Harmar Township City Zoning Code
PART 9
CONDITIONAL USES
§ 27-901 Jurisdiction.
[Ord. 331, 11/17/1999, § 9.100]
2.
Conditional uses shall be reviewed first by the Planning Commission, which shall provide recommendations to the Board of Supervisors. The Board shall call and hold a public hearing and thereafter shall decide to approve or reject the proposed conditional use as presented, or approve it with specific conditions.
§ 27-902 Application Contents.
[Ord. 331, 11/17/1999, § 9.200]
1.
Applications for conditional uses shall be submitted to the Township Secretary who shall send them to the Township Engineer to determine if they are complete in accordance with the requirements for the written statement and site plan described below.
2.
The written statement shall demonstrate, where applicable considering the site, that the following concerns will be addressed:
A.
The applicant is the owner of record of the property for which the conditional use is sought.
B.
A detailed description of the property is provided as a basis for determining if it is a bonafide conditional use.
C.
The proposed use will not endanger the public health and safety if located where proposed, and will not deteriorate the environment or generate nuisance conditions.
D.
The use is compatible with, or will support the existing and projected development in the neighborhood of the site.
E.
The use can be accommodated on the site within the lot area, setback and coverage requirements of the zone district with no variances needed, or at worst minor variances.
F.
The use will have access to public sanitary sewer and water lines and will drain to a storm sewer or established drainageway.
G.
The use will not generate excessive traffic congestion or dangerous conditions on streets abutting the property, unless such congestion will be overcome by off-site improvements provided by the developer.
H.
Areas of the property to be disturbed but not covered by buildings, driveways or parking will be landscaped and maintained.
I.
Driveways to the property will be located as remote as possible from street intersections, and adequate sight distances will be available at access points for entering and departing vehicles as well as for through traffic on abutting roads.
3.
The accurately drawn and scaled illustrative site plan shall show the arrangement of the proposed use on the site, including:
A.
Property lines around the periphery of the site, indicating bearings and straight line and arc distances in feet; and area of the property in square feet.
B.
Land and/or building use on adjacent properties and across an intervening street.
C.
Abutting public streets, including paved and right-of-way widths.
D.
Existing and proposed buildings and structures on the site by use, number of stories and distance of building walls along edges of the property from nearest property line.
E.
Land surface elevations sufficient to indicate grading that will be necessary to provide for the proposed use and its access to a public street.
F.
Driveway or driveways into the property from abutting streets, internal driveways, and parking area layout with each parking space delineated.
G.
Signs to remain or proposed, indicating sign width and height, location relative to property lines and distance from top of sign to ground below.
H.
Plan for collecting and disposing of stormwater.
I.
Proposed landscaping where required by this chapter; site lighting within parking lots, for security or for building wall washers, showing height above ground and lighting fixture proposed; as well as other pertinent information to illustrate the proposal.
§ 27-903 Criteria for Review.
[Ord. 331, 11/17/1999, § 9.300]
1.
All conditional uses are site specific; that is, the particular use must be compatible with the proposed site and its neighborhood.
2.
In reviewing the written statement and site plan described above, the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors, shall consider the following factors, depending on the nature of the proposal:
A.
The amount of traffic that could be potentially generated by the use.
B.
The extent of earthmoving on the site to accommodate the use.
C.
The types of uses that are located adjacent to or across the street from the proposal.
D.
The safety of vehicular entrances to the proposed use in terms of sight distances and congestion at the access point.
E.
The extent of variances from the requirements of this chapter requested to accommodate the proposal.
F.
The impact of the size and scale of the proposal upon surrounding properties, as well as the effect of lighting, night operations, and signage.
G.
The adequacy of on-site parking and circulation into and out of the parking areas, as well as pedestrian circulation.
§ 27-904 Processing of Conditional Use Applications.
[Ord. 331, 11/17/1999, § 9.400]
1.
The Township Engineer, having received the application, shall review it for completeness and adherence to the regulations of this Part. In the event that the applicant requests a public hearing at the time that he/she makes the application, the Township Secretary, or the Zoning Officer in the Secretary's absence, shall advise the Engineer that he must complete his review and report by the time of the next Planning Commission meeting, the date of which shall be the starting date for purposes of scheduling the public hearing.
2.
The Township Engineer may contact the person who prepared the application to make him/her aware of deficiencies or omissions the Engineer has uncovered during the review. The Engineer shall provide his review comments to the Planning Commission which shall place the application on the agenda of its next Planning Commission meeting.
3.
The Planning Commission shall review the application together with the Township Engineer's report, and shall send its recommendations to the Board of Supervisors in writing. The Commission may recommend approval of the application as presented, approval conditioned on certain specific revisions, or denial, based on clear reasons derived from § 27-903, above, and/or deviations from particular stipulations of this Part.
4.
The Board of Supervisors shall call and hold a public hearing no later than 60 days after the applicant has made a request in writing for the hearing. The public notice (see definition) shall include a description of the proposed conditional use and the location of the site. The applicant shall be informed of the date, time and place of the hearing at least 14 days prior to the date, and the affected property shall be posted in at least one conspicuous location at least seven days before the hearing with the same information as in the public notice.
5.
Within 45 days after the conclusion of the hearing, the Board shall render a written decision on the application and shall inform the applicant of it personally or by mail no later than the day after the date of the decision. When the application is contested or denied, the decision shall be accompanied by findings of fact and conclusions based on them, together with reasons for the conclusions. Conclusions based on any provisions of this Part, any other Township ordinance or regulation, or the State Planning Code, 53 P.S. § 10101 et seq., shall contain a reference to the provision relied on and the reasons why the conclusion is deemed appropriate in the light of the facts found.
6.
Failure of the Board of Supervisors to render its decision within 45 days after the hearing, or to commence the hearing within 60 days of the applicant's request for it, shall result in a deemed approval of the application as submitted, unless the applicant has agreed in writing or on the hearing record to an extension of time.
7.
If the applicant fails to accept all of the conditions attached to approval, the approval shall be considered denied. The applicant shall inform the Zoning Officer within 30 days after the decision of his/her agreement to accept the conditions.
8.
Acceptance by the applicant of all attached conditions shall serve as an authorization for the Zoning Officer to issue a building or occupancy permit, which shall depict any conditions attached to approval. Failure of the applicant to apply for a building, or occupancy permit if no building permit is required, within one year from the date of the Board's decision, shall render the approval void.
§ 27-905 Expansion of Approved Conditional Uses.
[Ord. 331, 11/17/1999, § 9.500]
1.
When approving a conditional use, the Board of Supervisors shall be specific about exactly what is approved. Approval may include future expansion if requested by the applicant and agreed to by the Board, but only for specific expansions on land already owned, or under option to be purchased by the applicant.
2.
Any expansion proposed after the initial specific approval shall require reapplication to the Planning Commission for recommendation and the Board of Supervisors for decision.
3.
Any property in a use which is listed as a conditional use in Part 4 of this chapter for the zone district where the property is located at the time of adoption of this chapter or subsequent amendment affecting the property, may continue to operate as usual, but if expansion is proposed, application shall be made as required by § 27-902 of this Part.