The Zoning Administrator of the Township.

The duly elected governing body of the Township.

The Planning Commission of Hanover Township.

The Planning Commission of Hanover Township.

Hanover Township, Northampton County, Pennsylvania.

The duly constituted municipal official designated to administer and enforce this chapter.

The Zoning Hearing Board of Hanover Township.

The Hanover Township Comprehensive Plan, as amended.

Hanover Township Construction Standards, as amended.[1]

A map showing the exact locations of existing and proposed public streets, watercourses and public grounds, as amended.

The Zoning Ordinance, as amended.[2]

The Stormwater Management Ordinance, as amended.[3]

The Hanover Township Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance, as amended.[4]

The Hanover Township Zoning Ordinance of 1978, as amended, including the Official Zoning Map.[5]

An accredited medical school within this commonwealth that operates or partners with an acute-care hospital licensed within this commonwealth pursuant to the Act.

A residential development that is age qualified in accordance with Federal Fair Housing Act regulations and in accordance with the provision of § 185-28.1 of this chapter, and which involves a unified development operated under common rules with private internal streets, landscaped areas along public streets, and private on-site recreational facilities. Only single-family dwellings and their community center and required recreation facilities shall be permitted within an active adult residential community.

An institution providing primary health services and medical and surgical care to persons, primarily inpatients, that includes care requiring overnight stays, and including, as an integral part of the institution, related facilities such as laboratories, outpatient facilities or training facilities.

An establishment open to the general public excepting minors under the age of 18, including, but not limited to, an adult book store, adult theater and any other facility whose purpose is to provide adult entertainment.

An enterprise that is actively engaged in the commercial production and preparation for market of crops, livestock and livestock products and in the production, harvesting and preparation for market or use of agricultural, agronomic, horticultural, silvicultural, apiary, aquacultural crops and commodities. The term includes an enterprise that implements changes in production practices and procedures or types of crops, livestock, livestock products or commodities, bees, bee products or commodities produced consistent with practices and procedures that are normally engaged in by farmers or consistent with technological development within the agricultural industry.

The cultivation of soil and the raising and harvesting of products of the soil, including, but not limited to, nursery, horticulture, forestry and animal husbandry.

The breeding, care and production of farm animals, beekeeping, livestock and poultry.

Any place where one or more colonies or nuclei of bees are kept.

A private, single-family detached dwelling unit which provides overnight sleeping accommodations and bathroom access for not more than eight temporary guests at one time and provides breakfast (but no other meals or cooking or kitchen facilities or access) to guests for a per-night charge, provided that individual guests do not stay longer than seven days.

Any stage of the common hive or honeybee (Apis mellifera) or other species of the genus Apis.

An indoor establishment in which legal betting activities, authorized by statute, are conducted, including pari-mutuel wagering activities but excluding "games of chance" under the Local Option Small Games of Chance Act, 10 P.S. § 311 et seq. The term shall specifically include "nonprimary locations" as defined in the Race Horse Industry Reform Act, as amended, 4 P.S. § 325.101 et seq.

Manufacturing and packaging of ready-to-drink (nonalcoholic) beverages such as carbonated soft drinks, water, flavored water, sparkling water, fruit juices, coffee, tea and similar beverages.

See the definition of "sign, advertising" of this section. A billboard shall be any advertising sign with a total sign area greater than 30 square feet.

A retail establishment with on-premises consumption of malt and brewed beverages produced on the premises or on real property immediately adjacent to the premises or at a remote location where the brew pub owner also has an ownership interest in the microbrewery that produces the malt and brewed beverages being consumed at the brew pub. The brew pub must be licensed by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board and any successor agency of the commonwealth.

The owner, developer, or agent of an owner engaged in the construction of any building or structure.

Any structure which is permanently affixed to the land, which has one or more floors or stories enclosed by walls and a roof, and which is bounded by either lot lines or yards. A building shall not include a mobile home, or trailer, nor such structures as billboards or fences.

The vertical distance from the average finished grade level of the ground immediately adjacent to the building to the highest point of the roof.

The line within a lot or property defining the minimum required distance between the principal building and an adjacent right-of-way or lot line.

The size of buildings or other structures and their relationship to each other, to required yards, and to lot lines.

Any building or facility or part thereof where the majority of employees are engaged in the business of providing customer service, and/or marketing of goods and services through the use of a telephone.

The individual designated by a patient to deliver medical marijuana.

A car wash is any structure containing either an automated train-driven facility or one or more self-service bays, for the washing and waxing of automobiles, which shall specifically not include the washing and waxing of trucks and/or trailers.

A system providing portable telephone service to specific subscribers.

See "water supply, centralized."

The acquisition, possession, use or transportation of medical marijuana by a patient, or the acquisition, possession, delivery, transportation or administration of medical marijuana by a caregiver, for use as part of the treatment of the patient's serious medical condition, as authorized by certification by the commonwealth pursuant to the Act.

An entity that:

A structure used for transmitting or retransmitting commercial signals including, but not limited to, electronic signals. Commercial communications antenna shall include, but is not limited to, antenna used for transmitting commercial radio or television signals, or to receive such signals for a cable system or for transmitting telephone communications or personal service communications.

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

A facility duly licensed as a blood bank by the Department of Public Health of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania pursuant to the Pennsylvania Blood Bank Act, Act of December 6, 1972, P.L. 1614, as amended, 35 P.S. § 6501 et seq., and duly licensed as a blood center by the Food and Drug Administration engaging in the collection, testing, processing, storing, transfusing and/or distribution of human blood, blood components and by-products, medical laboratory testing of human tissue, blood and blood components, the education of the general public and the medical community in matters relating to human blood and blood banking, and/or the provision of blood-related services, obtaining blood and blood components through the voluntary donations of human blood, and blood components from the general public of the geographic area served (which includes the Township) and making available human blood, blood components and blood by-products to the general public of the geographic area served (which includes the Township) through hospitals, medical or health facilities, physicians or other providers of health care.

A retail store selling principally food (including prepared food for consumption off of the premises), general household products and sundries having a gross sales floor area not exceeding 6,000 square feet and having extended hours of operation intended for the convenience principally of those living or working within a radius of three miles from the store, but which may also service transient traffic. A convenience store may include the sale of gasoline fuel products as an accessory use.

Any profit or nonprofit use or building which provides care for four or more children or adults on a regular basis, during a portion of the day or night, for the purpose of relieving the individual's legal guardian of that care responsibility. A day-care center is not a school or church, nor is it a permissible accessory use of a school or church, nor is it a permitted accessory use of a residence.

An accessory, off-site parking area utilized by an automobile sales and service agency for the temporary storage prior to sale of new and preowned automobiles and light trucks.

Any landowner, agent of such landowner or tenant with the permission of such landowner, who makes or causes to be made a subdivision of land or a land development.

A person, including a natural person, corporation, partnership, association, trust or other entity, or any combination thereof, which holds a current and valid permit issued by the Department of Health (DOH) of the commonwealth to dispense medical marijuana pursuant to the provisions of the Act.

Any building or structure used to dispense medical marijuana by a licensed dispensary.

Large fireworks to be used solely by professional pyrotechnicians and designed primarily to produce visible or audible effects by combustion, deflagration or detonation. The term includes, but is not limited to:

Includes any premises or plant wherein alcohol or liquor is manufactured, made and distilled from raw materials, blended or rectified, or any place wherein alcohol or liquor is produced by any method suitable for the production of alcohol for human consumption under such regulations as are or may be promulgated by a proper agency of the United States Government. The term shall not include a winery where alcohol is derived from by-products of wine production by distillation for the sole purpose of adding to the fermented products to fortify the same.

A zoning district as defined by this chapter and the Zoning Map.[6]

A shopping facility that allows customers to access sales or services without leaving their motor vehicles. Drive-in shopping shall be designed as an accessory use subordinate to a traditional shopping facility.

One or more rooms with provisions for living, cooking, sanitary and sleeping facilities arranged for the use of one family.

A sign that is capable of being programmed for timed alteration of a message display which is controlled electronically, and provided the following conditions are complied with:

An addition to the floor area of an existing building, an increase in size of a structure, or an increase in that portion of a tract of land occupied by an existing use.

An individual living as a single housekeeping unit, a number of persons related by blood, marriage or legal adoption living together as a single housekeeping unit or residents of a "group home" (as defined herein) living together as a single housekeeping unit.

A parcel of land at least 10 acres in size devoted to one or more of the following:

(Includes tenant house.) Any dwelling incidental to the operation of a farm as defined herein.

(See also "hedge" and "wall.") An enclosure or enclosing barrier intended to prevent intrusion, or for the purpose of protection from potential danger. Constructed of wood, metal or other materials permitting clear vision around and through the completed installation. Fence shall not include privacy screen(s).

A facility where consumer fireworks are available for retail sale.

That portion of the floodplain outside the floodway.

A flood which, on the average, is likely to occur once in every 100 years (i.e., it has a one-percent chance of occurring each year, although the flood may occur in any year); for the purposes of this chapter, the regulatory flood.

The designated area of a floodplain required to carry and discharge floodwaters of a given magnitude. For the purposes of this chapter, the floodway shall be capable of accommodating a flood of the one-hundred-year magnitude.

The sum of the gross area of all floors of a building.

The management of forests and timberlands when practiced in accordance with accepted silvicultural principles, through developing, cultivating, harvesting, transporting and selling trees for commercial purposes, which does not involve any land development.

The characteristics of the medical marijuana recommended or limited for a particular patient, including the method of consumption and any particular dosage, strain, variant and quantity or percentage of medical marijuana or particular active ingredient.

A building or part thereof used for the storage or parking of one or more automobiles.

An area of land together with structures thereon used for the retail sale of motor fuel and/or lubricants and incidental services, if any, such as motor vehicle inspection, lubrication, sale and installation of tires, batteries or other automotive accessories and minor repairs to motor vehicles.

The use of a building or part of a building by a corporation or other business entity or person for the day-to-day management, administration, clerical functions, financial transactions, bookkeeping, and other functions of a business. Specifically excluded from "general office" are professional practice office uses, retail sales, the display of any merchandise, and the keeping or storage of any equipment intended for off-site use.

A dwelling unit, which meets all of the following criteria:

A person, including a natural person, corporation, partnership, association, trust or other entity, or any combination thereof, which holds a current and valid permit from the DOH to grow and process medical marijuana in the commonwealth, pursuant to the provisions of the Act.

Any building or structure used to grow medical marijuana by a licensed grower/processor that has a current and valid license from the DOH pursuant to the Act.

(See also "fence" and "wall.") Plant life material used as a separator for a privacy screen.

See "building height."

The overall height of the commercial communications tower and/or antenna from the base of the tower and antenna to the highest point of the tower and/or antenna, including, but not limited to, antennas, transmitters, satellite dishes or any other structures affixed to or otherwise placed on the tower and/or antenna. If the base of the tower and/or antenna is not on ground level, the height of the tower and/or antenna shall include the base of the building or structure to which the tower and/or antenna is attached.

An institution providing primary health service and medical and surgical care to persons, primarily inpatients, suffering from illness, disease, injury, deformity and other abnormal physical or mental conditions, and including as an integral part of the institution, related facilities such as laboratories, outpatient facilities or training facilities.

See "motel."

A building or group of buildings which includes:

The legal or beneficial owner or owners of land including the holder of an option or contract to purchase (whether or not such option or contract is subject to any condition); a lessee, if he is authorized under the lease to exercise the rights of the landowner, or any other person having a proprietary interest in the land.

Any industry or manufacturing facility which is not detrimental to the environment in which it is located by reason of the emission of smoke, noise, odor, dust, vibration or excessive light, beyond the limits of its lot, and which does not include any open storage yards or outdoor processing of materials.

A distillery that produces less than 100,000 gallons of distilled liquid per year and has the right to sell bottled liquors on the leased premises to Liquor Control Board licensees and the public.

A building or group of buildings, whether detached or in connected units, used as sleeping or dwelling units.

A winery with a maximum output of 200,000 gallons per year.

One of the following:

The total projected horizontal area of a lot, but excluding space within all dedicated or recognized Township streets or rights-of-way, and within all permanent drainage easements, or within a floodway or a flood fringe, but including the areas of all other easements.

A percentage which, when multiplied by the lot area, will determine the total building and surfaced area permitted. In all districts, "lot coverage" shall mean any surfaced area other than plant life or water surface; provided, however, that "lot coverage" shall include the entire water surface area of completed swimming pools pursuant to § 176-4B, of Chapter 176, Water Hazards, Exposed.

The horizontal distance between the side lot lines, measured along the building setback line and parallel to the front lot line.

Marijuana for certified medical use as legally permitted by the commonwealth and the provisions of the Act.

Any facility used to house delivery vehicles for supplying marijuana plants or seeds to one or more grower/processor facilities and/or dispensary facilities.

A dispensary facility or a grower/processor facility.

A building used primarily by physicians and dentists for treatment and examination of patients, provided that no overnight patients shall be kept on the premises.

A facility for the production, packaging and sampling of malt beverages of alcoholic and/or nonalcoholic content for retail or wholesale distribution, on or off the premises, and which produces less than 15,000 gallons of malt beverages per year.

Any aggregate or mass of mineral matter, whether or not coherent. The term includes, but is not limited to, limestone and dolomite, sand and gravel, rock and stone, earth, fill, slag, iron ore, zinc ore, vermiculite and clay, anthracite and bituminous coal, coal refuse, peat, and crude oil and natural gas.

A transportable dwelling, office, or place of assembly contained in one unit, or in two units designed to be joined into one integral unit capable of again being separated for repeated towing, which arrives at the site complete and ready for occupancy except for minor and incidental unpacking and assembly operations, and constructed so that it may be used without a permanent foundation.

A parcel of land in a mobile home park, improved with the necessary utility connections and other appurtenances necessary for the erection thereon of a single mobile home, which is leased by the park owner to the occupants of the mobile home erected on the lot.

A parcel of land under single ownership which has been planned and improved for the placement of mobile homes for nontransient use, consisting of two or more mobile home lots.

A building or group of buildings, whether detached or in connected units, used as sleeping or dwelling units designed, used, or constructed for transient occupancy.

A building designed, arranged, or used by two or more families living independently of each other as separate housekeeping units.

The plan of streets, Township land, watercourses, and recreation areas currently ordained by Hanover Township, Northampton County, as described in the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, Article IV.[7] This is to include amendments thereto, which may be approved from time to time.

Publicly owned parks, tree lines, woods, drainage swales, floodplains, and recreation areas. In multiple-family developments, open space may also include open areas intended for the use of all the residents within the specified development, excluding driveways, parking areas and streets.

See "landowner."

Any private postsecondary school or institution operated other than by a public body and which includes colleges, universities, junior colleges, career schools, technical schools and vocational/trade schools which offer classes, courses or training and postsecondary education or training.

The main building on the lot as designated by the Zoning Administrator.

The structure as more specifically defined under § 185-25C(4)(a) et seq. of this chapter, including the requirements contained therein.

A building or group of buildings designed, intended or used primarily for athletic events and other performances, including live entertainment events, and containing seating for spectators of these events, concerts and similar events, but specifically not including betting parlors.

Any state accredited elementary, middle, junior high, high or senior high school operated by other than a public body and any nursery school operated by other than a public body. "Private school" includes parochial school and includes any nursery school or other private school operated by any church or religious organization. "Private school" does not include religious meetings and/or educational facilities that may be used by any one group or class on a weekly or biweekly basis, when such facilities are accessory to a church or other place of worship.

An office occupied by a person or persons (together with related staff) who have received professional training, to include doctors, dentists, lawyers, engineers, architects, certified public accountants, psychologists and similar occupations.

A business that operates to maintain and manage facilities and properties owned by others. Principal operation may include some or all of the following: grass, tree and landscape maintenance and management; landscape design and construction; snow and ice removal; asphalt repair and maintenance; building repairs and maintenance; painting and other similar work.

A facility from which a property/facility management business operates and may include office space, fitness areas and similar amenities for employee use, garage space and storage space. The facility may also include the storage of landscape and hardscape materials and supplies; plant and landscape nursery, including greenhouses; storage of yard waste and composting material; outdoor storage, washing and fueling of vehicles and equipment owned or used in the operation of the business.

Notice published once each week for two successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the municipality. Such notice shall state the time and place of the hearing and the particular nature of the matter to be considered at the hearing. The first publication shall not be more than 30 days or less than seven days from the date of the hearing.

A utility as defined under the Pennsylvania Public Utility Code, as amended, and which has obtained a certificate of public convenience from the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission and which currently is in good standing.

The registry established by the DOH for all medical marijuana organizations and practitioners in the commonwealth pursuant to the provisions of the Act.

Any building designed, constructed, or used for residential purposes.

An area of personal service shops, restaurants (excluding drive-in restaurants), convenience stores and/or health clubs intended to serve both the employees of the offices and other permitted uses and the surrounding community.

A group of commercial establishments, planned and developed as a unit related in location, size, and type of shops to the trade area which the unit serves; it provides on-site parking in definite relationship to the types and sizes of stores.

Any letter, word, model, picture or device intended as an announcement, direction, advertisement, or intended to convey information or attract attention.

All equipment, machinery and structures utilized in connection with the conversion of wind to electricity. This includes, but is not limited to, storage, electrical collection and supply equipment, transformers and one or more wind turbines or windmills, which have a combined total rated nameplate capacity of 100 kilowatts (kW) or less.

A scientific survey of soil conditions and characteristics prepared by a registered professional engineer or soil scientist, or prepared by the Soil Conservation Service or its agent.

Radiant energy (direct, diffuse, and reflected) received from the sun.

Any solar collector or other solar energy device, or any structural design feature whose primary purpose is to provide for the collection, storage and distribution of solar energy for space heating or cooling, for water heating or for electricity that may be mounted on a building or on the ground and is not the primary use of the property.

A solar photovoltaic panel, solar hot air or hot water panel collector device, or other type of solar energy system which relies upon solar radiation as a source for the generation of electricity or transfer of stored heat.

An establishment of no more than 2,000 square feet gross area, engaged principally in the sale of coffee and other hot beverages (all nonalcoholic) for consumption on the premises or for carry-out, which may also include the sale of a limited number of food items associated with hot beverages.

Any building or structure whose exterior elevation view, as viewed from any side, contains more than 30% of the perimeter linear feet of wall as doors, at or near ground level and whose primary purpose is short- or long-term storing or warehousing.

A strip of land including the entire right-of-way (not limited to the cartway or traveled portion). "Street" includes street, avenue, boulevard, road, highway, freeway, parkway, lane, alley, viaduct, and any other ways used or intended to be used by vehicular traffic and pedestrians, whether public or private. A street includes any publicly used cartway, so shown on the Official Township Map.

A dividing line (commonly known as a "right-of-way line") between a lot and a street or a boundary of a publicly used cartway as shown on the Official Township Map or the proposed right-of-way as shown on this map, whichever is more restrictive.

Any man-made object or building having an ascertainable stationary location on land or water, whether or not affixed to the land, including parking lots, parking spaces and driveways.

Vertical distance from grade level to the highest point of the structure.

The division or redivision of a lot, tract or parcel of land by any means into two or more lots, tracts, parcels or other divisions of land, including changes in existing lot lines for the purpose, whether immediate or future, of lease, partition by the court for distribution to heirs or devisees, transfer of ownership or building or lot development; provided, however, that the subdivision by lease of land for agricultural purposes into parcels of more than 10 acres, not involving any new street or easement of access or any residential dwelling, shall be exempted.

A use and structure established for a limited duration to be discontinued upon the expiration of the time period. Temporary uses usually do not involve the construction or alteration of any permanent building or structure.

A single-family dwelling unit which shares one or more common walls, or parts thereof, with another single-family dwelling unit.

Any building or structure whose exterior elevation view, as viewed from any side, contains more than 30% of the perimeter linear feet of wall as doors, at or near ground level and whose primary purpose is short- or long-term storing or warehousing or transferring of products or goods, primarily delivered by trucks.

Plan depicting an entire development within a Planned Industrial/Business District, a Planned Office, Research and Residential District, an Office and Institutional District or the commercial districts, which is intended to be initially developed, either at one time or in phases, by a single owner or by a group of related entities, which plan may be supplemented and amended from time-to-time to add additional land to the development or to modify the elements of such development.

Any purpose for which a building or other structure or a tract of land is designed, arranged, intended, maintained or occupied. A use is also any activity, occupation, business, or operation carried on, or intended to be carried on, in a building or other structure or a tract of land.

(See also "fence" and "hedge.") A work or structure intended for security or privacy from outside intrusion. Constructed of stone, brick or other materials forming a solid enclosure.

The Westgate Hills Water Company or the Village View Gardens Water Company.

A facility designed to promote health awareness and maintenance through a variety of programs and services tailored to a range of individual needs in which any combination of the following activities are provided:

Includes any premises and plants where any alcohol or liquor is produced by the applicable process by which wine is produced, or premises and plants wherein liquid such as wine is produced; and shall include the manufacture by distillation of alcohol from the by-products of fermentation when the alcohol so derived is used solely to fortify the fermented products, under such regulations as are or may be promulgated by a proper agency of the United States Government, and such alcohol, for that purpose only, may be sold or exchanged between wineries holding permits in this commonwealth, without restriction.

That portion of a lot which is unoccupied and open to the sky between the street right-of-way line or lot line and a required building setback line.