Port Vue City Zoning Code
ARTICLE III
Use District Classifications and Regulations
§ 310-6 General classification.
[Amended 11-9-1993 by Ord. No. 446]
A.
In order to regulate, designate, control and restrict the location, occupancy and use of land, buildings or structures for trade, industry and other purposes and the location, use and occupancy of all buildings or other structures designed, erected, altered, reconstructed or occupied for specified uses, the Borough of Port Vue is hereby divided into four use districts, which shall be known as:
B.
The location and boundaries of said use districts are hereby established as shown on the Zoning District Map bearing the number and date of this chapter, the signature of the Borough Engineer and the Secretary of Council, bearing the Borough Seal, which Zoning District Map is hereby declared to be a part thereof.[1] The boundaries of districts shall be shown by heavy solid lines on the Zoning District Map. A district boundary shown within a street or way shall be construed to be in the center thereof and shall remain a boundary if the street or way is vacated, unless the boundary is changed by an amending ordinance. Where a district boundary is not within a street or way and its location is not precisely indicated by dimensioned distances from known lines, and where the designation on the Zoning District Map indicates such district boundary to be upon or approximately upon the boundary line of a recorded lot or separate parcel of land, then the district boundary shall be construed to be demarcated on said established line of the recorded plot or parcel of land. Absent any of the foregoing criteria, the district boundary shall be determined by use of the scale and legend established in the Zoning District Map:
(1)
Upon or approximately upon the boundary line of a recorded lot or separate parcel of land, the district boundary shall be construed to be said line of recorded lot or parcel of land;
[1]
Editor's Note: The Zoning District Map is included as an attachment to this chapter.
C.
Except as herein otherwise provided, no building, structure or land shall hereafter be erected, reconstructed, altered, used or occupied for any purpose other than is herein permitted in the use district in which said building, structure or land is located.
D.
In case of mixed occupancy, regulations for each use shall apply to the portion of the buildings or structure, or land, so used.
§ 310-7 Commercial District.
[Amended 1-19-1982 by Ord. No. 341; 11-9-1993 by Ord. No. 446]
In the Commercial District, there shall be applied the regulations prescribed in this section and the qualifying regulations prescribed in other parts and supplementary regulations.
A.
Use. In this district, land and structures may be used and structures may be erected, altered or enlarged, for only the use listed in this section, provided that:
(1)
All merchandise and products shall be sold only at retail, unless otherwise stated hereunder.
(2)
There may be manufacture, compounding, processing or treatment of products which is clearly incidental and essential to a retail store or business only when the major portion of such products is to be sold at retail on the premises.
(3)
Such uses, operations or products are not noxious or offensive by reason of the emission of odor, dust, smoke, gas, vibration, noise or other similar causes.
B.
Permitted use:
(1)
Amusement enterprises including a bowling alley, dance hall, boxing arena, and the like, provided that, if within 300 feet of property is a residence district, same shall be conducted wholly within a completely enclosed building.
(2)
Art or antique shop.
(3)
Auditorium.
(4)
Automobile and trailer sales service and supply business, excluding recapping or like vulcanizing processes, provided that any sales area is located and developed as required in supplementary regulations hereinafter appearing.
(5)
Bake shop.
(6)
Barber shop.
(7)
Baths, Turkish and the like.
(8)
Beauty shop.
(9)
Beverages, retail or wholesale distribution of.
(10)
Bicycles rental or repair.
(11)
Blueprinting, photostating and the like.
(12)
Business colleges or private school operated as a commercial enterprise.
(13)
Catering service.
(14)
Cleaning of only wearing apparel, using nonexplosive and nonflammable cleaning fluid.
(15)
Clinic or laboratory, medical or dental.
(16)
Clothes pressing and repair.
(17)
Club.
(18)
Custom dressmaking, millinery and tailoring.
(19)
Day nursery.
(20)
Department store.
(21)
Drive-in business (other than drive-in theater) where persons are served in automobiles, such as refreshment stands, restaurants, food stores, and the like.
(22)
Feed store.
(23)
Film exchange.
(24)
Financial institution.
(25)
Frozen food storage, excluding wholesale storage.
(26)
Funeral home or mortuary.
(27)
Furniture and furnishings, sale of.
(28)
Gasoline service stations.
(29)
Hotel.
(30)
Interior decorating business.
(31)
Laundry agency or cleaning agency, hand-laundry and laundry operated by customers, such as "launderette," "laundromat" and the like.
(32)
Library.
(33)
Museum.
(34)
Music conservatory or studio.
(35)
News and magazine sales.
(36)
Nursery (flower or plant), provided that all incidental equipment and supplies, including fertilizer and supply cans, are kept within a building.
(37)
Office appliance and supply business.
(38)
Office, professional or business.
(39)
Outpatient clinic, independently operated.
(40)
Park, public or nonprofit.
(41)
Photographer's studio, photo supplies.
(42)
Plumbing, heating and electrical business (not involving sheet metal work) if conducted completely within an enclosed building.
(43)
Printing, minor or job.
(44)
Public utility structures, facilities and installations for electricity, gas, oil, steam, telegraph, telephone (including telephone exchange building), and water; provided, that these uses:
(45)
Radio or television broadcasting station, not including broadcasting towers and antennas.
(46)
Repairs. Electrical, or other household appliances, radios and the like, shoes or timepieces.
(47)
Restaurant.
(48)
Schools. Trade schools, and the like, excluding public and parochial schools, and like non-taxpaying institutions.
(49)
Shops or stores for the sale of books, beverages, confections, drugs, dry goods, flowers, foodstuffs, gifts, hardware, household appliances, jewelry, notions, periodicals, radios and the like, stationery, sundry small household articles, tobacco or wearing apparel.
(50)
Sign painting, if conducted wholly within a completely enclosed building.
(51)
Studio, artist's.
(52)
Theater or cinema, excluding drive-in theater.
(53)
Upholstering and minor repair of furniture, and home or office furnishings, if business is conducted wholly within a completely enclosed building.
(54)
Signs. As prescribed in supplementary regulations. Billboards are specifically excluded herewith and prohibited in a commercial area.
(55)
Detached dwelling for one or two families.
(56)
Duplex or double houses.
(57)
Multiple dwelling or apartment dwelling.
(58)
Mixed occupancy (residential and commercial use).
C.
Such other uses which may be noxious or offensive by reason of emission of odor, dust, smoke, gas, vibration or noise, or which may be inconsistent with the primary use of property in this Borough as an industrial and residential community, are hereby prohibited and specifically excluded in the Commercial District.
§ 310-8 "A" Residence District.
[Amended 5-9-1969 by Ord. No. 1969-1; 11-9-1993 by Ord. No. 446; 9-6-2005 by Ord. No. 538; 9-3-2025 by Ord. No. 2025-670]
Within any "A" Residence District, no building, structure or premises shall be used or arranged or designed to be used, except for one or more of the following uses:
A.
Permitted uses:
(1)
A detached dwelling exclusively for one family or a single housekeeping unit of not more than three persons.
(2)
Churches and other places of worship.
(3)
Recreation buildings, playgrounds and parks, private and/or public swimming pools.
(4)
Accessory uses customarily incident to any of the above permitted uses.
(5)
Extended-care facility. (The definition of "extended-care facility" shall be the same as used by the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare and the United States Department of Health and Human Services.)
(6)
Group home.
B.
Trailer parks, and/or trailers, with or without wheels, are hereby prohibited and specifically excluded in the "A" Residence District, and junkyards as defined in § 310-10, Industrial District, are also excluded.
C.
Conditional uses.
(1)
Accessory use or structure that is the only use or structure on the property and is not subordinate to another permitted main use of the land, provided that the accessory use or structure is consistent with subordinate accessory uses and the characteristics of the primary uses permitted in each zone.
§ 310-9 "B" Residence District.
[Amended 11-9-1993 by Ord. No. 446; 9-3-2025 by Ord. No. 2025-670]
Within any "B" Residence District, no building, structure or premises shall be used, arranged or designed to be used, except for one or more of the following uses:
A.
Permitted uses:
(1)
A detached dwelling for only one family or for one housekeeping unit.
(2)
Two-family dwelling.
(3)
Accessory uses customarily incidental to any of the above permitted uses.
(4)
Multiple dwelling or apartment dwelling.
(5)
The taking of boarders or the leasing of rooms by a resident family, provided the total number of boarders and roomers does not exceed two in a one-family dwelling or four in any two-family dwelling.
(6)
Clubs, lodges, social and community center buildings, except those in which a chief activity is a gainful service or activity usually conducted as a business.
(7)
Institutions of an educational or religious character, other than correctional institutions.
(8)
Home office of a doctor of medicine, osteopathy, chiropody, chiropractic or minister of religion:
(a)
Such office shall be located in the dwelling unit which is the home of the practitioner.
(b)
No assistants shall be employed and no colleagues or associates shall share such offices.
(c)
Except for a minister of religion, such office shall not be used for general professional practice, but only for emergency consultation and treatment as an adjunct to a principal office elsewhere.
(d)
No sign shall be used other than a nameplate.
(10)
Telephone exchange building: Such building shall only be permitted in a "B" Residence District upon special application to the Board which shall regulate the size, location, type of structure and other reasonable regulations with the purpose of insuring that such proposed structure shall be in harmony, in all respects, with other structures in the vicinity of the proposed location thereof.
B.
Trailer parks and/or trailers, with or without wheels, are hereby prohibited and specifically excluded in the "B" Residence District; also excluded are junkyards, as defined in § 310-10, Industrial District.
C.
Conditional uses.
(1)
Accessory use or structure that is the only use or structure on the property and is not subordinate to another permitted main use of the land, provided that the accessory use or structure is consistent with subordinate accessory uses and the characteristics of the primary uses permitted in each zone.
§ 310-10 Industrial District.
[Amended 11-12-1971 by Ord. No. 280; 11-9-1983 by Ord. No. 446]
A.
Intent. This district is designed to accommodate and promote wholesale activities, warehousing and industrial operations dependent on existing land uses, physical conditions and the availability of nearby municipal utilities and transport facilities. The district accommodates industrial activities in these areas so as to minimize any detrimental effects that they might have on other uses in the Borough and at the same time provide an industrial zone free from the encroachment of other activities.
B.
Permitted uses. Any use not otherwise prohibited by law of a manufacturing, fabricating, processing, packaging, compounding or treatment nature which, in the opinion of the Zoning Officer, would be nonobjectionable in terms of smoke or dust emission, odors, noise or glare[1] and will not otherwise be injurious to the public health, safety and welfare and will not have an adverse effect on adjacent areas. Should the Zoning Officer feel there is any likelihood of the aforementioned dangers or nuisances, the applicant must prove to the contrary to the Zoning Hearing Board before a permit is issued. In such a case, the Borough Planning Commission shall be notified of the hearing in order to provide the Zoning Hearing Board with a recommendation.
(1)
Warehousing and wholesale establishments and storage yards, not including junkyards.
(2)
Railroad, trucking, busing and other transit facilities, including storage, repair and transfer operations.
(3)
Residential uses.
[1]
Editor's Note: Ord. No. 446 read "glass."