East Norriton Township
City Zoning Code
City Zoning Code
ARTICLE XIIIA
C-1 Commercial District
§ 205-66.1 Declaration of legislative intent.
In expansion of the statement of community development objectives contained in Article I, § 205-3, of this chapter and pursuant to the East Norriton Township Comprehensive Plan, 1994, it is hereby declared to be the intent of this article with respect to the C-1 Commercial District to allow for professional and business offices and certain commercial uses, adjacent to commercial and residential areas along major highways, which would be compatible with the uses in such areas. Specifically, it is the intent of this article to:
A.
Allow professional and commercial uses adjacent to residential areas which would be compatible with residential uses and less intense and of a smaller scale than uses typically associated with the C Commercial District.
B.
Encourage small scale professional, business and certain commercial uses in existing structures, especially occupant-operated enterprises.
C.
Encourage the reuse of noteworthy structures, now or lately used as residences, and discourage the demolition of such structures.
D.
Encourage the preservation of the residential character of neighborhoods adjacent to the district.
E.
Provide for services generally useful to and in harmony with adjacent residential neighborhoods.
§ 205-66.2 Permitted uses.
[Amended 10-27-2015 by Ord. No. 566]
A.
A building may be erected, altered or used and a lot or premises may be used for any of the following purposes and no other:
(1)
Retail stores engaged in selling goods or merchandise to the general public for personal or household consumption, including, without limitation, the sale of antiques, books, gifts, garden supplies, hardware, household appliances and electronics, jewelry, notions, periodicals, stationery, tobacco, paint, wearing apparel, food, beverages, and other similar goods; and rendering services incidental to the sale of such goods.
(2)
Service business: establishments engaged in providing services involving the care of a person or apparel, such as barber, beautician, massage therapist business, laundry and dry-cleaning, shoe repair, or tailor. A service business shall not include psychic readings, massage parlors, body piercing, branding or tattooing of persons, all of which are defined and regulated herein as limited personal service (§ 205-22.4).
(3)
Fast-casual restaurants.
(4)
Business or professional offices, studios, banks and financial institutions, telephone exchanges or other public utility offices, passenger stations for public transportation, municipal buildings and firehouses.
(5)
Clubs or fraternal organizations.
(6)
Greenhouses and nursery sales yards.
(7)
Accessory uses on the same lot with and customarily incidental to any of the above permitted uses, including dwellings, provided that such accessory uses shall be located at or above the second-story level.
(9)
Single-family detached dwelling in accordance with the regulations of § 205-30 (the BR Residential District).
(10)
Municipal uses and police stations.
(11)
Fire stations and ambulance stations that are occupied by a provider designated by the East Norriton Township Board of Supervisors to provide fire or ambulance service to East Norriton Township.
B.
No use which is specifically permitted in the I Industrial District shall be permitted in the C-1 Commercial District, with the exception of uses defined as "artisanal manufacturing," which shall be a conditional use when the artisanal manufacturing use includes the on-site retail sale of products.
§ 205-66.3 General regulations.
A.
Lot area. There shall be a minimum lot area of 15,000 square feet.
B.
Building area. No more than 40% of the lot area shall be occupied by buildings.
C.
Building setback from streets. There shall be a setback from the ultimate right-of-way of 50 feet.
D.
Side yard. Side yards shall be 20 feet each, except where a C-1 Commercial District abuts any residential or institutional district, and then the side yard which abuts the other district shall be increased to 60 feet.
E.
Rear yard. Rear yards shall be 50 feet deep.
F.
Height regulation. The maximum height of any building or structure shall be 35 feet.
G.
Parking. Off-street parking and loading areas shall be provided in accordance with Article XVIII of this chapter.
H.
Lighting. Lighting facilities shall be arranged in a manner which will protect the highway and neighboring properties, whether contiguous or not, from unreasonable direct glare or hazardous interference of any kind.
I.
Signs. Signs shall be permitted only in accordance with the provisions of Article XIX of this chapter.
J.
Outdoor sales. No outdoor sales shall be permitted, and all business shall be conducted within a completely enclosed building, except for off-street parking and the sale of specialty items such as Christmas trees and living plants which by their nature require outdoor sales. The outdoor sale of such specialty items shall require a special use permit issued by the Zoning Officer and be subject to the following conditions:
(1)
Sales events must be temporary in nature, not to exceed 30 days.
(2)
No sales event shall use more than 25% of the usable lot area.
(3)
Application for the special use permit must be made, in writing, to the Zoning Officer and must be executed by both the property owner and the proposed land user.
(4)
A nonrefundable permit fee of $100 and an escrow fee of $200 to ensure restoration of the area to its former condition must accompany the application. The escrow fee is not required when the outdoor sale is conducted by the property owner.
(5)
No temporary structures, no vehicles or parts of vehicles may be used to store merchandise for sale.
(6)
All applicants shall provide safe and adequate off-street parking and adequate traffic and crowd control.
(7)
All appropriate Township licenses, taxes and permits must be obtained from the Township prior to issuance of this special use permit.
K.
Width requirement. The minimum width at the building line shall be 100 feet.
L.
The minimum distance between buildings shall be at least 30 feet.
§ 205-66.4 (Reserved) [1]
[1]
Editor's Note: Former § 205-66.4, was repealed 10-27-2015 by Ord. No. 566.