Franconia Township City Zoning Code
ARTICLE XVI
IN Institutional District 1
§ 145-95 Legislative intent.
This article is enacted for the purpose of promoting the health, safety and welfare of the Township in accordance with the goals and objectives of the Joint Municipal Comprehensive Plan. It is designed to preserve the rural atmosphere of the Township, to lessen congestion on the roads and highways, to prevent overcrowding of the land and to provide adequate light and air. The purpose of establishing an Institutional District shall be to encourage the preservation and subsequent logical and timely development of land for institutional purposes; to assure the suitable design of institutions in order to protect the environment of the adjacent and nearby neighborhood; and to ensure that institutional development will take place only when served by adequate public utilities and streets. The protective standards in this article are intended to minimize any adverse effect of institutional development on nearby property values.
§ 145-96 Applicability.
In an IN Institutional district, the following regulations shall apply.
§ 145-97 Special exception use regulations.
A building may be erected, altered and/or used, and a lot may be used and/or occupied, for any of the following purposes and no other when authorized by a special exception.
A.
Church, chapel, synagogue or other place of worship.
B.
College, university or secondary school as defined by the Pennsylvania Department of Education in accordance with the regulations stated in § 145-100.
C.
Convent or monastery.
D.
Medical and surgical hospitals or clinics, not including drug and alcohol addiction or mental disorder treatment centers involving temporary residency.
E.
Personal care home (assisted living facility) or nursing home.
[Amended 2-22-2022 by Ord. No. 416]
F.
Public or private schools, including elementary, middle school and junior high schools.
G.
Cemeteries. A cemetery may be permitted as an accessory use to one of the above uses.
H.
Accessory uses customarily incidental to the above uses, such uses being limited to a maximum of 10% of the gross space devoted to the principal use.
§ 145-97.1 Conditional use regulations.
[Added 2-22-2022 by Ord. No. 416]
A building may be erected, altered and/or used, and a lot may be used and/or occupied, for any of the following purposes and no other when authorized by conditional use:
A.
Continuing care retirement community consisting of an integrated use of independent living dwellings, assisted living facilities, memory care facilities, skilled nursing facilities and administrative offices.
B.
Accessory uses customarily incidental to the above use, such use being limited to a maximum of 10% of the gross space devoted to the principal use.
§ 145-98 Dimensional regulations for special exception uses.
[Amended 5-19-2025 by Ord. No. 430]
A.
Lot area. A lot area of not less than five acres shall be provided for every use or building erected thereon.
B.
Lot width. A lot width of not less than 200 feet shall be provided at the building setback line for every use or building erected thereon.
C.
Front yard. There shall be a front yard on every lot which shall not be less than 100 feet in depth.
D.
Side yards. There shall be two side yards on every lot, each of which shall not be less than 50 feet in width.
E.
Rear yard. There shall be a rear yard on each lot which shall not be less than 50 feet in depth.
F.
Corner lots. There shall be a front yard on every street frontage, and all remaining yards shall be treated as rear yards.
G.
Accessory structures. Accessory structures shall be subject to the dimensional restrictions cited herein.
H.
Building coverage. The maximum building coverage on a lot shall be 25%.
I.
Impervious coverage. The maximum impervious coverage on a lot shall be 50%.
J.
Height restrictions. The maximum height for buildings or structures erected or enlarged in the IN Institutional District shall be 55 feet, not exceeding four stories.
K.
Parking. Parking areas, including parking spaces, aisles, and driveways serving the spaces, shall be set back from all property lines a minimum of 25 feet, and the area shall be planted with an opaque screen buffer of 80% adjacent to all residential districts. Ingress and egress may be excluded from this setback requirement. The 25-foot buffer shall be shown on the recorded plans and noted to be landscaped and maintained in perpetuity.
§ 145-98.1 Dimensional regulations for conditional uses.
[Added 2-22-2022 by Ord. No. 416]
A.
Lot area. A lot area of not less than five acres shall be provided for every use or building erected thereon.
B.
Lot width. A lot width of not less than 200 feet shall be provided at the building setback line for every use or building erected thereon.
C.
Front yard. There shall be a front yard on every lot which shall not be less than 50 feet in depth.
D.
Side yards. There shall be two side yards on every lot, each of which shall not be less than 50 feet in width.
E.
Rear yard. There shall be a rear yard on each lot which shall not be less than 50 feet in depth.
F.
Corner lots. There shall be a front yard on every street frontage, and all remaining yards shall be treated as rear yards.
G.
Accessory structures. Accessory structures shall be subject to the dimensional restrictions cited herein.
H.
Building coverage. The maximum building coverage on a lot shall be 25%.
I.
Impervious coverage. The maximum impervious coverage on a lot shall be 50%.
J.
Height restrictions. The maximum height for buildings or structures erected or enlarged in the IN Institutional District shall be 55 feet, not exceeding four stories.
K.
Parking. Parking areas shall be set back from all property lines adjacent to or across from a residential district a minimum of 25 feet and shall be planted with an opaque screen buffer of 80% adjacent to all residential districts. Parking areas across from municipal uses shall be set back a minimum of four feet from the legal right of way.
§ 145-99 Additional regulations for all uses.
[Amended 11-19-2018 by Ord. No. 400; 5-19-2025 by Ord. No. 430]
D.
Floodplain regulations. In accordance with Article XVIII.
F.
Public sewer and public water shall be provided.
I.
Lighting. Lighting shall be of a color-corrected variety only and shall be designed such that the source of light is not visible from off of the property and that there is no spillage beyond the property lines.
J.
Solid waste disposal. A plan for at least weekly disposal of solid waste material shall be required. All solid waste shall be stored in covered containers. No solid waste shall be stored closer than 50 feet to any property line, and areas used for the storage of solid waste material shall be screened by plantings or decorative fencing of continuous opacity of at least 80%.
K.
Noise. No operations creating an unreasonable amount of noise outside the property lines shall be allowed.
L.
Loading areas. Paved areas shall be provided in locations separate from parking areas for loading and unloading of delivery trucks and other vehicles and for servicing by refuse collection, fuel, fire or other vehicles. Service areas shall be screened from view from abutting roadways or parking areas.
§ 145-100 Regulations for colleges, universities and secondary schools as defined by the Pennsylvania Department of Education.
A.
Dimensional regulations.
(1)
Lot area. A lot area of not less than 100 acres shall be provided for every use or building erected thereon.
(2)
Lot width. A lot width at the road frontage of not less than 400 feet shall be provided at the main entrance for every use or building.
(3)
Front, side and rear yards. All yards on every lot shall be not less than 250 feet.
(4)
Accessory structures. All necessary structures shall be set back from all property lines a distance of not less than 100 feet.
(5)
Building coverage. The maximum building coverage on a lot shall be 8%.
(6)
Impervious coverage. The maximum impervious coverage on a lot shall be 35%.
(7)
Height regulations. The maximum height for buildings or structures shall be 65 feet, not to exceed three stories.
B.
Additional regulations.
(1)
Public sewer and public water shall be provided.
(2)
Parking. In accordance with the provisions of Article XIX, with the parking count being determined and based upon a traffic study to be performed by a professional traffic engineer. The parking count shall be reviewed and approved subject to Article XIX. In addition to the parking count, the size of the parking space shall be eligible for reduction from 10 feet by 20 feet to nine feet zero inches by 18 feet.
(a)
Parking setback. All driveways and parking areas, except as required for normal ingress and egress, shall be set back from all property lines a minimum distance of 65 feet.
(5)
Floodplain regulations. In accordance with Article XVIII.
(6)
Natural resource regulations: in accordance with Article XXVI.
[Amended 11-19-2018 by Ord. No. 400]
(7)
Landscape regulations. In accordance with the Land Development and Subdivision Ordinance[1] and the following:
(a)
A year-round opaque buffer shall be provided along all property lines adjacent to residentially used land. The buffer may be comprised of a combination of berms, evergreen trees, deciduous trees, shrubs and fences, as dictated by the topography. The applicant shall have the responsibility of satisfying the Township as to the adequacy of the height, width and composition of the buffer. The buffer shall be of a natural appearance with a wide variety of plant materials that are native to the area.
(8)
Site access. Access to the facility shall be from a single feeder road. Any connection to any additional road shall be restricted as to use, the restrictions to be determined as a part of the land development review process and recorded in the Recorder of Deeds Office.
(9)
Site lighting shall be limited to parking lots, general areas of circulation and security. Lighting of athletic fields other than the main stadium shall not be permitted.
(10)
Day care. A day-care facility serving the needs of the facility (and not open to the public) may be permitted as an accessory use.