Upper Pottsgrove Township
City Zoning Code

Encourage retail and office uses in a location which forms a logical extension of the Upland Square Shopping Center.

Generate economic benefits for the Township.

Encourage attractive design.

Mitigate impact of development on adjacent residential districts.

By-right uses.

Special exception uses.

Criteria for special exception uses.

Accessory uses. Accessory uses are to be permitted when located on the same lot with and customarily incidental to any of the aforementioned permitted uses.

Prohibited uses.

Where the Board of Commissioners has approved development plans in the Route 100 Commercial Overlay District for a tract, individual units, buildings, or parcels of land within the approved development may be subdivided, leased, purchased, sold, mortgaged, and developed as individual zero lot line unites with zero lot line setbacks from internal parking and building lines. access to individual lots so created shall be taken only from within the development.

Table.

Parking areas. Sections 310-20C(5), (8) and (12) shall not apply to the Overlay District.

Access. Access to nonresidential uses in the Route 100 Commercial Overlay District must include access from Upland Square Drive.

Where a proposed land development abuts a residential use, a property line buffer shall be required:

Refuse and recycling collection receptacles and area shall be screened from view of any adjacent property with one of the following:

In the Overlay District, the maximum height of any freestanding sign shall be 35 feet.

The provisions of § 350-137F(1), (2), (3)(c), (3)(e), (3)(f), (4)(e), (4)(f), and (8) shall not apply to EMCs in the Overlay District.

Only one side shall be considered when determining the sign area, provided that the faces are equal in size, the interior angle formed by the faces is less than 45°, and the two faces are not more than 36 inches apart. Where the faces are not equal in size, but the interior angle formed by the faces is less than 45° and the two faces are not more than 36 inches apart, the larger sign face shall be used as the basis for calculating sign area.

In the Overlay District, each freestanding sign, including signs that feature more than one tenant, shall have a maximum area of 350 square feet.

Additional general EMC regulations:

All EMC display features and functions are permitted, with the exception of (a) flashing, which is prohibited, and (b) full motion video or film display via an electronic file imported into the EMC software or streamed in real time into the EMC. Full-motion video as described shall be permitted by special exception only.

A sign may be illuminated at night. Signs that are illuminated at night may not exceed a maximum luminance level of 750 cd/m² or Nits.

Signs that have external illumination, whether the lighting is mounted above or below the sign face or panel, shall have lighting fixtures or luminaires that are fully shielded.

All illuminated signs must comply with the maximum luminance level of 750 cd/m² or Nits at least 1/2 hour before apparent sunset, as determined by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), US Department of Commerce, for the specific geographic location and date. All illuminated signs must comply with this maximum luminance level throughout the night, if the sign is energized, until apparent sunrise, as determined by the NOAA, at which time the sign may resume luminance levels appropriate for daylight conditions, when required or appropriate.

On-premise signs do not constitute a form of outdoor lighting at night, and are exempt from any other outdoor lighting regulations that the Board of Supervisors has adopted, or will adopt in the future.

Each wall sign shall have a maximum area of 20% of the exterior wall area of the wall to which the sign is attached (including window and door area and cornices).

The total area of all wall, awning/canopy, and projecting signs shall be limited to 1.5 square feet per one linear foot of building frontage that faces a public street or public parking lot, subject to maximum size limitations based on sign type.

Rooftop HVAC and other mechanical equipment shall be hidden from view by the roof line or parapet.

Sidewalks and crosswalks:

Principal buildings shall have clearly defined, highly visible customer entrances with defining features such as canopies, porticoes, arches, landscaped areas, or areas for sitting.

Facades may be longer than 200 feet if they utilize significant plane changes or changes in materials. Plane changes must consist of angle changes of 45 to 90 degrees at least three feet in depth, running the vertical extent of the facade.

Lighting facilities shall not produce unreasonable amounts of light, nor any glare or hazardous interference on abutting properties or highways. Any light fixture higher than three feet above grade shall be shielded to direct light downward.

Fixtures meeting IESNA full-cutoff criteria shall not be mounted in excess of 30 feet above finished grade. Fixtures not meeting IESNA full-cutoff criteria shall not be mounted in excess of 16 feet above finished grade.

Lighting spillover onto residential lots shall not exceed 0.2 footcandles; lighting spillover onto nonresidential streets and rights-of-way shall not exceed 0.4 footcandles.

Light fixtures shall not be located within parking lots unless they are installed within a raised barrier island, a minimum of five feet wide. Poles supporting lighting fixtures and located directly behind parking spaces, or where they could be hit by snow plows, shall be placed a minimum of five feet outside paved areas or tire stops, or placed on concrete pedestals at least 30 inches high above the pavement, or suitably protected by other Township-approved means. Pole-mounted fixtures for the illumination of horizontal surfaces shall be shielded to direct light straight downward.

Lighting of nonhorizontal surfaces. For the lighting of predominantly nonhorizontal surfaces such as, but not limited to, facades, landscaping, signs, billboards, fountains, displays and statuary, fixtures shall be fully shielded and shall be installed and aimed so as to not project their output into the windows of neighboring residences, adjacent uses, past the object being illuminated, skyward or onto a public roadway. Fixtures with lighting levels below the threshold in the table below are exempt from the requirements of this paragraph.

Glare onto abutting properties shall be controlled primarily through the selection and application of lighting equipment. Only after these means have been exhausted shall vegetation, fences and similar screening methods be considered acceptable for reducing glare.

No lighting facility shall have any blinking, flashing, or other illuminating device which has a changing intensity, brightness or color, nor is any beacon light permitted, except those required for fire alarm and/or emergency systems.

No lighting facilities shall be located within required yard setback areas, except on parking lots, when permitted within required yard setbacks, and pedestrian walkways.

Illumination of all nonresidential parking areas and along all pedestrian walkways shall provide a minimum of 0.2 footcandles.

Parking facility and vehicular and pedestrian way lighting (except for safety and security applications and all-night business operations), for commercial, industrial and institutional uses shall be automatically extinguished no later than one hour after the close of business or facility operation. When safety or security lighting is proposed for after-hours illumination, it shall not be in excess of 33% of the number of fixtures required or permitted for illumination during regular business hours, or in an amount judged necessary by the Township engineer.

Shielding requirements. A fully shielded fixture, where all light emitted is projected below a horizontal plane running through the lowest part of the fixture (equivalent to a total cutoff angle of less than 90 degrees), is required based on the lighting facility's lamp type consistent with the following:

Light emitting diodes (LEDs) are permitted as a lighting source on all lighting facilities.

No person shall cause, suffer, allow, or permit the operation of any sound source on a commercial property or public space or right-of-way in such a manner as to create a sound level that becomes a nuisance.

No delivery, loading, trash removal or compaction or other such operations shall be permitted between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m., unless the applicant proves to the satisfaction of the Board of Commissioners that berms, vegetative or other buffering, setbacks, etc. are sufficient.

At no point on the boundary with the R-2 Residential District shall the sound pressure level of any operation exceed the described levels in the designated octave bands shown below for the districts indicated: