In C Commercial Districts, the following regulations shall apply.
[Amended by Ord. No. 814; 3-27-2007 by Ord. No. 1217A]
A building may be erected, altered or used and a lot or premises
may be used for any of the following purposes and for no other:
A. A use permitted in R Residential Districts, in which case regulations and restrictions as set forth in Article
IV hereof shall apply.
B. Sale and storage of goods at retail and wholesale including personal
service shops.
C. Business and professional offices, banks and financial institutions.
D. Telephone, telegraph, radio and electric offices and stations.
E. Hotels, restaurants, cafes, tearooms and nightclubs.
F. Theaters and places of amusement.
G. Public garage, motor vehicle sales, service or repair shops, gasoline
service stations and motor vehicle parking lots, except that, from
the adoption of this chapter, no more gasoline service stations shall
be permitted to be erected or established along Merchant Street and
Duss Avenue, public highways in said Borough.
H. Bakery, confectionery or custom shop.
I. Hand laundry, machine laundry, dry-cleaning or dyeing plant.
J. Carpenter, cabinetmaking, furniture or upholstery shop.
K. Newspaper, job printing and bookbinding.
L. Creamery, ice cream manufacturing, butter and cheese making, milk
bottling.
N. A use of the same general character as any of the above permitted
uses.
O. Accessory use on the same lot with and customarily incidental to
any of the above permitted uses.
[Added 3-27-2007 by Ord. No. 1217A]
The following uses may be authorized by the Borough Council
following review by the Planning Commission and a public hearing by
the Borough Council held pursuant to public notice to determine compliance
with the express standards and criteria specified for each use.
A. Planned unit development, subject to the following express standards
and criteria:
(1)
The minimum site required to establish a planned unit development
shall be 20 acres.
(2)
The uses authorized in a planned unit development shall be limited
to:
(a)
Dwelling units in combination with office.
(b)
Dwelling units in combination with retail on properties with
frontage on an arterial or collector street only.
(c)
Retail uses authorized as permitted uses in the C District on
properties with frontage on an arterial or collector street only,
excluding wholesale sales, motor vehicle sales and gasoline service
stations.
(d)
Business, professional or medical offices.
(e)
Hospital, clinic, nursing home, personal-care boarding home.
(f)
Housing for the elderly; Independent-living facility.
(g)
Transitional living facility.
(h)
Assisted-living facility; life-care community.
(m)
Indoor or outdoor recreation facilities.
(3)
The conditional use application for a planned unit development
shall be submitted for the entire site and shall include a development
plan showing the following information:
(a)
Proposed layout of streets;
(b)
Proposed subdivision of the property into lots, if any;
(c)
The intended use of each of the lots or the location of the
various types of buildings on the site and their intended use;
(d)
The relationship among the various uses and landscaping, common
open space or other features proposed to buffer dissimilar uses from
one another;
(e)
Proposals for pedestrian and vehicular circulation within the
site, emphasizing intermodal transportation facilities and the use
of pedestrian facilities to foster a sense of community, including
trails, sidewalks, walkways, bikeways, bicycle and scooter parking;
(f)
The size, height and gross floor area of each building, including
the number of dwelling units for residential buildings;
(g)
The proposed density for all residential dwellings, including
gross density and net density;
(h)
The location and size of all areas to be reserved as common
open space;
(i)
The mechanism proposed to own and maintain the common open space;
(j)
The size, number and location of off-street parking spaces;
(k)
A general landscaping plan showing the location and types of
plant materials proposed to provide buffers between dissimilar uses,
to enhance the architectural design of the proposed buildings or to
vegetate the common open spaces;
(l)
A schedule for phasing the development;
(m)
A traffic report prepared by a qualified traffic engineer utilizing
the manuals and methodologies of the Institute of Transportation Engineers
(ITE) to analyze:
[1] Projected traffic volumes associated with the proposed
development;
[2] Inventory of existing roadway and traffic conditions
in the vicinity of the site, including traffic controls, peak hour
and average daily traffic, planned roadway improvements by others,
lane widths and roadway conditions;
[3] Existing and future levels of service of streets,
intersection and driveways in the immediate vicinity of the plan with
and without the proposed development;
[4] Access to the site utilizing PennDOT criteria,
traffic controls and on-site circulation (vehicular and pedestrian);
and
[5] Recommendations for mitigating negative impacts
and maximizing positive impacts of the proposed development.
(4)
Following approval of the conditional use application, individual
lots and/or phases of the approved development plan may be submitted
for land development plan approval subject to compliance with all
applicable requirements of the Borough's Subdivision and Land
Development Ordinance.
(5)
In the event that the land development plan proposes substantive
changes in the plan granted conditional use approval, an application
for an amendment to the original conditional use approval shall be
submitted concurrent with the land development plan, and approval
of the land development plan shall not be granted unless and until
the amended conditional use application is approved. The amended conditional
use application shall follow the procedure specified by the Pennsylvania
Municipalities Planning Code for conditional use applications. Substantive changes
shall include changes in the percentage mix of the various types of
land uses in the planned unit development, any new land use that was
not previously proposed in the planned unit development, any increase
in dwelling unit density, any increase in the number of a specific
type of dwelling unit, any change in ingress or egress to or from
the site, any major change in the circulation pattern on the development
site or any similar change deemed substantive by the Borough.
(6)
Common open space shall comprise at least 15% of the gross site
area.
(7)
Common open space shall be protected by adequate covenants running
with the land or by conveyances or dedications. Legal instruments
drafted to preserve and protect the common open space shall be submitted
to the Borough for review and approval. In cases where the Borough
will not be accepting dedication of the common open space, the applicant
shall provide for an organization or trust for ownership and maintenance
of the common open space.
(8)
In the event that any organization established to own and maintain
the common open space, or any successor thereto, fails to maintain
the common open space in reasonable condition and in accordance with
the approved development plan, the Borough shall take remedial action
to cause the common open space to be properly maintained, as provided
for in Section 705(f) of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning
Code.
(9)
Common open space shall be developed to provide for public gathering
places or to provide areas for leisure activities for the residents,
employees and visitors to the planned unit development.
(10)
Amenities proposed in the common open space shall be constructed
in Phase I of the planned unit development, or, if Phase I does not
contain any dwelling units, then in the first phase in which dwelling
units are proposed to be constructed.
(11)
Maximum building height in a planned unit development shall
be seven stories, but no more than 75 feet. For each foot of building
height in excess of 50 feet, the building shall be set back an additional
one foot for each one foot of additional height.
(12)
All principal and accessory structures shall maintain the following
setbacks:
(a)
At least 15 feet from any public or private street, except on
Duss and Merchant where the setback shall be zero feet.
(b)
At least 7 1/2 feet from any side property line.
(c)
At least 10 feet from any rear property line.
(13)
Where two or more principal buildings are proposed on one lot,
the minimum distance between buildings shall be:
(14)
Maximum dwelling unit density shall be 16 units per acre. Density
shall be calculated only on that portion of the site devoted to residential
use, excluding any streets or common open space associated with the
residential development, but including the portion of the site devoted
to the dwelling units and the off-street parking necessary to serve
the dwelling units.
(15)
A density bonus of up to an additional eight units per acre
to a total of 24 units per acre may be authorized by Borough Council
if a development plan provides for any three of the following six
criteria:
(a) Pedestrian and vehicular facilities that provide or complement intermodal
transportation facilities.
(b) An increase in common open space to a total of 20% or more of the
total site area.
(c) A mix of uses that promotes an integrated living and working environment.
(d) A mix of uses that firings new businesses to the area and/or promotes
the creation of new jobs.
(e) A mix of uses that provides for a continuum of care for elderly residents
or provides needed medical facilities for Borough residents.
(f) A mix of uses that provides housing to accommodate residents protected
by the Federal Fair Housing Act Amendments or the Americans with Disabilities
Act.
(16) Parking in a planned unit development shall be provided based on
the following ratios for the various authorized uses:
|
Use
|
Parking
(Number of spaces)
|
---|
|
Dwelling units
|
1.5 per dwelling unit
|
|
Offices; public buildings
|
1 for each 300 square feet of net floor area
|
|
Retail
|
1 for each 250 square feet of net floor area
|
|
Community center
|
1 for each 50 square feet of area devoted to meeting rooms or
eating areas
|
|
Hospital; nursing home; personal-care boarding home
|
1 for each staff member on peak shift plus 1 for each 3 beds
|
|
Clinic
|
1 for each doctor and staff member plus 2 for each examining
or treatment room
|
|
Transitional living
|
1 for each staff on peak shift plus 1 for each resident who
is authorized to drive a vehicle
|
|
Housing for the elderly; independent living; assisted living
|
1 for each employee on peak shift plus 1 for each 3 dwelling
units
|
|
Life-care community
|
Parking shall be provided in accordance with the requirements
for each separate use as specified in this Table
|
(17)
Streets in the planned unit development, whether public or private,
shall have a minimum right-of-way of 40 feet and shall have a minimum
cartway width of 24 feet. The minimum radius of the right-of-way for
a cul-de-sac shall be 50 feet and the minimum radius of the cul-de-sac
cartway shall be 40 feet. If a modification is granted to allow a
cul-de-sac with a radius less than 40 feet, "emergency only" access
shall be provided at the end of the cul-de-sac to allow emergency
vehicles to continue straight through the end of the cul-de-sac, rather
than turning around.
No building may be erected, altered or used and no lot or premises
may be used for any trade, industry or business that is noxious or
offensive by reason of odor, dust, smoke, gas, vibration or noise.
No internal combustion engine or other machine shall be used unless
objectionable noise and vibration are eliminated.
The height of a building shall not exceed eight stories or 85
feet.
The building area of any building hereafter erected, altered
or used in whole or in part as a dwelling shall not exceed 70% of
the lot area, provided that, in the case of a building the first story
of which is used principally for business purposes and in which no
portion of the first story is used for sleeping purposes, the building
area shall be figured on the level of the windowsills on the second
story.
Yard space shall be required in cases where an alley abuts the
premises, the depth of which shall be not less than 20 feet from the
center line of the alley.
[Added 8-28-2001 by Ord. No. 1161]
Notwithstanding other provisions of this article or other sections
relating to the area in question, the following provisions shall apply:
A. Minimum front yard depth.
(1) Buildings erected on lots that border on Merchant Street from Third
Street to Twelfth Street shall be sited with the front of the structure
at the inside boundary of the pedestrian sidewalk at the right-of-way
line.
(2) Front yards may be permitted in other sectors of the C Commercial District or otherwise designated district, subject to site plan review approval as specified in §
310-28 of this article.
(3) Pedestrian sidewalk shall be the area which abuts the designated
district between Third Street and Merchant Street to Twelfth Street
and Merchant Street and the property line of the property owner.
B. Minimum side yard depth.
(1) Buildings erected on corner lots that border on Merchant Street from
Third Street to Twelfth Street shall extend to the inside boundary
of the pedestrian sidewalk at the right-of-way line.
(2) Buildings erected on lots that border on Merchant Street from Third
Street to Twelfth Street that are not corner lots shall extend to
the inside boundary of the side yard property line.
(3) Side yards may be permitted in other sectors of the C Commercial
District, provided that a minimum three-foot side-yard setback is
maintained between the buildings and the property line.
C. Building height.
(1) Buildings erected on lots that border on Merchant Street from Third
Street to Twelfth Street shall not exceed three stories or 35 feet,
whichever is less.
(2) In other sectors of the C Commercial District, buildings shall not
exceed eight stories or 85 feet, whichever is less.
D. Building floor area.
(1) Buildings erected on lots that border on Merchant Street from Third
Street to Twelfth Street shall not exceed a gross ground-floor area
of 6,000 square feet.
(2) In other sections of the C Commercial District, there shall be no maximum floor area building restrictions, except as necessary to meet the conditions and criteria of §
310-25 of this article.
E. Off-street parking.
(1) With regard to buildings erected on lots that border on Merchant
Street from Third Street to Twelfth Street:
(a)
Off-street parking shall not be permitted on the front or side
of structures or on vacant lots that border on Merchant Street from
Third Street to Twelfth Street.
F. Curb cuts.
Buildings erected on lots that border on Merchant Street from Third
Street to Twelfth Street shall not be permitted to have curb cuts
fronting Merchant Street. The only exceptions would involve compliance
requirements with local, state or federal laws, such as compliance
with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
[Added 8-28-2001 by Ord. No. 1161]
For all buildings to be erected, extended, remodeled or otherwise
improved on lots that border on Merchant Street from Third Street
to Twelfth Street, the site plan shall include the following information:
A. Drawings, elevations, perspective and related design criteria pertaining
to structures, landscaping and facade treatments.
B. A statement and supporting documentation that addresses compatibility
with the character of the Central Business District, consistency with
National Main Street Program criteria, and coordination with applicable
ongoing facade and related business enhancement endeavors.