[Amended 12-1-1992 by Ord. No. 92-16]
A.
Unless a contrary intention clearly appears, the following words
and phrases shall have for the purpose of this chapter the meanings
in the following clauses.
(1)
For the purpose of this chapter, words and terms used herein
shall be interpreted as follows:
(a)
Words used in the present tense include the future.
(b)
The singular includes the plural.
(c)
The word "person" includes a corporation, partnership and association
or other legal entity, as well as the individual.
(d)
The word "lot" includes the words "plot" or "parcel."
(e)
The word "Commission" and the words "Planning Commission" always
mean the Middletown Township Planning Commission.
(f)
The word "Supervisors" and the words "Board of Supervisors"
always mean the Middletown Township Board of Supervisors.
(g)
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 occupied."
(h)
The words "shall" and "will" are mandatory. The word "may" is
permissive.
B.
Any word or term not defined herein shall be used with a meaning
of standard usage.
[Amended 3-19-1991 by Ord. No. 91-15; 12-1-1992 by Ord. No. 92-13; 12-1-1992 by Ord. No. 92-16; 8-16-2000 by Ord. No. 00-09]
Unless a contrary intention clearly appears, the following words
and phrases shall have, for the purpose of this chapter, the meanings
in the following clauses:
Any person, other than the developer, who, acting for the
developer, submits to the Board of Supervisors subdivision or land
development plans for the purpose of obtaining approval thereof.
Any person, landowner or developer who has filed an application
with the Board of Supervisors for a subdivision or land development
for the purpose of obtaining approval thereof.
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.
A professional architect registered by the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania.
A body politic and corporate created pursuant to the Act
of May 2, 1945 (P.L. 382, No. 164) known as the "Municipality Authorities
Act of 1945."[1]
A strip of land established to protect adjacent land uses.
Buffer yards are intended to visually soften the outline of buildings,
to screen glare and noise and to create a visual barrier between adjacent
land uses.
A structure, either temporary or permanent, having a roof
which is intended to be used for shelter or enclosure of persons,
animals or property. The word "building" shall include any part thereof.
ACCESSORY BUILDINGA subordinate building located on the same lot as a principal building and clearly incidental to the principal building. Any portion of a principal building devoted or intended to be devoted to an accessory use is not an accessory building.
PRINCIPAL BUILDINGA building in which is conducted, or is intended to be conducted, the principal use of the lot on which it is located.
The line parallel to the street line at a distance therefrom
equal to the depth of the minimum front yard required for the district
in which the lot is located.
The hard or paved surface portion of any street right-of-way,
or that portion of a street right-of-way customarily used by vehicles
in the regular course of travel over the street.
A secondary street with one end open for vehicular and pedestrian
access and the other end terminating in a vehicular turnaround. The
minimum length for a cul-de-sac shall be 250 feet. The minimum outside
turning radius for a cul-de-sac shall be 40 feet.
A measure of the number of dwelling units per unit of area.
It shall be expressed in dwelling units per acre. The measure is arrived
at by dividing the number of dwelling units by the base site area.
Regulations adopted pursuant to this chapter imposing standards
by which a subdivision or land development is developed.
Any landowner, agent of a landowner, or tenant with the permission
of such landowner, who makes or causes to be made a subdivision of
land or a land development.
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
development plan" when used in this chapter shall mean the written
and graphic materials referred to in this definition.
Any ditch, pipe, culvert, storm sewer or structure designed,
intended or constructed for the purpose of diverting surface water
from or carrying surface waters off streets, public rights-of-way,
parks, recreational areas or any part of any subdivision or land development.
Any room or group of rooms located within a building and
forming a single habitable unit with facilities which are used or
intended to be used for living, sleeping, cooking and eating by one
family.
A grant of one or more of the property rights by the property
owner to and/or for the use by the public, a corporation or another
person or entity.
A professional engineer licensed in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
All engineering responsibilities as herein defined shall be
those of the Engineer(s) for the Township. The Engineer(s) will review
the plan and any accompanying material for the proposed subdivision
or land development and make his findings known in a report to the
Middletown Township Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors.
The report will be considered by the Planning Commission when reviewing
the proposal.
The Engineers' responsibility in the review of subdivision and
land development proposals shall include, but not be limited to, the
following engineering considerations. The Engineer(s) shall make recommendations
concerning approval or disapproval of the application based upon these
considerations as they are reflected in the plans submitted:
Dimensions and areas of lots and/or parcels.
Existing and proposed contours in relation to the proposed use
and that of adjacent properties.
Soil conditions; proposed erosion controls.
Surface and subsurface drainage conditions and proposed stormwater
management plan.
Lighting plans.
Utility plan, easement requirements.
Road specifications, widths, cross sections, alignment, profiles
and intersections.
Location and design of entrance and existing accessways.
Sewage disposal system, sewage collection system and sewage
transmission system.
Conformance to Middletown Township Zoning Ordinance (Chapter 500).
Acceptability of materials and construction indicated in final
plans and specifications.
Anticipated traffic generated by the proposal.
Water supply and distribution systems.
The process by which soil and bedrock are worn away by the
action of wind, water, climate or chemical action.
Areas adjoining streams, ponds or lakes subject to the one-hundred-year
recurrence-interval flood. The areas considered to be floodplain within
Middletown Township shall include those areas identified as being
subject to the one-hundred-year flood in the Flood Insurance Study
for Middletown Township prepared by the Federal Insurance Administration,
dated June 1979, and the accompanying Flood Boundary and Floodway
Map dated December 4, 1979.
FLOODWAYThat portion of the floodplain, including the watercourse channel and adjacent land areas, which must be reserved to carry the one-hundred-year recurrent-interval flood without cumulatively increasing that flood elevation more than one foot.
FLOOD FRINGEThat portion of the floodplain which is outside the floodway.
APPROXIMATE ONE-HUNDRED-YEAR FLOODPLAINThat portion of the floodplain for which no detailed flood profiles or one-hundred-year elevations have been provided.
Areas subject to periodic flooding and listed in the Soil
Survey of Bucks and Philadelphia Counties, Pennsylvania, United States
Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service,
July 1975 (or latest revised), as "soils subject to periodic flooding."
Such soils include the following:
Surfaces which do not absorb rain. All buildings, parking
areas, driveways, roads, sidewalks, swimming pools, lakes, ponds,
gravel-covered areas and any areas in concrete and asphalt, including
porous asphalt paving, shall be considered impervious surfaces within
this definition. In addition, paved areas and other areas determined
by the Township Engineer to be impervious within the meaning of this
definition will also be classed as impervious surfaces.
The impervious surface ratio is a measure of the intensity
of use of a piece of land. It is measured by dividing the total area
of all impervious surfaces within the site by the base site area.
Any street for which the Township, county or commonwealth
has maintenance responsibility and which has an approved surface.
Those physical additional installations and changes, such
as streets, curbs, sidewalks, water mains, sewers, drainage facilities,
public utilities and other appropriate items, required to render land
suitable for the use proposed.
Natural or artificial bodies of water which retain water
year round. Artificial ponds may be created by dams or result from
excavation. Lakes are bodies of water two or more acres in extent.
Ponds are any water bodies less than two acres in extent.
The landside edges of lakes and ponds from established shoreline
to an upland boundary. Lake and pond shorelines shall be measured
100 feet from the spillway crest elevation.
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 of 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.
The following shall not be considered a land development:
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 building,
on a lot or lots subordinate to an existing principal 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 this exemption, 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 the municipality.
The legal or beneficial owner or owners of land, including
the holder of an option or contract to purchase, 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.
A parcel of land used or set aside and available for use
as the site of one or more buildings and buildings accessory thereto
for any other purpose, in one ownership and not divided by a street
nor including any land within the limits of a public or private street
right-of-way upon which said lot abuts, even if fee to such way is
in the owner of the lot. A "lot" for the purpose of this chapter may
or may not coincide with a lot on record.
The area contained within the property lines of the individual
parcels of land as shown on a subdivision, excluding any area within
an existing or designated future street right-of-way, or any area
of required open space or the area of any easements and including
the area of any easements.
A lot which has an interior angle of less than 135° at
the intersection of two street lines. A lot abutting upon a curved
street or streets shall be considered a corner lot if the tangents
to the curve at the points beginning with the lot or at the points
of intersection of the side lot lines with the street right-of-way
lines intersect at an interior angle of less than 135°.
Any boundary line of a lot.
The Manager is the Township Manager appointed as such by
the Township Board of Supervisors.
A voluntary negotiating process in which parties in a dispute
mutually select a neutral mediator to assist them in jointly exploring
and settling their differences, culminating in a written agreement
which the parties themselves create and consider reasonable.
A transportable, single-family dwelling intended for permanent
occupancy, office or space of assembly 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 erection thereon of a single mobile home.
That part of an individual lot which has been reserved for
the placement of the mobile home, appurtenant structures or additions.
A parcel or contiguous parcels of land which has been so
designated and improved that it contains two or more mobile home lots
for the placement thereon of mobile homes.
A stone or concrete monument with a flat top at least four
inches square, containing a reference point, and at least 24 feet
in length. It is recommended that the bottom sides be at least two
inches greater than the top to minimize movement caused by frost.
Land which shall be kept open in perpetuity and shall be
restricted from future development. Open space shall be permanent
and inviolate. To qualify as open space, such land shall be used only
for open space uses: recreation, amenity, buffer or resource protection.
Open space shall not include land occupied by nonrecreational buildings
or structures, roads or road rights-of-way, easements, parking lots,
land reserved for future parking lots, stormwater detention basins
or retention basins, or the yards or lots of dwelling units.
The open space ratio is a measure of intensity of land use.
It is arrived at by dividing the total amount of open space within
the site by the base site area.
An area on a lot used for parking a vehicle, to which there
is access from a street.
A complete and exact subdivision or land development plan,
including all required supplementary data, prepared for official recording
as required by statute to define property rights, proposed streets
and other improvements.
A formal subdivision or land development plan (and including
all required supplementary data), showing the existing features of
the tract and its proposed street and lot layout as a basis for consideration
prior to preparation of a final plan.
An exact copy of the final plan which bears the signed and
dated approval of all necessary signatures.
An informal plan, indicating salient existing features of
a tract and its surroundings and the general layout of the proposed
subdivision or land development. This plan is not a formal submission
under the regulations of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning
Code.
The map or plan of a subdivision or land development, whether
preliminary or final.
Includes:
A formal meeting held pursuant to public notice by the Board
of Supervisors or Planning Commission, intended to inform and obtain
public comment, prior to taking action in accordance with this chapter.
A forum held pursuant to notice under the Act of July 3,
1986 (P.L. 388, No. 84), known as the "Sunshine Act," 53 P.S. § 271
et seq.[2]
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.
A performance standard shall be considered a subdivision or land development for the purpose of the procedural sections of this chapter. It is a subdivision or land development for which the developer chooses to use the performance standards set forth in the Township of Middletown Zoning Ordinance (Chapter 500).
Land set aside for use as a street, alley or other means
of travel.
EXISTING RIGHT-OF-WAYThe legal right-of-way as established by the commonwealth or other appropriate governing authority and currently in existence.
FUTURE RIGHT-OF-WAYThe right-of-way deemed necessary to provide adequate width for future street improvements.
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.
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."
PUBLIC SEWERAny municipally or privately owned sewer system in which sewage is collected from buildings from more than one lot and/or dwelling unit and piped to an approved sewage disposal plant. It may also be referred to as "off-lot" or "off-site" sewer. This shall include capped sewers.
PRIVATE SEWERAn on-lot approved disposal system generally providing for disposal of effluent for only one building or a group of buildings on a single lot.
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.
A parcel or parcels of land intended to have one or more
buildings or intended to be subdivided into one or more lots.
All land area within the site as defined in the deed. This
area shall be determined from an actual site survey rather than from
a deed description.
The area of the site remaining after subtracting land which
is not contiguous, land previously subdivided, and road and utility
rights-of-way from the site area.
The area of the site which may be altered, disturbed or regraded
for development purposes. The buildable site area could contain buildings,
roads, parking areas, sewage systems and stormwater management facilities.
The buildable site area would not contain required open space, recreation
areas and natural resource protection areas.
SOLAR ENERGYRadiant energy (direct, diffuse or reflected) received from the sun at wavelengths suitable for conversion into thermal, chemical or electrical energy.
SOLAR ENERGY COLLECTORAny device, structure or part of a device or structure which is used primarily to transform solar energy into thermal, chemical or electrical energy. It includes any space or structural component specifically designed to retain heat derived from solar energy.
SOLAR ENERGY SYSTEMA complete design or assembly consisting of a solar energy collector, an energy storage facility (where appropriate) and components for the distribution of transformed energy to the extent they cannot be used jointly with a conventional energy system. Passive solar energy systems are included in this definition but not to the extent that they fulfill structural or other functions.
ACTIVE SOLAR ENERGY SYSTEMA solar system that requires external mechanical power (fans or pumps) to move a conductive medium (water, antifreeze or freon) to the interior of a building for heating or cooling.
PASSIVE SOLAR SYSTEMA solar energy system that uses natural properties of materials and architectural components to collect and store solar energy. In some cases, external mechanical power (fan) may be required to move the collected heat.
Areas where the average slope exceeds 8% which, because of
this slope, are subject to high rates of stormwater runoff and, therefore,
erosion and flooding.
A public or private way used or intended to be used for passage
or travel by automotive vehicles and pedestrians and to provide access
to abutting properties.
Streets are further defined and classified as follows:
Thoroughfares.
Expressways. Designed for large volumes and high-speed traffic
with access limited to grade-separated intersections.
Arterial street. Designed for moderate volumes of through traffic
with controlled access to abutting properties.
Collector street. Designed to carry a moderate to heavy volume
of residential traffic, to carry traffic to and from intercepting
primary and secondary streets to arterial streets, with access to
abutting properties frequently controlled.
Local streets.
Primary street. Designed to carry a moderate volume of traffic,
to intercept secondary streets, to provide routes to collector streets
and community facilities, and to provide access to the abutting properties.
Secondary street. Designed to provide access to the abutting
properties and a route to primary streets.
Rural streets. Designed to serve farms and homes in the rural
areas of the Township and distribute traffic from these areas to the
collector, arterial and expressway system.
Marginal access street. Designed as a street parallel and adjacent
to a collector or higher level street which provides access to abutting
properties and separation from through traffic.
Alley. A minor way which provides a secondary means of access
to lots and is used primarily for vehicular service access to the
back or the side of properties otherwise abutting on a street.
Driveway. Generally a private street for the use of vehicles
and pedestrians, providing access between a public street and a parking
area within a lot or property.
The dividing line between the street and the lot. The street line shall be the same as the legal right-of-way line, provided that the street right-of-way shall not be less than required in § 440-410 of this chapter; and where a future right-of-way width for a street has been officially established, the street right-of-way line shall be the side line of the future right-of-way so established.
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
dwellings, shall be exempted.
The term "subdivision" includes condominium conversion and resubdivision;
when appropriate to the context, the aforesaid term shall relate to
the process of subdividing or to the land subdivided.
SUBDIVISION, MAJORAny subdivision not classified as a minor subdivision or lot line change.
SUBDIVISION, MINORThe division of a single lot, tract or parcel of land into two lots, tracts or parcels of land for the purpose of building development, providing the proposed lots, tracts or parcels of land thereby created have frontage on an improved public street or streets, and providing further that there is not created by the subdivision any new street or streets, the need for required improvement, or the need for an easement of access.
LOT LINE CHANGEAny division of land for the adjustment or relocation of one existing boundary line between two adjacent lots or the shifting of boundary line to increase the area of an existing lot; provided, however, that the lot line change results in the same number or fewer lots as existed prior to the lot line change, and provided that the area of each of the lots involved does not increase or decrease by more than 20% of the original lot area.
Where, in the judgment of the Township Engineer, at least
90% (based on the cost of the required improvements for which financial
security was posted) of those improvements required as a condition
of final plan 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 professional land surveyor registered by the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania.
Any activity, occupation, business or operation carried on
or intended to be carried on in a building or other structure or on
a tract of land.
Those services customarily rendered by public utility corporations,
municipalities or municipal authorities in the nature of electricity,
gas, telephone, water and sewerage, including the appurtenances used
in connection with the supplying of the services (buildings, wires,
pipes, poles and the like).
Any natural or artificial stream, river, creek, ditch, channel,
canal, waterway, gully or ravine in which water flows in a definite
direction or course, either continuously or intermittently, and has
a defined bed and banks.
Any waterworks, water supply works, water distribution system
or part thereof designed, intended or constructed to provide or distribute
potable water.
ON-LOT WATER SUPPLYA system for supplying and distributing water to a single dwelling or building from a source located on the same lot.
PUBLIC WATER SUPPLYA single source of water serving more than one user unit (residence, business, church, etc.).
An inventory of the source, quantity, yield and use of groundwater
and surface water resources within the Township.
Those areas that are inundated and 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.
The transitional area extending from the outer limit of the
wetland.
A device which converts wind energy to mechanical or electrical
energy.
One-quarter acre or more of wooded land where the largest
trees measure at least six inches in diameter at breast height (dbh)
or 4.5 feet from the ground. The woodland shall be measured from the
dripline of the outer trees. Woodlands are also a grove of trees forming
one canopy where 10 or more trees measure at least 10 inches diameter
at breast height (dbh).
An open space unobstructed from the ground up except for
permitted projections and plantings, on the same lot with a structure,
extending along a lot line or street line and inward to the structure.
The size of a required yard shall be measured as the shortest distance
between the structure and a lot line or street line.
YARD, FRONTA yard between a structure and a street line and extending the entire length of the street line. In the case of a lot that fronts on more than one street, the yards extending along all streets are front yards.
YARD, REARA yard between a structure and a rear lot line and extending the entire length of the rear lot line.
YARD, SIDEA yard between a structure and a side lot line, extending from the front yard to the rear yard. In the case of a lot having no street frontage or a lot of odd shape, any yard that is not a front yard or a rear yard shall be considered a side yard.
