For the purpose of this chapter, words used
in the present tense shall include the future. The singular number
shall include the plural and the plural shall include the singular.
The masculine shall include the feminine and the neuter. The word
"shall" is always mandatory. The word "building" includes "structure"
and shall be construed as if followed by the words "or any part thereof."
The phrase "used for" includes "arranged for." "Person" includes an
individual, corporation, partnership, incorporated association, or
any other legal entity. The word "includes" or "including" shall not
limit the term to the specified example, but is intended to extend
its meaning to all other instances of like kind and character. Except
as defined within this chapter, all words and phrases shall have their
normal meanings and usage.
The Lawrence Township Airport Zoning Ordinance and Floodplain Regulations have been incorporated into the Zoning Ordinance. Because of their special and technical nature, additional sections on definitions are included in the articles of this chapter which cover these matters. (See Articles VIII and IX). Therefore, persons interested or affected by those Articles should consult the special definitions contained therein. However, for general zoning matters that do not relate to regulations pertaining to airport zoning or floodplain regulations, the definitions in Article II shall apply.
The following words and phrases shall have the
meaning given in this section.
A subordinate building, incidental to and located on the
same lot as the principal building, and used for an accessory use.
A use incidental to and subordinate to and located on the
same lot occupied by the principal use to which it relates.
Any premises in which food, shelter, personal care, assistance
or supervision and supplemental health care services are provided
for a period exceeding 24 hours for four or more adults who are not
relatives of the operator and who require assistance or supervision
in such matters as dressing, bathing, diet, financial management,
evacuation from the residence in the event of an emergency or medication
prescribed for self-administration.
[Added 10-4-2011 by Ord. No. 2011-08]
A story or portion of a story partly below the average grade
of the surrounding ground with at least 1/2 of its height (measured
from floor to ceiling) below the average grade level of the surrounding
ground.
An owner-occupied residence offering, for pay, overnight
or short-term lodging and breakfast for transient guests.
A sign that identifies or communicates a commercial or noncommercial
message related to an activity conducted, a service rendered, or a
commodity sold at a location other than where the sign is located.
The Zoning Hearing Board of Lawrence Township, Clearfield
County, Pennsylvania.
See the definition of "rooming house."
A roofed structure, whether or not enclosed by walls, to
be used for the shelter, enclosure or protection of persons, goods,
materials or animals.
A place of assembly used for congregate religious services
and worship. Although accessory uses, such as educational and recreational
facilities for use of church members are permitted, other facilities
and uses will be regarded as separate principal uses.
A facility which offers various indoor recreational opportunities
for its patrons, including such games as pool, billiards, bowling,
video games and similar pursuits.
A use to be allowed or denied by the Board of Supervisors
pursuant to the express standards and criteria set forth in this chapter.
Said use is to be considered after public notice and hearing and recommendations
by the Lawrence Township Planning Commission. In allowing a conditional
use, the Board of Supervisors may attach such reasonable conditions
and safeguards, in addition to those expressed in this chapter, as
it may deem necessary to implement the purposes of the Planning Code
and of this chapter.
The construction, reconstruction, renovation, repair, extension,
expansion, alteration or relocation of a building or structure, including
the placement of mobile homes.
A retail establishment of limited size, designed for the
sale of sundries, groceries and gasoline (and sometimes diesel fuel).
A studio apartment with a wall, or space for a wall, dividing
the bed from the rest of the living space.
[Added 3-3-2015 by Ord.
No. 2015-03]
An establishment containing a furnace designed to cremate
or reduce to ashes human or animal remains of the deceased according
to Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) regulations.
[Added 10-4-2011 by Ord. No. 2011-08]
The operation of specialized computer equipment for the purpose
of mining one or more blockchain-based cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin.
This activity, which is also termed "proof of work," involves the
solving of algorithms as part of the development and maintenance of
a blockchain which is a type of distributed ledger maintained on a
peer-to-peer network. Typical physical characteristics of cryptocurrency
mining include specialized computer hardware for mining operations
as well as equipment to cool the hardware and operating space. For
the purposes of the associated regulations, cryptocurrency mining
does not include the exchange of cryptocurrency or any other type
of virtual currency, nor does it encompass the use, creation, or maintenance
of all types of peer-to-peer distributed ledgers.
[Added 4-4-2023 by Ord. No. 2023-01]
Provides out-of-home care for part of a twenty-four-hour
day to children under 16 years of age, excluding care provided by
relatives and excluding day care furnished in places of worship during
religious services. This chapter identifies three levels of day care
services for children:
FAMILY DAY-CARE HOMESFacilities in which child day-care is provided at any one time to four, five, or six children who are not relatives of the caregiver.
GROUP DAY-CARE HOMESFacilities in which care is provided for more than six but fewer than 12 children, at any one time, where the child-care areas are being used as a family residence. (Care of six to 12 children where the child-care areas are not used as a family residence will be considered a day-care center.)
DAY-CARE CENTERSFacilities in which care is provided for seven or more children, at any one time, where the child-care areas are not used as a family residence.
Child care for fewer than four children will
not be considered as day-care services.
Any facilities identified as a kennel by the laws or regulations
of Pennsylvania.
A building arranged, intended, designed or used as the living
quarters for one or more families living independently of each other
upon the premises. The term "dwelling" shall not be deemed to include
hotel, motel, rooming house or tourist home.
SINGLE-FAMILY DWELLINGA building containing only one dwelling unit.
TWO-FAMILY DWELLINGA building containing two dwelling units.
MULTIFAMILY DWELLINGA building containing three or more dwelling units, including apartment houses, townhouses, flats, and garden apartments.
DETACHED DWELLINGA dwelling with yards on all four sides.
A building or portion thereof containing one or more rooms
for living purposes together with separate and exclusive cooking and
sanitary facilities, accessible from the outdoors, either directly
or through an entrance hall shared with other dwelling units, and
used or intended to be used by one family.
Consists of a householder (homeowner/ leaseholder)
and one or more persons living in the same household who are related
to the householder by birth, marriage, blood or adoption.
A family can also consist of a nonfamily household
comprised of five persons or fewer sharing a dwelling unit who are
not related by birth, marriage, blood or adoption.
A relatively flat or low land area which is subject to partial
or complete inundation from an adjoining or nearby stream, river or
watercourse; and/or any area subject to the unusual and rapid accumulation
of surface waters from any source (See also Article IX).
The sum of the gross area of the several floors of a building
or buildings measured from the face of the exterior walls, or from
the center line of the walls separating two buildings.
An accessory building used only for storage purposes, either
attached to the principal building or separate.
An area of land, together with any structure thereon, used
for the retail sale of motor fuel and lubricants and incidental services,
such as lubrication and washing of motor vehicles, and the sale, installation
or minor repairs of tires, batteries or other automobile accessories.
The coming together of more than four handicapped persons
not related by blood, marriage or adoption in a single housekeeping
unit which provides the physical and social needs normal to a residence
and whose management is under the direction of a public or semipublic
institution operating in pursuit of its objectives.
To sell and service heavy powered machines which perform
specific construction or demolition functions which are designed for
primarily off-road work.
[Added 10-4-2011 by Ord. No. 2011-08]
The vertical distance measured from the average level of
finished grade along all the exterior walls of the building to the
highest point of the roof and to the highest point on any structure
which rises wholly or partly above the roof.
Any use customarily carried on entirely within a dwelling,
by the occupants thereof, which use is clearly incidental and subordinate
to the use of the dwelling for dwelling purposes and does not change
the residential character thereof.
An enclosed device licensed by the Pennsylvania Department
of Environmental Protection (PADEP), or its successor agency, which
uses controlled combustion for the primary purpose of breaking down
solid waste.
[Added 10-4-2011 by Ord. No. 2011-08]
A tract or parcel of land, regardless of size, held in single
or joint ownership, which is occupied or capable of being occupied
by buildings, structures, and accessory buildings, including such
open spaces as are arranged, designed or required. The term "lot"
shall also mean parcel, plot, site, or similar term.
A lot at the point of intersection of and abutting on two
or more intersecting streets.
Any line dividing a lot from another lot or from an abutting
street or other right-of-way.
The assembly, fabrication, manufacture, production, processing,
storage and/or wholesale distribution of goods or products where no
process involved will produce noise, light, vibration, air pollution,
fire hazard, or emissions, noxious or dangerous to neighboring properties
within 400 feet.
A transportable, single-family dwelling intended for permanent
occupancy, contained in one 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 erection thereon of a single mobile home.
A parcel of land under single ownership which has been planned
and improved for the placement of mobile homes for nontransient use,
consisting of two or more mobile home lots.
A building or group of buildings containing individual rooms
or apartment accommodations primarily for transients, each of which
is provided with a parking space, and offered principally for rental
and use by motor vehicle travelers. The term "motel" includes, but
is not limited to, auto courts, motor courts, motor inns, motor lodges
or roadside hotels.
A lot, the area or dimension of which was lawful prior to
the adoption or amendment of this Zoning 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.
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 an amendment 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.
A use, whether of land or structure, which does not comply
with the applicable use provisions of this chapter or amendment hereafter
enacted, where such use was lawfully in existence 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.
A lot or structure whose principal use is the parking or
storage of motor vehicles for specified time periods or on a rental
basis, but not for commercial or public utility vehicles or the dead
storage of motor vehicles.
An open space with a dustless all-weather surface, or space
in a private garage or other structure with an effective length of
at least 18 feet and a uniform width of at least nine feet for the
storage of one automobile and accessible from a public way.
The Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, Act 247 of
1968, as reenacted and amended by Act No. 170 of 1988 and as further
amended from time to time.[1]
The office or studio of a physician, surgeon, dentist, lawyer,
architect, artist, engineer, certified public accountant, real estate
broker or salesman, insurance broker or agent, musician, teacher,
or similar occupation.
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. [See also Act
1984-164 § 5914(a).[2] ]
Parks and playgrounds which are owned and operated by the
Township of Lawrence or by an authority created for such purposes
by the Township of Lawrence.
The use of tents and camping trailers, fifth-wheel trailers,
motor homes, travel trailers and truck campers, which do not exceed
400 square feet in floor area, or the applicable ANSI A.119.2/NFPA
standard for recreational vehicles, where persons or families may
live temporarily. For the purposes of this definition, it shall be
presumed that the occupancy of any of the foregoing for a continuous
period of three months or more shall constitute permanent occupancy.
Permanent occupancy of the above-listed uses is strictly prohibited.
[Added 10-4-2011 by Ord. No. 2011-08]
A business that receives a material that can be recycled.
Materials shall be processed in and marketed within 15 business days.
[Added 3-16-2010 by Ord. No. 2010-01]
[Added 4-4-2023 by Ord. No. 2023-01]
Solar energy;
Wind energy;
Geothermal energy;
Water power in the case of a hydroelectric project
that does not require a new appropriation, diversion, or impoundment
of water and that has a nameplate rating of 10 megawatts or less,
or is an expansion of an existing hydroelectric project;
Landfill or farm-based methane gas;
Gas produced from the treatment of wastewater;
Low-emission, nontoxic biomass energy based
on dedicated energy crops, animal wastes, or solid organic fuels from
wood, forest, or field residues, except that the term does not include
wood pieces that have been treated with chemical preservatives such
as creosote, pentachlorophenol, or copper-chrome arsenic; and
Hydrogen derived from any of the sources listed
above for use in fuel cells.
A dwelling having two or more sleeping rooms for rent to
persons not related to its other occupants. The term "rooming house"
includes the term "boardinghouse."
A business where auto, truck or equipment parts are salvaged
from vehicles or equipment that are no longer able to perform their
intended purpose and are resold to consumers as used parts. Leftover
material is then sold as scrap material within 60 days.
[Added 3-16-2010 by Ord. No. 2010-01]
A business where various types of metal material are received
and then resold as the market prices dictate.
[Added 3-16-2010 by Ord. No. 2010-01]
A fence, screen planting or wall at least six feet high,
provided in such a way that it will block a line of sight.
An evergreen hedge at least six feet high, planted in such
a way that it will block a line of sight. The screening may consist
of either one, or multiple rows of bushes or trees and shall be at
least four feet wide.
A building or group of buildings that contains various sizes
of individualized, compartmentalized and controlled-access stalls
and/or lockers leased by the general public for a specified period
of time for the dead storage of personal property.
[Added 10-4-2011 by Ord. No. 2011-08]
Contains six or more independent-living units in a single
structure. "Independent living" is defined as a dwelling unit for
senior citizens 55+ who can live independent of assistance and/or
supervision that provides full living accommodations, including full
baths and full kitchens.
[Added 10-4-2011 by Ord. No. 2011-08]
A single-story building being 12 feet by 16 feet, 192 square
feet, and having an eight-foot side yard and a ten-foot rear yard.
[Added 11-17-2015 by Ord.
No. 2015-06; 12-15-2015 by Ord. No. 2015-07]
A grouping of retail business and service uses on a single
site with common parking facilities. This term will also include a
single retail operation where the gross floor area is 30,000 square
feet or more.
A furnished home, apartment or room that is rented out on
a daily or weekly basis, often to tourist or business travelers.
[Added 4-4-2023 by Ord. No. 2023-01]
Any structure, building, wall, or other outdoor
surface, or any device or part thereof, which displays or includes
any letter, word, model, banner, flag, pennant, insignia, device,
or other representations used for announcement, direction, advertisement
or identification. The word "sign" includes the word "billboard,"
but does not include the flag, pennant, or insignia of any nation,
state, city or other political unit, nor public traffic or directional
signs. (See also "billboard.") The term "sign" is not intended to
apply to the display of religious symbols on property being used for
religious purposes.
The "area of a sign" shall be construed to include
all lettering, wording, and accompanying designs and symbols, together
with the background which is incidental to the display itself. Where
the sign consists of individual letters or symbols attached to or
painted on a surface, the area shall be considered the smallest rectangle
which can be drawn to encompass all of the letters and symbols.
A sign which directs attention to a business, profession,
service or industry conducted, sold, manufactured, assembled or offered
for sale other than upon the premises where the sign is displayed.
A sign which directs attention to a business, profession
or industry conducted on the premises or to products sold, manufactured
or assembled upon the same premises upon which it is displayed.
Two to three but not more than four dwelling units each accommodating
one family, which are attached side by side through the use of common
party walls and which shall have side yards adjacent to each end unit.
[Added 5-15-2018 by Ord.
No. 2018-01]
Any solar project or purchasing program, within a geographic
area, in which the benefits of a solar project flow to multiple customers
such as individuals, businesses, nonprofits, and other groups.
[Added 4-4-2023 by Ord. No. 2023-01]
A use permitted with special permission granted by the Zoning
Hearing Board, to occupy or use land and/or a building for specific
purposes in accordance with the criteria set forth in this chapter
when such use is not permitted by right.
That portion of a building located between the surface of
any floor and the next floor above; if there is not more than one
floor, the space between any floor and the ceiling next above it shall
be considered a story.
A public or private right-of-way, excluding driveways, intended
for use as a means of vehicular and pedestrian circulation which provides
a means of access to abutting property. The word "street" includes
thoroughfare, avenue, boulevard, court, drive, expressway, highway,
lane, alley and road or similar terms.
A line defining the right-of-way boundaries of a street.
Any man-made object having an ascertainable stationary location
on or in land or water, whether or not affixed to the land.
A multifamily dwelling consisting of three or more dwelling
units that are attached side by side by an unpierced party wall.
Any dual-rear-wheeled trucks or truck-trailer combination
up to eighteen-wheeled trucks that are designed to haul heavy loads
on interstate or local roads.
[Added 10-4-2011 by Ord. No. 2011-08]
A structure for the temporary storage of merchandise or commodities.
Such use may include the storage of goods and equipment for other
businesses. Warehouse uses do not include retail activities.
[Added 10-4-2011 by Ord. No. 2011-08]
That portion of a lot which is unoccupied and open to the
sky and extends from the lot line to the yard line.
A yard between an adjacent right-of-way and the building
line and extending for the full width of the lot.
A line within a lot defining the minimum distance between
any building or structure or portion thereof, and an adjacent lot
line. Such line shall be measured at right angles from and parallel
to the corresponding lot line.
A yard between the rear lot line and a line drawn parallel
thereto at such distance therefrom as may be specified herein for
any zoning district, and extending for the full width of the lot.
An open yard space between the side lot line and parallel
thereto extending from the front lot line to the rear lot line.
The Zoning Officer of the Township of Lawrence, or his authorized
representative.
