Whitpain Township City Zoning Code
ARTICLE XXIII
IN Institutional District
§ 160-156 Legislative intent.
In expansion of the community development objectives contained in Article III, § 160-8, of this chapter, it is hereby declared to be the intent of this article with respect to IN Institutional Districts to encourage the preservation and subsequent logical and timely development of land for institutional purposes; to assure the suitable design of institutions in order to protect the environment of the adjacent and nearby neighborhoods; and to ensure that institutional development will take place only when served by adequate public utilities. The protective standards in this article are intended to minimize any possible adverse effect of an institutional development on nearby properties.
§ 160-157 Use regulations.
[Amended 9-4-1985 by Ord. No. 4-83; 9-6-1988 by Ord. No. 4-109; 6-19-1989 by Ord. No. 4-115; 10-6-1997 by Ord. No. 4-157]
A building may be erected, altered or used and a lot or premises may be used or occupied for any of the following purposes and no other:
A.
Churches, chapels or other places of worship and their adjunct residential dwellings.
B.
Colleges, universities and theological schools.
C.
Convents, monasteries.
D.
Institutional headquarters for educational, fraternal, professional, religious and other nonprofit organizations of a similar nature.
E.
Medical and surgical hospitals or clinics, sanatoriums and nursing homes.
F.
Institutions for the care of the aged or children at a limit of 10 units per each developable acre; day-care centers.
[Amended 3-7-2000 by Ord. No. 4-171]
G.
Schools and other educational facilities: private, nursery, elementary, junior high and high, including nonboarding or boarding.
H.
Municipal buildings, offices and uses.
I.
Libraries.
J.
Cemeteries, provided that a tract of not less than 10 developable acres is available, or five developable acres if in conjunction with a church.
K.
Accessory uses customarily incidental to any of the above uses, including but not limited to agriculture, offices of staff doctors, residences of institutional employees and recreational facilities.
L.
Uses permitted by special exception. Institutions for the day care of the aged or children may be permitted within certain structures in the IN Institutional Zoning District by special exception and subject to the following conditions:
(1)
Any building or group of buildings situated in the IN Institutional District, used or occupied for churches, chapels or other places of worship, schools or educational facilities for private, nursery, elementary, junior high school or high school, whether boarding or nonboarding, may operate day-care facilities for either the elderly or children, including a day-care school for children on said premises and within said buildings. The day-care use may operate simultaneously with the other use so long as the applicant can demonstrate adequate parking, circulation and ingress and egress to accommodate the uses and prevent any dangerous traffic conditions at or near the site.
(2)
Any applicant for a special exception herein shall also demonstrate compliance with all of the provisions of the IN Institutional District, as well as all of the other applicable provisions relating to special exception cases.
M.
Metal collection containers. Placement of metal collection containers for the deposit by the members of the public of clothing, articles of apparel, recyclable materials and other nonhazardous materials or items of personalty shall be permitted within the IN-Institutional District, subject to the following regulations and requirements:
[Added 8-7-2007 by Ord. No. 4-222]
(1)
Placement on lot. No metal collection container shall be placed in the minimum front or minimum side yard of the lot, tract or parcel where it is to be placed.
(2)
Setback. Any metal collection container placed upon a property within the IN-Institutional District shall be set behind the front yard building line of lot, tract or parcel upon which it is to be located and shall have a rear yard setback of 25 feet from the rear property line.
(3)
Enclosure. Any metal collection container shall be enclosed with a screening fence or buffering landscaping surrounding the metal collection container from any residential zoning district or adjacent residential use with no less than five feet clearance between the screen fence or landscaping and the exterior sides of the metal collection container.
(4)
Green area. No metal collection container shall be permitted to be placed upon any property within the I-Limited Industrial district which reduces the required or dedicated green area or green space for the entire lot, tract or property upon which the metal collection container is placed.
(5)
Not in required parking areas. No metal collection container shall be placed in any of the dedicated or required parking areas of any lot, tract or property upon which said metal collection container is to be placed.
(6)
No interference with traffic circulation. No metal collection container shall be placed upon any lot, tract or parcel within the IN-Institutional district in such location as to interfere with traffic circulation on the lot, tract or parcel where such metal collection container is to be placed.
(7)
Upon application and issuance of a zoning permit.
§ 160-158 Development regulations.
For all authorized buildings and uses, the following regulations shall apply:
A.
Area and width. No Institutional District lot shall be less than four developable acres in size, and each lot shall have a width of not less than 200 feet measured along the building line and 100 feet measured along the ultimate right-of-way of the street frontage.
[Amended 9-6-1988 by Ord. No. 4-109]
B.
Lot coverage. The total area covered by buildings, parking lots and vehicular accessways shall not exceed 40% of the total lot area. The remaining area shall be used for and maintained as green area. No more than 10% of this remaining area may be covered by blacktop, concrete or similar impervious material, which shall be used for nonvehicular purposes only.
[Amended 6-4-1984 by Ord. No. 4-75]
C.
Height. The maximum height of any building shall be 40 feet.
D.
Yard requirements.
(1)
Front. The minimum depth of a front yard shall be 50 feet, measured from the ultimate right-of-way line of the street on which the building fronts. In the case of a corner lot, a front yard, the depth of which shall be at least 50 feet, shall be required on each street on which the lot abuts.
(2)
Side. For each building there shall be two side yards of not less than 20 feet each.
(3)
Rear. There shall be established for each building a rear yard of at least 50 feet in depth.
(4)
Abutting a residential use or district. Whenever the lot line abuts a residential use or district, the setback shall be a minimum of 100 feet from the property line.
(5)
Space between buildings. The minimum distance between buildings shall be 50 feet; provided, however, that the spacing between a principal and accessory building may be reduced to 35 feet.
E.
Buffering. There shall be an area of at least 50 feet in width along all property lines which abut residentially zoned districts and along ultimate right-of-way lines the opposite side of the street of which is zoned residential, which shall be planted in accordance with a plan approved by the Board of Supervisors following a recommendation by the Planning Commission, which, at the very least, shall conform to the standards and requirements of § 160-107, Buffer yards and planting materials, of this chapter.
[Amended 9-6-1988 by Ord. No. 4-109]
§ 160-159 Off-street parking.
[Amended 9-6-1988 by Ord. No. 4-109]
All-weather off-street parking shall be provided and maintained with appropriate means of vehicular ingress to and egress from a street so that on-street parking will not be necessary to service an institutional use, in accordance with the following requirements:
A.
Parking. Parking spaces shall be provided according to § 160-192 of this chapter, provided that where a lot is used for a combination of the following uses: church, school, public auditorium, meeting room or similar place of public or private assembly, and the occupancy of such facilities shall be at different times by the same membership or congregation, then the number of parking spaces for these uses shall be determined by providing the parking formula based on the largest of the facilities only, based on one parking space for every four seats of fixed and temporary seats anticipated for the largest individual facility.
B.
Buffering of parking. Parking areas shall be buffered from all buildings by at least 15 feet of open buffer. Parking areas shall be at least 15 feet from all property lines, except when abutting a residentially zoned district, in which case parking shall be at least 50 feet from the property lines, except as controlled by § 160-158E above.
§ 160-160 Additional controls.
The proposed institutional use(s) shall make provisions for control of each of the following:
B.
Setbacks. No use which requires the use of outdoor lighting or which is concentrated in time and space, such as but not limited to the use of a swimming pool, tennis court or athletic field or fields, shall be located within 100 feet of any abutting residentially zoned district. Such setback may be reduced to 50 feet if the use is screened by berming or mounding and topped with a coniferous buffer of sufficient height to prevent the spillover of exterior illumination onto adjoining properties and to screen the use from adjoining residentially zoned districts.
[Amended 3-7-2000 by Ord. No. 4-171[1]]
[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance also repealed former Subsection C, Solid waste disposal.
§ 160-161 Severability.
The provisions of this article are severable, and if any of its provisions shall be held invalid or unconstitutional, the decision of the court shall not affect or impair any of the remaining provisions of this article. If the article shall be held invalid or unconstitutional as it applies to any particular property, such property shall become part of the zoning district wherein it was located immediately prior to being made part of the IN Institutional District. If the article creating this IN Institutional District is held invalid or unconstitutional, any property within the IN District shall become part of the zoning district wherein it was located immediately prior to being made part of the IN District. It is hereby declared to be the legislative intent that this article would have been adopted had such invalid or unconstitutional provisions not been included herein.