Richland Township Allegheny County
City Zoning Code

To promote the public health, safety, morals and general welfare.

To encourage practical and coordinated community development.

To establish proper density of population in the various districts and provide adequate light, air and amenity.

To facilitate the economical provision of adequate public highways and streets, vehicle parking and loading, public transportation, water supply, sewage disposal, public and private schools, parks and open spaces and other public requirements, such as public utilities and rights-of-way.

To prevent the overcrowding or improper or incompatible development or use of land and to prevent blighting conditions and congestion or hazard in travel and transportation.

To secure safety of health, life and lot from fire, flood, panic, noise, noxious fumes, explosion and other dangers.

To conserve and stabilize lot values through encouragement of the most appropriate uses of land in relation to one another.

To preserve forests, floodplains, steep hillsides, recreation and agricultural lands from conflict with intense development and from erosion and to manage the release of stormwater to minimize downstream flooding.

To facilitate generally orderly and compatible growth and expansion of the Township and public programming of improvements.

In the event of conflicts between the provisions of this chapter and any other ordinance or regulation, the more-restrictive provisions shall apply.

In interpreting and applying this chapter, its provisions shall be considered minimum requirements adopted for the promotion of the health, safety and general welfare of the public.

In interpreting the language of this chapter to determine the extent of the restriction upon the use of property, the language shall be interpreted, where doubt exists as to the intended meaning of the language written and enacted by Richland Township, in favor of the landowner and/or developer and against any implied extension of the restriction.

Where any provision of this chapter incorporates by reference the provisions of other chapters (or articles or sections thereof) of the Richland Township Code, such referred-to and incorporated-by-reference provisions shall be, for the purposes of this chapter, deemed to be fully applicable to the activities and usages regulated by this chapter in the same manner and to the same degree as if said referred-to and incorporated provisions of such other chapters (or articles or sections thereof) were set forth at length herein in their entirety.