Hanover City Zoning Code
ARTICLE I
Authority, Title, Purpose, and Legal Scope of Regulations
§ 370-100 Authority.
This chapter is enacted and ordained under the grant of powers contained in the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code.
§ 370-101 Title.
This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Zoning Ordinance of the Borough of Hanover."
§ 370-102 Purpose of enactment.
This Zoning Ordinance is enacted for the following purposes:
A.
To promote, protect, and facilitate public health, safety, morals, general welfare, the provision of adequate light and air, and other public requirements;
B.
To prevent overcrowding, blight, or the loss of health, life, or property from fire, flood, or other dangers;
C.
To adopt a Zoning Map dividing the Borough of Hanover into zoning districts with varying regulations to regulate the location, type, and intensity of the use of land, and 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;
D.
To provide residential housing of various dwelling types and encourage adaptive reuse and infill development reflecting the scale, uses, and context of existing neighborhoods;
E.
To provide for the protection of natural and historic features and resources;
F.
To promote innovation and flexibility in land use development and design;
G.
To facilitate adequate provision of transportation, water, sewerage, drainage and other infrastructure;
H.
To provide procedures for the orderly review and permitting of proposed projects, and to provide for certain special exceptions and conditional uses;
I.
To carry out the goals and objectives of the Hanover Borough-Penn Township Comprehensive Plan; and
J.
To achieve the purposes set forth in the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, Act 247, as reenacted and amended.
§ 370-103 Applicability.
A.
Any of the following activities or any other activity regulated by this chapter shall only be carried out in conformity with this chapter and only after the lawful issuance of all permits and certificates required by this chapter:
(1)
Use, occupation, erection, construction, reconstruction, movement, alteration, razing, demolition, removal, or extension (vertical or horizontal) of a structure, building, or sign.
(2)
Change of the type of use or expansion of a use within a structure, building or area of land.
(3)
Creation of a lot or alteration of lot lines.
(4)
Creation of a new use.
B.
All conditions and safeguards attached by an appropriate reviewing body to an approval for a conditional or special exception use, or for an approved variance, shall carry the same force of law as the provisions in this chapter.
C.
Except as otherwise provided for in Article VII, non-conforming lots, uses, structures, and signs shall be subject to all regulations of this chapter.
D.
Municipal uses exempted. The requirements of this chapter shall not apply to uses or structures owned by the Borough of Hanover nor to uses or structures owned by those municipal authorities authorized or created by it to provide governmental or public health and safety services. The requirements of this chapter do not apply to private uses permitted by the Borough of Hanover, or its authorized municipal authorities, to be conducted on, upon, or in Borough/Authority land or structures.
E.
Regardless of any other provision of this chapter, all uses, structures, lots, and signs shall be used and no structure erected or maintained in violation of any state or federal law or regulation.
§ 370-104 Municipality liability.
The granting of a permit for the erection and/or use of a structure, building or lot shall not constitute a representation, guarantee or warranty of any kind or nature by the Borough of Hanover, or an official or employee, thereof, of the safety of any structure, building, use or other proposed plan from cause whatsoever, and shall create no liability upon or a course of action against such public official or employee for any damage that may be pursuant thereto.
§ 370-105 Severability.
It is hereby declared to be the legislative intent that if a court of competent jurisdiction declares any provisions of this chapter to be invalid or ineffective in whole or in part, the effect of such decision shall be limited to those provisions which are expressly stated in the decision to be invalid or ineffective, and all other provisions of this chapter shall continue to be separately and fully effective.
§ 370-106 Repealer.
The pre-existing Hanover Zoning Ordinance, as amended, is hereby expressly repealed; provided, further that nothing in this chapter shall be construed to affect any suit or proceeding pending in any court, or any rights acquired or liability incurred, or any permit issued or approval granted or any cause or causes of action arising prior to the enactment of this chapter. All ordinances or parts of ordinances and all resolutions or parts of resolutions which are inconsistent herewith by virtue of references or incorporation of requirements contained in the pre-existing Zoning Ordinance as amended shall, as nearly as possible, be construed to reference this chapter.
§ 370-107 Effective date.
This chapter shall take effect upon its enactment by the Hanover Borough Council.
