Washington Township Franklin County
City Zoning Code
City Zoning Code
ARTICLE XXIII
H Historic District
§ 360-151 Purpose.
The purpose of an Historic District is to encourage the preservation of natural and historic amenities and to provide standards for historic, cultural, and educational uses of land in a manner that preserves its historic and cultural value, while also permitting limited commercial activities incidental to and furthering those historic and cultural activities without overwhelming their historic and cultural nature. While a property may be deemed historic for a wide variety of reasons, for purposes of interpreting this article, a greater emphasis should be placed on features and structures that are at least over 50 years old.
§ 360-152 Permitted uses.
A.
Single-family and two-family detached dwellings in historic residences.
B.
Churches or similar places of worship, including parish houses and parsonages.
C.
Gardens, parks, playgrounds, and recreation areas when open to the public.
D.
Historic or educational agriculture and agriculturally related operations. Agriculture or agriculturally related operations include the following:
(1)
Granaries, sawmills, gristmills, and similar agriculturally related activities.
(2)
Forest reserves, tree farming and crop farming, to include forage, sod, grain, and feed.
(3)
Vineyards, orchards, and nurseries.
(4)
Animal husbandry; beekeeping; milk processing; livestock production, including breeding of dairy and beef cattle, sheep, swine, horses, ponies, mules, goats, poultry, game birds, fowl, fur animals, and associated farm animals, excluding farm operations involving indoor confinement or concentrated animal or animal feed operations (CAO/CAFO).
(5)
Commercial production of fruits, vegetables, grains, flowers, plants and similar products.
(6)
The sale of the products produced by the activities in Subsection D(1) through (5) in buildings in which the retail area shall not exceed 1,000 square feet in floor area, and set back a minimum of 35 feet from any property line and 50 feet from any street right-of-way, with off-street parking provided.
E.
Museums, science centers, petting zoos, aquariums, libraries, archives, historical sites, art galleries and similar cultural and educational institutions serving the public.
F.
Federal, state, and local municipal buildings and uses, essential services and essential municipal services facilities.
G.
Greenhouses, when the total buildings are under 50,000 square feet.
H.
Stables, riding academies, and therapeutic horse centers.
I.
Public, private and parochial schools, and day-care centers for the educational needs of the community, provided all outside active play areas are screened from adjacent residential properties.
J.
Forestry activities, including, but not limited to, timber harvesting.
K.
Replicas, reconstructions, or reproductions of any previously existing historic building for another permitted use.
L.
Signs, when erected and maintained in accordance with the applicable provisions of Article V, Signs, of this chapter.
M.
Accessory buildings and uses on the same lot with and customarily incidental to any of the above permitted uses, including:
(1)
A single-family residence housing a permanent, on-site caretaker for the property.
(2)
Home occupations and no-impact home-based businesses, when properly conducted from a residence.
(3)
Gift shops and concession stands for visitors.
(4)
Offices for administrative personnel connected to other permitted uses and approved conditional uses.
(5)
Workshops for the restoration of historical objects and artifacts related to the historical site.
(6)
The farming, sublease, or tenant farming of land for commercial agriculture or agriculturally related operations, incidental and subordinate to the principal use of the property for historic or educational agriculture and agriculturally related operations.
§ 360-153 Conditional uses.
A.
Outdoor recreational facilities and organizations, such as playgrounds, fishing and hunting clubs, swimming clubs and golf clubs, tennis courts and similar activities, subject to the following conditions and whatever other conditions the Board of Supervisors deem appropriate:
(1)
That such use shall occupy a lot with an area of not less than five acres.
(2)
That all lighting which is necessary as incident to such use shall be shielded from adjacent properties.
(3)
Along all property lines adjacent to a residential use, a 100-foot-wide landscaped buffer strip shall be provided.
B.
Bed-and-breakfast operations.
C.
Cemeteries and related uses, provided no graves or structures shall be located within 50 feet of any property line of the cemetery.
D.
Spelunking sites and historic and educational mining operations.
E.
Historic theaters and playhouses.
F.
Radio and television transmission facilities, electric or telephone substations, natural and propane gas facilities.
G.
Neighborhood outdoor recreational facilities and organizations when not operated for gain or profit.
H.
Limited small businesses (excluding establishments primarily designed to provide drive-in or drive-through facilities) in historic buildings, subject to the following restrictions, in addition to any conditions imposed by the Supervisors:
(1)
The lot on which the small business is located must have been a lot of record on the date of enactment of this amendment and must be a lot of a minimum of one acre. Existing small businesses in this district are not subject to lot size requirements, but must register with the Township office within six months of being rezoned to this district. Failure to register within that time will require application for a conditional use for the small business.
(2)
All small businesses shall be secondary to the primary use of the lot and shall be owned and operated by the primary user. No leases or subleases for small businesses shall be permitted.
(3)
No more than three employees other than family members are permitted. Appropriate records of employees must be maintained at all times and must be provided to the Washington Township officials upon request.
(4)
No offending noise or air pollution may be caused by the small business.
(5)
No open burning may be done by any small business.
(6)
Sufficient off-street parking, as well as safe entrance and exit of site, shall be provided.
(7)
All other local, state and federal regulations must be followed.
(8)
Limited small businesses may erect no more than one nonlighted business identification ground sign, not to exceed 25 square feet and 10 feet in height, and/or wall signs not to exceed 5% of the building facade.
I.
Replicas, reconstructions, or reproductions of any previously existing historic building for another conditional use.
J.
Assembly and event space for gatherings, such as weddings, festivals, fundraisers, conferences, and parties, subject to the following restrictions, in addition to any conditions imposed by the Supervisors:
(1)
Adequate parking must be available for the number of people in attendance. The size of the event cannot exceed the available parking on site. Additional temporary parking for events may be obtained by written agreement with neighboring landowners, but such agreements must be provided as part of the conditional use application.
(2)
Events must be adequately screened from neighboring properties in a way appropriate to the time and circumstances of the event and the nature of the neighboring properties.
K.
Communications towers.
§ 360-154 Prohibited uses.
A.
A. Regardless of whether they would otherwise be a permitted or conditional use, the following activities shall always be prohibited in an Historic District:
§ 360-155 Minimum area and density requirements.
A.
All buildings, including accessory buildings, shall not cover more than 30% of the area of the lot.
C.
When on-lot sewer facilities are to be utilized, the minimum lot size may be increased by the Township Sewage Enforcement Officer or the Department of Environmental Protection for factors relating to health and sanitation.