Promote, protect, and facilitate one or more of the following: the public health, safety, morals, or general welfare; the provision of adequate light and air; and other public requirements.

Prevent one or more of the following: overcrowding; blight; or loss of health, life or property from fire, flood, or other dangers.

Establish a Zoning Map dividing the Township of Fairview into zoning districts with varying regulations.

Permit, prohibit, regulate and determine the uses of land, watercourses, and other bodies of water; the size, height, bulk, location, erection, construction, repair, expansion, razing, removal, and use of buildings and structures, as well as yards and other open areas to be left unoccupied.

Establish the requirements for density and intensity of uses.

Promote innovative design to preserve and enhance the established and important sense of community neighborhoods and areas.

Serve as a tool that is part of an overall plan for the orderly, appropriate and compatible preservation, growth, and development in the Township of Fairview, by incorporating the overall objectives and principles of, as well as seeking to implement portions of the most recent version of the Fairview Township Comprehensive Plan, and/or other applicable plans adopted by the Township of Fairview.

Affect any additional purposes provided for in Articles I, VI, VII-A, and elsewhere in the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code (MPC).

Interpretation. In interpreting and applying this chapter, its provisions shall be held to be the minimum requirements for promotion of health, safety, morals and general welfare of the Township of Fairview. Any use permitted subject to the regulations prescribed by the provisions of this chapter shall conform with all regulations of the zoning district(s) in which it is located and elsewhere in this chapter, as well as with all other applicable regulations of this and other related chapters, ordinances, standards, and/or rules. This chapter is not intended to interfere with, abrogate, annul, supersede, or cancel any easements, covenants, restrictions or reservations contained in deeds or other agreements, but if this chapter imposes more stringent restrictions upon the use of buildings, structures, land (which also includes water bodies/courses) than are elsewhere established, the provisions of this chapter shall prevail. Unless otherwise specified elsewhere in this chapter, wherever and whenever the requirements of this chapter are not consistent with the requirements of any other legally adopted laws, rules, regulations, chapters, or ordinances, the most restrictive, or that imposing the higher standards, shall govern. In interpreting the language of this chapter to determine the extent of the restriction upon the use of property, the language shall be interpreted, where doubt exists as to the intended meaning of the adopted language, in favor of the property owner and against any implied extension of the restriction.

Uses not otherwise provided for. Any use which clearly is not permitted by right, by special exception use, nor by conditional use by this chapter within any zoning district, or a use which is not defined by this chapter, then such use shall be prohibited, except that the Zoning Hearing Board of the Township of Fairview may permit such use by special exception if the applicant proves to the satisfaction of the Zoning Hearing Board of the Township of Fairview that all of the terms and conditions set forth below are satisfactorily addressed:

Within the Township of Fairview, York County, PA, no land, body of water, or structure shall hereafter be used or occupied and no structure or part thereof shall hereafter be erected, constructed, reconstructed, moved or structurally altered except in conformity with all regulations and procedures specified for in the zoning district in which such land, body of water, or structure is located, as well as with all other applicable provisions of this chapter and other applicable chapters of the Code of the Township of Fairview.

This chapter shall not apply to an existing or proposed building or structure or extensions thereof, that is used or to be used by a public utility corporation, if upon petition of the corporation, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) shall, after a public hearing, decide that the present or proposed situation of the building in question is reasonably necessary for the convenience or welfare of the public. It shall be the responsibility of the PUC to ensure that both the corporation and the Township of Fairview have notice of the hearing and are granted an opportunity to appear, present witnesses, cross-examine witnesses presented by other parties, and otherwise exercise the rights of a party to the proceedings. The exemptions and procedures shall be in accordance with the MPC.

Act of June 22, 1937 (P.L. 1987, No. 394) known as "The Clean Streams Law";[1]

Act of May 31, 1945 (P.L. 1198, No 418) known as the "Surface Mining Conservation and Reclamation Act";[2]

Act of April 27, 1966 (first Special Session, P.L. 31, No. 1) known as "The Bituminous Mine Subsidence and Land Conservation Act";[3]

Act of September 24, 1968 (P.L. 1040, No. 318) known as the "Coal Refuse Disposal Control Act";[4]

Act of December 19, 1984 (P.L. 1093, No. 219) known as the "Noncoal Surface Mining Conservation and Reclamation Act";[5]

Act of December 19, 1984 (P.L. 1140, No. 223) known as the "Oil and Gas Act";[6]

Act of June 30, 1981 (P.L. 128, No. 43) known as the "Agricultural Area Security Law";[7]

Act of June 10, 1982 (P.L. 454, No. 133) entitled "An act protecting agricultural operations from nuisance suits and ordinances under certain circumstances";[8] and

Act of May 20, 1993 (P.L. 12, No. 6) known as the "Nutrient Management Act."[9]