The Township of Towamencin is hereby divided into districts
of different types, each type being of such number, shape, kind and
area, and of such common unity of purpose and adaptability of use,
that they are deemed most suitable to carry out the objectives of
this chapter and the objectives of the Township Comprehensive Plan.
For the purpose of this chapter, Towamencin Township is hereby
divided into districts which shall be designated as follows:
A.
Residential districts.
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R-200
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Agricultural/Residential
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R-180
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Residential
| |
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R-175
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Residential
| |
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R-125
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Residential
| |
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R-50
|
Residential
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MH
|
Manufactured Housing
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MR
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Multifamily Residential
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MRC
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Mixed Residential Cluster
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B.
Commercial districts.
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VC
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Village Commercial
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PBC
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Planned Business Campus
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SC
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Shopping Center
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C
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Commercial
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C.
Industrial district.
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LI
|
Limited Industrial
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D.
Institutional districts.
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IN
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Institutional
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IN-A
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Institutional A
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E.
Floodplain Conservation District.
F.
Towamencin Village Overlay District.
G.
Residential Business and Professional Overlay District.
[Added 7-22-2015 by Ord.
No. 15-09]
H.
Entertainment Lifestyle Overlay District.
[Added 7-27-2016 by Ord.
No. 16-10]
Land use districts are bounded and defined as shown on the map
entitled "Official Zoning Map of Towamencin Township," which accompanies,
and which with all explanatory notations and reference to other data
contained thereon, is hereby made part of this chapter.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: The Official Zoning Map is on file in the Township
offices.
A.
Residential districts. The purpose of these districts is to accommodate
a variety of residential housing types to include single-family, two-family
and multifamily dwellings as may be required to provide for a balance
of housing types to meet the current and the anticipated future housing
needs of the Township and to support the objectives of the Township
Comprehensive Plan. Special districts have been established which
are designed to encourage cluster development with open space areas
reserved for natural resource protection and recreation as well as
to preserve the agricultural activities in the Township. The planning
and design of these districts are intended to ensure that appropriate
infrastructure and associated facilities are available for these types
of uses and that the uses will blend with other uses in surrounding
areas.
(1)
R-200 Agricultural/Residential. The purpose of this district
is to provide for the continued agricultural use of this portion of
the Township and to promote the preservation of same and to provide
for large lot single-family detached residential units in a rural
setting to preserve the appearance and rural characteristics of the
district.
(2)
R-180 Residential. The purpose of this district is to provide
for single-family detached residential units on large lots to encourage
and preserve the appearance and rural characteristics of the district.
(3)
R-175 Residential. The purpose of this district is to provide
for single-family detached dwellings in a suburban-like setting.
(4)
R-125 Residential. The purpose of this district is to provide
for single-family detached dwellings in a transitional suburban-like
setting.
(5)
R-50 Residential. This district is intended to provide for single-family
detached and single-family semidetached dwellings in an urban-like
setting. The district provides the opportunity for detached housing
which is affordable while promoting a neighborhood environment.
(6)
MH Manufactured Housing. The purpose of this district is to
establish standards of performance and to promote the desirable benefits
which planned manufactured housing developments will have upon the
Township and the residents within them. This district is intended
to promote the most recent technology of home building and land development
to ensure, to the greatest degree practicable, compatibility with
surrounding land uses and essential utilities, and to promote the
general welfare by extending greater opportunities for affordable
housing and a diversity of housing types.
(7)
MR Multifamily Residential. The purpose of this district is
to encourage the development of single-family attached and multifamily/apartment
housing within the Township; to encourage the logical and timely development
of land for multifamily and garden apartment purposes in accordance
with the objectives, policies, and proposals of the Comprehensive
Plan; to assure the suitable design of the district in order to protect
the surrounding environment of adjacent and nearby neighborhoods;
and to ensure that proposed multifamily developments will constitute
a residential environment of sustained desirability and stability
and not produce a volume of traffic in excess of the capacity for
which access streets are designed.
(8)
MRC Mixed Residential Cluster. The purpose of the planned residential
cluster district is to encourage a creative approach to the use and
development of land while preserving open space and natural features,
to promote a more desirable visual character in residential areas
and to provide affordable housing and a variety of housing types in
the Township within a neighborhood setting with usable open areas
designed into the neighborhood and with the creation of, and connection
to, open space corridors throughout the district and Township.
B.
Commercial districts. These districts are established and specifically
planned to accommodate retail sales, office and service type uses
that are considered necessary for the function and convenience of
the residents of the Township.
(1)
Village Commercial. This district is intended to provide for
small and limited service, commercial and office uses that are in
character with the existing mixed-use commercial and residential Village
of Kulpsville.
(2)
Planned Business Campus. This district is intended to provide
for and to encourage the development of larger scale, modern business
campuses in a preplanned arrangement of buildings with a single architectural
theme and appropriate landscaping and open spaces which are primarily
comprised of office uses with ancillary service, commercial and retail
uses as appropriate to service the employee base of the planned business
campus. The intent of this district is also to encourage high quality
business park development which enhances the employment opportunities
in the Township and is designed with adequate road access and public
utilities to minimize adverse impacts on the natural systems and residential
uses in the surrounding area.
(3)
Shopping Center. This district is intended for larger scale
development than is permitted in other commercial districts. These
community shopping centers are intended to service the Township residents
and those of surrounding communities.
(4)
Commercial. This district is intended to be the Township's general
commercial area wherein individual service, commercial and business
uses are provided to serve the local commercial service needs of the
residents of the Township.
C.
Limited Industrial District. This district is intended to provide
for limited and nonoffensive industrial uses. The intent of this district
is to encourage limited industrial development which relates to adjacent
land uses as a "good neighbor," with appropriate design standards
to avoid adverse impacts on neighboring uses.
D.
Institutional districts.
(1)
Institutional District. This district is intended to provide
the opportunity for the use and location of a variety of institutional
uses including but not necessarily limited to community, group, and
senior citizen housing and support facilities, and religious, cultural
and educational uses.
(2)
IN-A Institutional-A. This district is intended to provide for
a more limited number of uses than permitted in the Institutional
District on tracts of at least nine acres considered to be transition
zones situated between residential districts and major streets classified
as collector or arterial highways in the 1988 Comprehensive Plan,
as may be amended.
E.
Floodplain Conservation District.
[Amended 3-23-2016 by Ord. No. 16-06]
(1)
The Floodplain Conservation District is intended to prevent
the loss of health, life and property from flood and to regulate,
restrict and/or prohibit uses and structures at, along, and near natural
and artificial bodies of water and watercourses as provided by Sections
604(2) and 605(2)(iii) of the Pennsylvania MPC, Act 247, as amended.
(2)
In addition to the purpose and statement of community development
objectives found in the Zoning Ordinance of Towamencin Township, the
specific intent of this district shall be to protect areas of floodplain
subject to, and necessary for, the containment of floodwaters, and
to permit and encourage the retention of open space land uses which
will be so located and utilized as to constitute a harmonious and
appropriate aspect of the continuing physical development of Towamencin
Township. Furthermore, in light of the Township's certification as
eligible for federal flood insurance, it is the intent of this district
to provide adequate protection for flood-prone properties within Towamencin
Township.
F.
Towamencin Village Overlay District.
(1)
This district is intended to provide the opportunity for the
redevelopment of the Village of Kulpsville in accordance with the
Towamencin Village Master Plan.
(2)
The implementation of the Towamencin Village Master Plan will
require the support, cooperation, and representation of the public,
private, business and residential communities within the Township.
The role of the Township in this cooperative effort includes the adoption
of the Zoning Ordinance amendment which provides for the establishment
of the Towamencin Village Overlay District. The purpose of the Towamencin
Village Overlay District is to allow and control a variety of uses,
established in conformance with performance standards for area, bulk,
setback, building heights, parking, and signage, all in furtherance
of the implementation of the Plan.
(3)
In order for the Towamencin Village Master Plan to be successfully
implemented over time, the Plan must be sensitive to changing market
conditions as well as to municipal and community planning and design
concerns. Therefore, and in conjunction with the urban design concept
and scale of development proposed for the Towamencin Village Overlay
District, the following shall be the specific purpose and intent of
the district:
(a)
To plan for and develop a coordinated and comprehensive land
use and transportation system for the Towamencin Village Master Plan.
(b)
To develop a multimodal transportation system in accordance
with new federal highway and environmental regulations while providing
for and encouraging a pedestrian oriented environment and providing
a trail system that will link the Towamencin Village to the neighborhoods.
(c)
To provide for a mixture of uses and to encourage multimodal
transportation.
(d)
To establish and maintain the necessary design and market incentives
to attract new corporate, business, retail and residential users.
(e)
To provide design standards and landscaping specifications for
site planning, exterior architectural themes for buildings, and a
master traffic and circulation plan for vehicles and pedestrians as
detailed within the Towamencin Village Land Use and Design Manual.
(f)
To develop design standards that will encourage structure parking
facilities in order to maximize the opportunities for a village oriented
pedestrian friendly environment while maximizing the open space within
the Towamencin Village.
G.
Residential Business and Professional Overlay District.
[Added 7-22-2015 by Ord.
No. 15-09]
(1)
The purpose of the Residential Business and Professional Overlay
District is to:
(a)
Allow limited business and professional uses as a transition
between major roads and existing residential areas.
(b)
Limit the impact of nonresidential development on residences
by requiring a residential character, limiting the scale of buildings,
controlling the location of parking areas and requiring buffer landscaping.
(c)
Control access and limit the impact of development on the Township's
major roads.
(d)
Allow residences that are located on smaller lots and close
to other residences to convert to business and professional uses,
provided that the residential character of the neighborhood is not
changed.
H.
Entertainment Lifestyle Overlay District.
[Added 7-27-2016 by Ord.
No. 16-10]
(1)
The purpose of the Entertainment Lifestyle Overlay District
is to provide for the consolidation and redevelopment of large commercial
properties with adjacent, nonresidentially zoned properties in order
to provide sufficient land area to accommodate a redevelopment in
the current commercial market, and to allow and control a variety
of uses, establish in conformance with performance standards for area,
bulk, setback, building heights, parking, and signage, all in furtherance
of the plan.
The Zoning Officer in the administration of this chapter shall
be responsible for, and shall render determinations regarding, the
locations of lots within the Township as indicated on the Official
Zoning Map. In determining district boundaries, the following rules
shall apply:
A.
Where district boundaries are indicated as approximately coinciding
with the center line of streets, highways, railroad lines, streams,
power lines or other public utility lines such center line shall be
construed to be such boundary.
B.
Where district boundaries are so indicated that they approximately
coincide with lot lines, such lot lines shall be construed to be said
boundary; or where district boundaries are extensions of lot lines
or connect the intersections of lot lines, such lines shall be said
district boundary.
C.
Where district boundaries are so indicated that they are approximately
parallel to center lines of streets or highways, such district boundary
shall be construed as being parallel to, and at such distance from,
said center lines as indicated on the Zoning Map.
D.
The Floodplain Conservation District shall be deemed an overlay district
applicable to all zoning districts and lots contained therein in accordance
with the following provisions:
[Amended 3-23-2016 by Ord. No. 16-06]
(1)
Should the Floodplain Conservation District be declared inapplicable to any tract by reason of action of the Township Supervisors in amending this chapter or Chapter 82, Floodplain Management; or the Zoning Hearing Board, or any court of competent jurisdiction in interpreting the same; the zoning applicable to such lot shall be deemed to be the district in which it is located without consideration of this district.
(2)
Should the zoning of any parcel or any part thereof in which
the Floodplain Conservation District is located be changed through
any legislative or administrative actions or judicial discretion,
such change shall have no effect on the Floodplain Conservation District
unless such change was included as part of the original application.
(3)
All changes to the boundaries of the Floodplain Conservation
District are subject to review and approval of the Federal Emergency
Management Agency.
Whenever federal- or state-owned property is included in one
or more zoning districts, it shall be subject to the provisions of
this chapter only insofar as permitted by the Constitution and laws
of the United States of America and of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
The provisions of this chapter with respect to lot area, lot
width, yard regulations, coverage regulations, height regulations,
parking and any and all other regulations or requirements of this
chapter (with the exception of those of the Floodplain Conservation
District) shall be inapplicable to any municipal uses of property.
Unless specifically excluded, municipal use of any property shall
be deemed to be a permitted use within any district.
