Emmaus City Zoning Code

Consistency with the Borough's Comprehensive Plan and other development objectives as embodied in Borough Ordinances, documents and records.

Consistency with the Comprehensive Plan for Lehigh and Northampton Counties and the Southwestern Lehigh County Comprehensive Plan.

Conduciveness of development to, and impact of development on, all relevant environmental factors.

Compatibility with the character of the neighborhood in which the subject parcel or parcels is/are located.

Impact of the development on traffic and vehicular circulation both within and outside the development.

Whether such amendment, if enacted, would violate established legal principles.

The availability of municipal water and sewer.

The availability of, and access to, the development for emergency services.

Age Qualified Community. An age qualified community shall consist of any one or more of the following types of residential dwelling units:

Accessory uses shall be limited to the following:

The age qualified community shall be served by both public water and public sewer service, and public water service shall be sufficient to provide firefighting capabilities to the satisfaction of the Borough. The public water and sewer service (excluding laterals) together with all associated easements shall be transferred and conveyed to the Borough by appropriate instruments for the nominal consideration of $1. The above notwithstanding, the Borough shall retain complete discretion whether to accept dedication of any pump station and force main facilities.

All fire services shall be designed and constructed to meet or exceed ISO standards. The heads of all emergency services within the Borough or their designees shall review and approve those aspects of the land development plan relating to the provision of such services, including, but not limited to, water pressure, fire hydrant locations, turning radii, access to dwelling units and other structures and access to the development from the public right-of-way.

All utilities to be constructed on the tract to serve the age qualified community shall be installed underground. Design and installation of utilities shall be in accord with applicable requirements of the Borough or other provider as applicable.

Pedestrian sidewalks a minimum of four feet in width shall be provided on both sides of all interior access streets, whether public or private, and along any common, off-street parking areas where pedestrian usage is anticipated. All pedestrian sidewalks shall be concrete.

Pedestrian sidewalks shall be set back a minimum of five feet from the curb line of all interior streets where street trees are placed between the sidewalk and the curb. Where street trees are placed between the sidewalk and building facade the distance between the curb and sidewalk may be reduced to three feet.

Pedestrian sidewalks may adjoin off-street parking areas, however such parking shall not encroach upon the pedestrian sidewalk. In all cases, provision shall be made to prevent vehicles from overhanging pedestrian sidewalks.

Pedestrian pathways a minimum of five feet in width shall be provided throughout the age qualified community to interconnect pedestrian sidewalks with open space, recreational space, amenities and facilities. The pedestrian pathway system shall meander throughout the open space.

Pedestrian sidewalks and pathways shall meet or exceed all governmental, regulatory requirements relating to accessibility, including, but not limited to, the requirements of the ADA and the regulations promulgated there under.

Nature trails may be incorporated into the pedestrian circulation system however the same shall comply with laws and governmental regulations relating to accessibility.

Upon the written request of an applicant and following a review and recommendation by the Planning Commission, Borough Council may, in its sole discretion, modify or waive the requirements of this Part as they relate to the pedestrian circulation system. Borough Council may place reasonable conditions upon the grant of any modifications or waivers hereunder.

Interior streets within an age qualified community shall be private, and owned and maintained by a governing association, management corporation or other entity acceptable to the Borough.

Interior streets within the age qualified community shall be designed and constructed to Borough standards for public residential streets, except that the cartway width may be reduced to a minimum of 26 feet. In its discretion, Council may require that an applicant provide street right of way, which shall be no less than 40 feet.

The applicant shall cause to be performed at its sole cost and expense a traffic impact study. This study shall be made in accordance with all applicable industry and professional standards and certified by a professional traffic engineer. The study shall, at a minimum, detail traffic flow within the land development and/or subdivision, identify points of ingress and egress, detail the effects of the land development/subdivision upon local traffic movements, identify appropriate, mitigating measures and address any other specific or unique, traffic issues which may be created by the proposed development/subdivision. The study shall be submitted to the Borough for review and approval, and all recommendations contained in the approved traffic impact study shall be implemented by the developer in accordance with this Part and other applicable laws, rules, regulations, ordinances and standards. All improvements recommended by the approved traffic impact study shall be constructed in conjunction with the land development and/or subdivision. All on site improvements shall be the responsibility of the developer.

Curbs shall be provided along all streets or cartways.

A minimum of three off-street parking spaces shall be provided for each dwelling unit. Garage spaces may count toward this requirement provided that the developer include in its declarations and restrictions an enforceable covenant that each counted space be used for parking and not be converted to another use; however, at least one of the required off-street parking spaces must be an exterior space (outside the garage). Alternatively, the developer may construct separate, common parking facilities within 200 feet of the dwellings to be served thereby in accordance with regulations contained in this chapter to meet the requirements of this section.

Off-street parking areas for the community center or other community amenities shall be set back a minimum of 20 feet from all buildings and a minimum of 30 feet from the overall development tract boundaries. For the community center, a minimum of 7.5 off-street parking spaces shall be provided for every 1,000 square feet of gross floor area.

Except as provided herein, off-street parking facilities shall comply with Part 6 of this chapter.

A minimum of 50% of the tract area of the age qualified community shall be set aside as open space. Open space for the purpose of this section shall be defined as land areas that are not occupied by buildings, structures, parking areas, streets, alleys, sidewalks, other impervious surfaces, or stormwater management facilities (except as noted in paragraph .B below). Open space may be devoted to landscaping preservation of natural features, common recreation areas (as described in subsection .8, below), and pedestrian trails.

With Borough (and, as applicable, other outside agency) approval, land area containing stormwater management facilities designed and constructed as wet ponds or shallow basins and which incorporate natural features, landscaping or other, similar qualities may be attributable to the open space requirement of this section.

Significant natural features such as woodland areas, large trees, natural watercourses, bodies of water, rock outcroppings, and scenic views shall be incorporated into open space areas.

Upon the written request of an applicant and following a review and recommendation by the Planning Commission, Borough Council may, in its sole discretion, modify or waive the requirements of this Part as they relate to open space. Borough Council may place reasonable conditions upon the grant of any modifications or waivers hereunder.

A minimum of 10% of the tract area of the age qualified community shall be set aside as area for recreational use, which shall be for the exclusive use of the residents of the age qualified community and their guests. This requirement may be satisfied through provision of one or more individual common recreation areas.

At least 50% of the total required recreational use area acreage shall be provided in one or more areas that each have a minimum dimension of not less than 100 feet by 100 feet, a maximum slope of 6%, and being at least 20 feet from all buildings, streets, parking areas, alleys and stormwater management facilities.

Areas associated with environmentally sensitive features that would otherwise prohibit or restrict development, such wetlands, floodplains and steep slopes in excess of 10% shall not be utilized as or attributable to the required recreational use areas.

Recreational use areas may be open space areas or recreational buildings or facilities.

Recreational use areas otherwise meeting the requirements for open space within the meaning of subsection .7 of this section may be counted toward the developer's obligation to provide open space pursuant to that subsection.

Upon the written request of an applicant and following a review and recommendation by the Planning Commission, Borough Council may, in its sole discretion, modify or waive the requirements of this Part as they relate to recreational use areas. Borough Council may place reasonable conditions upon the grant of any modifications or waivers hereunder.

Unless otherwise stated in this Part, the Borough, in its sole discretion, shall determine whether it is in the Borough's interest to accept all or a portion of any infrastructure within the age qualified community, including, but not limited to, streets, utilities, recreational areas, and community facilities; and all such amenities shall be constructed, owned, and operated by a financially responsible governing association or management corporation.

Ownership, maintenance, and use provisions associated with all infrastructure and common amenities and facilities within the age qualified community shall be identified within a governing association document(s) or management corporation document(s). The document(s) shall be submitted to the municipality for review and approval prior to final plan approval by the Borough.

All parcels of land intended to form a single, age qualified community under this Part shall be consolidated into a single parcel regardless of municipal boundaries. Following the procedure set forth in § 27-1003, above, a parcel of land may be added subsequently to the age qualified community, provided that the parcel is consolidated with the original parcel and provided that the proposed development continues to meet all of the requirements of this Part with respect to the parcel, as consolidated.