Bristol City Zoning Code

Such buildings shall be separated by a distance at least equal to twice the required side yard for that district; except for residential uses in the MX Mixed Use District and for uses designed to include multiple principal buildings where specific building separation distances are provided.

Such buildings shall conform to the standards and improvements required for a land development by the Bristol Borough Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance.

The lot or yard requirements for any new building or use shall not include any part of a lot that is required by any other building or use to comply with the requirements of this chapter.

No required lot area or yard shall include any property (the ownership of which has been transferred subsequent to the effective date of this chapter), if such property was a part of the area required for compliance with the dimensional requirements applicable to the lot from which such transfer was made.

If any use and/or property is proposed to have a condominium form of ownership, whether for the whole property or any part thereof, the minimum lot areas, yards, setbacks, impervious surface limits per lot, or building coverage limits per lot shall be met for each unit, building and use, even if individual lots are not created and sold separately. All required dimensional criteria for each unit, building and use shall be provided contiguously and proportionately to each unit, building and use, and all setbacks shall be measured from any road, street and/or alley, and from any building line and/or unit boundary, as appropriate.

Nonconforming Lots. See § 27-407.

Exception for Single-Family Dwelling. The provisions of Subsection 1 shall not prevent the construction of a single-family dwelling, provided the yard requirements are observed, on any lot that was lawful when created and which prior to the effective date of this chapter was in separate ownership duly recorded by plan or deed.

Irregularly Shaped Lots. In the case of irregularly shaped lots, the minimum lot width specified in the district shall be measured at the building setback line of the minimum required front yard, provided that in no case shall the lot frontage measured at the street right-of-way line be less than 70% of the minimum lot width except in the following situations: on culs-de-sac or courts or street center-line curves of less than 300 feet radius where the lot frontage measured at the street right-of-way line shall not be less than 40% of the minimum lot width.

Through Lots. Front yards shall be provided along abutting streets, except where a provision of a different front yard setback will comply with the prevailing front yard pattern on adjoining lots.

Corner Lots. Front yards shall be provided along all portions of a corner lot abutting any street, except where the provision of a different yard will comply with the prevailing yard pattern on adjoining lots (but shall not be less than 10 feet).

Front and Rear Yards. The front and rear yards of a lot between two lots (each having a principal building within 20 feet of the lot) may be reduced to a depth equal to that of the greater of the two adjoining lots, except that neither the front nor rear yard shall be less than 10 feet.

Projections into Yards. The following projections into required yard areas shall be permitted:

Sight Lines at Intersections of Streets.

Sight Lines at Intersections of Driveways or Accessways with Streets.

Size, Location.

Characteristics.

Planting Screen.

Equipment Screening. All mechanical and electrical equipment not enclosed in a building shall be fully screened from view from any point from a public street or an adjacent residential use in a manner compatible with the architectural and landscaping style of the lot so that it blends with the landscape.

Planting Requirements. The standards below indicate the amount of plant material that is required per linear foot of property line. Plantings shall be placed within the minimum width of the buffer area. The Planning Commission may permit staggering or grouping of plant materials provided a satisfactory buffer is achieved.

Plant Materials List. In particular, approved plant materials for buffer yard planting include the following:

Plans.

Visual Screen for Outdoor Trash Collection Stations.

The future right-of-way shall be measured from the center line of the existing road.

All front yards and other appropriate yards shall be measured from the future right-of-way line.

The specific classification of each road is shown on the Official Street Classification Map which is hereby incorporated into and made a part of this chapter.

Off-Street Parking and Loading. All areas for off-street parking, off-street loading and unloading and the storage or movement of motor vehicles shall be physically separated from the highway or collector or street by a raised curb, planting strip, wall, or other suitable barrier against unchanneled motor vehicle entrance or exit, except for necessary accessways or access roads which supply entrance to and egress from such parking, loading or storage area. All parking areas or lots shall be designed to prohibit vehicles from backing out on the arterial or collector street, and the capacity of each lot shall provide adequate storage area and distribution facilities upon the lot to prevent back-up of vehicles on a public street while awaiting entry to the lot.

Access. Each use with less than 100 feet of frontage on an arterial or collector street shall have not more than one accessway to each such street, and no business or other use with 100 feet or more of frontage on an arterial or collector street shall have more than two accessways to any one street for each 300 feet of frontage. Where practicable, access to parking areas shall be provided by a common service driveway in order to avoid direct access to an arterial or collector street.

Planned Developments. In the case of a planned development, shopping center, office complex, group of multiple family dwellings, or similar grouping of principal buildings on a lot, and in any other case where practicable:

Reverse Frontage Encouraged. Direct vehicular access from individual lots abutting arterial or collector streets shall be strongly discouraged and reverse frontage shall be encouraged.

Nonconforming Structure.

Nonconforming Lot.

Nonconforming Use. A nonconforming use shall not be altered, reconstructed, extended or enlarged, except in accordance with the following provisions:

If a nonconforming use of a building is discontinued, or abandoned for 365 consecutive days, subsequent use of such building shall conform to the regulations of the district in which it is located.

If a nonconforming use of land where no enclosed building is involved, discontinuance of such nonconforming use for a period of six months shall constitute abandonment and any new use must be in conformity with the regulations of the district in which it is located.

Once changed to a conforming use, no structure or land shall be permitted to revert to a nonconforming use.

A nonconforming use may not be changed to another nonconforming use.

In Bristol Borough, the Delaware Canal Enhancement Area shall be an overlay area to the existing zoning districts as shown on the Bristol Borough Zoning Map.

The provisions of the zoning district in which these properties lie shall remain in full force, except where the provisions of this section differ from the provisions of the zoning district, in which case, the provision that is more restrictive and least permissive to an applicant, landowner, or developer shall apply.

Use 7D Drive-through Facilities.

Use 4H Car Wash.

Use 4C Auto Repair Garage (Major Repairs).

Use 4D Auto Repair Garage (Minor Repairs).

Use 4E Auto Service Station.

Use 4F Auto/Boat/RV Sales.

Use 4A Adult Business.

Use 4L Forestry/Timber Harvesting.

Use 6F Junkyard (Salvage Yard).

Use 6K Oil and Petroleum Storage and Shipping.

Use 6N Resource Recovery.

Use 6P Solid Waste Landfill.

A minimum building setback of 150 feet from the center of the existing and/or intended waterway (where it is not watered, or is paved over) of the Delaware Canal shall be provided for Use 4P Kennel, Use 4DD Shopping Center and for all industrial uses, where such uses are permitted in the underlying districts.

The maximum building coverage for that portion of the lot within the Delaware Canal Enhancement Area, not including the canal and the Canal State Park, shall be no more than 30%.

The maximum impervious lot coverage for that portion of the lot within the Delaware Canal Enhancement Area, not including the canal and the Canal State Park, shall be 65%.

Intent. To protect wildlife and bird habitats, encourage groundwater recharge, avoid pollution of creeks by high temperature runoff, maintain the attractive character of areas, conserve energy, control soil erosion and sedimentation and decrease air pollution.

Tree Removal. On any lot, no more than 25% of the total number of trees that have a truck diameter of six inches or more (measured at a height three feet above original grade) shall be removed in any calendar year as part of the development, expansion or change of a use unless each such additional tree meets or will meet one or more of the following conditions:

Protection of Trees During Construction. Reasonable efforts shall be taken during any construction to ensure that trees protected by this section are not accidentally injured or removed, including root compaction by equipment and materials, damage by equipment or change in grade level. Trees that were required to be preserved and that were destroyed shall be replaced by the developer with new trees with the closest trunk width that is reasonably available, in addition to any penalty that may be exercised under this chapter.

Drainage facilities shall be constructed to convey water to street or other drainage facilities but not into the canal.

All graded surfaces must be seeded or stabilized within 60 days.

No slopes greater than 25% shall be created.

No depositing or placing of debris or other material into any drainage ditch or drainage structure or the canal shall be permitted.

The applicant shall not modify, fill, excavate, or regrade the land in any manner within five feet of the property line of the Delaware Canal.

A plan for the control of erosion, sediment and grading is required whenever the topography and vegetation on a property will be disturbed by the establishment of a new or expanded use.

Applications for permits must provide the following:

Buffer Yard. Whenever the following uses are adjacent to or across the street and visible from Delaware Canal State Park, a twenty-foot wide buffer yard with evergreen screening shall be required for any proposed new or expanded uses:

Standards for Buffer Yards.

Wall Signs. The area of all wall signs on any side of a building shall not be greater than 5% of total vertical area (not including the area of any slanted roof) of the building face on which the sign(s) is located. Such signs shall be located on a maximum of two faces of a building. Such signs and/or their backing shall not project above the structural roof line of the building to which they are attached.

Freestanding Sign. There shall be a maximum of one freestanding sign structure per lot or per principal use, whichever is more restrictive, with maximum total sign area of 20 square feet on each of two sides. This sign structure may consist of several attached signs, within the total permitted square footage. Such sign shall have a maximum total height of nine feet above the surrounding average ground level.

Freestanding Sign on a Mobile Stand. Freestanding signs on a mobile stand that are not permanently attached to the ground and that could be towed from one location to another are prohibited.

Off-Premises Sign. Off-premises signs are prohibited, except for signs specifically erected by an authorized federal, state, county or municipal entity for a valid public purpose.

All lands within the identified area as specified in Subsection 2 above should comply with the general recommendations and the specific recommendations and action steps outlined in the Bucks County Waterfront Revitalization Plan (February 2005), where applicable.

In addition, one of the primary overall recommendations in the waterfront plan is to enliven the river's edge by increasing and improving public access to and from the Delaware River. To help implement this general recommendation, every new or redevelopment project included in the identified area as specified above in Subsection 2 should provide access along the river's edge for future use as a public linear park.