A.Â
Unless otherwise expressly stated, the following terms shall, for
the purpose of this chapter, have the meanings given herein.
B.Â
For the purpose of this chapter, words and terms used herein shall
be interpreted as follows:
(1)Â
Words in the present tense include the future.
(2)Â
Words used in the singular include the plural, and words in the plural
include the singular.
(3)Â
The word "person," "subdivider," "owner" or "applicant" includes
a corporation, association and a partnership as well as an individual.
(4)Â
The word "lot" includes "plot" and "parcel."
(5)Â
The word "Commission" and the words "Planning Commission" always
mean the New Britain Borough Planning Commission.
(6)Â
The word "municipality" and the word "Borough" always mean the Borough
of New Britain.
(7)Â
The words "zoning ordinance" always refer to Chapter 450, Zoning, of the Code of the Borough of New Britain, as amended.
(8)Â
The word "street" includes "road," "lane," "avenue" and "highway"
and shall mean the whole or any part thereof and shall include bridge
or culvert, cartway, gutter, curb, sidewalk, and the whole legal width
of the right-of-way.
(9)Â
The words "shall" and "will" are mandatory; the word "may" is permissive.
(10)Â
Any word or term not defined herein shall be used with a meaning
of standard usage.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated in this section:
Any persons other than the subdivider or land developer who,
acting for the subdivider or land developer, submits to the Borough
subdivision or land development plans for the purpose of obtaining
approval thereof.
A right-of-way providing secondary vehicular access to the
side or rear of two or more properties.
A landowner or developer, as hereinafter defined, who has
filed an application for subdivision or land development, including
his heirs, successors or assignees.
Every application, whether preliminary 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 plan or for the approval of a land
development plan.
An area bounded by streets, or by a combination of streets
and public parks, open space, railroad right-of-way, or boundary lines,
of the Borough.
A structure having a roof, which is used or intended to be
used for the shelter or enclosure of persons, animals or property.
The word "building" shall include any part thereof.
The building envelope is that area of a lot that has no building
restrictions. The building envelope shall not include the area of
any required setbacks (except for driveways which would cross yards),
buffer yards, natural features with one-hundred-percent protection
standard, and the portion of those natural features that may not be
developed or intruded upon by the terms of this chapter.
FRONTThe line parallel or concentric to the street right-of-way line at a distance therefrom equal to the depth of the front yard required for the zoning district in which the lot is located.
REARA line parallel to the rear lot line at a distance from the rear lot line equal to the depth of the minimum rear yard required.
SIDEA line parallel to the side lot line at a distance therefrom equal to the depth of the minimum side yard required.
That portion of a street or alley intended for vehicular
use.
A triangular-shaped area of land established at street intersections,
in which nothing is erected, placed, planted or allowed to grow in
such a manner as to limit or obstruct the sight distance of motorists
entering or leaving the intersection.
A right-of-way or easement for pedestrian travel across or
within a block.
A street with one end open for public vehicular and pedestrian
access and the other end terminating in a vehicular turnaround.
The magnitude of precipitation from a storm event measured
in probability of occurrence and duration and used in computing stormwater
management control systems.
Any landowner, agent of such landowner or tenant with the
permission of such landowner, who makes or causes to be made a subdivision
or 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.
The provisions for development, including 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" shall mean the written
and graphic materials referred to in this definition.
Any ditch, gutter, pipe, culvert, storm sewer, basin or structure
designed, intended or constructed for the purpose of diverting or
controlling surface water from, or carrying surface waters off, streets,
public rights-of-way, parks, recreation areas, or any part of any
subdivision, land development or contiguous land areas.
A vehicular accessway connecting a street and a parking area
or garage and located within a lot.
A building designed for and occupied exclusively for residential
purposes, excluding hotel, motel, boardinghouse, tourist home, institutional
or nursing home, guest house, bed-and-breakfast, or residential club;
a building containing one or more dwelling units.
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, the Borough
or other governmental authority, or another person or entity.
The removal of surface materials by the action of natural
elements.
A street parallel and adjacent to a property line having
a lesser right-of-way width than required for satisfactory improvement
and use of the street.
Surfaces which do not absorb water, including all buildings,
parking areas, driveways, roads, sidewalks and any areas of concrete,
asphalt and packed stone, and any other areas determined to be impervious
by the Borough Engineer.
Those physical additions, installations and required changes,
such as streets, curbs, sidewalks, water mains, sewers, drainage facilities,
public utilities, driveways, parking areas, and other appropriate
items required to render land suitable for the use proposed.
The improvement of one 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, but not including the following: the addition of a nonresidential accessory building of 500 square feet or less to be used for storage or other incidental purposes and which does not create the need for any additional parking spaces and which complies with all aspects of Chapter 450, Zoning, of the Code of the Borough of New Britain, and this chapter.
A subdivision of land.
A parcel of land used or set aside and available for use
as the site of one or more buildings and any buildings accessory thereto
or for any other purpose, in one ownership and not divided by a street,
nor including any land within the right-of-way of a public or private
street upon which said lot abuts even if the ownership to such right-of-way
is in the owner of the lot. A lot, for the purpose of this chapter,
may or may not coincide with a lot of record. It is any designated
parcel, tract or area of land established by a plat or otherwise permitted
by law and to be used, developed or built upon as a unit.
The area contained within the property lines of the lot shown
on a subdivision plan or required by this chapter, excluding any area
within an existing or designated future street right-of-way, and excluding
any area required as open space under this chapter, and excluding
any area within a stormwater detention facility.
The owner of record of a parcel of land.
An open space or a garage on a lot used for parking motor
vehicles and to which there is access from a street or alley.
A complete and exact subdivision or land development plan,
prepared as for official recording, to define property rights and
proposed streets and other improvements.
A subdivision or land development plan showing all those
items required by this chapter and prepared as a basis for consideration
prior to the preparation of a final plan.
An exact copy of the approved final plan, submitted in paper
form and on Mylar, of standard size, prepared for necessary signatures
and recording with the Bucks County Recorder of Deeds.
[Amended 4-14-2015 by Ord. No. 361; 5-8-2018 by Ord. No. 387]
An informal presentation of a proposed land development or
subdivision which may be discussed with the Planning Commission prior
to a formal application for subdivision or land development.
A lot extending between and having frontage on a major street
and a minor street with vehicular access solely from the latter.
An examination of a plan to determine compliance with this chapter, Chapter 450, Zoning, of the Code of the Borough of New Britain, and other pertinent requirements.
A strip of land occupied or intended to be occupied by a
street, alley, crosswalk, sanitary or storm sewer, stream, drainage
ditch, or for any other use, including that area deemed necessary
by Borough ordinance to accommodate future street improvements. Every
right-of-way hereafter established and shown on a final record plan
is to be separate and distinct from lots or parcels adjoining such
right-of-way and not included within the dimensions of areas of such
lots or parcels.
The right-of-way width required for the expansion of existing
streets to accommodate future traffic loads; a right-of-way established
to provide future access to or through undeveloped land.
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 moving wind, water or gravity. Once this matter is
deposited (or remains suspended in water), it is referred to as sediment.
Any sewer, sewage system, sewage treatment works or part
thereof designed, intended or constructed for the collection, treatment
or disposal of liquid waste, including industrial waste.
The length of roadway, measured along the center line, which
is 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 expressed
in a percentage of vertical distance per hundred feet of horizontal
distance.
A public or private way used or intended to be used for passage
or travel by vehicles and pedestrians and to provide access to abutting
properties, excluding driveways.
The dividing line between the street and the lot. The street
line shall be the same as the legal right-of-way line or, where established
by ordinance or other means, the future right-of-way line.
Any man-made object having an ascertainable stationary location
on or in land or water, whether affixed to the land or not.
The division 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 purposes, whether
immediate or future, of lease, partition by the court for distribution
to heirs or devisees, transfer of ownership or building or lot development.
The division or redivision of a single lot, tract or parcel
into two lots, tracts or 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, building or lot development, providing
that the proposed lots, tracts, parcels or other divisions 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 improvements, easement
of access or the need therefor.
An area that is radial to the trunk of a tree. The tree protection
area shall be 15 feet from the trunk of the tree to be protected or
the distance from the trunk to the dripline, whichever is greater.
Where there is a group of trees, the tree protection area shall be
the aggregate of the protection areas for individual trees.
A modification of the requirements of this chapter, as defined and regulated by § 385-14 of this chapter.
Any water works, water supply works, distribution system
or part thereof designed, intended or constructed to provide or distribute
potable water.
Those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface water
or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support,
and under normal conditions do support, a prevalence of vegetation
typically adapted for life in saturated soils conditions; or those
areas of lands defined as wetlands in either: 1) the United States
Army Corps of Engineers Wetlands Delineation Manual; or 2) the Pennsylvania
Department of Environmental Protection's Wetlands Identification and
Delineation, Chapter 105, Dam Safety and Waterways Management Rules
and Regulations.
An area of trees which occupies at least 1/4 of an acre,
containing any tree or trees either three inches in diameter or 20
feet tall, and including the natural layers of vegetation beneath
the canopy and understory plants. Diameter shall be measured 4.5 feet
above ground level.
[Amended 5-8-2018 by Ord.
No. 387]
An open space unobstructed from the ground up, except as
may be expressly permitted by this chapter, 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 corner lot, the yards extending along all streets are front yards. In the case of a lot other than a corner 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.
