Norristown City Zoning Code
ARTICLE XIX
GRO Gateway Redevelopment Overlay District
§ 320-190 Applicability.
The Gateway Redevelopment Overlay (GRO) District shall apply to a mapped area located within the established redevelopment area boundary, as created by the Montgomery County Redevelopment Authority within the Municipal boundary of Morristown Municipality, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, as of the date of the adoption of this article, and the following regulations shall apply in addition to those of the underlying zones.
§ 320-191 Legislative intent.
The purpose of the Gateway Redevelopment Overlay District is to encourage and permit uses that are compatible and complementary with the historic character of the community and its downtown, to assist in its revitalization, and which are in accordance with the goals and objectives of the redevelopment plan, the Norristown economic redevelopment strategy and other applicable policies. Pedestrian-oriented uses and an urban character of design are permitted and encouraged, while automobile-related uses and design qualities that promote a suburban mall or strip commercial appearance are restricted. Also, uses that traditionally accompany and strengthen the commercial core are permitted, such as office, cultural, residential, educational, entertainment, recreational and related uses. Parking lots shall be separated and buffered from streets and sidewalks by low-lying walls and decorative fences, while new construction should utilize traditional building materials and accepted principles of urban design. Furthermore, all new construction shall preserve the existing streetscape by requiring that all new buildings be built at or close to the edge of the public sidewalk. It is also the intention of this district to provide year-round opportunities for outdoor recreation within for occupants, residents and the general public, to the riverfront as a public amenity both visually and physically, and to facilitate circulation for pedestrians to and throughout the district and along the riverfront.
§ 320-192 Use regulations.
A.
Permitted uses. A building may be erected, altered or used and a lot may be used or occupied for any of the following purposes and no other:
(1)
Retail establishments, including department stores for the sale of new dry goods, variety and general merchandise, books, magazines, clothing, food, medical supplies, drugs, pets, flowers and floral arrangements, furnishings or other household supplies and the sale and repair of jewelry, watches, clocks, optical goods or musical, professional or scientific instruments.
(2)
Business offices, professional offices, government offices and office buildings. Medical offices are only permitted on the second floor and above. Client-based social service providers are not permitted.
(3)
Banks, savings and loan associations and financial institutions, provided that no drive-in window service shall be permitted.
(4)
Telephone central offices and telegraph or other public utility offices.
(5)
Restaurants, tearooms, delicatessens, luncheonettes, coffee shops, retail bakers, confectionery or ice cream shops, bars, taverns or other places serving food or beverages, provided that no drive-through restaurants or similar uses disbursing food and beverages by means of a drive-in window shall be permitted, while outdoor dining shall be permitted as an accessory use.
(6)
Hotels.
(7)
Indoor theaters and performing arts centers.
(8)
Antique stores.
(9)
Studios for dance, music, photography or marital arts.
(10)
Private schools or colleges (such as a barber school or business or technical college).
(11)
Art galleries.
(12)
Accessory uses on the same lot with and customarily incidental to any principal use permitted by this section, including no-impact home-based businesses and surface parking lots.
B.
Special exceptions. The following uses and no others when authorized by the Zoning Hearing Board pursuant to Article XXI, Special Exceptions, and the criteria contained herein.
(1)
Mid-rise apartment houses provided all dwelling units are located on the second floor and above.
(2)
High-rise apartment houses provided all dwelling units are located on the second floor and above.
(3)
Residential mixed uses provided all dwelling units are located on the second floor and above.
(4)
Apartments provided that they are above a nonresidential use.
(5)
Houses of worship provided the house of worship is located on a lot 20,000 square feet or greater in size.
(6)
Public transit stations or terminals.
(7)
Any use listed in § 320-192A, which contains a gross floor area in excess of 10,000 square feet.
(8)
Parking garages as a principal use.
(10)
Tailors, barbers, beauty salons, shoe repair, dressmaking or similar shops.
(11)
Health spas.
(12)
Retail dry cleaning.
(13)
Job printing and photocopying.
(14)
Consignment shops.
(15)
Thrift stores.
§ 320-193 Dimensional criteria.
A.
All uses.
(1)
Lot area. No minimum lot area shall be required.
(2)
Lot width. Each lot shall have a width of at least 20 feet at the street line.
(3)
Building area. One hundred percent of the area of any lot under 5,000 square feet in area may be occupied by buildings. No more than 90% of the area of any lot 5,000 square feet or more in area may be covered by buildings.
(4)
Green space. A minimum green space area of 10% shall be provided on every lot; however, a parcel may contain 100% coverage provided that the ten-percent-minimum green space is transferred to another parcel within the district and added to that lot's minimum green space.
(5)
Yards. Any principal structure constructed, modified or remodeled in this district must have its front facade built to the edge of the public sidewalk or within 15 feet thereof unless that structure is utilizing an existing historic facade as part of a redevelopment project. Corner properties shall be considered as having two front facades. Rear and side facades are exempt from this requirement. Instead, they are encouraged to provide space for loading docks and dumpsters.
(6)
Base height. Except as otherwise provided in this section, the base maximum height of any building or structure erected or used in this district shall be 10 stories or 150 feet, whichever is less.
(7)
Floor area ratio. A maximum floor area ratio (FAR) of 4.50 shall be allowed, except as modified below.
(8)
Height bonus through FAR transfer. On lots where the maximum FAR is not utilized, such area may be transferred to other lots in the designated district. The maximum height limits may be increased to 15 stories or 225 feet, whichever is less, to accommodate the transfer, and to greater height for pinnacle buildings pursuant to § 320-117C.
(9)
FAR bonus. A bonus FAR of 0.5 shall be allowed in the following situations;
(a)
On lots where sound design practices are utilized which provide for two or more of the public amenities as set forth in § 320-197, and integration of an additional ten-percent public space is provided in the design.
(b)
On lots which utilize and preserve historic facades or structures as designated by the Municipality's official list of historic structures in a manner generally consistent with the Secretary of the Interior's guidelines for historic preservation.
(c)
On lots where retail or similar business uses are provided along at least 75% of the street level frontage of a parking garage.
§ 320-194 General development regulations.
A.
Building bulk.
(1)
No principal building shall contain a maximum horizontal profile length of greater than 350 feet without parking garage structures, or greater than 500 feet with parking garage structures.
(2)
Parking garage structures and principal buildings may be attached, but where they would exceed the provisions of § 320-194A(1) the garage shall be separated from the principal building by a minimum horizontal distance of 30 feet, although the two may be connected via enclosed pedestrian passageways (no more than 20 feet wide or two stories high) above the ground floor level or a roofed but unenclosed passageway on the ground level.
(3)
The minimum distance between adjacent principal buildings shall be 50% of the height of the tallest of the adjacent buildings but shall not be required to exceed 75 feet.
B.
Riverfront access and open space.
(1)
Minimum area. A minimum of 10% of the land area in the aggregate of all lots within this district shall be provided and maintained as permanent open space. The open space shall be a key component integrated into the basic design of the built environment that implements the above purpose and not be left over pieces of land at the periphery of the developed area. This minimum area shall be measured from top or toe (as appropriate) of all slopes exceeding 15%, such that slopes along the roadways and riverbanks may not be included as part of the required open space, nor shall land normally under water of rivers or creeks, nor may landscape islands within parking lots be included as part of the required open space.
(2)
Riverfront building setback. A continuous riverfront open space area having a minimum depth of 100 feet that is free of buildings, structures, parking lots or garages, loading or storage areas, roadways, driveways or any other nonpedestrian or nonopen space type uses shall be permanently maintained, as measured from the top of bank (TOB) of the Schuylkill River with the following exceptions for private uses.
(3)
The following uses shall be permitted within the riverfront building setback area. The materials used, configuration, and design of such uses shall be consistent with the overall vision for the riverfront, as expressed by Municipal Council.
(a)
Up to 30% of the minimum riverfront setback area and up to 30% of the linear river frontage measured along the TOB may be utilized up to the river edge for private uses as designated in this section below, provided that such areas do not contain over 300 linear feet of contiguous development and provided these private use areas are separated from other such nodes by a minimum of 500 linear feet, and provided that an equivalent continuous open space area at least 60 feet wide (except as modified herein) is provided around such private use to allow for the free flow of movements and visual openness.
(b)
The required sixty-foot width of the continuous open space which loops around a riverfront private use area may be reduced to a minimum of 45 feet in width, provided that the three-hundred-foot maximum length of the private use area along the riverfront is reduced by five feet for every one foot of width reduction below 60 feet.
(c)
The following private uses may occupy land up to (and, where permitted by the authorities having jurisdiction, overlapping) the water's edge so as to restrict access by others to the water's edge:
(d)
The following private uses may occupy land close to the water's edge, but must provide a basically flat, all-weather pedestrian access corridor having a usable width of at least 15 feet between their private use area and the water's edge:
(e)
Every use abutting the required access corridor shall be designed to compliment the corridor and make it feel secure, comfortable, functionally stimulating and visually attractive to its users.
(f)
The remaining 70% of the area and riverbank length must remain as open space but may include outdoor recreational, cultural and open space uses such as skating rinks, plazas, boat launching facilities, promenades and similar uses for the enjoyment of the local population and businesses.
(4)
All public amenities shall be maintained to an acceptable standard as determined by the Code Enforcement Officer as per Municipal standards.
(5)
Public access. Provided that the landowner is immune from liability pursuant to the Recreational Use of Land and Water Act, 68 P.S. § 477-1 et seq.:
(a)
There shall be twenty-four-hour daily emergency (i.e., fire, ambulance and police) access to the full length of the Schuylkill River and the Stony Creek.
(b)
There shall be twenty-four-hour public access every day for walking, sitting, fishing and similar passive use recreational activities to all of the areas referred to in Subsections B and C of this section. Within the riverfront, area all developers shall construct a walkable hard surface trail at least 10 feet wide to be installed at or near the top of the riverbank as each property is developed.
C.
Landscaping. Landscaping requirements in the GRO District shall meet all provisions of the Municipality's Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance and the following:
(2)
Parking areas shall be separated from buildings, property lines (except where shared parking lots overlap a common property line), sidewalks and internal collector drives by a landscaped area at least five feet in width.
(3)
All surface parking lots shall have a shade tree, with a caliper of two inches to 2 1/2 inches, at the ends of each single row of cars with at least one tree for every 24 spaces.
(4)
All buildings shall be landscaped with a combination of evergreen and deciduous trees and shrubs to be used as foundation planting, i.e., plantings to be installed in proximity to the facades. Where foundation plantings are not possible or advisable, decorative architecture features such as permanent planters or window boxes may be used. All such features shall be designed to allow for healthy plant growth.
(5)
The above design criteria are intended to develop a standard whereby adequate landscaping is included in the development. The criteria are not intended to strictly direct the location of this landscaping.
(6)
A landscaping plan is required and shall be drawn at a scale of at least one inch equals 50 feet. It shall be totally coordinated with the overall site plan and shall contain the following:
(a)
A delineation of existing and proposed plant materials.
(b)
A delineation of other landscape features, including planting beds to be used for herbaceous plants, spaces to be devoted to courtyards and sitting areas, areas to be devoted to open lawns and other site amenities of the proposed development such as paving, site lighting, signs, kiosks, benches, street furniture, etc.
(c)
A plant list wherein the botanical and common name of proposed plants are tabulated, along with the quantity, caliper, height and other characteristics.
(d)
Details for the planting and staking of trees and the planting of shrubs and any other details which depict other related installations such as walls, fences, trash receptacles, tree grates, etc.
(e)
Information in the form of notes or specifications concerning the proposed design of the site development. Such information shall convey the proposals for paving, seeding, sodding, mulching and the like.
§ 320-195 Application and review of development proposals.
A.
Tentative sketch. For all proposed development a tentative sketch plan shall be submitted, as defined in Article III of the Municipal Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance, with the following information also to be shown:
(1)
A site plan showing the location of all present and proposed buildings, drives, roadways, proposed traffic patterns, parking lots and garages, pedestrian walkways and plazas and other constructed features on the lot, plus all designated open space and open space/recreational facilities and all water, floodway/floodplains and topographic features. Surrounding existing features may be indicated with aerial photographic information.
(2)
Architectural plans for any proposed buildings in adequate detail to indicate building setback, footprint dimensions, building heights and building mass.
(3)
Landscaping plan showing the general location of all landscaping areas and the mature height of all proposed vegetation, differentiating between trees and shrubs.
(4)
Architectural elevations or sections in adequate detail to indicate how proposed buildings will affect views to the river and across the river to the hills and ridges.
(5)
Any other pertinent data or evidence that the Design Review Board may require.
(6)
All tentative sketch plans, as described above, shall follow the procedure specified in Article III of the Municipal Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance, with the following revisions:
(a)
There shall be nine copies of each plan submitted.
(b)
One copy of the plan shall be submitted to the Design Review Board.
(c)
Application for review of the tentative sketch plans shall be placed in the agenda of the Design Review Board Meeting.
(d)
Municipal Council shall also review the recommendations of the Design Review Board in subsequent action on the tentative sketch plan. In all cases, Municipal Council shall have the final approval of all development.
(7)
All tentative sketch plans shall, in their layout and design, show the following:
(a)
An integrated and coordinated pedestrian circulation system linking the site with nearby uses and buildings, the riverfront, parks, transit facilities, other pedestrian traffic generators, the rest of the redevelopment area, and the remainder of the Municipality.
(b)
Access to the river, both physically and visually, from the surrounding area streets perpendicular to the river and other through streets.
(c)
All open spaces areas in the form of walkways, plazas, arcades, etc.
(d)
Architectural design.
(e)
Any unobstructed views across the Schuylkill River.
§ 320-196 Design.
A.
All development proposals shall be submitted to the Design Review Board with the following information:
(1)
Preliminary architectural elevations shall be submitted with any special exception application or land development application, whichever occurs first. Such elevations shall be prepared by a registered architect. Such elevation shall illustrate the general design, character and materials for sides of buildings visible from public streets, waterways and open space lands available for public use.
(2)
The details of the architectural designs may be modified after conditional use approval, provided the overall designs and types of materials conform with the approved plans.
(3)
The architectural designs of all buildings should provide a variety of rooflines and treatments when viewed from public streets, waterways and open space lands available for public use. Buildings shall not have the exterior appearance of large monolithic structures. Instead, large buildings shall have the appearance of connected smaller buildings. Building walls shall not have an unbroken single appearance for more than 100 feet on the average in horizontal length. Instead, variations in materials, colors, textures, overhangs, setbacks of at least 20 feet, display windows and/or entranceways shall be used to provide visual interest.
(4)
In no case shall the horizontal length of a building or other structure, building height, building separation or other bulk requirements exceed the provisions of this article.
(5)
The architectural design of a building's vertical height shall be broken with variations in materials, colors, textures, setbacks, fenestration and architectural detailing.
(6)
The sides of buildings visible from public streets, waterways and open space lands available for public use shall not have a dissonant architectural theme. All buildings within a single project should have a unified or complimentary architectural character.
(7)
Rooftop heating, ventilation and air-conditioning equipment shall be screened from view from adjacent buildings, public streets, waterways and open space lands available for public use in a manner that is consistent with the architectural design.
(8)
All buildings and roofs shall avoid garish or dissonant color schemes. However, companies will not be required to abandon their legally protected trademarks, logos, color schemes and trim colors, provided they are appropriately integrated into an aesthetically pleasing overall design.
(9)
A coordinated design scheme shall be presented that will promote attractive sign designs among tenants. A detailed design shall be presented for freestanding signs for the development during the subdivision/land development process.
(10)
Loading and unloading docks, dumpsters and exterior compactors shall be located, designed and screened in a manner that minimizes their visibility from adjacent public streets, waterways and open space lands available for public use and dwellings. No outdoor storage is permitted.
§ 320-197 Sound design public amenities far bonus provisions.
A.
In order to qualify for the FAR bonus provision under the sound design practices, two or more of the following public amenities shall be provided as part of a private development project as long as they are above and beyond what would otherwise be required by the minimum provisions the district or any other applicable Municipal regulations:
(1)
Public restrooms which are convenient and easily accessible to the users of the open space and recreational facilities provided by the development, provided the restrooms are available during all normal hours when the public would be using the open space and recreational facilities, including evenings and weekends.
(2)
A public boat launch area for the launching and removal of carry-in nonmotorized watercraft, including provisions for temporary short-term on-water and/or on-land mooring of said watercraft and convenient on-land parking and access to the launch site; the launch area design shall comply with all safe, normal and reasonable standards for such a facility.
(3)
A scenic overlook of the Schuylkill River (such as an urban plaza) that is open to public use, highlights views of the river and is designed specifically to encourage public gatherings.
(4)
Outdoor recreational facilities that are open to public use at all reasonable times, including evenings and weekends, including but not limited to ice skating rink, tennis court, basketball or similar sports court and similar uses.
(5)
Outdoor public fountain, garden, hedge maze, pavilion or similar amenity available for public use, including weather-protected kiosks for display for historical, cultural, educational or other resource information for public benefit.
(6)
Other similar facilities that provide a desirable benefit and amenity to the public, as determined by the Municipal Council.
§ 320-198 Off-street parking and loading.
A.
The off-street parking and loading regulations of Article XXVI, Off-Street Parking and Loading, shall not apply. Instead, the provisions of this section shall apply subject to the approval of Municipal Council.
(1)
A parking needs analysis study shall be provided by the applicant. It shall be based on the Institute of Traffic Engineers standards and be prepared by a professional traffic engineer licensed in the State of Pennsylvania. It must demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Municipal Council that the parking requirements for all proposed uses are adequately met, considering provisions for shared and off-peak uses, the needs of the proposed uses and programming for joint use facilities. For uses requiring 5,000 square feet or less that are proposed in existing buildings, the requirements for a parking study may be waived. To qualify for this, the applicant must demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Municipal staff that sufficient off-street parking arrangements are being provided.
(2)
Required parking may be provided in joint use parking structures.
(3)
Sufficient loading area complying with Municipal requirements shall be provided to serve nonresidential uses in order to prevent obstruction to local traffic and pedestrian patterns in the neighborhoods.
§ 320-199 Traffic impact study.
A traffic impact study prepared by a professional traffic engineer licensed in the state of Pennsylvania shall be provided with each development proposal, and it shall demonstrate conformity of the incremental improvements with the needed overall improvements as defined in the adopted Lafayette Street Corridor Study prepared by McMahon Associates, Inc., dated September 2000, any other traffic studies adopted subsequently by Municipal Council and the plans referenced in § 320-265.