities of materials.

(6) Tests for water percolation in soils.

(7) Surveys for the preparation of plans and specifications and estimates of proposed work as described herein.

ENGINEER, MUNICIPAL (TOWNSHIP)

A registered professional engineer in Pennsylvania, designated by the Township to perform the duties of Engineer as herein specified.

ENGINEER, PROFESSIONAL

An individual licensed and registered under the laws of the commonwealth to engage in the practice of engineering. A professional engineer may not practice land surveying unless licensed as set forth in P.L. 534, No. 230;[5] however, a professional engineer may perform engineering land surveys.

ENGINEERING SPECIFICATIONS

The Engineering Specifications of Lower Allen Township regulating the installation of any required improvements or for any facility installed by any owner, subject to public use.

ENVIRONMENTALLY SENSITIVE AREA

An area with one or more of the following environmental characteristics:

(1) Steep slopes over 25%.

(2) Floodplain (floodway and flood fringe).

(3) Soils classified as highly erodible, subject to erosion or of calcareous material as identified within the Soil Survey of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania.

(4) Wetlands and hydric soils.

(5) Mature woodlands.

EROSION

The detachment and movement of soil or rock fragments, or the wearing away of the land surface by water, wind, ice and gravity.

EXCAVATION

Any act by which earth, sand, gravel, rock or any other similar material is dug into, cut, quarried, uncovered, removed, displaced, relocated or bulldozed. It shall also include the conditions resulting therefrom.

EXCHANGE ACCESS

The offering of access to telephone exchange services or facilities for the purpose of the originator or terminator of telephone toll services.

EXISTING CONDITIONS

Land use present at the time a drainage/stormwater management plan is submitted. However, a more impervious existing condition can be used if the developer can document that a more impervious condition was present at the time the Township adopted this chapter. For computation purposes, "meadow" or "good woods/forest" shall be used for existing pervious conditions. For existing areas consisting of a combination of pervious and impervious cover, either a composite of "meadow," "good woods/forest" and "impervious/parking" shall be used or the various precomputed composite covers for developed areas shall be used.

FAMILY

A group of individuals not necessarily related by blood, marriage, adoption or guardianship, living together in a dwelling unit as a single housekeeping unit under a common housekeeping management plan based on an intentionally structured relationship providing organization and stability.

FAMILY CARE FACILITY

A facility providing shelter, counseling and other rehabilitative services in a family-like environment for four to six residents, plus such minimum supervisory personnel as may be required to meet standards of the licensing agency. Residents may not be legally related to the facility operators or supervisors and, by reason of mental or physical disability, chemical or alcohol dependency or family or school adjustment problems, require a minimal level of supervision but do not require medical or nursing care or general supervision. A family care facility must be licensed and/or approved by the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare and may include uses such as foster homes, community residential alternative facilities or home individual programs. A family care facility shall be considered a single-family detached dwelling and be permitted as such.

FARM

A tract of land of at least 10 acres in size which is principally used for agricultural uses, such as the production of cash crops or livestock or poultry farming. Such farms may include a farm dwelling and accessory uses, buildings and structures.

FARM-RELATED OCCUPATION

A business accessory to and operated on a farm in accordance with provisions as set forth herein.

FCC

Federal Communications Commission.

[Added 10-24-2016 by Ord. No. 2016-04]

FENCE

An artificially constructed barrier of any material or combination of materials erected to enclose, screen or separate areas.

FILL

Any act by which earth, sand, gravel, rock or any other material is placed, pushed, dumped, transported or moved to a new location above the natural surface of the ground or on top of the stripped surface and shall include the conditions resulting therefrom; the difference in elevation between a point on the original ground and a designated point of higher elevation on the final grade; or the material used to make a fill.

FINANCIAL ESTABLISHMENT

Establishments such as banks and savings and loans, credit agencies, investment companies, brokers and dealers of securities and commodities, security and commodity exchanges, insurance agents, lessors, lessees, buyers, sellers, agents and developers of real estate.

FITNESS CENTER

An establishment that provides facilities for aerobic exercises, running and jogging, exercise equipment, game courts, swimming facilities and saunas, showers, massage rooms and lockers.

FLOOD

A temporary inundation of normally dry land areas.

FLOOD, BASE (100-YEAR FLOOD)

A flood volume likely to occur once every 100 years (i.e., that has a 1% chance of occurring each year, although the flood may occur in any year).

FLOOD ELEVATION, REGULATORY

The 100-year-flood elevation plus a freeboard safety factor of 1 1/2 feet.

FLOOD FRINGE

That portion of the floodplain outside the floodway.

FLOODPLAIN

(1) A relatively flat or low land area adjoining a river, stream or watercourse, which is subject to partial or complete inundation; or

(2) An area subject to the unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff of surface waters from any surface.

FLOODPLAIN ENCROACHMENT

Any activity that occurs within a designated floodplain.

FLOODPROOFING

Any combination of structural and nonstructural additions, changes or adjustments to proposed or existing structures which reduce or eliminate flood damage to real estate or improved real property, water and sanitary facilities, structures and their contents.

FLOODWAY

The designated area of a floodplain required to carry and discharge floodwaters of a given magnitude. For the purposes of this chapter, the floodway shall be capable of accommodating a flood of the 100-year magnitude without increasing the water surface elevation more than one foot at any point.

FLOOR AREA

(1) GROSS (GFA) The sum of the gross horizontal areas of the floors of a building or structure and its accessory buildings on the same lot, excluding cellar and basement floor areas not used as primary living and sleeping quarters, but including the area of roofed porches and roofed terraces. All dimensions shall be measured between exterior faces of walls.

(2) HABITABLE The aggregate of the horizontal areas of all rooms used for habitation, such as living room, dining room, kitchen and bedroom, but not including hallways, stairways, cellars, attics, service rooms or utility rooms, bathroom, closets nor unheated areas such as enclosed porches nor rooms without at least one window or skylight opening onto an outside yard or court. At least half of the floor area of every habitable room shall have a ceiling height of not less than seven feet, and the floor area of that part of any room where the ceiling height is less than five feet shall not be considered as part of the habitable floor area.

(3) NET RETAIL All that space relegated to use by the customer and the retail employee to consummate retail sales, including display areas used to indicate the variety of goods available for the customer, but not to include office space, storage space and other general administrative areas.

FLOOR ELEVATION, LOWEST

The lowest floor of the lowest fully enclosed area (including basement). An unfinished, flood-resistant partially enclosed area, used solely for vehicle parking, building access and incidental storage, in an area other than a basement area is not considered the lowest floor of a building, provided that such space is not designed or built so that the structure is in violation of the applicable nonelevation requirements of this chapter.

FOOD PROCESSING ESTABLISHMENT

An establishment in which food is processed or otherwise prepared for eventual human consumption but not consumed on the premises.

FOREST

An area containing mature woodlands, woodlands and/or young woodlands.

FORESTRY

The management of forests and timberland, when practiced in accordance with accepted silvicultural principles, through developing, cultivating, harvesting, transporting and selling trees for commercial purposes, which does not involve any land development.

FRATERNAL ORGANIZATION

An area of land or building used by a fraternal association of persons for meetings and routine socializing and recreation that is limited to members and their occasional guests, but not including members of the general public. These uses are restricted to those not conducted primarily for gain, although a restaurant may be operated primarily to serve members and their guests. This use shall not include boardinghouse, a tavern, restaurant open to the general public, or an auditorium, unless that particular use is permitted in that district and the applicable requirements of that use are met.

FREEBOARD

A vertical distance between elevation of the design high water and the top of a dam, levee, tank, basin, diversion ridge or other stormwater management facility. The space is required as a safety margin in a pond or basin.

FUNERAL HOME

A building used for the preparation of the deceased for burial and display of the deceased and rituals connected therewith before burial or cremation. This definition includes mortuaries.

FUTURE RIGHT-OF-WAY

(1) Right-of-way width required for the expansion of existing streets to accommodate anticipated future traffic loads.

(2) A right-of-way established to provide future access to or through undeveloped land.

GALLERY

A structure for housing the visual arts either for display or for retail sales purposes.

GARAGE, PRIVATE

An enclosed or covered space for the storage of one or more vehicles or vessels, provided that no business, occupation or service is conducted for profit therein nor space therein for more than one vehicle or vessel is leased to a nonresident of the premises.

GARAGE, PUBLIC

Any structure, other than a private garage, which is used for storage, repair, rental, servicing or supplying of gasoline or oil to motor vehicles for compensation.

GARBAGE

All table refuse, animal and vegetable matter, offal from meat, fish and fowl, vegetables and fruits and parts thereof and all other articles and materials ordinarily used for food, for humans or for domestic animals and which have become unfit for such use or which are discarded for any reason.

GARDEN APARTMENT

See "apartment, garden."

GARDENING

The cultivation of herbs, fruits, flowers or vegetables, excluding the keeping of livestock.

GLARE

Excessive brightness that may be caused by either direct or indirect viewing of a light source

GOLF COURSE

A tract of land improved with tees, greens, fairways and hazards for playing at least nine holes of the game of golf, that may include a clubhouse with dining facilities (excluding drive-through facilities), swimming pool, tennis courts, driving range, miniature golf and other customarily and incidental accessory uses and structures.

GOLF DRIVING RANGE

A location, either at a golf course or at a separate location, where players can practice by hitting balls provided with their various clubs in order to improve or warm up.

GOVERNING BODY

The Lower Allen Township Board of Commissioners, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania.

GRADE, ESTABLISHED

The elevation of the center line of the streets, as officially established by the municipal authorities.

GRADE, FINISHED

The completed surfaces of lawns, walks and roads brought to grades as shown on official plans or designs relating thereto.

GREENHOUSE

A building whose roof and sides are made largely of glass or other transparent or translucent material and in which the temperature and humidity can be regulated for the cultivation of delicate or out-of-season plants for subsequent sale or for personal enjoyment.

GROUND FLOOR

The floor of a building nearest the mean grade of the front of the building.

GROUP-CARE FACILITY

A facility providing shelter, counseling and other rehabilitative services in a family-like environment for more than seven but fewer than 15 residents, plus such minimum supervisory personnel as may be required to meet standards of the licensing agency. Residents may not be legally related to the facility operators or supervisors and, by reason of mental or physical disability, chemical or alcohol dependency or family or school adjustment problems, require a minimal level of supervision but do not require medical or nursing care or general supervision. A group-care facility must be licensed and/or approved by the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare.

HALFWAY HOUSE

A residence for inmates on release from more restrictive custodial confinement or initially placed in lieu of such more restrictive custodial confinement, wherein supervision, rehabilitation and counseling are provided to mainstream residents back into society, enabling them to live independently. Such facility must be leased and operated by the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections for such services.

HAZARDOUS WASTE

(1) Any garbage, refuse, sludge from an industrial or other wastewater treatment plant, sludge from a water supply treatment plant or air pollution control facility and other discarded material, including solid, liquid, semisolid or contained gaseous material resulting from municipal, commercial, industrial, institutional, mining or agricultural operations and from community activities or any combination of the above, which, because of its quantity, concentration or physical, chemical or infectious characteristics may cause or significantly contribute to an increase in mortality or an increase in morbidity in either an individual or the total population or pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health or the environment when improperly treated, stored, transported, disposed of or otherwise managed, but shall not include coal refuse as defined in the Act of September 24, 1968 (P.L. 1040, No. 318), known as the "Coal Refuse Disposal Control Act."[6]

(2) Hazardous waste shall not include coal refuse as defined in the Act of September 24, 1968 (P.L. 1040, No. 318), known as the "Coal Refuse Disposal Control Act."[7] Hazardous waste shall not include treatment sludge from coal mine drainage treatment plants, disposal of which is being carried on pursuant to the Act of June 22, 1937 (P.L. 1987, No. 394), known as "The Clean Streams Law,"[8] solid or dissolved material in domestic sewage or solid or dissolved materials in irrigation return flows or industrial discharges which are point sources subject to permits under Section 402 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, as amended (33 U.S.C. § 1342), or source, special nuclear or by-product material as defined by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. §§ 2011 through 2394).

HEARING

An administrative proceeding conducted by the Zoning Hearing Board in accordance with Article XXVII herein.

HEIGHT OF A TOWER-BASED WCF

The vertical distance measured from the ground level, including any base pad, to the highest point on a tower-based WCF, including antennas mounted on the tower and any other appurtenances.

[Added 10-24-2016 by Ord. No. 2016-04]

HEIGHT OF BUILDING

See "building height."

HISTORIC STRUCTURE

Any structure that is:

(1) Listed individually in the National Register of Historic Places (a listing maintained by the United States Department of Interior) or preliminarily determined by the Secretary of the Interior as meeting the requirements for individual listing on the National Register.

(2) Certified or preliminarily determined by the Secretary of the Interior as contributing to the historical significance of a registered historic district or a district preliminarily determined by the Secretary to qualify as a registered historic district.

(3) Individually listed on a local inventory of historic places, at either the county or Township level, that has been certified either:

(a) By an approved state program as determined by the Secretary of the Interior; or

(b) Directly by the Secretary of the Interior.

HOME OCCUPATION

An accessory business or commercial activity, conducted entirely within a residential dwelling by one or more of the permanent residents, that is clearly incidental and secondary to the residential use.

HOMEOWNERS' ASSOCIATION

A community association, other than a condominium association, that is organized in a development in which individual owners share common interests and responsibilities for costs and upkeep of common open space or facilities.

HORTICULTURE

The use of land for the growing or production for income of fruits, vegetables, flowers, nursery stock, including ornamental plants and trees, and cultured sod.

HOSPITAL

An institution specializing in giving clinical, temporary and emergency services of a medical or surgical nature to human patients and injured persons and licensed by state law to provide facilities and services in surgery, obstetrics and general medical practice.

HOTEL

A facility offering transient lodging accommodations to the general public and providing additional services such as restaurants, meeting rooms and recreational facilities.

HYDRIC SOILS

A soil that is saturated, flooded or ponded long enough during the growing season to develop anaerobic conditions that favor the growth and regeneration of hydrophytic vegetation [United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Soil Conservation Service (SCS) 1985, as amended by the National Technical Committee for Hydric Soils (NTCHS) in December 1986].

IMPERVIOUS CONDITIONS

A surface that generally prevents the infiltration of water into the ground.

IMPERVIOUS COVERAGE

See "coverage, impervious."

IMPERVIOUS MATERIAL

Any substance placed on a lot which covers the surface in such fashion as to prevent natural absorption of surface water by the earth so covered. The following items shall be deemed to be impervious material: buildings, concrete sidewalks, paved driveways and parking areas, swimming pools and other nonporous structures or materials.

IMPROVEMENTS

Any man-made, immovable item which becomes part of or placed upon or is affixed to real estate.

INCINERATOR

An approved device in which combustible material, other than garbage, is burned to ashes.

INDOOR RECREATIONAL FACILITY

Any establishment which provides recreation, amusement or entertainment for the general public within a completely enclosed structure for a fee or admission charge, including but not limited to theaters, dance halls, bowling alleys, billiard and pool halls, amusement arcades and spas or health clubs where the principal use includes a gymnasium, exercise room, swimming pool or other sports facility.

INDUSTRY

The manufacturing, compounding, processing, assembly or treatment of materials, articles or merchandise.

INSTITUTION

A building or grounds, all or a portion of which is used by persons who occupy the buildings for a common purpose, including but not limited to hospitals, convents, school dormitories, correctional institutions, college campuses, nursing homes and the educational, administrative and/or recreational facilities of such organizations as the YMCA, YWCA, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and Boys Clubs.

JUNK

Any scrap, waste, reclaimable material or debris, whether or not stored or used in conjunction with dismantling, processing, salvage, storage, baling, disposal or other use or disposition. "Junk" includes but is not limited to vehicles, tires, vehicle parts, equipment, paper, rags, metal, glass, building materials, household appliances, brush, wood and lumber.

JUNKYARD

A lot, land or structure or part thereof used primarily for the collecting, storage and sale of waste paper, rags, scrap metal or reclaimable material or for the collection, dismantling, storage and salvaging of machinery or two or more unregistered, inoperable motor vehicles or other types of junk. Two or more unregistered and/or inoperable farm vehicles/equipment utilized solely for on-site replacement parts by the owner of the farm shall not be considered a junkyard.

KENNEL

A structure on any lot on which animals (except livestock, horses or poultry) are kept, boarded, raised, bred, treated or trained for a fee, including but not limited to dog or cat kennels. For the purpose of this definition, the production of more than two litters in any calendar year shall be considered breeding.

LAND DEVELOPMENT

Any of the following activities:

(1) The improvement of one lot or two or more contiguous lots, tracts or parcels of land for any purpose involving:

(a) A group of two or more residential or nonresidential buildings, whether proposed initially or cumulatively, or a single nonresidential building on a lot or lots, regardless of the number of occupants or tenure; or

(b) The division or allocation of land or space, whether initially or cumulatively, between or among two or more existing or prospective occupants by means of or for the purpose of streets, common areas, leaseholds, condominiums, building groups or other features.

(2) A subdivision of land.

(3) Provisions for the exclusion of certain land development only when such land development involves the addition of an accessory building, including farm buildings, on a lot or lots subordinate to an existing principal building.

LANDFILL

A disposal site in which refuse and earth or other suitable cover material are deposited and compacted in alternative layers of specified depth in accordance with a state-approved plan and permit. Such use shall not include the disposal or processing of hazardous or radioactive materials.

LANDOWNER

The legal or beneficial owner or owners of land, including the holder of an option or contract to purchase (whether or not such option or contract is subject to any condition); a lessee, if he is authorized under the lease to exercise the rights of the landowner; or other persons having a proprietary interest in land.

LANE

Private access to a single lot and/or a vehicular drive necessary to the reasonable function of a lot.

LAUNDRY

A business premises equipped with individual clothes washing and/or drying machines for the use of retail customers, exclusive of laundry facilities provided as an accessory use.

LIGHTING

(1) DIFFUSED That form of lighting wherein the light passes from the source through a translucent cover or shade.

(2) DIRECT OR FLOOD That form of lighting wherein the source is visible and the light is distributed directly from it to the object to be illuminated.

(3) INDIRECT That form of lighting wherein the light source is entirely hidden, the light being projected to a suitable reflector from which it is reflected to the object to be illuminated.

LIVE-WORK UNIT

A building or portion of a building that includes commercial use, such as a shop, studio, office or other place of business in combination with a dwelling unit located above such place of business. A person or persons other than the proprietor of the business may occupy a live-work unit.

LOADING SPACE

An off-street area on the same lot with a building or contiguous to a group of buildings, for the temporary parking of a commercial vehicle while loading or unloading merchandise or materials and which abuts on a street or other appropriate means of access.

LOT

A designated parcel, tract or area of land established by a plat or otherwise as permitted by law and to be used, developed or built upon as a unit.

(1) CORNER A lot abutting two street rights-of-way at their intersection, in which the average center lines of such roads along the frontage of the lot form an interior angle of less than 135°.

(2) FLAG A lot not meeting frontage requirements and where access to the public road is by a narrow private driveway or right-of-way.

(3) INTERIOR A lot other than a corner lot.

(4) MULTIPLE FRONTAGE A lot having frontage on more than one street.

(5) MULTIPLE USE A lot that contains more than one principal nonresidential use.

(6) NONCONFORMING See "nonconforming lot."

(7) REVERSE FRONTAGE A lot extending between and having frontage on an arterial or collector street and on a local or minor Township street and with vehicular access solely from the latter.

(8) SINGLE-USE A lot that contains no more than one principal nonresidential use.

(9) SINGLE-USE COMMERCIAL, LARGE A single lot that meets the criteria in § 220-128A(1).

(10) SINGLE-USE COMMERCIAL, STANDARD A single lot that meets the criteria in § 220-128A(2).

(11) THROUGH A lot abutting two road rights-of-way, which is not located at the intersection of such two roads.

Street

LOT TYPES DIAGRAM

LOT AREA

The area of horizontal plane bounded by the vertical planes within the front, side and rear lot lines. For the purposes of calculating the minimum lot area necessary to comply with the requirements of this chapter, the following areas shall be excluded from such calculation:

(1) Any area within a street or other transportation right-of-way; and

(2) Any area within a right-of-way used for gas, oil, natural gas, electric or communication transmission facilities, whether below or above ground, that do not serve the lot traversed.

LOT, DEPTH OF

The average horizontal distance between the front and rear lot lines.

LOT LINE

A line dividing one lot from another lot or from a street or alley.

(1) FRONT A lot line separating the front of the lot from the street other than an alley. On a corner lot, all lot lines which abut a street other than an alley shall be front lot lines. On a through lot, the front lot line shall be the lot line which abuts the street providing the primary access to the lot.

(2) REAR A lot line which does not intersect a front lot line and is most distant from and most parallel to a front lot line. For the purposes of this chapter, where the side lot lines of an interior lot meet in a point, the rear lot line shall be assumed to be a line not less than 10 feet long, drawn within the lot between the two side lot lines, which is parallel to or, in the event of a curved front lot line, equidistant from the front lot line.

(3) SIDE Any lot line which is not a front or rear lot line. Corner lots shall have a side lot line opposite each front lot line.

LOT, MINIMUM WIDTH

The minimum lot width at the building setback line.

LOT OF RECORD

A lot which has been recorded in the Office of the Recorder of Deeds of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania.

LOT WIDTH

In the case of an interior lot, lot width shall be the horizontal distance, measured at the minimum building setback line, between the side lot lines. In the case of a corner lot, lot width shall be the horizontal distance, measured at the minimum building setback line, between each front lot line and its opposite side lot line. Such distance shall be measured along a straight line which is at right angles to the axis of a lot.

MALL

A shopping center that includes a commercial complex containing various retail, service, and restaurant establishments housed in a building or series of connected buildings containing at least 500,000 square feet of gross floor area, where the commercial establishments may be accessed by a common internal concourse in addition to any exterior access points. A mall may be contained within a shopping center.

[Added 10-13-2014 by Ord. No. 2014-06]

MANUFACTURED (MOBILE) HOME DWELLING

See "dwelling, manufactured (mobile) home."

MANUFACTURED (MOBILE) HOME LOT

A parcel of land in a mobile (manufactured) home park, improved with the necessary utility connections and other appurtenances necessary for the erections thereon of a single manufactured (mobile) home.

MANUFACTURED (MOBILE) HOME PARK

A parcel or contiguous parcels of land which has been so designated and improved that it contains two or more manufactured (mobile) home lots for the placement thereon of manufactured (mobile) homes.

MANUFACTURING

The processing and/or converting of raw unfinished or finished materials or products or of any combination thereof into an article or substance of a different character or for use for a different purpose, or industries furnishing labor in the case of manufacturing or the refinishing of manufactured articles.

MASTER DEED

A legal instrument under which title to real estate is conveyed and by which a condominium is created and established.

MEDICAL CENTER

Establishments primarily engaged in furnishing medical, surgical or other services to individuals, including the offices of physicians, dentists and other health care practitioners, medical and dental laboratories, outpatient care facilities, blood banks and oxygen and miscellaneous types of medical supplies and services.

MINERALS

Any aggregate or mass of mineral matter, whether or not coherent, that is extracted by surface mining. The term includes but is not limited to limestone and dolomite, sand and gravel, rock and stone, earth, fill, slag, iron ore, zinc ore, vermiculite and clay, but it does not include anthracite or bituminous coal or coal refuse, except as provided in Section 4 of the Noncoal Surface Mining Conservation and Reclamation Act, No. 1984-219, as amended,[9] or peat.

MINOR REPAIR

The replacement of existing work with equivalent materials for the purpose of its routine maintenance and upkeep, but not including the cutting away of any wall, partition or portion thereof, the removal or cutting of any structural beam or bearing support or the removal or change of any required means of egress or rearrangement of parts of a structure affecting the exitway requirements, nor shall minor repairs include the addition to, alteration of, replacement or relocation of any standpipe, water supply, sewer, drainage, drain leader, gas, soil, waste, vent or similar piping, electric wiring or mechanical or other work affecting public health or general safety.

MIXED USE

Occupancy of a building or land for more than one use.

MOBILE HOME

See "dwelling, manufactured (mobile) home."

MONOPOLE

A tower-based WCF which consists of a single-pole wireless support structure, designed and erected on the ground or on top of a structure, to support antennas and connecting appurtenances.

[Amended 10-24-2016 by Ord. No. 2016-04]

MOTEL

A building or group of buildings, whether detached or in connected units, used as individual sleeping or dwelling units, with separate entrances and designed for year-round occupancy, primarily for transient automobile travelers, and providing for accessory off-street parking facilities. The term "motel" includes buildings designated as tourist courts, tourist cabins, motor lodges and similar terms.

MUNICIPAL FACILITY

Any building, structure or use of land by Lower Allen Township, a municipal authority/commission created by the Lower Allen Township Board of Commissioners or the West Shore School District.

MUNICIPAL WASTE

Includes garbage, refuse, industrial lunchroom or office waste and other material, including solid, liquid, semisolid or contained gaseous material resulting from operation of residential, municipal, commercial or institutional establishments and from community activities, and sludge not meeting the definition of residual or hazardous waste from a municipal, commercial or institutional water supply treatment plant, wastewater treatment plant or air pollution control facility.

MUNICIPAL WASTE LANDFILL

A facility, permitted by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, for the disposing of municipal waste.

NOISE

Any sound which is unwanted or which causes an adverse psychological or physiological effect on human beings.

NONCONFORMING LOT

A lot, the area or dimension of which was lawful prior to the adoption or amendment of this chapter but which fails to conform to the requirements of the zoning district in which it is located by reasons of such adoption or amendment.

NONCONFORMING STRUCTURE

A structure or part of a structure manifestly not designed to comply with the applicable use or extent of use provisions of this chapter or amendment heretofore or hereafter enacted, where such structure lawfully existed prior to the enactment of this chapter or amendment or prior to the application of this chapter or amendment to its location by reason of annexation. Such nonconforming structures include but are not limited to nonconforming signs.

NONCONFORMING USE

A use, whether of land or of structure, which does not comply with the applicable use provisions herein or amendment heretofore or hereafter enacted, where such use was lawfully in existence prior to the application of this chapter or amendment to its location by reason of annexation.

NONTOWER WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS FACILITY (NONTOWER WCF)

All nontower wireless communications facilities, including, but not limited to, antennas and related equipment. "Nontower WCF" shall not include support structures for antennas and related equipment.

[Added 10-24-2016 by Ord. No. 2016-04; amended 12-27-2021 by Ord. No. 2021-05]

NORTH AMERICAN INDUSTRIAL CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM (NAICS), 1997

As amended, published by the United States Office of Management and Budget. Use categories are referenced by their NAICS Code Number. Two-digit categories are sectors. Three-digit categories are subsectors. Categories containing four or more digits are industries. Unless specifically excluded, two-digit classifications include all three-, four-, five- and six-digit classifications beginning with the same two-digit number. Three-digit classifications include all four-, five- and six-digit classifications beginning with the same three-digit number. Four-digit classifications include all five- and six-digit classifications beginning with the same four-digit number. Five-digit classifications include all six-digit classifications beginning with the same five-digit number. Six-digit classifications include all uses under that number.

NURSERY, HORTICULTURE

Any lot or parcel of land used to cultivate, propagate and grow trees, shrubs, vines and other plants, including the buildings, structures and equipment customarily incidental and accessory to the primary use.

NURSING/PERSONAL HEALTH CARE FACILITIES

A building with sleeping rooms where persons are housed or lodged and furnished with meals and nursing care for hire and which is approved for nonprofit/profit corporations licensed by the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare for such use.

OBSTRUCTION

Any wall, dam, wharf, embankment, levee, dike, projection, excavation, channel, rectification, culvert, building, fence, stockpile, refuse, fill, structure or matter in, along, across or projecting into any channel, watercourse or flood-prone area, which may impede, retard or change the direction of the flow of water either in itself or by catching or collecting debris carried by such water or is placed where the flow of the water might carry the same downstream to the damage of life and property.

OFFICE BUILDING

A building designed or used primarily for office purposes, no part of which is used for manufacturing.

OFFICE, PROFESSIONAL

A room or rooms used for carrying on a profession including, but not limited to, physicians, dentists, architects, engineers, accountants, attorneys, planners, real estate brokers and insurance agents entitled to practice under the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, or similar type.

ON-LOT SEWAGE DISPOSAL SYSTEM

Any system designed to eliminate sanitary sewage within the boundaries of the lot that the system serves.

ON-LOT WATER SUPPLY

A potable supply of water used for the consumption by a single-family user from a private well.

OPEN SPACE

The unoccupied space open to the sky on the same lot with the building, not including parking lots.

OPEN SPACE, COMMON

A parcel or parcels of land or an area of water or a combination of land and water within a development site designed and intended for the use or enjoyment of residents of a development, not including streets, off-street parking areas and areas set aside for public facilities.

OUTDOOR AMUSEMENT FACILITY

An establishment which provides outdoor recreation, amusement or entertainment to the general public for a fee or admission charge, including but not limited to golf courses, carriage rides and amusement rides.

PARKING GARAGE

A structure where vehicles may be stored for short-term, daily or overnight off-street parking.

PARKING LOT OR AREA

Any lot, municipally or privately owned, for off-street parking facilities, providing for the transient storage of automobiles or motor-driven vehicles. Such parking services may be provided as a free service or for a fee.

PARKING SPACE

The space within a building or on a lot or parking lot for the parking or storage of one vehicle.

PARTY WALL

A common shared wall between two separate structures, buildings or dwelling units.

PATIO

A recreational area, usually, but not limited to, being roofless, adjoining a dwelling unit.[10]

PAVED AREA

That amount of land required for the location of adequate parking spaces, driveways or other access roads. In the computation of a paved area, the actual building area shall be excluded.

PERSONS

Individuals, corporations, companies, associations, joint-stock companies, firms, partnerships, limited-liability companies, corporations and other entities established pursuant to statutes of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, provided that "person" does not include or apply to the Township or to any department or agency of the Township.

[Amended 12-27-2021 by Ord. No. 2021-05]

PERSONAL CARE BOARDING HOME

A building in which food, shelter and personal assistance or supervision are provided for a period exceeding 48 consecutive hours for more than three adults who are not relatives of the operator and who require assistance or supervision in such matters as dressing, bathing, diet or medication prescribed for self-administration. Residents shall consist primarily of elderly persons 55 years of age or older.

PERSONAL SERVICE ESTABLISHMENT

Establishments primarily engaged in providing services involving the care of a person or his or her apparel.[11]

PERVIOUS SURFACE

A surface that generally permits the infiltration of water into the ground.

PLACE OF ASSEMBLY

Any room or space used by people for religious, educational, recreational, political, social or amusement purposes, or for the consumption of food or drink.

PLAN, COMPREHENSIVE

The Development Policy Plan (Master Plan) and/or Future Land Use Plan and/or Official Map or other such plans or portions thereof as may be adopted pursuant to the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, Act 247, as amended.[12]

PLANNED BUSINESS CENTER

A group of offices planned and designed to function as a unit on the parcel(s) on which it is located, with internal vehicle circulation (public or private) and off-street parking provided as an integral part of the center.

PLANNING COMMISSION

The Planning Commission of Lower Allen Township, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania.

PLAN, SKETCH

An informal plan, not necessarily to exact scale, indicating salient existing features of a tract and its surroundings and the general layout of a proposed subdivision or land development.

PLAT

The map or plan of a subdivision or land development, whether preliminary or final.

(1) FINAL PLAT A complete and exact subdivision or land development plan prepared for official recording, as required by statute, to define property rights and proposed streets and other improvements. The definition of "final plat" shall include "minor plat."

(2) PRELIMINARY PLAT A tentative subdivision or land development plan, in lesser detail than a final plan, showing approximate proposed street and lot layout as a basis for consideration prior to preparation of a final plan.

PORCH

A covered area in excess of 20 square feet in area at a front, side or rear door of a structure.

PREMISES

Any lot, parcel or tract of land and any building constructed thereon.

PRIVATE

Not publicly owned, operated or controlled.

PRIVATE DRIVE

See "lane."

PRODUCE STAND

A use intended for temporary duration, for the display and retail sale of agricultural products grown and produced by the seller.

PROFESSIONAL OCCUPATION

The practice of a profession by any professional, including, but not limited to, attorney, physician, surgeon, osteopath, chiropractor, dentist, optician, optometrist, chiropodist, engineer, surveyor, architect, landscape architect, planner or similar type, entitled to practice under the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

PROFILE LINE

The profile of the center line of the finished surface of the street, which shall be midway between the side lines of the street.

PUBLIC

Owned, operated or controlled by a government agency (federal, state or local), including a corporation and/or board created by law for the performance of certain specialized governmental functions.

PUBLIC/COMMUNITY SEWERAGE SYSTEM

Any sanitary sewer collection and treatment system, whether publicly or privately owned approved for use by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

PUBLIC/COMMUNITY WATER SYSTEM

A potable supply of water subject to either the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission jurisdiction or other appropriate regulating agency.

PUBLIC GROUNDS

Includes the following:

(1) Parks, playgrounds, trails, paths and other recreational areas and other public areas;

(2) Sites for schools, sewage treatment, refuse disposal and other publicly owned or operated facilities; and

(3) Publicly owned or operated scenic and historic sites.

PUBLIC HEARING

A formal meeting held pursuant to public notice by the Board of Commissioners or Planning Commission, intended to inform and obtain public comment, prior to taking action in accordance herein.

PUBLIC MEETING

A forum held pursuant to notice under the Act of July 3, 1986 (P.L. 388, No. 84), known as the "Sunshine Act."[13]

PUBLIC NOTICE

A notice published once each week for two successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the municipality. Such notice shall state the time and place of the hearing and the particular nature of the matter to be considered at the hearing. The first publication shall not be more than 30 days and the second publication shall not be less than seven days from the date of the hearing.

PUBLIC RECREATION LAND

Land dedicated to and accepted by Lower Allen Township for recreation use by the public, in accordance with Chapter 192, Subdivision and Land Development.

PUBLIC USE

Public and semipublic uses of a welfare and educational nature, including but not limited to hospitals, schools, parks, churches, cemeteries, day-care centers, historical restorations, fire stations, municipal buildings, essential public utilities which require enclosure within a building, airports, fraternal clubs and homes, nonprofit recreational facilities, open space, easements for alleys, streets and public utility rights-of-way.

PUBLIC UTILITY FACILITIES

Public utility transmission and distribution facilities, including substations and the like.

QUARRY

Including sand pit, gravel pit, borrow pit and topsoil stripping. A lot or part thereof used for the purpose of extracting stone, sand, clay, gravel or top soil, and exclusive of the process of grading a lot associated with a permit that has been issued.

REAL ESTATE

Any fee, leasehold or other estate or interest in, over or under land, including structures, fixtures and other improvements and interests which, by custom, usage or law, pass with a conveyance of land though not described in the contract of sale or instrument of conveyance. Real estate includes parcels with or without upper or lower boundaries and spaces that may be filled with air or water.

RECREATION, ACTIVE

Leisure-time activities, usually of a formal nature and often performed with others, requiring equipment and taking place at prescribed places, sites, or fields.

RECREATIONAL VEHICLE

A vehicular-type unit primarily designed as temporary living quarters for recreational, camping, or travel use and which has its own motor power or is mounted or drawn by another vehicle, and licensed as such by the commonwealth to include, but not be limited to, travel trailers, truck campers, camping trailers and self-propelled motor homes.

RECREATION, PASSIVE

Recreation activities that involve relatively inactive or less energetic activities, such as walking, sitting, picnicking, card games, chess, checkers and similar table games.

RECYCLABLES

Reusable material, including but not limited to clear glass, colored glass, aluminum, steel and bimetallic cans, high-grade office paper, newsprint, corrugated paper, plastics and other materials designated as recyclable under the Pennsylvania Municipal Waste Planning, Recycling and Waste Reduction Act.[14]

RECYCLING FACILITY

A facility employing a technology known as a process that separates or classifies municipal waste and creates or recovers reusable materials that can be sold to or reused by a manufacturer as a substitute for or a supplement to virgin raw materials. This term does not include such facilities as transfer stations, municipal waste landfills, landfills, composting facilities, resource recovery facilities or junkyards.

REFUSE

All combustible refuse and incombustible refuse, referred to collectively.

(1) COMBUSTIBLE REFUSE All paper, straw, excelsior, packaging materials, rags, rubber, shoes and such other refuse as may result from ordinary housekeeping and commercial pursuits and which may be burned by fire.

(2) INCOMBUSTIBLE REFUSE All discarded articles or materials other than sewage, liquid waste, garbage and combustible refuse.

RELATED EQUIPMENT (INCLUDING BASE STATIONS)

Any piece of equipment related to, incidental to, or necessary for, the operation of a tower-based WCF or nontower WCF. By way of illustration, not limitation, related equipment includes generators and base stations.

[Added 10-24-2016 by Ord. No. 2016-04]

REPAIR SHOP

Any building, premises and land in which or upon which a business, service or industry involving maintenance, servicing or repairing of goods, excluding vehicles, is conducted or rendered.

RESERVE STRIP

A strip of land adjacent to a street, intended to control access to the street from an adjacent property.

RESOURCE RECOVERY

The process of obtaining materials or energy, particularly from solid waste.

RETAIL SALES ESTABLISHMENTS

Establishments engaged in selling goods or merchandise to the general public for personal or household consumption and rendering services incidental to the sale of such goods. Adult businesses, as separately addressed within Chapter 59, Sexually Oriented Businesses, of the Code of the Township of Lower Allen, are excluded from this definition.

[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I)]

RIGHT-OF-WAY

A strip of land acquired by reservation, dedication, forced dedication, prescription or condemnation and intended to be occupied or occupied by a road, sidewalk, railroad, oil or gas pipeline, water line, sanitary or storm sewer, electric transmission lines, bus shelters, with or without advertising signs as where the Board of Commissioners granted a franchise with respect thereto, and other similar uses; generally, the right of one to pass over the property of another.

RIGHT-OF-WAY, STREET

A public thoroughfare for vehicular traffic and/or pedestrian traffic, whether designated as a street, highway, thoroughfare, parkway, road, avenue, boulevard, lane, alley or however designated.

RIPARIAN BUFFER

An area of land adjacent to a perennial or intermittent stream that is managed to maintain the integrity of stream channels and to reduce stream impacts from upland sources.

RUNOFF

The surface water discharge or rate of discharge of a given watershed after a fall of rain or snow that does not enter the soil but runs off the surface of the land.

SANITARY SEWER (PUBLIC)

A sanitary sewage collection method in which sewage is carried from the site by a system of pipes to a central treatment and disposal plant.

SATELLITE DISH

See "antenna, satellite dish."

SCHOOL

Any place offering instruction in any branch of knowledge under the supervision of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or a lawfully constituted ecclesiastical governing body, person, partnership or corporation meeting the requirements of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

(1) NURSERY See "day-care facility."

(2) PRESCHOOL See "day-care facility."

SCREEN PLANTING

A completely planted visual barrier composed of evergreen and/or deciduous plants and trees arranged to form both a low-level and high-level screen, of sufficient height and density to conceal from the view of property owners in adjoining residential districts the structures and uses on the premises on which the screen planting is located.

SEDIMENTATION

The process by which mineral or organic matter is accumulated or deposited by wind, water or gravity. Once this matter is deposited (or remains suspended in water), it is usually referred to as "sediment."

SELF-SERVICE STORAGE FACILITY

A structure or group of structures intended for lease for the sole purpose of storing customers' goods and wares.

SERVICE ESTABLISHMENTS

Establishments primarily engaged in providing assistance, as opposed to products, to individuals and business, industry, government and other enterprises.

SERVICE ROAD

A minor street which is parallel and adjacent to a limited access highway or arterial street, which provides access to abutting properties and protection from through traffic.

SETBACK (BUILDING SETBACK LINE)

The line within a property defining the required minimum distance between any enclosed structure and the adjacent dedicated right-of-way, and the line defining rear and side yards, where required.

SHOPPING CENTER

A group of establishments planned, constructed and managed as a total entity, with customer and employee parking provided on-site, provision for goods delivery separated from customer access, and landscaping and signage in accordance with an approved plan.

(1) NEIGHBORHOOD A shopping center generally offering goods necessary to meet daily needs, which draws its clientele from a five-mile driving radius from the center.

(2) REGIONAL A shopping center containing a wide range of retail and service establishments, having one or more anchor stores, which draws its clientele from a forty-five-mile driving radius.

SIDEWALK

A paved, surfaced or leveled area, parallel to and usually separated from the street, used as a pedestrian walkway.

SIGHT DISTANCE

The length of roadway visible to the driver of a passenger vehicle at any given point on the roadway when the view is unobstructed by traffic.

SIGN

Any visual communication device, structure or object used for the purpose of bringing the subject thereof, or the property on which it is located, to the attention of the public. Examples include pennants, flags, banners, balloons, searchlights, message copy that is painted on an object or structure and message copy that is manufactured and attached to a supporting structure.

(1) ANIMATED A sign that employs actual motion or the illusion of motion, whether activated by electrical, mechanical, environmental or other means. Examples include rotating and flashing signs. Flashing will not be deemed to occur if the interval between on and off cycles of the display phase exceeds six seconds.

(2) BUILDING A sign that is painted, projected, adhered or mechanically fastened onto any building wall, including doors and windows contained within these walls, or attached in similar manner to any architectural projection of a building. Examples of architectural projections include awnings, canopies, marquees, mansards and pent eaves. Signs affixed to freestanding canopies, such as ones used to shelter motor fuel dispensing pumps, shall be considered building signs.

(3) CHANGEABLE MESSAGE A sign that changes in appearance due to physical positioning of sign elements or change in light intensity.

(4) ELECTION CAMPAIGN A sign associated with a candidate for elective office or with an issue that is on a ballot of a public election.

(5) FREESTANDING A sign that is painted, projected, adhered or mechanically fastened onto any structure principally intended for the support of a sign, and that is placed upon, or anchored into, the ground. Examples include pole, pylon, monument (blade) and ground (low-profile).

(6) MALL DIRECTIONAL A freestanding sign located on the same lot or lots as a mall that provides orientation information for where commercial establishments are located within a mall.

[Added 10-13-2014 by Ord. No. 2014-06]

(7) MALL IDENTIFICATION A freestanding sign located on the same lot or lots as a mall that indicates the name of the mall and may indicate the names of the various establishments located therein.

(8) MEMORIAL A sign that commemorates a person, place, building or event of historical or socially significant nature, or that indicates the date of construction or dedication of a building.

(9) OFF-PREMISES A sign that contains a message that is usually unrelated to the property on which it is located. Examples include outdoor advertising panels (billboards), temporary signs containing election or civic event information and signs providing directions to places of public attraction.

(10) ON-PREMISES A sign that contains a message related to the use or occupancy of the property on which it is located. These signs may identify the owner, occupants and/or uses of the property, provide information that is either commercial or noncommercial in nature, provide directions or provide notice of a regulatory nature.

(11) OPINION A sign expressing or demonstrating an opinion, protected as free speech.

(12) PORTABLE A sign that is not permanently attached to the ground or a building.

(13) PROJECTING A building sign that is mounted perpendicular to the building face.

(14) TEMPORARY A sign that is constructed of materials that do not provide long-term durability for the sign or its message, or any sign that is intended for a limited period of display.

SIGN COPY

Those letters, numerals, figures, symbols, logos and graphic elements comprising the content or message of a sign.

SIGN FACE

The surface upon, against or through which the sign copy is displayed or illustrated, not including structural supports, architectural features of a building or sign structure, nonstructural or decorative trim or any areas that are separated from the background surface upon which the sign copy is displayed by a distinct delineation, such as a reveal or border.

SIGN MESSAGE

Definitions by function of sign message:

(1) DIRECTIONAL An off-premises or on-premises sign that locates or provides distance and orientation information to a destination from a public street.

(2) EVENT An off-premises or on-premises sign that displays a message for a limited time regarding special activities of a commercial or noncommercial nature. Examples include sales, grand openings and civic or social events.

(3) IDENTIFICATION An on-premises sign that indicates the name of the owner or occupant of a property, the address of a building, the name of a building or building development or the business conducted on the property.

(4) INCIDENTAL An on-premises sign that displays instructional information that is primarily oriented to pedestrians and motor vehicle operators who have entered a property from a public street. Signs indicating whether a business is "open" or "closed" may be visible from the public street. Examples include parking and building entrance instructions.

(5) MARKETING An on-premises sign that displays information about activities, products or services offered on the property where the sign is located.

(6) OUTDOOR ADVERTISING An off-premises sign commonly known as a "billboard" and signs displayed on public mass transportation shelters. The message displayed on an outdoor advertising sign may be commercial or noncommercial, and is usually not related to the property on which the sign is located.

(7) REGULATORY NOTICE An on-premises sign that displays information intended to warn the public about property restrictions, hazards on the property, or a public notice mandated by statute, local ordinance or court order.

(8) SCROLLING A sign that contains text that changes location on the sign in a progressive pattern.

SINGLE AND SEPARATE OWNERSHIP

The ownership of a lot by one or more persons, which ownership is separate and distinct from that of any adjoining property.

SITE DEVELOPMENT PLAN

A scaled, graphic depiction of the proposed development of a lot, parcel or tract of land describing all covenants assigned, as well as accurately depicting the use, location and bulk of all buildings and structures, intensity of use or density of development, streets, driveways, rights-of-way, easements, parking facilities, open space, public facilities and utilities, setbacks, heights of buildings and structures and other such data necessary for municipal officials to determine compliance with this chapter and appropriate provisions of other such ordinances, as applicable.

SLOPE

The face of an embankment or cut section, or any ground whose surface makes an angle with the plane of the horizon. Slopes are usually expressed in a percentage based upon vertical difference in feet per 100 feet of horizontal distance.

SMALL WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS FACILITY (SMALL WCF)

A wireless communications facility that meets the following criteria:

[Added 12-27-2021 by Ord. No. 2021-05]

(1) The structure on which antenna facilities are mounted:

(a) Is 50 feet or less in height; or

(b) Is no more than 10% taller than other adjacent structures; or

(c) Is not extended to a height of more than 50 feet or by more than 10% above its preexisting height as a result of the co-location of new antenna facilities; and

(2) Each antenna associated with the deployment (excluding the associated equipment) is no more than three cubic feet in volume; and

(3) All antenna equipment associated with the facility (excluding antennas) are cumulatively no more than 28 cubic feet in volume; and

(4) The facilities do not require antenna structure registration under 47 CFR Part 17; and

(5) The facilities are not located on Tribal lands, as defined under 36 CFR 800.16(x); and

(6) The facilities do not result in human exposure to radio frequency radiation in excess of the applicable safety standards specified in 47 CFR 1.1307(b).

SOIL STABILIZATION

Chemical or structural treatment of a mass of soil to increase or maintain its stability or otherwise to improve its engineering properties.

SOLID WASTE

Garbage, refuse and other discarded materials, including but not limited to solid and liquid waste materials resulting from municipal, industrial, commercial, agricultural and residential activities. Such wastes shall not include biological excrement or hazardous waste materials as defined in the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 40, Chapter 1, Part 261, dated July 1, 1984, or as amended.

SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL

The incineration, deposition, injection, dumping, spilling, leaking or placing of solid wastes into or on the land or water in a manner that the solid waste or constituent of the solid waste enters the environment, is emitted into the air or is discharged to the waters of the Township.

SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL FACILITY

A lot, parcel or tract of land, including but not limited to a sanitary landfill, where garbage, trash or junk is disposed of or is processed or recycled for disposal or reuse. Such use shall not include the disposal or processing of hazardous or radioactive materials. A trash or solid waste transfer facility is a type of solid waste disposal facility.

SOLID WASTE TRANSFER FACILITY

A place where solid waste is disposed, brought, sorted, stored for less than four days and transferred from one vehicle to another vehicle or to a railcar for the purpose of transport to a permanent solid waste disposal facility.

SPECIAL EXCEPTION

A use permitted pursuant to the provisions of Articles XXVII and XVIII.

STEALTH TECHNOLOGY

Camouflaging methods applied to wireless communications towers, antennas and other facilities which render them more visually appealing or blend the proposed facility into the existing structure or visual backdrop in such a manner as to render it minimally visible to the casual observer. Such methods include, but are not limited to, architecturally screened roof-mounted antennas, building-mounted antennas painted to match the existing structure and facilities constructed to resemble trees, shrubs, and light poles.

[Added 10-24-2016 by Ord. No. 2016-04]

STEEP SLOPE

Environmentally sensitive land areas exceeding 15% in slope measured and presented in accordance with § 220-204 herein.

STORAGE, OUTDOOR

The keeping in an unroofed area of any goods, junk, material, merchandise or vehicles in the same place for more than 24 hours, excluding display areas as defined herein. Outdoor storage shall include that which is contained within trailers or similar vehicles. Outdoor storage shall not include junkyards as defined herein.

STORMWATER

The total amount of precipitation reaching the ground surface.

STORMWATER DETENTION

Any storm drainage technique that retards or detains runoff, including but not limited to a detention or retention basin, parking lot storage, rooftop storage, porous pavement, dry wells or any combination thereof.

STORMWATER MANAGEMENT FACILITIES

Facilities designed to reduce peak flows and/or volumes, such as stormwater management ponds, underground storage, rooftop storage and pervious parking.

STORY

That portion of a building located between the surface of any floor and the ceiling or roof above it.

STORY, HALF

A story under a gable, hip or gambrel roof, the wall plates of which, on at least two opposite exterior walls, are not over three feet above the finished floor of such story.

STREAM

A watercourse having a source and terminus, banks and a channel through which waters flow at least periodically.

STREET

A public or private right-of-way which includes avenue, boulevard, road, alley, lane, highway, freeway, parkway and viaduct and any other ways used or intended to be used by vehicular traffic or pedestrians, whether public or private.

STREET CENTER LINE

The center of the surveyed street right-of-way or, where not surveyed, the center of the traveled cartway.

STREET, CUL-DE-SAC

A street intersecting a non-cul-de-sac or dead-end street at one end and terminating at the other in a vehicular turnaround.

STREET GRADE

The officially established grade of the street upon which a lot fronts or, in its absence, the established grade of the other streets upon which the lot abuts, at the midpoint of the frontage of the lot thereon. If there is no officially established grade, the existing grade of the street at such midpoint shall be taken as the street grade.

STREET LINE

The right-of-way line of a public street or the cartway line of a private street.

STREET, MAJOR

(1) ARTERIAL STREET A major street or highway with fast or heavy traffic of considerable continuity and which is used primarily as a traffic artery for intercommunication among large areas.

(2) COLLECTOR STREET A major street or highway which carries traffic from minor streets to arterial streets, including the principal entrance streets of a residential development and streets for circulation within such a development.

STREET, MINOR OR LOCAL

A street used primarily for access to abutting properties.

STREET WIDTH

The shortest distance between street lines, measured at right angles to the center line of the street.

STRUCTURE

Any man-made object having an ascertainable stationary location on or in land or water, whether or not affixed to the land, including stormwater management facilities or, for floodplain management purposes, a walled and roofed building, including a gas or liquid storage tank, that is principally above ground, as well as a manufactured (mobile) home.

(1) TEMPORARY A structure without any foundation or footings and which is removed when the designated time period, activity or use for which the temporary structure was erected has ceased.

(2) NONCONFORMING See "nonconforming structure."

STUDIO

A building or portion of a building used as a place of work by an artist, photographer or artisan or used for radio or television broadcasting.

STUDIO, DANCING OR MUSIC

The use of a premises by a teacher of music or dancing where students are taught these arts for a fee. This term is synonymous with "dancing school" and "music school" and other similar expressions.

SUBDIVIDER

The owner or authorized agent of the owner of a lot, tract or parcel of land to be subdivided for sale or development under the terms of this chapter.

SUBDIVISION

The division or redivision of a lot, tract or parcel of land by any means into two or more lots, tracts, parcels or other divisions of land, including changes in existing lot lines for the purpose, whether immediate or future, of lease, partition by the court for distribution to heirs or devisees, transfer of ownership or building or lot development; provided, however, that the subdivision by lease of land for agricultural purposes into parcels of more than 10 acres, not involving any new street or easement of access or residential dwellings, shall be exempted. (See also "land development.")

(1) MAJOR Any subdivision involving more than five lots, parcels of land or other divisions of land, whether or not involving new streets, additional utilities or other facilities, immediate or future.

(2) MINOR The subdivision of a single lot, tract or parcel of land into five or fewer lots, tracts or parcels of land for the purpose, whether immediate or future, of transfer of ownership or of building development, provided that lots, tracts or parcels of land thereby created have frontage on an improved public street or streets and provided, further, that there is not created by the subdivision any new street, street easement, easements of access or need therefor.

SUBSTANTIAL DAMAGE

Damage from any cause sustained by a structure whereby the cost of restoring the structure to its before damaged condition would equal or exceed 50% or more of the market value of the structure before the damage occurred.

SUBSTANTIAL IMPROVEMENT

Any reconstruction, rehabilitation, addition or other improvement of a structure, the cost of which equals or exceeds 50% of the market value of the structure before the start of construction of the improvement. This term includes structures which have incurred substantial damage, regardless of the actual repair work performed. The term does not, however, include either:

(1) Any project for improvement of a structure to correct existing violations of state or local health, sanitary or safety code specifications which have been identified by the Township Codes Enforcement Officer and which are the minimum necessary to assure safe living conditions; or

(2) Any alteration of an historic structure, provided that the alteration will not preclude the structure's continued designation as an historic structure.

SUBSTANTIALLY CHANGE or SUBSTANTIAL CHANGE

A modification to an existing wireless communications facility substantially changes the physical dimensions of a tower or base station if it meets any of the following criteria:

[Added 10-24-2016 by Ord. No. 2016-04]

(1) For tower-based WCF outside the public rights-of-way, it increases the height of the facility by more than 10%, or by the height of one additional antenna array with separation from the nearest existing antenna, not to exceed 20 feet, whichever is greater; for tower-based WCF in the rights-of-way, it increases the height of the facility by more than 10% or 10 feet, whichever is greater;

(2) For tower-based WCF outside the public rights-of-way, it protrudes from the edge of the WCF by more than 20 feet, or more than the width of the tower structures at the level of the appurtenance, whichever is greater; for those tower-based WCF in the public rights-of-way, it protrudes from the edge of the structure by more than six feet;

(3) It involves installation of more than the standard number of new equipment cabinets for the technology involved, but not to exceed four cabinets;

(4) It entails any excavation of deployment outside the current site of the tower-based WCF; or

(5) It does not comply with conditions associated with prior approval of construction or modification of the tower-based WCF unless the noncompliance is due to an increase in height, increase in width, or addition of cabinets.

SUBSTANTIALLY COMPLETED

Where, in the judgment of the Township Engineer, at least 90% (based on the cost of the required improvements of which financial security was posted pursuant to Section 509 of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, Act 247, as amended[15]) of those improvements required as a condition for final approval have been completed in accordance with the approved plan so that the project may be used, occupied or operated for its intended use.

SURFACE DRAINAGE PLAN

A plan showing all present and proposed grades and facilities for stormwater drainage.

SURFACE MINING

The extraction of minerals from the earth, from waste or stockpiles or from pits or from banks by removing the strata or material that overlies or is above or between them or otherwise exposing and retrieving them from the surface, including but not limited to strip mining, auger mining, dredging, quarrying and leaching and all surface activity connected with surface or underground mining, including but not limited to exploration, site preparation, entry, tunnel, drift, slope, shaft and borehole drilling and construction and activities related thereto, but it does not include those mining operations carried out beneath the surface by means of shafts, tunnels or other underground mine openings. The term does not include any of the following:

(1) The extraction of minerals by a landowner for his own noncommercial use from land owned or leased by him.

(2) The extraction of sand, gravel, stone, earth or fill from borrow pits for highway construction purposes of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) or the extraction of minerals pursuant to construction contracts with the Department if the work is performed under a bond, contract and specifications that substantially provide for and require reclamation of the area affected in the manner provided by the Noncoal Surface Mining Conservation and Reclamation Act, No. 1984-219, as amended.[16]

(3) The handling, processing or storage of slag on the premises of a manufacturer as a part of the manufacturing process.

(4) Those dredging operations that are carried out in the rivers and streams of the commonwealth and Lake Erie.

(5) The extraction, handling, processing or storing of minerals from any building construction excavation of the site of the construction where the minerals removed are incidental to the building construction excavation, regardless of the commercial value of the minerals.

SURVEYOR, PROFESSIONAL LAND

An individual licensed and registered under the laws of this commonwealth to engage in the practice of land surveying.

SWALE

A low-lying stretch of land, characterized as a depression, used to carry surface water runoff.

SWIMMING POOL

Any structure intended for swimming or recreational bathing that contains water over 24 inches deep. This includes in-ground, aboveground and on-ground swimming pools, hot tubs and spas.

SWIMMING POOL, PUBLIC

An outdoor or indoor place used for amateur, professional or recreative swimming or bathing, whether or not a fee is charged for admission or for the use of the place, exclusive of a bathing place at a private, single-family residence which is used solely by the owner of the residence, family and their personal guests.

TEMPORARY

An arrangement established with no thought of continuance or permanence, but with the idea of being changed soon.

THEATER

A building or part of a building devoted to the showing of moving pictures or theatrical productions on a paid admission basis.

TIMBER HARVESTING

See "forestry."

TOPOGRAPHIC MAP

A map showing the elevations of the ground by contours or elevations.

TOPOGRAPHY

The configuration of a surface area showing relative elevations.

TOPSOIL

Surface soils and subsurface soils which presumably are fertile soils and soil material, ordinarily rich in organic matter or humus debris. Topsoil is usually found in the uppermost soil layer called the A Horizon.

TOWER

A self-supporting lattice tower, guy tower, monopole, or any other pole that is constructed primarily to support an antenna for receiving and/or transmitting a wireless signal.

[Added 12-27-2021 by Ord. No. 2021-05]

TOWER-BASED WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS FACILITY (TOWER-BASED WCF)

A tower and its supporting antennas, including, but not limited to, self-supporting lattice towers, guy towers and monopoles. DAS hub facilities are considered to be tower-based WCFs.

[Added 10-24-2016 by Ord. No. 2016-04; amended 12-27-2021 by Ord. No. 2021-05]

TRUCK TERMINAL

An area and building where cargo is stored and where trucks load and unload cargo on a regular basis.

UNDERGROUND DEVELOPMENT

A development in which all utility installations are required to be installed underground on a nondiscriminatory basis.

[Added 12-27-2021 by Ord. No. 2021-05]

UNDEVELOPED LAND

Any lot, tract or parcel of land which has not been graded or in any other manner prepared for the construction of a building.

UNIT

A part of the property, structure or building designed or intended for any type of independent use, which has direct exit to a public street or way or to an easement or right-of-way leading to a public street or way and includes a proportionate undivided interest in the common elements, which is assigned to the property, structure or building.[17]

USE

The specific purpose for which land or a building is designated, arranged or intended or for which it is or may be occupied or maintained. The term "permitted use" or its equivalent shall not be deemed to include any nonconforming use.

(1) NONCONFORMING See "nonconforming use."

(2) PERMITTED Any use allowed in a zoning district and subject to the restrictions specific to the use and applicable to that zoning district.

(3) PRINCIPAL The primary or predominant use of any lot.

(4) SIMILAR A use that has the same characteristics as the specifically cited uses in terms of the following: trip generation and type of traffic, parking and circulation, utility demands, environmental impacts, physical space needs and clientele.

(5) TEMPORARY A use established for a fixed period of time with the intent to discontinue such use upon the expiration of the designated time period.

USE PERMIT

A certificate issued and enforced by the Zoning Officer upon completion of the construction of a new building or upon a change or conversion of the structure or use of a building, which certifies that all requirements and regulations as provided herein, as well as all other applicable requirements, have been satisfied.

UTILITY FACILITY, BOX OR STRUCTURE

Transformers, switch boxes, pedestals, poles, pumps, valves and similar devices.

UTILITY, PUBLIC OR PRIVATE

Includes:

(1) Any agency which, under public franchise or ownership or under certificate of convenience and necessity, provides the public with electricity, gas, heat, steam, communication, rail transportation, water, sewage collection or other similar service.

(2) A closely regulated private enterprise with an exclusive franchise for providing a public service.

UTILITY SERVICES

The generation, transmission and/or distribution of electricity, gas, steam, communications and water; the collection and treatment of sewage and solid waste; and the provision of mass transportation.

VARIANCE

Relief granted pursuant to the provisions of Article XXVII. In granting a variance in designated floodplain districts, additional criteria set forth in Article XVIII shall also apply.

VEGETATIVE COVER

Consists of trees, shrubs, flowers, grass, ground or bank cover or suitable pervious decorative substitute, but not including gravel, stone or crushed rocks if not used in conjunction with plant material.

VEHICLE

Every device in or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a street.

VEHICLE WASHING (CAR WASH)

A building on a lot, designed and used primarily for the washing and polishing of vehicles.

VEHICLE WRECKING

The dismantling or wrecking of used automobiles, trailers or similar vehicles, or the storage, sale or dumping of dismantled, partially dismantled, obsolete or wrecked vehicles or their parts.

VEHICULAR BODY SHOP

Any structure or any building or part thereof that is used for the repair or painting of bodies, chassis, wheels, fenders, bumpers and/or accessories of automobiles and other vehicles of conveyance.

VEHICULAR FREIGHT TERMINAL

Land and buildings used as a relay station for the transfer of a load from one vehicle to another or one party to another. The terminal cannot be used for permanent or long-term accessory storage for principal land uses at other locations. The terminal facility may include storage areas for trucks and buildings or areas for the repair of trucks associated with the terminal.

VEHICULAR GARAGE

A building on a lot designed and/or used primarily for mechanical and/or body repairs, storage, rental, servicing or supplying of gasoline or oil to automobiles, trucks or similar motor vehicles.

VEHICULAR SALES ESTABLISHMENT

The use of any building, land area or premises for the display, sale and leasing of new or used automobiles, trucks or vans, trailers or recreational vehicles, including boats and motorcycles, and including any warranty repair work and other repair service conducted as an accessory use.

VEHICULAR SERVICE ESTABLISHMENT

A building or lot or part thereof supplying and selling gasoline or other equivalent fuel for motor vehicles at retail cost, directly from pumps and storage tanks, and which may include accessory facilities for rendering services, such as lubrication, washing and minor repairs.

VETERINARY FACILITY

An establishment offering on-site veterinary services.

WALL

A structure that is usually solid, that defines and sometimes protects an area, or provides support to a soil embankment.

WAREHOUSE

A building used primarily for the storage of goods and materials.

WATERCOURSE

A permanent stream, intermittent stream, river, brook, creek or a channel or ditch for water, whether natural or man-made.

WBCA

Pennsylvania Wireless Broadband Collocation Act (53 P.S. § 11702.1 et seq.).

[Added 10-24-2016 by Ord. No. 2016-04]

WETLANDS

Those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface water or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support and that under normal circumstances do support a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions, including swamps, marshes, bogs and similar areas.

WHOLESALE ESTABLISHMENT

A building or group of buildings primarily used for the storage, transfer and distribution of products and materials, which may include wholesale sales but not retail sales.

WIRELESS

Transmissions through the airwaves, including, but not limited to, infrared line of sight, cellular, PCS, microwave, satellite, or radio signals.

[Added 10-24-2016 by Ord. No. 2016-04]

WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS FACILITY (WCF)

The antennas, nodes, control boxes, towers, poles, conduits, ducts, pedestals, electronics and other equipment used for the purpose of transmitting, receiving, distributing, providing, or accommodating wireless communications services.

[Added 10-24-2016 by Ord. No. 2016-04]

WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS FACILITY (WCF) APPLICANT

Any entity that applies for a wireless communication facility building permit, zoning approval and/or permission to use the public right-of-way (ROW) or other Township-owned land or property.

[Added 10-24-2016 by Ord. No. 2016-04]

WIRELESS SUPPORT STRUCTURE

A freestanding structure that is constructed for the primary purpose of supporting the placement or installation of a WCF, or any other structure approved for such purpose by the Township, or single antenna if approved by the Township.

[Added 10-24-2016 by Ord. No. 2016-04]

WOODLAND

An area of plant material covering one acre or more and consisting of 30% or more canopy trees having an eight-inch or greater caliper, or more trees having a ten-inch or greater caliper. Trees shall be measured at 4.5 feet from ground level.

(1) MATURE An area of plant material covering one acre or more and consisting of 30% or more canopy trees having a sixteen-inch or greater caliper, or any grove consisting of eight or more trees having an eighteen-inch or greater caliper. Trees shall be measured at 4.5 feet from ground level.

(2) YOUNG An area of plant material covering one acre or more and consisting of 70% or more canopy trees having a two-and-one-half-inch caliper or greater, or a tree plantation for commercial or conservation purposes where 70% or more of the canopy trees have a two-and-one-half-inch or greater caliper. Trees shall be measured at 4.5 feet from ground level.

YARD

An open space that lies between the principal building or buildings and the nearest lot line. The minimum required yard per district, as set forth in this chapter, is unoccupied and unobstructed from the ground upward, except as may be specifically provided for herein.

(1) BUFFER A strip of required yard space adjacent to the boundary of a property or district, not less than the width designated in this chapter, on which is placed (planted) year-round shrubbery, hedges, evergreens or other suitable plantings of sufficient height and density to constitute an effective screen and give maximum protection and immediate screening to an abutting property or district, and may include a wall, as provided for in this chapter.

(2) EXTERIOR An open, unoccupied space between the buildings of a dwelling group or its accessory building(s) and the property boundary or street line.

(3) FRONT A yard encompassing the entire width of the lot and situated between the front lot line and the building line nearest to the front lot line.

(4) INTERIOR An open, unoccupied space between the buildings of a dwelling group or its accessory building(s); not a front, side or rear yard.

(5) PERIMETER An open space extending along the boundaries or borders of a tract or parcel of land.

(6) REAR A yard encompassing the entire width of the lot and situated between the rear lot line and the building line nearest to the rear lot line.

(7) SIDE A yard lying between the side lot line and the building line nearest to the side lot line and extending from the front yard to the rear yard or, in the absence of either of such front or rear yards, to the front or rear lot lines.

ZONING

The designation of specified districts within the Township, reserving them for certain uses, together with limitations on lot size, heights of structures and other stipulated requirements.

ZONING MAP

The map setting forth the boundaries of the zoning districts of the Township, which shall be a part of this chapter.

ZONING OFFICER

The duly constituted Township official designated to administer and enforce this chapter in accordance with its literal terms.

ZONING PERMIT

A permit stating that the purpose for which a building and/or structure or land is to be used is in conformity with the uses permitted and all other requirements under this chapter for the district in which it is or will be located.

[1] Editor's Note: See 53 P.S. § 10101 et seq.

[2] Editor’s Note: The definition of “antenna support structure,” which immediately followed, was repealed 10-24-2016 by Ord. No. 2016-04.

[3] Editor's Note: See 47 U.S.C. § 153.

[4] Editor's Note: See 42 U.S.C. § 3601.

[5] Editor's Note: See 63 P.S. § 151.1 et seq.

[6] Editor's Note: See 52 P.S. § 30.51 et seq.

[7] Editor's Note: See 52 P.S. § 30.51 et seq.

[8] Editor's Note: See 35 P.S. § 691.1 et seq.

[9] Editor's Note: See 52 P.S. § 3304.

[10] Editor's Note: So in original.

[11] Editor’s Note: The definitions of “personal wireless service facilities,” “personal wireless services,” and “personal wireless services site,” which immediately followed, were repealed 10-24-2016 by Ord. No. 2016-04.

[12] Editor's Note: See 53 P.S. § 10101 et seq.

[13] Editor's Note: Said Act was repealed 10-15-1998 by P.L. 729, No. 93. See now 65 Pa.C.S.A. § 701 et seq.

[14] Editor's Note: See 53 P.S. § 4000.101 et seq.

[15] Editor's Note: See 53 P.S. § 10509.

[16] Editor's Note: See 52 P.S. § 3301 et seq.

[17] Editor’s Note: The definition of “unlicensed wireless service,” which immediately followed, was repealed 10-24-2016 by Ord. No. 2016-04.