East Manchester Township
City Zoning Code

For the purpose of maintaining and keeping in full force and effect the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Federal Insurance Administration, Flood Insurance Program, the areas considered by this chapter to be within the (FP) Floodplain District of East Manchester Township shall be those areas identified as being subject to the one-hundred-year flood in the Flood Insurance Study prepared for the Township of East Manchester, York County, Pennsylvania by the Federal Insurance Administration dated May 19, 1980, or the most recent revision thereof.

A map delineating the areas considered to be within the Township's floodplains for the purposes of this chapter is available for inspection at the East Manchester Township Municipal Building. Said map is hereby made a part of this chapter. For the purposes of this chapter, the following nomenclature is used in referring to the various areas within the Township's floodplains.

In his determination of the one-hundred-year flood elevation for the general floodplain area, the Zoning Officer shall use the elevation at a given point in the boundary of the identified general floodplain area which is nearest the site in question. In making this determination, the Zoning Officer shall obtain, review and reasonably utilize the information cited in § 255-6A(c) of this chapter, available U.S. Corps of Engineers Floodplain Information Reports, U.S. Geological Survey Flood-Prone Quadrangles, known high-water marks from past floods, and data submitted with subdivision proposals and other proposed developments. In addition, information from other federal, state, and other acceptable sources shall be used to determine a floodway area if possible.

Where the complete and definitive flood elevation information necessary to delineate the boundary of the Floodplain District is not available to the Zoning Officer in his consideration of an application for a permit, he/she shall require such on-site studies and/or surveys to be made as are necessary to fix the precise boundaries of the Floodplain District. Such studies and surveys shall be signed, sealed, and certified by a licensed professional registered by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to perform such studies and surveys. Such certification shall acknowledge the accuracy of the study or survey and the qualification of the individual to perform such study or survey. Copies of such studies and surveys shall be submitted by the Zoning Officer to the East Manchester Township Engineer, the United Stated Department of Agriculture's Soil Conservation Service, and the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, who shall have 30 days to comment. Any property owner whose property is so studied and/or surveyed to justify an application for a permit shall pay all costs of these studies and surveys, including the cost of review by the Township Engineer.

The property owner shall pay all costs associated with the hearing before the Zoning Hearing Board, including all costs for advertising public notice, for fees to Zoning Hearing Board members, for fees to the Municipal Solicitor, and for all stenographic records, including the attendance of a stenographer and, when necessary, the transcription of the record.

The property owner shall pay all costs associated with any detailed engineering investigation, including the cost of review by the Township Engineer.

No yard or open space required in connection with any building or use shall be considered as providing a required open space for any other building on the same or any other lot.

No lot shall be formed from part of a lot already occupied by a building unless such building, all yards and open spaces connected herewith, and the remaining lot comply with all requirements prescribed by this chapter for the district in which said lot is located. No building permit shall be issued for the erection of a building on any new lot thus created unless such building and lot comply with all the provisions of this chapter.

Nothing contained in this chapter shall require any change in the plans, construction, or designated use of a building complying with local laws in force prior to this chapter, if the following is found to exist:

Any use not specifically allowed or prohibited elsewhere in this chapter shall be allowed by special exception in the zone or zones where, and to the extent that, similar uses are permitted or allowed by special exception, provided that such use meets the requirements for a special exception and does not constitute a public or private nuisance.

Any list of prohibited uses contained in any section of this chapter shall not be deemed to be an exhaustive list but has been included for the purposes of clarity and emphasis and to illustrate, by example, some of the uses frequently proposed that are deemed undesirable and incompatible and thus prohibited.

Except for agricultural operations, which shall be permitted in conjunction with other permitted uses, no more than one principal use shall be permitted per lot.