A subordinate building or a portion of the main building on a lot, the use of which is customarily incidental to that of the main or principal building.

A use customarily incidental to and subordinate to the principal use or building and located on the same lot with such principal use or building.

Any public thoroughfare in the Borough shown on the Borough Map and open to travel by the public and designed and intended primarily as a means of access to and from the rear of properties.

As applied to a building or structure, a change or rearrangement in the structural parts or in the existing facilities, or an enlargement, whether by extending on a side or by increasing in height, or the moving from one location or position to another.

Any change in the supporting members of a building such as bearing walls, columns, beams, or girders.

A change in use in any district which includes revisions to the zoning text and/or the Official Zoning Map and the authority for any amendment lies solely with the Borough Council.

A building used for the treatment, housing, or boarding of small domestic animals by a veterinarian.

The total of areas taken on a horizontal plane at the main grade level of the principal building and all accessory buildings, exclusive of uncovered porches, terraces, and steps.

The total area within the lot lines.

A portion of a building located partly underground, but having less than 1/2 its clear floor-to-ceiling height below the average grade of the adjoining ground.

A sign upon which advertising matter of any character is printed, posted, or lettered; whether free standing or attached to a surface of a building or other structure. A billboard is used to advertise products, services or businesses at a location other than the premises on which the sign is placed.

Any body granted jurisdiction under a land use ordinance or under this chapter to render final adjudications.

Any dwelling in which more than three persons, either individually or as families, are housed or lodged for hire with or without meals. A rooming house or a furnished room house shall be deemed a boarding house.

Any structure having a roof supported by walls and intended for the shelter, housing or enclosure of persons, animals or chattel.

A building surrounded by open spaces on the same lot.

The line of that face of the building nearest the front line of the lot. This face includes sun parlors and covered porches, whether enclosed or unenclosed, but does not include steps.

The vertical distance measured from the average elevation of the proposed finished grade at the front of the building to the highest point of the roof.

The line of a structure or building existing at the effective date of this chapter or the legally established line which determines the location of a future building or structure or portion thereof with respect to any lot line or street right-of-way.

A building in which is conducted the principal use of the lot on which it is located.

A sign bearing the name of the occupant of a premises and the name of products manufactured, processed, sold, or displayed thereon.

An open space for the storage of one or more vehicles in the same manner as a private garage, which may be covered by a roof supported by columns or posts except that one or more walls may be the walls of the main building to which the carport is an accessory building or extension.

That portion of a street lying between the curblines and designed and intended primarily for vehicular travel.

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.

Consists of maps, charts, and textual matter, and indicates the recommendations of the Planning Commission for the continuing development of the Borough. The Comprehensive Plan includes, but is not limited to, the following related basic elements: a statement of objectives; a plan for land use; a plan for the movement of people and goods; a plan for community facilities and utilities; and a map or statement indicating the relationship of the Borough and its proposed development to the adjacent municipalities and areas.

A use permitted in a particular zoning district by the Borough Council pursuant to the provisions of this chapter and Article VI of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, 53 P.S. § 10601 et seq.

A form of property ownership providing for individual ownership of a specific apartment or other space not necessarily on ground level together with an undivided interest in the land or other parts of the structure in common with other owners. A condominium is considered permissible under the same standards as a townhouse or garden apartment.

An unoccupied open space, other than a yard on the lot with a building, which is bounded on two or more sides by the walls of such building.

That portion or percentage of the plot or lot area covered by the building area.

The officially established grade of the curb in front of the midpoint of the lot.

Final adjudication of any board or other body granted jurisdiction under any land use ordinance or this chapter to do so, either by reason of the grant of exclusive jurisdiction or by reason of appeals from determinations. All decisions shall be appealable to the court of common pleas of the county and judicial district wherein the Borough lies.

The measure of the number of dwelling units which occupy, or may occupy, an area of land.

Numerical values applied to residential dwelling unit types for the purpose of computing permitted densities.

The number of dwelling units in relation to an area of land actually in use or proposed to be used for residential purposes, excluding public rights-of-way whether exterior or interior, but including interior parking areas and access lanes, sidewalks, parks, playgrounds, common open spaces, etc.

The number of dwelling units in relation to the land area actually in use or proposed to be used for residential purposes, exclusive of public rights-of-way, streets, sidewalks, parks, playgrounds, common open spaces, etc.

Final action by an officer, body or agency charged with the administration of any land use ordinance or applications thereunder, except the following:

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 and the subdivision of land.

The keeping of four or more dogs that are more than six months old.

A lot of land or part of thereof used primarily for the disposal by abandonment, dumping, burial, burning, or other means and for whatever purpose, of garbage, sewage, trash, refuse, junk, discarded machinery, vehicles or parts thereof, or waste material of any kind.

A building or structure, except temporary housing, which is wholly or partly used or intended to be used for living or sleeping by human occupants. The term "dwelling" as used herein shall include rooming houses and multifamily dwellings as well as single-family dwellings unless otherwise indicated.

Any room or group of rooms located within a dwelling and forming a single habitable unit for living, sleeping, cooking and eating.

An assemblage of equipment for purposes other than generation or utilization, through which electric energy in bulk is passed for the purposes of switching or modifying its characteristics to meet the needs of the general public.

One or more persons who live together in one dwelling unit and maintain a common household. May consist of a single person or of two or more persons, whether or not related by blood, marriage, or adoption.

A temporary inundation of normally dry land areas.

All that space relegated to use by the customer and the retail employee to consummate retail sales; and to include display area used to indicate the variety of goods available for the customer, but not to include office space, storage space, and other general administrative areas.

An enclosed or covered space for the storage of one or more motor vehicles, provided that no business, occupation or service is conducted for profit therein nor space therein for more than one car is leased to a nonresident of the premises.

Any garage not a private garage and which is used for storage, repair, rental, servicing, or supplying of gasoline or oil to motor vehicles.

The elevation of the center line of the streets as officially established by the Borough authorities.

The completed surfaces of lawns, walks, and roads brought to grades as shown on official plans or designs relating thereto.

The cultivation of herbs, fruits, flowers or vegetables on a piece of ground adjoining the dwelling, excluding the keeping of livestock, and permitting the sale of produce raised thereon.

An accessory use customarily conducted entirely within a dwelling and carried on by the inhabitants thereof, which use is clearly incidental and secondary to the use of the dwelling and does not change the character thereof.

Unless otherwise specified, the term "hospital" shall be deemed to include sanitarium, sanatorium, preventorium, clinic, rest home, nursing home, convalescent home, and any other place for the diagnosis, treatment, or other care of ailments, and shall be deemed to be limited to places for the diagnosis, treatment or other care of human ailments.

A building containing rooms intended or designed to be used or which are used, rented, or hired out to be occupied or which are occupied for sleeping purposes by guests and where only a general kitchen and dining room are provided within the building or in any accessory building.

A lot, land, or structure or part thereof; used primarily for the collecting, storage and sale of wastepaper, rags, scrap metal or discarded material; or for the collecting, dismantling, storage, and salvaging of machinery or vehicles not in running condition, and for the sale of parts thereof.

Any of the following activities:

The minimum square footage of lot area that is available for the use of the residents of a dwelling unit complex in which it is located or a part of the required area of a commercial or industrial development. This area must be both unsurfaced and water absorbent, and no more than 1/3 of this total space footage requirement may be made up of the area located within the setback requirements for the front, side, or rear yards of the complex.

A business premise equipped with individual clothes washing machines for the use of retail customers, exclusive of laundry facilities provided as an accessory use in an apartment house or an apartment hotel.

The dividing line between the street and the lot.

A designated parcel, tract or area of land established by a plat or otherwise as permitted by law and to be used, developed or built upon as a unit.

A parcel of land at the junction of and abutting on two or more intersecting streets.

A lot other than a corner lot.

The lines bounding a lot as defined herein.

A transportable, single-family dwelling intended for permanent occupancy, contained in one unit or in two or more units designed to be joined into one integral unit capable of again being separated for repeated towing, which arrives at a site complete and ready for occupancy except for minor and incidental unpacking and assembly operations, and constructed so that it may be used without a permanent foundation.

A parcel of land in a mobile home park, improved with the necessary utility connections and other appurtenances necessary for the erection thereon of a single 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.

A body politic and corporate created pursuant to the Act of May 2, 1945 (P.L. 382, No. 164), known as the "Municipalities Authority Act of 1945."[1]

The Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, the act of July 31, 1968, P.L. 805, No. 247, as amended through the act of December 21, 1988, P.L. No. 170, 53 P.S. § 10101 et seq.

A commercial establishment which primarily offers food for sale, but which may also sell various other products such as convenience goods normally associated with grocery store sales. A neighborhood grocery store is designed and intended solely for the use of residents of the immediate area within the community; it is not intended to serve the community as a whole, nor a regional market beyond the community.

A lot the area or dimension of which was lawful prior to the adoption or amendment of this chapter, but which fails to conform to the requirements of the zoning district in which it is located by reason of such adoption or amendment.

A structure or part of a structure manifestly not designed to comply with the use or extent of use provisions of this chapter or amendment heretofore or hereafter enacted, where such structure lawfully existed prior to the enactment of this chapter or amendment or prior to the application of this chapter or amendment to its location by reason of annexation. 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 this chapter or amendment heretofore or hereafter enacted, where such use was lawfully in existence prior to the enactment of this chapter or amendment, or prior to the application of this chapter or amendment to its location by reason of annexation.

Any dwelling with less than 15 sleeping rooms where persons are housed or lodged and furnished with meals and nursing care for hire.

A sanitary sewage collection system in which sewage is carried from individual lots or dwelling units by a system of pipes to a central treatment and disposal plant which may be publicly or privately owned and operated.

A flood that has a one-percent chance of occurring in any given year.

Open pit mining shall include all activity which removes from the surface or beneath the surface of the land some material mineral resource, natural resource, or other element of economic value, by means of mechanical excavation necessary to separate the desired material from an undesirable one, or to remove strata or material which overlies or is above the desired material in its natural condition and position. Open pit mining includes, but is not limited to, the excavation necessary to the extraction of sand, gravel, topsoil, limestone, sandstone, clay, shale and iron ore.

A space unoccupied by buildings or paved surface and open to the sky on the same lot with the building.

An area of land, controlled by a landowner, to be developed as a single entity for a number of dwelling units, or combination of residential and nonresidential uses, the development plan for which does not correspond in lot size, bulk, type of dwelling, or use, density or intensity, lot coverage and required open space to the regulations established in any one district created, from time to time, under the provisions of this chapter.

A map, plan, or layout of a subdivision indicating the location and boundaries of individual properties.

A covered area in excess of four feet by five feet or 20 square feet in area at a front, side, or rear door.

Any lot, parcel, or tract of land and any building constructed thereon.

Includes any occupation or vocation in which a professed knowledge of some department of science or learning is used by its practical application to the affairs of others, either advising, guiding, or teaching them and in serving their interest or welfare in the practice of an art founded on it. The work implies attainments in professional knowledge as distinguished from mere skill in the application of such knowledge to uses for others as a vocation. It requires knowledge of an advanced type in a given field of science or instruction and study.

A recorded boundary of a lot. However, any property line which abuts a street or other public or quasi-public way shall be measured from the full right-of-way.

Includes:

A formal meeting held pursuant to public notice by the Borough Council or Planning Commission, 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," 53 P.S. §§ 271 et seq.[2]

Notice published once each week for two successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the Borough. Such notice shall state the time and place of the hearing and the particular nature of the matter to be considered at the hearing. The first publication shall not be more than 30 days and the second publication shall not be less than seven days from the date of the hearing.

Includes public and semipublic uses of a welfare and educational nature, such as hospitals, nursing homes, schools, parks, churches, cemeteries, civic centers, historical restorations, fire stations, municipal buildings, essential public utilities that require enclosure within a building; airports; fraternal clubs and homes; nonprofit recreational facilities; easements for alleys, streets, and public utility rights-of-way; and radio and television transmission facilities.

Any letter, review, memorandum, compilation or similar writing made by any body, board, officer or consultant other than a solicitor to any other body, board, officer or consultant for the purpose of assisting the recipient of such report in the rendering of any decision or determination. All reports shall be deemed recommendatory and advisory only and shall not be binding upon the recipient, board, officer, body or agency, nor shall any appeal lie therefrom. Any report used, received or considered by the body, board, officer or agency rendering a determination or decision shall be made available for inspection to the applicant and all other parties to any proceeding upon request, and copies thereof shall be provided at cost of reproduction.

Any establishment where horses are kept for riding, driving, or stabling for compensation or incidental to the operation of any club, association, ranch or similar establishment.

Setback distances in this chapter in accordance with the type of roadway abutting the properties. For the purpose of this chapter, the following definitions are employed:

Any dwelling or that part of any dwelling containing one or more rooming units, in which space is rented by the owner or operator to three or more persons who are not husband or wife, son or daughter, mother or father, sister or brother, or those standing in such relationships of the owner or operator.

An institution for the care of invalids or convalescents consisting of 16 or more sleeping rooms.

A vegetative material of sufficient height and density to conceal from the view of property owners in adjoining residential districts the structures and uses on the premises on which the screen planting is located.

A dwelling, cabin, lodge or summer house which is intended for occupancy less than 182 days of the year.

Uses not enclosed within a building, necessary for the preservation of the public health and safety, including, but not limited to, the erection, construction, alteration or maintenance of, but public utilities or governmental agencies, underground or overhead transmission systems, poles, wires, pipes, cables, fire alarm boxes, hydrants, or other similar equipment.

The line within a property defining the required minimum distance between any building to be erected and the adjacent right-of-way. Such line shall be measured at right angles from the front street right-of-way line which abuts the property upon which said building is located and shall be parallel to said right-of-way line.

A woody plant, smaller than a tree, with many separate stems, growing under five feet.

Any device for visual communication that is used for the purpose of bringing the subject thereof to the attention of the public, but not including any flag, badge, or insignia of any government or government agency, or of any civic, charitable, religious, patriotic, or similar organization.

A use permitted in a particular zoning district pursuant to the provisions of this chapter and Articles VI and IX of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, 53 P.S. §§ 10601 et seq. and 10901 et seq.

An accessory building in which horses are kept for private use and not for hire, remuneration, or sale.

A building in which any horses are kept for remuneration, hire or sale.

Any area of land, including structures thereon, that is used or designed to be used for the supply of gasoline or oil or other fuel for the propulsion of motor vehicles and which may include facilities used or designated to be used for polishing, greasing, washing, spraying, dry cleaning or otherwise cleaning or servicing such motor vehicles.

That portion of a building included between the surface of any floor and the surface of the floor next above it, or if there be no floor above it, then the space between any floor and the ceiling next above it.

A story under a gable, hip or gambrel roof, the wall plates of which on at least two opposite exterior walls are not more than two feet above the floor of such story.

Includes street, avenue, boulevard, road, highway, freeway, parkway, lane, alley, viaduct or any other ways used or intended to be used by vehicular traffic or pedestrians whether public or private.

The center of the surveyed street right-of-way, or where not surveyed, the center of the traveled cartway.

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 midpoint of the frontage of the lot thereon. If there is no officially established grade, the existing grade of the street at such mid-point shall be taken as the street grade.

The line dividing a lot from the full street right-of-way, not just the cartway. The word "street" shall include, but not be limited to, the words "road," "highway," "alley," and "thoroughfare."

Any man-made object having an ascertainable stationary location on or in land or water, whether or not affixed to the land, including, but not limited to, buildings, fences, signs and/or swimming pools.

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 devisees, 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.

A building and its equipment erected and used for the purpose of facilitating transmission and exchange of telephone or radio telephone messages between subscribers and other business of the telephone company, but in a residential district not to include public business facilities, storage of materials, trucks or repair facilities, or housing or repair crews.

A building or part of a building devoted to the showing of moving pictures or theatrical productions on a paid admission basis.

An open lot or part thereof, with its appurtenant facilities, devoted primarily to the showing of moving pictures or theatrical productions, on a paid admission basis, to patrons seated in automobiles or on outdoor seats.

A group of buildings, including either separate cabins or a row of cabins, which:

A dwelling in which overnight accommodations are provided or offered for transient guests for compensation.

A vehicular, portable structure built on a chassis, designed to be used as a temporary dwelling for travel, recreational, and vacation uses, permanently identified "Travel Trailer" by the manufacturer on the trailer. Unoccupied travel trailers do not constitute mobile homes, as used in this chapter.

A plant having one main stem or trunk, and usually branches out growing over five feet.

The specific purpose for which land or a building is 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.

Relief granted pursuant to the provisions of this chapter and Articles VI and IX of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, 53 P.S. § 10101 et seq.

An opening to the outside other than a door which provides all or part of the required natural light, natural ventilation or both to an interior space. The glazed portion of a door in an exterior wall may be construed to be a window in regard to provision of natural light.

An unoccupied space open to the sky, on the same lot with a building or structure.

An open unoccupied space on the same lot with a main building, extending the full width of the building projected to the side lines of the lot. The depth of the front yard shall be measured between the front line of the building and the street right-of-way. Covered porches, whether enclosed or unenclosed, shall be considered as part of the main building and shall not project into a required front yard.

An open unoccupied space on the same lot with a main building, extending the full-width of the lot and situated between the rear line of the lot and the rear line of the building projected to the side lines of the lot. The depth of the rear yard shall be measured between the rear line of the lot and the rear line of the building. A building shall not extend into the required rear yard.

An open unoccupied space on the same lot with the building situated between the building and the side line of the lot and extending from the front yard to the rear yard. Any lot line not a rear line or a front line shall be deemed a side line. A building shall not extend into the required side yard.

The designation of specified districts within a community or municipality, reserving them for certain uses together with limitations on lot size, heights of structures and other stipulated requirements.

The Official Zoning Map of Avis Borough.

The Avis Borough Zoning Ordinance (this chapter), as amended.