Raccoon Township City Zoning Code
ARTICLE VIII
R-2 General Residential District
§ 185-20 Statement of purpose and use summary.
[Amended 11-14-2017 by Ord. No. 2017-5]
The R-2 General Residential District is established to provide for a mix of single and multifamily residential dwelling units, together with compatible nonresidential activities in areas of the municipality that are appropriate for blending of land uses commensurate with existing development patterns and intercommunity access facilities.
Use Permitted by Right |
|---|
Duplex housing |
Municipal uses |
Single-family residential |
Conditional Use |
|---|
Adult daily living center |
Adult daily living home facility |
Bed-and-breakfast/tourist homes |
Funeral homes |
Home occupation |
Institutional facility |
Multifamily housing |
Offices - business and professional |
Specialized animal raising |
Special Exception |
|---|
Churches, educational facility |
Conversion apartments |
Day care - center |
Day care - family |
Group residential facility |
Accessory Use |
|---|
Garden sheds - shelters |
Home garden, including temporary roadside sales |
Private garages |
Private swimming pools |
Other uses customary to principal use |
§ 185-21 Conditional use provisions.
The following conditional uses may be authorized by the Township Supervisors pursuant to the standards and criteria specified herewith:
A.
Bed-and-breakfast/tourist home.
(1)
All rooms and related facilities provided for transient guests shall be normal integral components of the principal dwelling unit. The owner of the facility must reside therein.
(2)
No facilities, such as cooking accommodations or similar amenities, other than those provided for the normal use of the principal dwelling unit, shall be provided for transient guests.
(3)
No more than three guest sleeping rooms shall be available or utilized concurrently for transient guests in any facility.
(4)
The size of each individual guest sleeping room utilized for transient guests shall be a minimum of 100 square feet.
(5)
Maximum occupancy shall not exceed eight guests.
(6)
Service of meals shall be limited to overnight transient guests.
(7)
Off-street parking spaces, as specified in Article XII of this chapter, shall be provided to the rear of the front building line and shall not be sited within any required front yard setback areas.
(9)
Only normal residential yard and structure lighting appropriate for residential purposes shall be permitted.
(10)
As part of the conditional use application process, the Chief of the Township Fire Department, or the designated agent thereof, shall inspect the premises to evaluate access and structural layout. No certificate of occupancy shall be issued prior to an inspection by such authority. The owner shall make the premises available for reinspection by Township authorities at any reasonable time.
(11)
Only members of the family in residence at the premises shall be engaged in the conduct of the bed-and-breakfast establishment.
(12)
Overnight guests shall not occupy the facility for more than three consecutive nights in a thirty-day period.
B.
Multifamily housing, to include apartments, garden apartments or row houses. (Townhouses)
(1)
Minimum lot size for a multifamily dwelling in an R-2 District shall meet the following minimum standards:
(a)
With public or PA-DEP approved private central sewage disposal system: 32,000 square feet for first dwelling unit, 15,000 square feet for second dwelling unit, and 10,000 square feet for each additional dwelling unit.
(b)
With on-lot sewage disposal: Two acres for first dwelling unit and 1.5 acres for each additional dwelling unit.
(c)
All lots shall have a minimum width at the building line of 150 feet. The building line shall be a minimum of 35 feet from the street right-of-way.
(2)
The following design standards shall apply:
(a)
No row house (townhouse) shall exceed three stories in height.
(b)
No row house (townhouse) structure shall contain more than four dwelling units.
(c)
No row house (townhouse) structure shall be more than 120 feet in length.
(d)
No apartment structure shall exceed three stories in height.
(e)
At least 3 1/2 off-street parking spaces shall be provided for each dwelling unit and such space shall be within 150 feet of any commonly used entranceway for such dwelling units.
(f)
Buildings shall be so designed as to avoid monotonous patterns of construction, or repetitive spaces of modules between buildings.
(g)
No structure shall be erected within 25 feet of another structure.
(3)
Municipal sewage facilities shall be utilized where available. The developer shall provide an approved (PA-DEP) sanitary sewage disposal system of sufficient size and design to adequately serve the maximum designed capacity of the proposed residential units in the development in the absence of an approved municipal sewage system.
(4)
Municipal water shall be utilized where available. An approved (PA-DEP) water system shall be provided to serve the maximum designed capacity of the proposed residential units in the absence of public water supply.
(5)
All multifamily dwelling unit development shall be subject to preliminary site plan review and approval in accordance with the following application requirements. Overall development plans showing:
(a)
Kind, location, occupancy capacity of structures and uses;
(b)
General floor plan of building;
(c)
Location and identification of open space, streets and all other means for pedestrian and vehicular circulation, parks, recreational areas and other non-building sites;
(d)
Provisions for automobile parking and loading;
(e)
General landscape plan;
(f)
General location and nature of public and private utilities and community facilities and services;
(g)
Plan for collection and drainage of storm water.
C.
Institutional facility.
(1)
The application shall include and be supported by documents, maps, plans and other materials that contain the following information and such other related data as may be specified by the Township Planning Commission and/or Supervisors:
(a)
Name and address of the owner and/or applicant and a statement that the applicant, if not the owner, has the permission of the owner to make application and act as agent for the owner.
(b)
Legal description, street address, and other identifying data concerning the site.
(c)
A description of the precise nature of the proposed use and its operating characteristics, and measures proposed to make the use compatible with other properties in the vicinity. This data shall include a complete description of proposed supervision procedures and policies.
(d)
A dossier on the organization and all principals involved in any manner with the control, establishment and operation of the facility for which the application is being made, including organizational structure, financial status, experience, qualifications, references and any pertinent documentation deemed necessary by Township Officials to evaluate the application.
(e)
A site plan showing proposed development of the site, including topography, building locations, parking, traffic circulation, usable open space, landscaped area, and utilities and drainage features.
(f)
Preliminary building plans and elevations sufficient to indicate the dimensions, general appearance, scale, and interior plan of all buildings.
(g)
Such additional material as may be prescribed or that the applicant may submit pertinent to the application and to the findings prerequisite to the issuance of a conditional use permit.
(2)
All uses in conjunction with a conditional use permit issued by the Township Supervisors pursuant to this section shall comply with the following:
(a)
Compliance with any and all local, state, county and federal laws and regulations relating to the approval, development and operation of the facility.
(b)
The correction within the time specified of any violation by the facility owner or operator of any local, county, state or federal law, regulation, rule or enforcement order or any condition to any permit, license, or authorization of authority issued in connection with the facility.
(3)
The applicant shall obtain, as required, from each appropriate local, county, state and federal regulatory agency or authority, a permit issued in accordance with all applicable regulations for the proposed use. In the event any required permits have not been issued at the time Township zoning approval is requested, the zoning approval shall be expressly conditioned on the grant of necessary permits. At the time of making application to such local, county, federal or state authorities, the applicant shall file with the Township Secretary, a copy of each state or federal application with supporting documentation for the proposed use.
(4)
All facilities shall be served by public water facilities as provided by the Municipal Water Authority of Aliquippa consistent with all rules and regulations thereof.
(5)
In the absence of public sanitary sewerage facilities, a central private sewage disposal processing plant shall be established to serve all planned site requirements. Plans for said facility shall be approved by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection prior to conditional use approval under the terms of this chapter.
D.
Funeral home.
(1)
Parking and cortege formation in conjunction with funeral home operations shall be accommodated on site.
(2)
Ingress and egress of traffic shall be coordinated with local traffic movements and volumes in a manner that will preclude safety hazards.
(3)
Advertisement and location signing shall be limited to one sign not exceeding 12 square feet in area.
(4)
On-site activity shall be screened from abutting properties with aesthetically acceptable fencing or dense evergreen plant materials providing a continuous opaque visual barrier.
E.
Office, business and professional.
(1)
Uses shall be limited to the following purposes and activities:
(2)
The following express standards and criteria shall be established and maintained as conditions requisite to the authorization and continuation of conditional uses:
(a)
All design, architectural features, materials, landscaping and associated treatments shall be developed and maintained compatible with adjacent residential uses in R-2 and adjacent R-1 Residential Districts.
(b)
Provisions for all vehicular ingress and egress in conjunction with the site shall be approved by Township officials.
(c)
On-site parking shall be provided for all anticipated residents, staff personnel, and patrons or visitors. The total estimated amount of parking area required shall be documented by the developer and subject to the recommendation of the Planning Commission.
(d)
Sign and lighting requirements applicable to the R-2 District shall apply to all conditional uses in this district.
(e)
All state and municipal code requirements shall be met consistent with the primary use of the site and associated structures.
G.
Specialized animal raising, subject to the standards and criteria of Article VI, § 185-136E, of this chapter, except that the requirement of Subsection (5) of that section shall require a minimum distance of 100 feet from property lines in the R-2 General Residential District.
§ 185-22 Special exception provisions.
The following special exceptions may be authorized by the Zoning Hearing Board, pursuant to the standards and criteria specified herewith:
A.
Group residential facility.
(1)
The services shall be provided in a family environment as opposed to an institutional structure or setting.
(2)
The group residential facility shall not include business or professional offices (other than incidental offices), business activities, fraternal or social clubs, hospitals, clinics or other such activities.
(3)
The number of residents in any single group residential facility shall be limited to no more than 10 persons, including client residents, staff and family of staff. Clients shall be limited to no more than eight ambulatory persons.
(4)
Supervision shall be provided by responsible and appropriately qualified adults on duty, on the premises on a twenty-four-hour-a-day basis. A minimum of one such adult shall be in residence at the facility and on duty at all times.
(5)
Lot, yard, and all other dimensional requirements of the zoning district in which the facility is located shall be met. Each lot shall include a minimum of 1,600 square feet of exterior open space which is maintained and suitable for passive and/or active recreational use.
(6)
In addition to normal residential parking requirements, parking facilities shall be provided at the rate of one off-street space for every two resident clients.
(7)
A group residential facility shall be located not less than 1,200 lineal feet from any other group residential facility.
(8)
A group residential facility shall comply with the then current editions of the BOCA National Fire Prevention Code and the BOCA National Building Code and with the Pennsylvania Fire and Panic Act and regulations promulgated pursuant to that Act.
(9)
Sanitary facilities, consisting of a sink, water closet, and tub or shower shall be provided at a ratio of one each for every four inhabitants of the facility.
(10)
A dining area shall be provided which is of sufficient size to accommodate all clients and residents at a single seating.
(11)
A minimum of 72 square feet of contiguous sleeping and personal area shall be provided for each client. Said area, for purposes of this requirement, shall be computed exclusive of common use areas such as circulation areas, storage areas, dining areas, kitchen and food preparation areas, game rooms and related recreation or instruction areas and other common use spaces.
(12)
A license or certification shall be obtained from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Labor and Industry, Department of Public Welfare and any other state or county agency having jurisdiction, prior to the issuance of a certificate of occupancy. In the event that an appropriate licensing or certifying agency does not exist, the applicant shall demonstrate to the Township Supervisors that the proposal for establishing such a facility satisfies a demonstrated need and will be conducted in a responsible manner without detriment to surrounding properties.
(13)
The sponsor shall file annually with the Township Secretary and the Zoning Officer, information certifying that the facility continues to adequately meet the conditions of the original approval. Changes of sponsorship or of any conditions of original approval shall constitute a new use and the full conditional use procedure for obtaining a new use shall be exercised.
(14)
In considering a request for establishment of a group residential facility under the provisions for conditional uses in the Township, The Planning Commission may recommend, and the Township Supervisors may attach, any reasonable conditions and safeguards beyond those expressed in this chapter and other applicable codes duly enacted.
(15)
Documentation shall be submitted which certifies approval of sewage disposal provisions by the Sewage Enforcement Officer, and certification shall be provided from competent sources that adequate water supply is available.