In expansion of the legislative intent contained in Article I, § 230-2, of this chapter, it is hereby declared to be the specific intent of this article with respect to SC-1 Shopping Center development to provide well-planned integrated developments for retail sales and service establishments on a single tract of land, with grouped off-street parking. Further, it is the intent of this article to:
A.
Serve the shopping needs of the Township's population
growth.
B.
Provide regulations to minimize conflicts between
shopping center development and adjacent residential neighborhoods.
C.
Provide for the logical development of appropriately
located larger tracts.
D.
Provide locations for shopping centers so as to avoid
detrimental competition with existing commercial uses and shopping
centers within both the Township and in adjacent municipalities.
E.
Provide regulations to avoid congestion and hazardous
traffic conditions as a result of shopping center development.
F.
Provide varying regulations appropriate for the development
of neighborhood-scale shopping centers and for the development of
community-scale shopping centers.
A neighborhood shopping center may be developed
as a permitted use, in which a building or group of buildings may
be erected, altered, or used, and a lot may be used or occupied for
any of the following uses either separately or in combination, and
no other:
A.
Convenience store and retail establishment for the
sale of dry goods, variety merchandise, clothing, food, beverages,
flowers, plants, drugs, furnishings, or other household supplies,
sale and repair of jewelry, clocks, optical goods, or musical instruments,
or scientific or professional instruments, and similar goods. No drive-through
facilities shall be permitted.
[Amended 7-27-2020 by Ord. No. 2020-04; 9-28-2020 by Ord. No. 2020-07]
B.
Restaurant, provided that quick-service restaurants
shall not be permitted.
[Amended 9-28-2020 by Ord. No. 2020-07]
C.
Retail service shop, including but not limited to
bakery, custom tailoring shop, household appliance repair shop, provided
that a minimum of 30% of a shop used for such purpose is devoted to
customer use and that such area is completely separated from any area
devoted to a processing activity by a wall or partition.
D.
Personal service shop, including but not limited to
hairdresser, barbershop, shoe repair, dry-cleaning establishment,
provided that any dry-cleaning establishment shall be a nonflammable
type of operation and that a minimum of 30% of a shop used for such
purpose shall be devoted to customer use.
E.
Business or professional office; studio.
F.
Bank or financial institution.
G.
Automatic self-service laundry.
H.
Indoor place of amusement including coin-operated
amusement machine establishment (consisting of more than three machines),
but excluding theater for motion-picture or stage productions or assembly
hall.
I.
Post office.
J.
Passenger station for public transportation.
K.
Municipal building.
[Added 12-23-2002 by Ord. No. 1153]
The following uses, located in a separate building(s) but on the same site as a neighborhood shopping center and integrated into the overall plan thereof, may be authorized as conditional uses, pursuant to the standards enumerated in § 230-114 herein for which application is made following the procedures outlined in § 230-124 herein:
In the SC-1 District, a community-scale shopping center may be developed, if authorized as a conditional use, pursuant to the standards enumerated in Section § 230-112 herein for which application is made following the procedures outlined in § 230-124 herein.
A.
A building or group of buildings may be erected, altered, or used, and a lot may be used or occupied for any of the uses permitted in a neighborhood shopping center pursuant to § 230-107 herein. In addition, the following other uses may also be developed in a community-scale shopping center:
B.
All satellite uses enumerated in § 230-108 herein may be allowed in a community-scale shopping a center. In addition, the following additional satellite uses may be developed in a community-scale shopping center, pursuant to the standards enumerated in § 230-114 herein:
(1)
Quick-service restaurant.
[Amended 8-23-2021 by Ord. No. 2021-09]
(2)
Farm and garden supply center.
(3)
Theater for motion-picture or stage productions (excluding
outdoor motion-picture establishment).
The following general regulations shall apply
for any shopping center developed pursuant to this article:
A.
Ownership. The tract of land to be developed shall be in one ownership, or shall be the subject of an application filed jointly by the owners of the entire tract, and it shall be agreed that the tract will be developed under single direction in accordance with an approved plan. Transfer of ownership prior to the commencement of construction shall render the development agreement required in Subsection D herein void. Said agreement shall then be renegotiable between the new owners and Township Council.
B.
Sewer and water facilities. The tract of land shall
be served by centralized water facilities and sanitary sewer facilities
provided by a public utility.
C.
Development plan. The application for development shall be accompanied by a plan, or plans, showing the detailed use of the entire tract, which plan or plans shall also comply with all requirements of Chapter 198, Subdivision and Land Development, and other applicable ordinances. The plan shall clearly designate the proposed use(s) of each area of the tract.
D.
Development stages and permits. The development of a tract carried out in either a single phase or in stages, shall be executed in accordance with a development agreement. The owner, developer and Township shall enter into said agreement embodying all details regarding compliance with this article to assure the binding nature thereof on the overall tract and its development, which agreement shall be recorded with the final development plan. Included in the development agreement shall be a stipulation that any landscaping material required by this district and reflected on the landscape plan as required by § 230-31 herein, shall be replaced if it dies within one year of initial planting.
The following site development requirements
shall govern development of a neighborhood shopping center:
A.
Minimum tract size: five acres.
B.
Minimum tract width measured at the ultimate right-of-way
line: 300 feet.
C.
Height: all buildings shall comply with the regulations as contained in Article V, Performance Standards.
D.
Maximum building coverage (includes primary and satellite
uses): 25% of the developable area of each lot may be occupied by
buildings.
[Amended 9-16-1998 by Ord. No. 1147]
F.
H.
Minimum distance between buildings or building groups
(all structures connected by common roof lines or covered walkways
shall be considered as one building): 25 feet.
Any proposal to develop a shopping center on
a site of 10 acres or larger shall, for the purposes of this chapter,
be considered a community-scale shopping center, and allowed only
as a conditional use. The following standards shall be used by the
Township Council in evaluating a proposed community-scale shopping
center as a conditional use:
A.
A market area study shall be prepared justifying the
need for a shopping center of the magnitude proposed. Said study shall
be prepared by a qualified professional(s) and shall contain, at a
minimum, the following information:
(1)
A description of the commercial establishment(s) proposed,
the approximate number of employees anticipated for each establishment
and the sales volume anticipated for each establishment, if known.
(2)
A delineation of the proposed market area to be served.
(3)
An estimate of the population and number of households
within the defined market area currently and the number anticipated
10 years after completion of the shopping center.
(4)
Per capita or household estimates of the demand for
the goods and services proposed for the development and estimates
of the total existing and anticipated demand within the defined market
area for each proposed good and service.
(5)
The location and size of commercial establishments
within or near the defined market area that could compete with the
proposed development.
The following site development requirements
shall govern development of a community-scale shopping center, when
authorized as a conditional use by the Township Council:
A.
Minimum tract size: 10 acres.
B.
Minimum tract width measured at the ultimate right-of-way
line: 500 feet.
C.
Maximum building height: all buildings shall comply with the regulations as contained in Article V, Performance Standards.
D.
Maximum building coverage (includes primary and satellite
uses): 25% of the developable area of each lot may be occupied by
buildings.
[Amended 9-16-1998 by Ord. No. 1147]
F.
The following regulations shall apply to satellite
uses developed in shopping centers pursuant to this article:
B.
To determine the maximum number of satellite uses
permitted as part of any shopping center development, a ratio of the
number of satellite uses to the size of the tract (in acres) must
be computed. Said ratio shall not exceed two to five; provided, however,
the maximum number of satellite uses shall not exceed five, regardless
of the size of the tract.
C.
In addition to the parking provisions contained in § 230-115 herein, the following parking and circulation requirements shall pertain to satellite uses:
(1)
Access to parking intended for satellite uses shall
be taken from the parking area intended for the primary use; in no
case shall access to parking for satellite uses be taken directly
from an abutting street.
The following parking and internal circulation
requirements shall pertain to all shopping centers developed pursuant
to this district:
A.
The requirements contained in Article V shall apply to all parking areas constructed pursuant to this article.
B.
For double parking bays, 15% of the area of each parking
space may be maintained in grass, provided that the grass is separated
from the paved area by a suitable curb or bumper.
C.
For purposes of traffic channelization, precluding parking of vehicles in unwanted areas, and reduction of visual monotony, a minimum of 10% of all parking areas shall be devoted to raised interior parking lot landscaped islands, exclusive of any other landscaping or buffering requirements and exclusive of the grass area permitted under Subsection B herein. The landscaping required by this section shall be installed in such manner that no individual landscaped area shall contain less than 200 square feet; the minimum horizontal dimension of any such area shall be 10 feet.
(1)
Raised landscaped islands shall be placed such that
the ends of all parking bays, adjacent to a driving aisle directly
in front of a primary building, are defined.
(2)
Traffic channelization shall be planned in such a
way that a main driving aisle from which vehicles can flow into the
parking bays, is remote from the primary building(s) so as to avoid
traffic conflicts in front of the primary building(s).
D.
Pedestrian access. Within all parking areas, signing
and pavement markings or pavement differentiation shall be provided
indicating paths of heavy pedestrian traffic. Wherever such paths
cross landscaped islands, a break in the landscaping shall be provided.
Curb cuts shall also be provided as necessary to allow access by elderly
and the physically handicapped.
E.
Bicycle storage. Area(s) for the storage of bicycles,
including a rack(s) or other permanently affixed storage device(s),
shall be provided. Such area(s) shall be so placed as to be out of
areas of heavy traffic and in such a way that pedestrian travel is
not impaired.
The following regulations shall pertain to access
for all tracts of land to be developed in the SC-1 District:
A.
Accessways leading onto a public street shall be built to the dimensional requirements specified in Chapter 198, Subdivision and Land Development.
B.
For any tract used for development pursuant to this
district, no more than two points of access may be permitted onto
each street on which the lot(s) abuts.
C.
Tracts of land to be developed pursuant to this article which front onto two streets shall not have two points of access onto one street and none on the other, unless the placement of an access point onto the other street would create a traffic hazard or unduly impact existing residential development as documented in the traffic impact statement prepared pursuant to § 230-117 herein. Two points of access onto one street shall also be permitted if one or two points of access are provided onto the other street. In addition, where the tract fronts onto two streets of differing classification (according to Chapter 198, Subdivision and Land Development), the developer may elect to place two points of access on the street of lesser classification, with none on the other fronting street, if so doing would not create a hazardous traffic situation or unduly impact existing residential development as confirmed in the Traffic Impact Statement prepared pursuant to § 230-117 herein.
D.
Accessways shall be spaced a minimum of 100 feet on
center on any tract used for development pursuant to this district.
In addition, accessways shall be spaced a minimum of 100 feet on center
from existing accessways on adjacent properties whenever possible.
When this is not feasible, common drives shall be encouraged.
E.
The edge of any accessway shall not be located closer
than 50 feet to any lot used for residential purposes.
A traffic impact study shall be required for any development proposal, pursuant to this article. This study shall be conducted in accordance with the requirements as detailed in Chapter 198, Subdivision and Land Development.
Along the frontage of every tract developed
pursuant to this article, except for area devoted to accessways, landscaping
shall be provided. The landscaped area shall extend toward the interior
of the lot for a minimum distance of 15 feet from the ultimate right-of-way
line.
Any shopping center constructed pursuant to
this article shall be designed as an architecturally integrated unit.
A.
Street furniture, lighting standards, signs and other
accessory items installed as part of a shopping center development
shall be of compatible materials, scale, and design.
B.
Any building facade which faces a patron parking area,
street, or other space used or viewed by the public, shall be provided
with decorative facade treatment, architecturally integrated with
all other building facades.
The design of buildings in the SC-1 District
shall include either a provision for the storage of refuse inside
the building(s) or within an area enclosed by either walls or opaque
fencing outside the building(s) designed to be architecturally compatible
with the building(s). Such walls or fencing shall be designed to shield
the refuse areas from direct view of any adjacent property and must
be at least six feet high.
A.
Refuse areas shall be centrally located for the joint
use of tenants in the shopping center. A maximum of one refuse area
shall be permitted for each 10,000 square feet of gross leasable area
or fraction thereof, provided, however, that an individual tenant(s)
with 10,000 square feet or more of gross leasable area must be provided
with at least one individual refuse area(s).
B.
Every satellite use may be provided with an individual
refuse area.
[Amended 8-23-2021 by Ord. No. 2021-09]
All uses, except for parking lots and outdoor dining areas,
shall be completely enclosed within a building. No merchandise, goods,
articles or equipment shall be stored, displayed or offered for sale
outside any building except seasonal articles which are too large
or otherwise infeasible to be stored indoors. Such articles shall
be stored adjacent to the building housing the tenant selling the
articles and shall be enclosed by either walls or opaque fencing designed
to be architecturally compatible with the building and shall be at
least six feet high. Any outdoor display areas shall be considered
to be sales floor area for the purposes of computing building coverage
and for computing parking requirements.
The following procedure shall be followed for
consideration of any proposed conditional use pursuant to this article:
A.
Conditional use application.
(1)
An application shall be submitted in writing to the Township Manager. Such applications shall include, as a minimum, a tentative sketch plan indicating how the applicant intends to develop the property, and sufficient data to document compliance with the applicable standards contained in § 230-112 or 230-114 herein.
(2)
Township Council shall schedule a public hearing on
said application within 60 days following the date of the regular
meeting of Township Council or the Planning Commission (whichever
first reviews the application) next following the date the application
is filed, provided that should the said next regular meeting occur
more than 30 days following the filing of the application, the said
sixty-day period shall be measured from the thirtieth day following
the day the application is filed. Such time limit may be waived, in
writing, by the applicant.
B.
Public hearing. Prior to deciding to approve or deny
an application for the proposed conditional use, Township Council
shall hold a public hearing thereon pursuant to public notice. At
least 45 days prior to the date of the hearing, one copy of the development
proposal and all additional submitted information shall be transmitted
to the Township Planning Commission and one to the Montgomery County
Planning Commission together with a request that these agencies submit
recommendations regarding said use.
