Unless otherwise stated, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated as follows:
A.
Singular and plural. Words in the singular include
the plural, and those in the plural include the singular.
B.
"Building" and "structure." The word "structure" includes
"building," and the use of either word shall be construed as if followed
by the phrase "or part thereof."
C.
"Shall," "will," "must," and "may." The words "shall,"
"will," and "must" are mandatory, and the word "may" is permissive.
As used in this chapter, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
The general unit of measure for traffic on a highway. It
is the total traffic for the year divided by 365 days per year.
A landowner or developer, as hereinafter defined, who has
filed an application for development, including his heirs, successors
and assigns.
Every application, whether preliminary, tentative or final,
required to be filed and approved prior to start of construction or
development, including but not limited to an application for a building
permit, for the approval of a subdivision plat or plan or for the
approval of a development plan.
An architect licensed in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.[1]
An area bounded by streets.
A combination of materials to form a permanent structure
having walls and a roof. Included shall be all mobile homes and trailers
used for human habitation.
A line parallel to the front, side, or rear lot line set
so as to provide the required distance between the right-of-way and
any enclosed structure.
The line within a property defining the required minimum
distance between any enclosed structure and the adjacent right-of-way,
and the line defining side and rear yards, where required.
That portion of a street which is improved, designated, or
intended for vehicular use.
The Chairman of the Chartiers Township Planning Commission.
An area of unobstructed vision at street intersections. It
is defined by lines of sight between points at a given distance from
the intersection of the street center lines.
A parcel or parcels of land or an area of water, or a combination
of land and water, within a development site and 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.
County of Washington, Pennsylvania.
A right-of-way, publicly or privately owned, intended to
furnish access for pedestrians.
A street intersecting another street at one end and terminating
at the other in a vehicular turnaround.
An excavation. The difference between a point on the original
ground and a designated point of lower elevation on the final grade.
Also, the material removed in excavation.
The Department of Planning of the Township of Chartiers.
Those floodplain districts specifically designated in the
Township Zoning Ordinance as being inundated primarily by the one-hundred-year
flood. Included would be areas identified as the Floodway District
(FW), the Flood-Fringe District (FF), and the General Floodplain District
(FA).
Any landowner, agent of such landowner, or tenant with the
permission of such landowner, who makes or causes to be made a subdivision
of land or a land development.
Any man-made change to improved or unimproved real estate,
including but not limited to buildings, or other structures, the placement
of mobile homes, streets and other paving, utilities, mining, dredging,
filling, grading, excavation, or drilling operations and the subdivision
of land.
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.
Director of Planning of the Planning Department of the Township
of Chartiers or official designated by the Supervisors.
A building designed and constructed for residential purposes
in which people live.
A building used by three or more families living independently
of each other and doing their own cooking, including apartment houses.
A building used by one family, having one dwelling unit,
and having two side yards.
A building used by one family, having one side yard, and
one party wall in common with another building.
A building used by one family and having two party walls
in common with other buildings.
A building used by two families, with one dwelling unit arranged
over the other, having two side yards.
A building used by two families, with one dwelling unit arranged
over the other, having one side yard, and having one party wall in
common with another building.
One or more rooms used for living and sleeping purposes and
having a kitchen with fixed cooking facilities arranged for occupancy
by one family or a single person.
A right-of-way granted for the limited use of land for public
or quasi-public purposes.
A professional engineer licensed as such in the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania.
The engineering specifications of Chartiers Township regulating
the installation of any required improvement or for any facility installed
by any owner, subject to public use.
The removal of surface materials by the action of natural
elements.
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 include the conditions resulting
therefrom.
Land used for agricultural use as defined in Chapter 350, Zoning, of the Code of the Township of Chartiers.
Any act by which earth, sand, gravel, or rock is placed,
pushed, dumped, pulled, transported, or moved to a new location above
the natural surface of the ground or on top of the stripped surface.
It shall include the conditions resulting therefrom. The difference
in elevation between a point on the original ground and a designated
point of higher elevation of the final grade. The material used to
make fill.
The area along a natural watercourse which may from time
to time be overflowed by water therefrom.
See "private improvements," "public improvements."
Any of the following activities:
The improvement of one lot or two or more contiguous
lots, tracts or parcels of land for any purpose involving:
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 or occupants or
tenure; or
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.
A subdivision of land.
Land development shall not include:
The conversion of an existing single-family detached dwelling
or single-family semidetached dwelling into not more than three residential
units, unless such units are intended to be a condominium;
The addition of an accessory building, including
farm buildings, on a lot or lots subordinate to an existing principal
farm building; or
The addition or conversion of buildings or rides
within the confines of an enterprise which would be considered an
amusement park. For the purposes of the definition, an "amusement
park" is defined as a tract or area used principally as a location
for permanent amusement structures or rides. This exclusion shall
not apply to newly acquired acreage by an amusement park until initial
plans for the expanded area have been approved by proper authorities.
A land development which is a minor subdivision or a land
development which is an addition to an existing building or which
is an accessory building where the addition or accessory building
will occupy less than 500 square feet of land area.
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 person having a proprietary interest in land.
A landscape architect licensed in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.[3]
The designated representative of the Township which serves
as the "local agency" under Pennsylvania Act 537, the Pennsylvania
Sewage Facilities Act,[4] for on-lot sewage systems enforcement.
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.
The area contained within the property lines of a lot as
shown on a subdivision plan, excluding space within any street right-of-way
or alley right-of-way, but including the area of any easement.[5]
A lot extending between, and having frontage on, an arterial
street and a minor street, and with vehicular access solely from the
latter.
A lot with front and rear street frontage.
A term used in stormwater drainage that requires the use
of a fifty-year storm frequency when computing runoff calculations.
For the purpose of this chapter, it is considered a major area when
a proposed highway crosses an existing defined watercourse.
A term used in stormwater drainage that requires the use
of a ten-year storm frequency when computing runoff calculations.
Minor drainage areas include all basic runoff from highways, paved
and uniformly grassed or developed areas.
A transportable, single-family 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 constructed so that it may be used without a permanent foundation.
A parcel of land in a mobile home park, improved with the
necessary utility connections and other appurtenances necessary for
the erections thereon of a single mobile home.
A parcel or contiguous parcels of land which has been so
designated and improved that it contains two mobile homes.
Any city of the second class A or third class, borough, incorporated
town, Township of the first or second class, county of the second
class through eighth class, home rule municipality, or any similar
general purpose unit of government which shall be created by the General
Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
A flood that, on the average, is likely to occur once every
100 years, (i.e., that has a one-percent chance of occurring each
year, although the flood may occur in any year).
Any individual or group of individuals, partnership, corporation,
unincorporated association, estate, or other legal entity.
Adjustments to recorded plans as follows:
Survey corrections.
Shifts in lot lines between adjacent lots where
no new lots are created and public rights and access to a street,
utility lines, storm sewer lines, and sanitary sewer lines are not
affected.
Shifts in easements and right-of-way locations
due to minor field changes during construction of required improvements.
Minor adjustments in location of buildings or
other site improvements which comply with all zoning and subdivision
and land development requirements and the conditions of the approval
of a land development or conditional use approval or special exception
approval as previously approved.
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 a municipal zoning ordinance.
The Chartiers Township Planning Commission.
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.
The map or plan of a subdivision or land development, whether
preliminary or final.
All streets, sidewalks, walkways, streetlights, street signs,
gutters, curbs, sewers, waterlines, and other utilities or related
facilities, but not including driveways and parking areas, to be operated
and maintained by a private entity.
Includes:
A formal meeting held pursuant to the public notice by the
governing body or planning agency, intended to inform and obtain public
comment, prior to taking action in accordance with the Municipalities
Planning Code.[6]
All streets, sidewalks, walkways, streetlights, street signs,
gutters, curbs, sewers, waterlines, and other utilities or facilities
to be dedicated to or maintained by a public agency, or any such existing
facilities accepted by a public agency.
A forum held pursuant to notice under the Act of October
15, 1998 (P.L. 729, No. 93), 65 Pa.C.S.A. § 701 et seq.,
known as the "Sunshine Act."[7]
Notice published once each week for two successive weeks
in a newspaper of general circulation in the Township. 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.
The one-hundred-year flood elevation plus a freeboard safety
factor of 1 1/2 feet.
Any method, process or substance whose supply is rejuvenated
through natural processes and including, but not limited to, biomass
conversion, geothermal energy, solar and wind energy and hydroelectric
energy and excluding those sources of energy used in the fission and
fusion processes.
The area dedicated to the use of a private street or other
private purposes for use of owners, residents or visitors of a planned
development or lot.
The area dedicated to and accepted by the Township, county,
or Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for a public street and other public
purposes.
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.
Method for developer to secure structural integrity and functioning
of public improvements in accordance with the design and specifications
depicted on the final plan approved by the Township, for a period
of time following the date of acceptance by the Supervisors of dedication
of such improvements. The maintenance security shall be in the form
of a performance bond, federal or commonwealth chartered lending institution
irrevocable letter of credit and restrictive or escrow accounts in
such lending institutions or such other security as may be acceptable
to the Supervisors. Such financial security shall be posted with a
bonding company or federal or commonwealth chartered lending institution
chosen by the party posting the financial security, provided that
said bonding company or lending institution is authorized to conduct
such business within the commonwealth.
Method for developer to guarantee proper installation of
public and private improvements specified in the final application.
The performance security shall be in the form of a performance bond,
federal or commonwealth chartered lending institution irrevocable
letter of credit and restrictive or escrow accounts in such lending
institutions or such other security as may be acceptable to the Supervisors.
Such financial security shall be posted with a bonding company or
federal or commonwealth chartered lending institution chosen by the
party posting the financial security, provided said bonding company
or lending institution is authorized to conduct such business within
the commonwealth.
The process by which mineral or organic matter is accumulated
or deposited by moving wind, water or gravity. Once this matter is
deposited (or remains suspended in water), it is usually referred
to as "sediment."
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.
The face of an embankment or cut section; any ground whose
surface makes an angle with the plane of the horizon. Slopes are usually
expressed in a percentage based upon vertical distance in feet per
100 feet of horizontal distance.
Chemical or structural treatment designed to increase or
maintain the stability of a mass of soil or otherwise to improve the
engineering properties.
Includes street, avenue, boulevard, road, highway, freeway,
parkway, lane, viaduct and any other ways used or intended to be used
by vehicular traffic or pedestrians, whether public or private.
ARTERIAL STREETA major street or highway with fast or heavy traffic volumes of considerable continuity and used primarily as a traffic artery for intercommunications among large areas.
COLLECTOR STREETA major street or highway which carries traffic from minor streets to arterial streets, including the principal entrance streets of a residential development.
LIMITED-ACCESS HIGHWAYA major street or highway which carries large volumes of traffic at comparatively high speed with access at designated points and not from abutting properties.
A minor street which is parallel and adjacent to limited-access
highways or arterial streets and which provides access to abutting
properties and protection from through traffic.
A street used primarily for access to abutting properties.
A street, including the entire private right-of-way, which
is intended for private use and is a private improvement.
A street, including the entire public right-of-way, which
has been dedicated or devoted to public use by legal mapping, use
or other lawful means.
Any man-made object having an ascertainable stationary location
on or in land or water, whether or not affixed to the land.
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 any residential
dwelling, shall be exempted.
A subdivision of one existing lot into six lots or less or a resubdivision which changes lot lines of legally created lots involving the creation of six additional new lots or less, whether done at one time or cumulatively, which does not involve any new street or easement of access or the extension or creation of any public or private improvements, which does not adversely affect the development of the remainder of the parcel or adjoining property, and which is not in conflict with any provisions of this chapter or Chapter 350, Zoning, of the Township Code.
Where, in the judgment of the Municipal Engineer, at least
90% (based on the cost of the required improvements for which financial
security was posted pursuant to Section 509 of the Municipalities
Planning Code[8]) of those improvements required as a condition for final
approval have been completed in accordance with the approved plan,
so that the project will be able to be used, occupied or operated
for its intended use.
A plan showing all present and proposed grades and facilities
for storm drainage.
A surveyor licensed in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.[9]
A low-lying stretch of land characterized as a depression
used to carry surface water runoff.
Surface soils and subsurface soils which presumably are fertile
soil and soil material, ordinarily rich in organic matter or humus
debris. Topsoil is usually found in the uppermost soil layer called
the "A Horizon."
The Township of Chartiers, Washington County, Pennsylvania,
a municipal body having its principal address at 2 Buccaneer Drive,
Houston, Pennsylvania 15342.
A professional engineer licensed as such in the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania, duly appointed by the Board of Supervisors as the
engineer of the Township of Chartiers.
A sewage enforcement officer certified as such by the commonwealth
and appointed by the Supervisors as the official of the Township who
issues and reviews permit applications and conducts the investigations
and inspections as are necessary to implement Act 537[10] and Chapters 71, 72, and 73 of the Pennsylvania Code.
Any lot, tract or parcel of land which has not been graded
or in any other manner prepared for the construction of a building.
A stream of water; river, brook, creek; or channel or ditch
for water whether natural or man-made.
