Mohnton City Zoning Code
PART 7
C-2 COMMERCIAL DISTRICTS
§ 27-700 Use Regulations.
[Ord. 264, 7/23/1962, § 700, 701]
C-2 Commercial Districts are designed primarily to provide for the special needs of a wide range of heavier, highway and service-type business activities which often require locations on major streets or adjacent to retain business and industrial districts. In C-2 Commercial Districts, the following regulations shall apply. A building may be erected or used, and a lot may be used or occupied, for any of the following purposes and no other, provided that each use shall comply with the area, height, and special design requirements of § 27-701 below:
1.
Any use permitted in C-1 Commercial Districts.
2.
Wholesale business establishment.
3.
Tourist house, rooming or boarding house.
4.
Motor vehicle service station, motor vehicle sales agency, public garage or automobile repair shop (but not to include car lot or trailer sales agency as a main use), provided that all facilities are located and all services are conducted within the confines of the lot.
5.
Indoor place of amusement, recreation, or assembly.
6.
Contractor or general service shop, including plumbing, heating, carpentry, welding, cabinetmaking, furniture repair, upholstery and similar small shop.
7.
Warehouse in conjunction with a permitted use or for products of manufacturing uses permitted in the Borough; frozen food locker.
8.
Laundry, dry-cleaning or clothes cleaning plant, provided that no inflammable liquids are utilized.
9.
Trade school.
10.
Printing or publishing establishment.
11.
The following uses, when authorized by the Zoning Hearing Board as a special exception, subject also to the general standards specified in § 27-1207:
A.
Outdoor place of amusement, recreation or assembly, provided that satisfactory provisions are made to prevent traffic congestion and hazard.
B.
Distributing, express, carting, or hauling station.
C.
Outdoor storage of ice, coal, building materials, highway materials or products of manufacturing uses permitted in the Borough (but not including junkyard, or dump or similar use) and commercial greenhouse, provided that the area used for such use is suitably screened from the surrounding area by a satisfactory fence, wall, planting or other barrier which is not less than six feet in height.
D.
Car lot or trailer sales agency, distributing, express, or hauling station, provided that satisfactory provisions are made to safeguard highways from undue congestion and hazard.
E.
Any use of the same general character as any of the above permitted uses, provided that special consideration shall be given to the suitability of the use in the proposed location.
12.
Accessory use on the same lot with and customarily incidental to any of the above permitted uses, and signs when erected and maintained in accordance with Part 10 of this chapter.
§ 27-701 Area, Height and Special Design Regulations.
[Ord. 264, 7/23/1962, § 702]
Every building hereafter erected or used in whole or in part as a dwelling shall comply with the area and height regulations prescribed for R-1 Residence Districts in §§ 27-401 and 27-403 hereof. For commercial and other buildings no part of which is used as a dwelling, the following area and height regulations shall apply:
1.
Lot Width. Each use shall have a lot width of not less than 50 feet.
2.
Building Area. Not more than 65% of the area of each lot may be occupied by buildings.
3.
Yards. Front, side and rear yards shall be provided on each lot as follows:
A.
Front Yard. One yard, not less than 35 feet in depth, measured from the street line, subject to the provisions of § 27-912.
B.
Side Yards. Two, neither less than 15 feet in width, except that A) in the case of a corner lot, any side yard which abuts a street shall have a width of not less than the required depth for the front yard of a building fronting on such street and adjoining the corner lot, subject to the provisions of § 27-901; and B) where a side yard abuts a residence district or similar district in an adjoining municipality, such side yard shall be not less than 30 feet in width. This requirement shall not prevent the erection of a series or row of attached buildings exclusively for commercial use on one or several adjoining deed lots, provided the group of attached buildings as a single unit meets side yard requirements.
C.
Rear Yard. There shall be a rear yard on each lot which shall be not less than 25 feet in depth.
4.
Height Regulations. No building shall exceed 35 in height.
5.
Special Design Requirements.
A.
In order to minimize traffic congestion and hazard and to encourage the appropriate development of highway frontage:
(1)
No parking lot or area for off-street parking or for the storage or movement of motor vehicles shall abut directly a street or highway and each such area shall be separated from the street or highway by a raised curb, planting strip, wall or other suitable barrier against unchanneled motor vehicle entrance or exit, except for necessary accessways.
(2)
Each separate use or group of buildings constructed as part of an integrated plan shall have not more than two accessways to any one street or highway, and, where practicable, access to parking areas shall be provided by a common service driveway or minor street in order to avoid direct access on a major street or highway. No such accessway shall be more than 24 feet in width.
B.
No operation, equipment or use shall be objectionable or noxious, offensive or hazardous as defined in § 27-908.
