Article I through XII of this chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Borough Zoning Ordinance."

The Borough Zoning Ordinance (now Articles I through XII of this chapter) was adopted on September 13, 1954, pursuant to the authority contained in Section 93 of the Act of July 10, 1947 (P.L. 1621) amending the Borough Code. The provisions of the Borough Code relating to zoning (as those provisions were subsequently amended) were repealed by the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code (Act No. 247 of July 31, 1968, effective January 1, 1969). The Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, however, continued the authority of boroughs to enact, amend and repeal zoning ordinances and validated zoning ordinances, resolutions, regulations and rules made by boroughs pursuant to those Acts of Assembly which were repealed by the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code.[1]

In accordance with the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code and in accordance with the spirit and intent of the Comprehensive Plan for the Borough of Lewistown (adopted September 13, 1954, and amended October 25, 1976), it is the intent, purpose and development objective of this chapter to promote and protect the public health, safety, morals and welfare; to provide adequate light and air and to prevent loss of health, life or property from fire, flood, panic, overcrowding and other dangers; to provide for adequate off-street parking space and loading space and to prevent danger and congestion in travel and transportation; to promote and protect those desirable characteristics for living and working which exist in the Borough of Lewistown while reducing land sprawl, controlling over-density in population and preventing blight; to promote and protect the practical and coordinated development of balanced residential, commercial, manufacturing and industrial uses in light of existing or proposed municipal facilities and services; to control the use and development of land consistent with its existing character and the character of the neighborhood while taking into consideration the community need, the most appropriate use of the land or the suitability of the land for particular uses or structures; and in a geographical area of natural and scenic beauty, to achieve balanced uses of land and buildings for residential, commercial, manufacturing and industrial purposes as objects and values in themselves which will contribute to the public welfare.