Unless the context otherwise requires, the following definitions
shall be used in the interpretation of this chapter. Words used in
the present tense include the future; the singular number shall include
the plural, the plural the singular; the word "structure" shall include
the word "building"; the word "used" shall include "arranged", "designed",
"constructed", "altered", "converted", "rented", "leased", or "intended
to be used"; and the word "shall" is mandatory and not optional.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
The visible or otherwise apparent discontinuance of a nonconforming
use of a building or premises, or the removal of the characteristic
equipment or furnishing used in the performance of a nonconforming
use without its replacement by similar equipment or furnishings, or
the replacement of the nonconforming use or structure.
A use or structure subordinate to the principal use of a
building on the same lot and serving a purpose customarily incidental
to the use of the principal building.
Any commercial establishment from which minors are excluded,
and in which the retail sales of books, magazines, newspapers, movie
films, devices, slides, or other photographic or written reproductions
depicting nudity or sexual conduct is the primary or a major purpose
of the establishment.
The tilling of the soil, the raising of crops, horticulture,
and gardening.
A public thoroughfare other than a street which affords only
a secondary means of access to abutting property and not intended
for general traffic circulation.
As applied to a building or structure, any change or rearrangement
in the total floor area, or an enlargement, whether by extending on
a side or by increasing in height or the moving from one location
or position to another.
A change in use in a district which includes revisions to
the zoning text and/or the Official Zoning Map, the authority for
which lies solely with the Borough Council.
Activities operated as a business for profit, open to the
public, for the purpose of providing entertainment, including, but
not limited to, bowling alleys, roller skating rinks, motion-picture
theaters, health clubs and similar types of establishments, but excluding
adult entertainment facilities.
The conversion of any building in a district where permitted
to a dwelling for one or more families, without substantially altering
the exterior of the building.
A landowner or developer, as hereinafter defined, who has
filed an application for development, including his heirs, successors
and assigns.
Every application, whether preliminary, tentative or final,
required to be filed and approved prior to start of construction or
development.
The Montgomery Borough Council.
A lot designed and used primarily for the display or sale
of new and used cars and mobile homes where incidental repairs may
be conducted as an accessory use.
A building on a lot that is used for the repair or painting
of bodies, chassis, wheels, fenders, bumpers, and/or accessories of
automobiles and other vehicles for convenience.
A building on a lot designed and/or used primarily for mechanical
and/or body repairs, storage, rental, servicing, or supplying of gasoline
or oil to automobiles, trucks, or similar motor vehicles.
An accessory building for the storage of one or more automobiles
and/or other vehicles accessory and incidental to the primary use
of the premises, provided that no business, occupation, or service
is conducted for profit therein and no space therein for more than
one automobile is leased to a nonoccupant of the premises.
A building on a lot used primarily for the washing and polishing
of automobiles and which may provide accessory services.
A residence used to provide sleeping accommodations and breakfast
for not more than eight overnight guests.
[Amended 7-13-2004 by Ord. No. 2004-4]
A person, except family, occupying any room or group of rooms
forming a single, habitable unit used or intended to be used for living
and sleeping, but not for cooking or eating purposes, and paying compensation
for lodging or board and lodging for a week or more at a time. Any
person occupying such room or rooms and paying such compensation for
less than a week at a time shall be classified for purposes of this
chapter not as a boarder, or lodger, but as a guest of a commercial
lodging establishment (motel, hotel, lodge, inn, guesthouse.)
A building where, for compensation, provisions are made for
lodging and meals for not more than 15 persons.
Any structure having a roof supported by columns or walls
which is used for the housing or sheltering of persons, animals or
property.
The total area taken on a horizontal plane at the level of
the ground surrounding the main building and all accessory buildings,
exclusive of uncovered porches, terraces, and steps.
That percentage of the plot of land area covered by the principal
and accessory buildings (including covered porches, carports, and
breezeways, but excluding open patios, parking or loading areas).
The vertical distance measured from the mean level of the
ground surrounding the building to a point midway between the highest
and lowest point of the roof, but not including chimneys, towers,
spires, elevator penthouses, tanks and similar projections.
A building in which is conducted the principal use of the
lot on which it is located.
A line parallel to the street line located at a distance
which is equal to the front yard requirement for the district in which
the lot is located, i.e., front yard setback.
A tract or tracts of ground, or portion thereof, used for
the purpose of providing space for trailers or tents for camping purposes,
with or without a fee charged for renting or occupying such space.
An accessory building open on at least three sides which
is freestanding or attached to the main building and used for parking
automobiles.
A story partly underground and having more than 1/2 of its
clear height below the average level of the adjoining ground. A cellar
shall not be considered in determining the permissible number of stories.
The administrative officer charged with the duty of enforcing
the provisions of this chapter.
A private facility enrolling more than six young children
between the ages two and six years of age and where tuition, fees,
or other forms of compensation for the care of the children is charged
and which is licensed and approved to operate as a child day-care
center by the PA Department of Human Services.
A use permitted in certain districts which may only be authorized by the Borough Council as set forth in Article XVII of this chapter.
Real estate, portions of which are designed for separate
ownership and the remainder of which is designated for common ownership
solely by the owners of those portions. Real estate is not a condominium
unless the undivided interests in the common elements are vested in
the unit owners. A condominium is a unit with all of the following
characters:
The unit may be any permitted land use. A condominium is an
ownership arrangement not a land use.
All or a portion of the exterior open space and any community interior spaces are owned and maintained in accordance with the Pennsylvania Uniform Condominium Act, 68 Pa.C.S.A. § 3101 et seq., and in accordance with the provisions for open space, roads or other development features in this chapter and Chapter 410, Subdivision and Land Development, of the Code of Montgomery Borough.
Contractor offices and shops, such as building, cement, electrical,
heating, masonry, painting, and roofing.
Carpentry shop, cabinet making, furniture making and similar
crafts.
The raising, keeping and sale of field, truck, and tree crops,
including necessary farm structures within the prescribed limits and
the storage of equipment customarily incidental to the primary use.
Density is a measure of the dwelling units per unit of area.
Density shall be expressed in dwelling units per acre.
Any landowner, agent of such landowner, or tenant with the
permission of such landowner, who makes or causes to be made a subdivision
of land or a 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, mining, dredging, filling, grading, paving,
excavation or drilling operations.
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
the development plan," when used in this chapter, shall mean the written
and graphic materials referred to in this definition.
A surface, other than street, which provides vehicular access
from a street or private road to a lot.
A lot or part thereof used primarily for the disposal by
abandonment, dumping, burial, burning, or any other means and for
whatever purposes of garbage, sewage, trash, refuse, junk, discarded
machinery, vehicles, or parts thereof, or waste material of any kind.
A building or structure designed for living quarters for
one or more families.
A dwelling in combination with an existing or permitted office
or commercial use.
A single structure designed for and constructed to contain
at least three but no more than 12 dwelling units.
A building containing one dwelling unit.
A building constructed so that there are three or more dwelling
units attached to one another.
An attached or semidetached building where not more than
two individual family or dwelling units are entirely separated by
vertical walls or horizontal floors, unpierced except for access to
the outside or to a common cellar, i.e., duplex.
A building designed to accommodate two families living independently
of each other regardless of number of stories or arrangement of quarters.
A single unit providing complete, independent living facilities
for one or more persons, including permanent provisions for living,
sleeping, eating, cooking, and sanitation.
One or more rooms containing a kitchen or kitchenette and
sanitary facilities in a dwelling structure, designed as a unit for
occupancy by not more than one family for living and sleeping purposes.
Travel trailers, recreation vehicles, facilities for transient lodging,
etc., shall not be considered as dwelling units for the purposes of
this chapter.
A grant of one or more of the property rights by the property
owner to and/or for use by the public, a corporation or another person
or entity.
An establishment for the sale and consumption of food and
beverages without drive-in service. The sale and service of alcoholic
beverages must be incidental to the sale and consumption of food.
Includes take-out food and beverage service.
An establishment for the sale and consumption of food and
beverage with drive-in or drive-through service.
A temporary housing arrangement in which an elderly, handicapped
or disabled person, related to the owner, may reside temporarily under
a hardship circumstance in a dwelling erected in the same parcel as
the principal dwelling.
Electric public utilities transmission distribution facilities,
including substations.
Entertainment and recreation facilities operated as a gainful
business within the confines of a building.
Outdoor entertainment and recreation facilities operated
as a gainful business not including an outdoor motion-picture establishment.
An individual or married couple and the children thereof
with not more than two other persons unrelated directly to the individual
or married couple by blood or marriage; or a group of not more than
five unrelated (excluding servants) persons living together as a single
housekeeping unit in a dwelling unit.
A family residence where care is provided for five or fewer
young children by an occupant of the home and which is registered
by the PA Department of Human Services to provide such care.
Any combination of materials creating an enclosure or barrier.
Bank, savings and loan association, credit union and other
similar financial establishment.
A common wall shared by two tenants or property owners that
is designed and constructed of material which is capable of withstanding
fire or preventing damage caused by fire.
A temporary inundation of normally dry land areas.
That portion of the one-hundred-year floodplain outside the
floodway, excluding areas shown as approximated one-hundred-year flood
zones on Montgomery Borough's Flood Boundary and Floodway Maps.
An official map of a community on which the FEMA has delineated
both the special areas and the risk premium zones applicable to the
community.
A flood that on the average is likely to occur once every
100 years (i.e., that has a one-percent chance of occurring each year,
although the flood may occur in any year).
A relatively flat or low land area adjoining a river, stream,
or watercourse which is subject to partial or complete inundation.
Such flooding has a one-percent chance of occurring each year (i.e.,
is likely to occur once every 100 years).
An area subject to the unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff
of surface waters from any source.
Any combination of structural and nonstructural additions,
changes or adjustments to structures which reduces or eliminates flood
damage to real estate or improved real property, water and sanitary
facilities, structures, and their contents.
The designated area of a floodplain as shown on the Borough's
Flood Boundary and Floodway Maps that is required to carry and discharge
the floodwaters of a one-hundred-year flood without cumulatively raising
the flood elevation more than one foot at any point.
Space in a structure for living, sleeping, eating, or cooking.
Bathrooms, toilet compartments, closets, halls, storage or utility
space, and similar areas are not considered habitable floor area.
The sum of the gross horizontal areas of the several floors
of a building, including the area of roofed porches or terraces. All
dimensions shall be measured between exterior faces of walls or of
party walls when applicable.
The ratio of floor area of a building to its lot area. When
a floor area ratio of 0.4 is specified, the floor area of a building
constructed on a lot of 10,000 square feet is limited to a maximum
of 4,000 square feet. The number of stories being optional, the building
area may be 4,000 square feet for one story; 2,000 square feet for
two stories, etc.
All general sales, open to the public, conducted from or
on a residential property for the purpose of disposing of personal
property (property which is owned, utilized, and maintained by an
individual or member of his or her residence and acquired in the normal
course of living in or maintaining a residence). Items purchased for
resale or obtained on consignment are not considered to be personal
property for the purposes of this chapter.
[Amended 1-14-2003 by Ord. No. 2003-1]
An accessory building designed or used for the parking or
storage of not more than four vehicles owned and used by the occupants
of the building to which it is accessory and which is not a separate
commercial enterprise available to the general public.
The cultivation of herbs, fruits, flowers or vegetables not
for a profit, and associated with a residential use, excluding the
keeping of livestock.
The completed surfaces of lawns, walks, and roads brought
to grades as shown on official plans or designs relating thereto.
The indoor raising of plants, shrubs, and trees for sale
and transplantation.
A facility or dwelling unit housing persons unrelated by
blood or marriage and operating as a group family household, including,
but not limited to, half-way houses, recovery homes, homes for orphans,
foster children, the elderly, battered children and women, and specialized
treatment facilities providing less than primary health care.
A manufacturing or industrial operation that produces a substantial
amount of noise, smoke, odor, dust, vibration, or glare, or combination
thereof as a result of the operation of the activity.
A customary home occupation for gain supported and conducted
by members of the family residing on the premises, conducted entirely
within the dwelling. Such an occupation shall not alter the residential
nature of the structure or the neighborhood nor cause any interference
with neighboring properties via odor, noise, electrical or visually.
No more than two nonresidents may be employed on the premises.
A place for the diagnosis, treatment, or other care of humans
and having facilities for in-patient care, including such establishments
as a sanatorium and prevetorium.
Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards enacted
by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development in
1976. A uniform construction code which classifies mobile homes as
manufactured homes. The HUD Code preempts state and local building
regulations.
Impervious surfaces are those surfaces which do not absorb
water. All structures, buildings, parking areas, driveways, roads,
sidewalks and any area in concrete, asphalt and packed stone shall
be considered impervious surfaces within this definition. In addition,
other areas determined by the Borough Engineer to be impervious within
the meaning of this definition will also be classified as impervious
surfaces.
A tract of land laid out in accordance with an overall plan
for a group of industries with separate building sites designed and
arranged on streets with utility services, setbacks, side yards, landscaped
yards, and covenants controlling the architecture and uses.
Any used or discarded material, including, but not limited
to, wastepaper, rags, metal, glass, building materials, house furnishings,
machinery, vehicles or parts thereof, with or without the dismantling,
processing, salvage, sale or other use or disposition of the same.
Any motor vehicle which does not bear a current registration
and is not currently inspected.
An area of land, with or without buildings, used for storage
(outside of a completely enclosed building), collection, and/or sale
of used or discarded materials, including junk as defined above, with
or without dismantling, processing, salvage, sale or other use or
disposition of the same. The deposit or storage of two or more junked
or abandoned motor vehicles, or the major parts thereof, for a period
exceeding 120 days, shall be deemed to make the lot a junkyard and
as such, must be separately licensed by the Borough.
Any lot on which five or more animals more than six months
old are kept, boarded, or trained whether or not they are kept in
special buildings or runways.
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;
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 legal or beneficial owner or owners of land, including
the holder of an option or contract to purchase (whether or not such
option or contract is subject to any condition), a lessee if he is
authorized under the lease to exercise the rights of the landowner,
or other person having a proprietary interest in land.
A manufacturing or industrial operation that produces a negligible
amount of noise, smoke, odor, dust, vibration, or glare as a result
of operation of the activity.
A designated parcel, tract or area of land established by
a plat or otherwise as permitted by law to be used, developed or built
upon as a unit.
LOT AREAThe computed area contained within the lot lines, excluding any street right-of-way.
LOT LINEA lot abutting upon two or more streets at their intersection or upon two parts of the same street forming an interior angle of less than 135°.
LOT DEPTHThe distance measured from the front lot line to the rear lot line.
LOT FRONTAGEThe length of the front lot line measured at the street right-of-way.
LOT LINESThe property lines bounding the lot.
LOT LINE, FRONTThe line separating the lot from a street.
LOT LINE, REARThe lot line opposite and more distant from the front lot line.
LOT LINE, SIDEAny lot line other than a front or rear lot line, a side lot line separating a lot from a street is called a side street lot line.
LOT LINE, STREETA lot line separating the lot from a street.
LOT WIDTHThe distance between the two side lot lines measured at the required setback line.
Any lot which individually or as part of a subdivision has
been recorded in the office of the Lycoming County Recorder of Deeds.
A street or highway designated as an existing or planned
major thoroughfare in the Borough's Comprehensive Plan.
A factory-built residential dwelling unit certified as built
in compliance with the HUD Code. It is transportable in one or more
sections, which in the traveling mode is eight body feet or more in
width or 40 body feet or more in length; or when erected on site,
is 320 or more square feet, and which is built on a permanent chassis
and designed to be used as a year-round dwelling.
The fair market price of a property as determined by an appraiser
or insurance adjuster; the price at which both buyer and seller are
willing to do business.
Mill where grain and similar produces are processed.
The extraction of minerals from the earth or waste or stock
piles, or from pits or banks, including, but not limited to: strip,
drift, auger and open pit mining, dredging, quarrying, leaching, mountaintop
removal, box cutting, and activities related thereto.
Development involving no new streets and no extension of
public water or sewer and which consists of either a single nonresidential
building of less than 2,000 square feet or the placement of two single-family
dwellings on a single lot.
A subdivision of land of three or fewer new lots involving
no new street and no extension of sewer and water facilities.
See "dwelling mobile home."
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.
The sale and/or rental of motor vehicles, including new automobiles
by a duly franchised new car dealership, used car sales, trucks, trailers,
cycles, boats and recreation vehicles, including repair work conducted
as an accessory use.
A professional engineer licensed as such in the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania, duly appointed as the engineer for a municipality,
planning agency or joint planning commission.
The construction, reconstruction, renovation, repair, extension,
expansion, alteration, location, or relocation of a building (including
mobile homes), structure, and/or improvements (such as street utilities,
etc.)
A lot the area or dimension of which was lawful prior to
the adoption or amendment of a zoning ordinance, 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 provisions of this chapter or where
such structure lawfully existed prior to the enactment of the ordinance
or any amendment. Such nonconforming structures include, but are not
limited to, nonconforming signs.
A use, whether of land or of structure, which does not comply
with the applicable use provisions in a zoning ordinance or amendment
heretofore or hereafter enacted, where such use was lawfully in existence
prior to the enactment of such ordinance or amendment, or prior to
the application of such ordinance or amendment to its location by
reason of annexation.
Any lot or parcel of land used to cultivate, propagate, and
grow trees, shrubs, vines and other plants for sale and transplantation,
including the buildings, structures, and equipment customarily incidental
and accessory to the primary use.
A building designed and used for the full-time care of human
beings and which may include housing or lodging, meals, and nursing.
The home shall not provide for the confinement or care of the insane,
incorrigible children, criminals, those confined by court order, or
those being treated for or recovering from alcohol or drug dependence,
or other correctional types or any similar use.
Any wall, dam, wharf, embankment, levee, dike, pile, abutment,
projection, excavation, channel rectification, culvert, building,
wire, fence, stockpile, refuse, fill, structure or other matter in,
along, across or projecting into any channel, watercourse, or regulatory
flood hazard area which may impede, retard or change the direction
of water, either in itself or by catching or collecting debris carried
downstream to the damage of life or property.
Business, professional, financial, governmental and other
related or similar office uses.
Offices or clinics for medical or dental treatment of persons
as outpatients, including laboratories incidental thereto.
Any parcel or designated land area in its natural state or
essentially unencumbered by either principal or accessory uses, buildings,
structures, or impervious surfaces.
The space within a building, or on a lot, for the parking
of one automobile.
An area of land, controlled by a landowner, to be developed
as a single entity for a number of dwelling units, the development
plan for which does not correspond in lot size, bulk or type of dwelling,
density, lot coverage and required open space to the regulations established
in any one residential district created, from time to time, under
the provisions of a municipal zoning ordinance.
The Planning Commission of Montgomery Borough.
A map, plan, or layout, whether preliminary or final, showing
the subdivision of land and indicating the location and boundaries
of individual properties.
A body of water contained by earthen banks used for fire
protection or aesthetic value and having a depth at any point of more
than two feet or more than 250 square feet in surface area.
Any lot, parcel, or tracts of land and any building constructed
thereon.
The primary purpose(s) for which a lot is occupied. (See Article III.)
A right-of-way which provides vehicular access to a lot.
Owned, operated or controlled by a government agency, federal,
state, or local, including a corporation created by law for the performance
of certain specialized governmental functions, and the Board of Public
Education.
A formal meeting held pursuant to public notice by the governing
body or planning agency, 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."[1]
Notice published once each week for two consecutive weeks
in a newspaper of general circulation in the municipality. Such notice
shall state the date, time, and place of the hearing and the particular
nature of the matter to be considered. The first publication shall
be not more than 30 days nor less than 14 days before the date of
the hearing and the second publication shall be not less than seven
days prior to the hearing date.
A system designed to treat the sewage wastes of more than
one dwelling unit and which discharges the resultant outflow into
a stream or other body of water. Such a system must be designed in
accordance with DEP standards and be permitted by the Bureau of Water
Quality of the Department of Environmental Protection. These systems
shall include municipal treatment facilities as well as package treatment
plants installed by private developers.
Municipal water provided by the Montgomery Municipal Authority.
A facility or park area intended to be used for recreation
purposes, owned or operated by other than a governmental agency.
A facility or park area intended to be used for recreation
purposes, owned or operated by the Borough or other governmental agency.
A vehicle less than 40 feet in length, used for temporary
living or sleeping purposes, which stands on wheels. Included in this
definition are travel trailers, truck campers and motor homes. Such
vehicles are permitted to be used only in campground areas of the
municipality or on private individual parcels.
A shop for the repair of items, such as appliances, lawn
mowers, watches, guns, bicycles, locks and small business machines,
but not including automobiles, motorcycles, trucks, trailers and other
heavy equipment.
Research, testing or experimental laboratories.
A contract between two or more parties usually specifying
limitations or obligations relating to the use of property.
A shop which sells goods to the ultimate consumer.
Land set aside for use as a street, alley or other means
of egress and ingress.
See "lodging house."
A ground satellite receiving station.
Any place offering instruction in any branch of knowledge
under the supervision of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or a lawfully
constituted governing body, person, partnership or corporation meeting
the requirements of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
A trade or professional school intending for training in
a particular field.
Any place designed and operated to provide regular instruction
and daytime care for three or more children under the age of elementary
school.
Religious, sectarian, and nonsectarian, denominational private
school or public school which offers instruction under the supervision
of the state or an organization, corporation, partnership or person
meeting the requirements of the state.
Educational facilities associated directly with the Montgomery
Borough School District.
A vegetative material designed to restrict from the view
of property owners in adjoining districts the structures and uses
on the premises on which the screen planting is located.
A group of retail and other commercial and consumer/service
establishments planned and designed to function as a unit and held
in a single ownership with off-street parking provided as an integral
part of the unit.
Any object, surface, display, device or structure bearing
lettering, pictorial or sculptured matter, designed for visual communication
and used for the purpose of bringing the subject thereof to the attention
of the public, but not including any flag, badge, or insignia of a
government.
The entire face of a sign, including the advertising surface
and any framing, trim, or molding, but not including the supporting
structure.
A sign which advertises or directs attention to a commodity,
business, industry, or activity which is sold, offered or conducted
at a location other than on the lot upon which such sign is located.
For the purposes of this chapter, billboards shall be freestanding
structures, not including wall signs.
A sign which directs attention to a business, commodity,
service, industry or other activity which is sold, offered or conducted
on the premises upon which such sign is located and may be affixed
to either the ground or a wall of the business.
A freestanding sign supported vertically by one or more up-rights
placed in or on the ground which may be designed to be moveable. Such
signs may advertise products or items offered for sale or that are
directly related to the premises on which they are located (e.g.,
business identification signs) or may advertise products or events
located elsewhere (e.g., billboards).
A sign attached to a wall or a part of a wall of a building
or structure, not including billboards, which advertise products sold
or directly related to the premises on which they are located (e.g.,
business identification signs).
Any parcel containing slopes greater than 15%.
An accessory building in which no more than three horses
are kept for private use and not for hire, exhibition, or sale.
That portion of a building included between the surface of
any floor and the surface of the floor next above it. If there is
no floor above it, then the space between any floor and the ceiling
immediately above it.
Includes street, avenue, boulevard, road, highway, freeway,
parkway, lane, alley, viaduct and any other ways used or intended
to be used by vehicular traffic or pedestrians whether public or private.
The officially established grade of the street upon which
a lot fronts or in its absence the established grade of other streets
upon which the lot abuts, at the midway of the frontage of the lot
thereon. If there is no officially established grade, the existing
grade of the street at such midpoint shall be taken as the street
grade.
The dividing line between the street and lot, also known
as "right-of-way line."
Any combination of materials, other than a building which
forms a construction that is safe and stable, including, but not limited
to, flagpole, stadiums, platforms, towers, sheds, storage bins, fences
exceeding four feet in height, signs, sign posts, lights and light
standards for other than residential use but excepting patios, driveways,
walks, and parking areas at yard grade.
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 devises, 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
dwelling, shall be exempted.
For purposes of this definition "substantial improvement" is
considered to occur when the first alteration of any wall, ceiling,
floor or other structural part of the building commences, whether
or not that alteration affects the external dimensions of the structure.
The term does not include either:
Any project for improvement of a structure to comply with existing
state or local health, sanitary, or safety code specifications which
are solely necessary to assure safe living conditions; or
Any alteration of a structure listed on the National Register
of Historic Places or a state inventory of historic places.
Where in the judgment of the Borough Engineer, at least 90%
of those improvements required as a condition for final 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.
The piping, grading, and other construction associated with
the removal of groundwater from under roadway or runway surfaces designed
to maintain firm, stable subgrades and structure foundations; reduce
saturation of backfill behind retaining walls, etc.
A body of water in an artificial container, whether located
in or above ground, having a depth at any point of more than two feet
or a surface area of more than 250 square feet, used or intended to
be used for swimming.
Any establishment licensed by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control
Board to serve alcoholic beverages for on-premises consumption.
A structure or group of structures owned and/or operated
by a trucking firm(s) intended to be used for loading, unloading,
storage and/or transfer of truck-transported goods, including truck
maintenance, and fueling facilities.
A use to be allowed or denied by the Borough Council after
recommendations by the Planning Commission, pursuant to express standards
and criteria set forth in this chapter.
The specific purpose for which land or a building may be
designed, arranged, intended, or for which it is or may be occupied,
or maintained. The term "permitted use" or its equivalent shall not
be deemed to include any nonconforming use.
Those services customarily rendered by public utility corporations,
municipalities or municipal authorities, in the nature of electricity,
gas, telephone, water and sewage, including the appurtenances used
in connection with the supplying of such services (building, wires,
pipes, poles and the like).
A modification of the literal provisions of this chapter
which the Zoning Hearing Board is permitted to grant when strict enforcement
would cause undue hardship owing to circumstances unique to the individual
property on which the variance is sought.
Consists of trees, shrubs, flower grass, ground covers, or
similar decorative substitute such as bark, stone, etc.
Structures or establishments intended for the wholesale sale
and/or storage or warehousing of products with no retail sales.
Land that is inundated or saturated by surface water or groundwater
at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under
normal circumstances does or would support, a prevalence of vegetation
typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions. The term
includes, but is not limited to, swamps, bogs, marshes, and marine
meadows.
An open space which lies between the principal building or group of buildings and the nearest lot line as specified in Article III of this chapter. Such space shall be unoccupied and unobstructed from the ground upward except as may herein be permitted.
YARD, FRONTAn open space which lies between the principal building or group of buildings and the front lot lines, unoccupied and unobstructed from the ground upward.
YARD, REARAn open space extending the full width of the lot between a principal building and the rear lot line, unoccupied and unobstructed from the ground upward.
YARD, SIDEAn open space extending from the front yard to the rear yard between a principal building and the nearest side lot line, unoccupied and unobstructed from the ground upward.
The Zoning Hearing Board of Montgomery Borough.
The Official Zoning Map of Montgomery Borough, together with
all notations, references and amendments which may subsequently be
adopted.
A permit stating that the purpose for which a building or
land is to be used is in conformity with the uses permitted and all
other requirements under this chapter for the district in which it
is located.
[1]
Editor's Note: See now 65 Pa.C.S.A. § 701 et seq.
