East Norriton Township
City Zoning Code
City Zoning Code
ARTICLE VIII
CR Residential District
§ 205-35 Purpose.
The purpose of establishing the CR Residential District is to:
A.
Encourage the logical and timely development of land for high-density residential purposes.
B.
Permit a variety of housing on the landscape.
C.
Assure the suitable design of high-density dwellings in order to protect the surrounding environment of adjacent and nearby neighborhoods.
D.
Ensure that the development will constitute a residential environment of sustained desirability and stability and not produce a volume of traffic in excess of the capacity for which access streets are designed.
§ 205-36 Permitted uses.
A.
In a CR Residential District, a building may be erected, altered or used and a lot or premises may be used or occupied for any of the following purposes and no other; provided, however, that the requirements of § 205-37 are met:
B.
Parking. Off-street automobile parking, as required in this article, shall not be leased but shall be for the sole use of the occupants of the building and the visitors thereto.
§ 205-37 Height.
[Amended 3-26-2019 by Ord. No. 583]
No building shall exceed the height of 35 feet measured from the mean level of the ground surrounding the building to a point midway between the highest and lowest points of the roof, provided that chimneys, spires, towers, elevator penthouses, tanks, pent walls, and similar projections shall not be included in calculating the height, nor shall any building exceed three stories, exclusive of basements.
§ 205-38 Development requirements.
A.
Area of district. Not less than a five-acre lot shall be provided for every area to be used in whole or in part as a CR Residential District development.
B.
For the purposes of calculating density, all land is defined as developable acreage except that which is reserved for right-of-way or ultimate right-of-way. In cases where the newly developed street system is to be retained in private ownership and not to be dedicated as right-of-way to the Township, the length of streets in feet will be multiplied by 50 feet to determine an equivalent area to right-of-way, and this area will be excluded along with any actual right-of-way from the developable acreage used in calculating density.
C.
Density. The total number of dwelling units shall be in accordance with Subsection E of this section and shall not exceed:
D.
Parking.
(1)
Not less than two off-street automobile parking spaces shall be required for each dwelling unit. Such parking areas may be designed as a court or separate driveway as deemed suitable by the Township Supervisors.
(2)
A garage shall not be counted as a parking space. In constructing off-lot parking areas, no more than 10 adjoining parking spaces shall be permitted. A landscaped area 10 feet by 20 feet shall be required to separate these areas.
F.
Building size. No building or combination of adjacent dwelling units shall exceed a total length of 200 feet.
G.
All dwelling units must have a minimum living area of 650 square feet, excluding garage.
H.
Setbacks. In an unlotted development, all requirements must be met as if the development were lotted, including the following minimum building setbacks:
(1)
From the development boundary line: 40 feet.
(2)
From a road ultimate right-of-way line: 40 feet.
(3)
From a privately owned street: 25 feet to the curb of the privately owned street.
[Amended 2-28-2017 by Ord. No. 571]
(4)
For lotted developments where access is gained through a newly developed street system to be retained in private ownership and not dedicated as right-of-way to the Township, the minimum building setback from the curb of the privately owned street shall be 35 feet.
[Added 3-26-2019 by Ord. No. 583]
§ 205-39 General regulations.
A.
Utilities. All dwelling units within the CR Residential District shall be served by a public sanitary sewage disposal system and by public water supply facilities. All utility lines (electric, telephone, etc.) serving the CR Residential Districts developed subsequent to the enactment of this chapter shall be placed underground.
C.
Access. Plans evidencing provision for safe and efficient ingress and egress to and from the public streets and highways serving the CR Residential District without causing undue confusion or interference with the normal traffic flow shall be submitted to the Board of Supervisors and must be approved by the Township Engineer, who shall make the determination by concerning himself with the adequacy of the thoroughfare to carry the additional traffic generated by the CR Residential District as well as to the street frontage of the proposed district.
D.
Common areas and facilities.
(1)
A plan for the provision of certain facilities serving the entire development, including but not limited to parking, interior pedestrianways, driveways, lighting facilities, landscape planting areas, buffers, open space and facilities and like items, is hereby required by the Board of Supervisors. Provisions satisfactory to the Board of Supervisors must be made for the perpetual maintenance and care of all such common areas and facilities as well as the perpetual maintenance of building exteriors. Adequate provisions for such perpetual maintenance may include but shall not be limited to condominiums, cooperatives, cross easements and restrictions.
(2)
Not less than 20% of the developable acres of the site shall be maintained in nonvehicular common open space and shall preserve or incorporate natural features such as woods, streams and other amenities. Areas required for permanent detention basins for stormwater management control shall not be considered part of the required open space.
(3)
In addition to the above requirements, in developments with 12 or more acres, common open space must be established which is conveniently located for use by residents and which preserves and protects environmentally sensitive features. The following requirements must be met:
(a)
The shape of common open space areas shall not preclude passive and/or active recreation uses. Lands shall be deemed appropriate for permanent common open space if they contain any or all of the following characteristics:
[1]
Lands subject to periodic flooding and delineated as alluvial soil by the Soil Conservation Service, United States Department of Agriculture, in the Soil Survey of Montgomery County, 1967, including areas contained within the Floodplain Conservation District established by this East Norriton Township Zoning Ordinance.
[2]
Lands designated as special flood hazard areas on the Federal Insurance Administration Flood Hazard Boundary Map of the Township of East Norriton, prepared by the Federal Insurance Administration of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
[3]
Lands possessing slopes in excess of 15% as delineated by the Soil Conservation Service, United States Department of Agriculture, in the Soil Survey of Montgomery County, 1967.
[4]
Woodlands.
[5]
Lands comprising the landscape entity of historic sites.
[6]
Lands suitable for active recreational uses such as baseball, football and soccer, provided that the area used is large enough to accommodate such activity without interfering with dwelling units, parking, driveways and roads.
(b)
Whenever possible, common open space areas shall be designed as a continuous system of usable areas which are interspersed among groupings of residential dwelling units and shall be interconnected with common open space areas on abutting parcels wherever possible.
(c)
Required open space may not include areas with a horizontal dimension less than 75 feet and shall not comprise an area containing less than 11,000 contiguous square feet.
(d)
Safe and easy access to common open space areas shall be provided either by adjoining public road frontage, public easements or paths. To the greatest extent possible, the common open space areas shall not extend across public and/or private roads. Sufficient perimeter parking shall be provided when necessary.
(e)
Accessways to the common open space areas shall be sufficiently wide so that maintenance equipment will have convenient access to said areas.
(f)
Fuel, power and other utility lines, whether underground or overhead, shall comprise no more than 40% of the required common open space area. Furthermore, land within utility corridors may be used for common open space purposes only if the utility companies possessing legal rights to these corridors do not prohibit their use for such purposes.
(g)
If land set aside and permanently preserved for common open space is to be publicly owned, the development plan must include by dedication, or by any other reasonable means, the total park area at the time of filing of final plan on all or any portion of the tract or tracts.
(h)
Developments with reserved common land.
[1]
If common land is reserved for private open space or recreational use, it shall be held in corporate ownership by the owners of the dwelling units within the development and such other nearby landowners who may wish to become members of the corporation (in which case the common land may be restricted to members of the corporation as said corporation itself may decide). The deed, title or other legal instrument of transfer to the owners of the dwelling units shall include a beneficial right in the use of common land.
[2]
For developments containing rental dwelling units with common land reserved for private open space or recreational use, the development owner (landlord) shall provide the tenants a beneficial right in the use of the common land.
[3]
For developments containing both dwelling units for sale and for rent with common land reserved for private open space or recreational use, the common land shall be held in corporate ownership by the owner of the rental dwelling units and the owners of the individual dwelling units within the development and such other nearby landowners who may wish to become members of the corporation (in which case the common land may be restricted to members of the corporation as said corporation itself may decide). The deed, title or other legal instrument of transfer to the owners of the dwelling units and the lease for the tenants of the rental units shall include a beneficial right in the use of the common land.
(i)
The maintenance of common land for private open space or recreational use shall be guaranteed by trust indenture approved by the Board of Supervisors and shall be held with the Recorder of Deeds of Montgomery County simultaneously with the recording of the final plan of the subdivision. Such common land shall be set aside by deed restrictions for a minimum period of 90 years.
E.
Lighting facilities. Lighting facilities shall be provided as required by the Board of Supervisors and arranged in a manner which will protect the highway and neighboring properties from unreasonable direct glare or hazardous interference of any kind. Lighting facilities shall be required where deemed necessary for the safety and convenience of the CR Residential District and shall be installed by the developer in districts developed subsequent to the enactment of this chapter.
§ 205-40 Submission of plan.
In districts proposed to be developed subsequent to the enactment of and in accordance with this chapter, a general plan for the CR Residential District shall be submitted to the Township Supervisors and shall include evidence and facts showing that it has considered and made provision for, and the development shall be executed in accordance with, the following essential conditions:
A.
The proposed development shall consider the surrounding land features of the area, including but not limited to residences, schools, parks, other reservations, streets and location and arrangement of parking spaces, local and regional business areas and shopping centers, densities proposed for surrounding areas and other such features as shall contribute to the harmonious development of the area, with due regard to the character of the neighborhood and its peculiar suitability for this type of use.
B.
The proposed development shall be constructed in accordance with an overall plan and shall be designed as a unified architectural unit with appropriate landscaping.
(1)
If the development of the CR Residential District is to be carried out in stages, each stage shall be so planned that the foregoing requirements and the intent of this chapter shall be fully complied with at the completion of any stage.
(2)
In districts developed subsequent to the enactment of this chapter, the developer shall be required where possible to preserve or incorporate natural features, such as woods, streams and open space areas, which add to the overall cohesive development of the CR Residential District and overall community development. However, all conditions deemed hazardous by the East Norriton Township Board of Supervisors, including natural feature hazards, are to be eliminated, or all precautions deemed appropriate by the Board of Supervisors to reduce the hazard are to be provided by the developer.
C.
The area shall be adaptable to community development, being located in relation to major thoroughfares, streets, railroads, public transportation, shopping or other facilities, and as far as possible shall have within or through it no major thoroughfare or other physical feature which will tend to destroy the neighborhood or community cohesiveness.
D.
Procedural requirements.
(1)
All procedural requirements of Chapter 175, Subdivision and Land Development, shall be adhered to.
(2)
Additional information to be shown. The following information shall be shown on plans submitted for approval in addition to those requirements of Chapter 175, Subdivision and Land Development:
(a)
The floor area (in square feet) of dwelling units.
(b)
The number of bedrooms per dwelling unit.
(c)
The total number of dwelling units.
(d)
The total number of acres in the proposed plan.
(e)
The total number of all off-street parking spaces.
(f)
The exterior vertical and horizontal building dimensions.
(g)
The ground area of buildings by acres and by percentage of land coverage.
(h)
The buffer area by acres and by percentage of land coverage.
(i)
Areas for common use by acres and by percentage of land coverage.
(j)
Areas to be dedicated by acres and by percentage of land coverage.
E.
Distance between buildings. For developments where the individual lot requirements are not applicable under § 205-38E, and in the case of two or more buildings, the horizontal distance between any two buildings shall not be less than:
(1)
For any two exterior facing walls, the buildings of which are oriented front to front, front to rear or rear to rear, the minimum distance apart shall be 50 feet.
§ 205-41 Conformity.
All construction in this district whether or not lotted, shall conform to the requirements of the district, regardless of ownership.