Limerick Township City Zoning Code
ARTICLE XIX
VC Village Commercial District
§ 184-128 Intent.
It is the specific intent of this article to:
A.
Encourage infill development of retail, office and residential uses that are compatible with the historic village setting in size, scale and architectural character.
B.
Encourage the retention and restoration of existing buildings, along with the landscaping and design elements that characterize a village setting.
C.
Provide opportunities for a diversity of housing types and a mix of compatible uses.
D.
Encourage those types of commercial and office uses which do not cause traffic congestion.
E.
Encourage consolidation of driveways, parking and curb cuts to enhance safety and provide more efficient and economical access and parking.
F.
Encourage creation of service roads parallel to arterial roads, to the rear of existing development where appropriate, in order to separate local commercial traffic from regional through traffic.
G.
Minimize visual and functional conflicts between residential and nonresidential uses within and abutting the district.
H.
Encourage compact development that is served by public sewer and water services and encourage extension of such utilities to serve village areas.
I.
Provide for mixed-use development on larger tracts around village centers, in order to provide a transition between those centers and more intensive commercial districts.
§ 184-129 Permitted uses.
On any lot in the Village Commercial District, one or a combination of the following uses are permitted:
A.
Business or professional offices, including medical, dental and other health care offices, veterinary offices and similar uses.
B.
Public utility facility, municipal or government offices.
[Amended 12-21-1999 by Ord. No. 206]
C.
Family or group day-care home.
E.
Educational, religious or philanthropic institution.
F.
Personal service shop, including but not limited to such uses as hairdresser, tailor, shoe repair, dry-cleaning dropoff and copy center.
G.
Specialized retail, as defined herein.
H.
Bank, financial institution, with the provision that any drive-in window shall be located to the rear of the principal building.
I.
General retail, including uses such as grocery, bakery, hardware store, drugstore and similar uses, up to a maximum floor area of 5,000 square feet per use.
J.
Restaurant or tavern.
[Amended 4-6-1999 by Ord. No. 202]
K.
Undertaking or funeral establishment.
L.
Clubs, lodges, fraternal organizations.
M.
Municipal and government uses.
O.
Small appliance and equipment repair and/or rental.
Q.
Studio for art, dance, music, exercise or photography.
R.
Single-family detached: village house.
S.
Two-family: twin or duplex.
T.
Townhouse, provided that no townhouse development shall be served by more than one driveway onto an arterial street.
U.
Production of crafts, woodworking or similar uses by artisans, provided that noise levels do not exceed those typical of permitted uses.
V.
A multifamily conversion or a combination of a nonresidential use and one or more dwelling units in a single building, meeting the following requirements:
(1)
An existing building shall be used, and its front facade and front porch, if any, shall be preserved. Any building addition shall be located to the rear and shall be compatible with the existing building in size, scale and materials. Stairways, fire escapes and other structural alterations shall be located to the rear or side of the building.
(2)
A single-family detached dwelling may be converted to a maximum of four apartments, and a twin to a maximum of two apartments, in addition to one nonresidential use. One or more nonresidential uses may be added in place of an equal number of dwelling units.
(3)
A minimum lot area of 2,000 square feet per dwelling unit shall be provided.
W.
Mixed-use development. Any use permitted in the R-5 Village Residential District is permitted, in combination with nonresidential uses, in compliance with all density and dimensional standards of that district and the following additional requirements:
(1)
At least two dwelling types shall be provided, with each type comprising no less than 30% of the total number of units.
(2)
There shall be a maximum of two driveway entrances per street frontage. No residential lots or units may have direct access to external arterial roads.
(3)
Multifamily apartments must be located above a nonresidential use, with no more than four apartments per building. Such apartments shall be exempted from density requirements of the R-5 District.
(4)
Each nonresidential building shall be located so as to meet the lot area, coverage and dimensional standards of the VC District, although subdivision of a separate lot is not required. The building footprint of a nonresidential building shall not exceed 7,500 square feet.
(5)
Required open space shall be provided in the form of a central green, which shall be a minimum of 30,000 square feet in size. The green shall be located next to the area of highest intensity on the site and shall be surrounded on all sides by streets or buildings, but not by parking lots or vacant land.
§ 184-130 Nonconforming lots.
The following standards apply to lots that are nonconforming in terms of area or width. Lots that are rendered nonconforming by the current absence of public utilities are discussed under § 184-131 below.
§ 184-131 Utilities.
Development at village densities normally requires the presence of both central sewers and public water. In areas where such utilities are not available, the following alternatives may be employed:
A.
For lots without public water service:
(1)
Each existing lot may contain a maximum of one permitted use and one dwelling unit.
(2)
Any additional development may occur at a density of one dwelling unit per additional two acres or one nonresidential use per additional acre.
(3)
Alternatively, the applicant may complete a water resources impact study that demonstrates to the Township's satisfaction that development may occur at permitted village densities without any adverse impacts upon groundwater recharge.
(a)
In order to achieve this objective, adjacent or nearby areas of open space may be deed-restricted as groundwater recharge areas.
(4)
The applicant shall agree to tie in to central water service at such time as it becomes available.
B.
For lots without public sewer service:
(1)
Each existing lot may contain a maximum of one permitted use and one dwelling unit.
(2)
Any additional development may occur at a density of one dwelling unit or one nonresidential use per additional acre.
(3)
Alternatively, the applicant may demonstrate to the Township's satisfaction that an interim individual or community sewage disposal system meeting all DEP and County Health Department standards may be utilized. Deed-restricted adjacent open space may be used for individual disposal fields or land treatment of effluent, in compliance with the above standards.
[Amended 6-2-1998 by Ord. No. 196]
(4)
The applicant shall agree to tie in to public sewer service at such time as it becomes available.
§ 184-132 (Reserved) [1]
[1]
Editor's Note: Former § 184-132, Planned Commercial Center, was repealed 11-4-1998 by Ord. No. 198.
§ 184-133 Development standards.
The following standards shall apply to all permitted uses, except where otherwise specified:
C.
Front yard: The minimum front yard setback shall be 20 feet, and the maximum front yard setback shall be 30 feet.
[Amended 12-20-2011 by Ord. No. 328]
D.
Side yard: 10 feet each, except that only one side yard is required for twins, and for townhouse end units.
E.
Rear yard: 30 feet.
G.
Maximum impervious coverage: 70% of net lot area.
[Amended 7-13-2006 by Ord. No. 261; 6-16-2015 by Ord. No. 360]
H.
Maximum building dimension facing the street: 75 feet.
I.
Minimum separation between buildings on a lot: 25 feet.
J.
Maximum building height: 35 feet.
K.
Parking setbacks:
(1)
From street right-of-way: the setback of the principal building or 25 feet, whichever is greater. No parking shall be permitted between the front of the principal building and the street line.
(2)
From rear property lines: 10 feet.
(3)
From side property lines: five feet; however, no setback is required if shared parking is used.
(4)
From buildings: five feet.
L.
Property line buffer width: the buffer area required by § 155-27.1C of Chapter 155, Subdivision and Land Development, shall equal the width of the parking setback from rear and side property lines. Driveways may not encroach into the buffer area unless the lot is too narrow to permit any other alternative, in which case a waiver of § 155-27.1C will be required.
§ 184-134 Design standards; traffic impact analysis.
§ 184-135 Design guidelines.
The following standards are recommended as guidelines for all permitted uses.
A.
Existing buildings, especially those built prior to 1940 and contributing to the historic character of the village, should be retained where possible. Front and side building facades and front porches, if any, should be preserved.
B.
Additions to existing buildings or new buildings on a lot should be located to the rear or side, where possible, and should be compatible with the existing building in the following respects:
(1)
Height, proportion and scale (relation of building height to width).
(2)
Bulk and general massing, i.e., are surrounding buildings simple and boxlike in shape or articulated by porches, turrets and bay windows?
(3)
Number, spacing and proportion of windows and doors.
(4)
Roof shape and treatment, i.e., gable, gambrel, hip, mansard and so on.
(5)
Materials, colors and textures of buildings and signage. In general, natural materials such as stone, brick, wood siding, shingles, slate, etc., are preferred to industrial or artificial materials such as raw concrete, anodized or galvanized metal, tinted glass, plastics, vinyls, etc.
(6)
Stylistic features such as porches, cornices and other architectural details.
C.
The applicant shall submit sufficient information in the form of architectural elevations or sketches of building additions, restoration or new buildings in order to determine to what extent the design guidelines are being followed.
D.
In order to facilitate traffic circulation, all parking areas for a proposed use should be directly connected to nonresidential parking areas on adjacent lots. If a connection cannot be made when the proposed use is constructed, a driveway may be provided extending to the adjacent property line in a location where a future connection can be made. Cross-easements between properties should be provided where necessary.
§ 184-136 Bonus provisions.
B.
For developing shared driveway access with an abutting lot, the area of the shared driveway (but not the surrounding parking area) shall be exempted from impervious coverage limitations. The bonus shall apply to each lot. If only one lot is being developed, a cross-easement to an abutting lot or lots shall be offered and recorded on the plan for the first lot. To use this bonus, no additional driveways shall be permitted to access either lot from an arterial street. Additional driveways may be permitted off a side street or service road.
C.
The following elements are encouraged and shall be exempted from impervious coverage limitations:
(1)
Driveway connections between nonresidential parking areas.
(2)
For properties fronting arterial streets, construction of a portion of a rear service road for access to more than one property.
(3)
Pedestrian pathways linking neighboring properties and between the rear of a property and the street frontage.
(4)
Plazas and courtyards open to the general public, provided that at least 30% of their area is landscaped.