Williams Township City Zoning Code
PART 6
"MDR" MODERATE DENSITY RESIDENTIAL DISTRICT
§ 27-601 Purpose.
[Ord. No. 2020-01, 1/6/2020]
To provide for a variety of carefully designed housing types at moderate densities. To make sure that varied housing types are compatible with any existing single-family detached dwellings. To make sure that the street system of the Township and other community facilities and services are fully able to handle moderately dense growth in an area. To encourage affordable housing, especially for young families and senior citizens.
§ 27-602 Township and Municipal Authority Exemption.
[Ord. No. 2020-01, 1/6/2020]
The requirements of this chapter shall not apply to uses or structures owned by Williams Township or for municipal authorities created solely by Williams Township.
§ 27-603 Permitted-by-Right Uses.
[Ord. No. 2020-01, 1/6/2020; as amended by Ord. No. 2022-02, 5/11/2022; by Ord. No. 2023-2, 8/9/2023; by Ord. No. 2024-2, 2/14/2024]
Only the following uses are permitted by right in the MDR District, provided that the requirements for specific uses in Part 14 are met:
A.
The following principal uses:
(1)
Cemetery.*
(2)
Crop farming/orchards.
(3)
Forestry activities.
(4)
Audubon International certified golf course* and/or driving range, excluding miniature golf facilities.
(5)
Group home, with a maximum of five residents.
(6)
Place of worship.*
(7)
Publicly owned recreation.
(8)
Single-family detached dwelling.
(9)
Swimming pool, public or semipublic.*
(10)
Township-owned use.
(11)
Wildlife sanctuary.
B.
The following accessory uses, within the requirements of § 27-1403:
(1)
Accessory use or structure clearly customary and incidental to a permitted by right, approved special exception or conditional use.
(3)
Essential services.**
(4)
Forestry activities.
(5)
Geothermal system.**
(6)
Home-based business, no-impact.
(7)
Outdoor solid-fuel-burning appliance as an accessory to a single-family dwelling.**
(8)
Recreational facilities limited to use by residents of a development and their occasional guests.
(9)
Solar energy system on-site usage.**
(10)
Swimming pool, private.**
§ 27-604 Special Exception Uses.
[Ord. No. 2020-01, 1/6/2020]
Only the following uses are permitted by special exception in the MDR District, provided that the requirements for specific uses in Part 14 are met; and provided that both public water and public sewer service is provided (except for a public utility facility).
§ 27-605 Conditional Uses.
[Ord. No. 2020-01, 1/6/2020]
Only the following uses are permitted as conditional uses in the MDR District, provided that the requirements for specific uses in Part 14 are met:
§ 27-606 Lot and Setback Regulations for Uses Common to All Uses.
[Ord. No. 2020-01, 1/6/2020]
The following regulations shall apply to all uses in the MDR District, unless a more restrictive requirement is stated in Part 14 or elsewhere in this chapter for a particular use.
A.
Maximum building coverage: 50%.
B.
Maximum impervious coverage: 65%.
C.
Maximum height: maximum of 35 feet.
D.
Minimum setback: from an Industrial District boundary: 80 feet for any new residential building.
F.
Setback from arterial streets: for all principal buildings from the future right-of-way line: 40 feet minimum.
§ 27-607 Lot and Setback Regulations for All Uses Other Than Townhouses, Garden Apartments, Manufactured Home Parks, and Retirement Villages.
[Ord. No. 2020-01, 1/6/2020]
Lot and setback regulations for uses in the MDR District (other than those listed in the title of this section) shall be as follows, unless a more restrictive requirement is stated in Part 14 for a particular use or elsewhere in this chapter. See definitions of these terms in Part 2.
Residential Use With Both Public Water and Public Sewer Service | Any Use Without Both Public Water and Public Sewer Service or Any Nonresidential Use | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
A. | Minimum Lot Area (Per dwelling unit for for residential uses) | 10,000 square feet, except 8,000 square feet for a single family semi-detached dwelling | 43,560 square feet per EDU | |
B. | Minimum Lot Depth | 80 feet | 150 feet | |
C. | Minimum Lot Width (Per dwelling unit for residential uses) | |||
(1) | At minimum front yard setback line | 80 feet except 50 feet for a single family detached dwelling | 150 feet | |
(2) | At future street right-of-way | 40 feet, except 150 feet for any lot with a driveway entering directly onto an arterial street | 40 feet, except 150 feet for any lot with a driveway entering directly onto an arterial street | |
All Permitted Uses | ||||
D. | Minimum Front Yard Building Setbacks | 30 feet for both principal and accessory structures, except: | ||
Variation. Up to 50% of the principal residential buildings may be located up to 5 feet forward of the front yard building setback line, provided that an equal number of principal residential buildings in the same stage of construction and abutting onto the same street will be 5 feet or greater behind the front yard setback line | ||||
E. | Minimum Side Yard Setback (for each of two, except for one for single-family semi-detached dwellings) | |||
(1) | Principal structure | 10 feet | ||
(2) | Accessory structure or use | 10 feet | ||
(3) | Corner lots | See § 27-1304B(3) | ||
F. | Minimum Rear Yard Setback | |||
(1) | Principal structure | 35 feet | ||
(2) | Accessory structure | 10 feet | ||
G. | Maximum Height | 35 feet | ||
H. | Other Requirements | See the requirements common to all uses in § 27-606 | ||
§ 27-608 Regulations for Townhouses, Garden Apartments and Retirement Villages.
[Ord. No. 2020-01, 1/6/2020]
These requirements are in addition to the requirements of § 27-605 that are common to all uses.
A.
Retirement Villages. The same shall apply to garden apartments and townhouses, except for differing provisions permitted by § 27-1402.
B.
Minimum tract area: one acre, except five acres for a retirement village.
C.
Maximum number of dwelling units per building: 16 for any garden apartment buildings; eight for any other building.
D.
Maximum Density:
(1)
The maximum density shall be determined based upon the following calculation of "buildable area"; see Part 19.
(b)
Areas of land voluntarily dedicated to and accepted by the Township or state for a street improvement that would not otherwise be required by the Township or state and that is not necessary for providing internal access for the development may be included as buildable area.
(c)
Areas of the tract that will be dedicated as common open space may be counted within the buildable area.
(2)
Minimum Area per Dwelling Unit. The following shall apply:
Type of Dwelling Unit | Minimum Average Square Feet of Buildable Area Within the Tract per Dwelling Unit |
|---|---|
Each efficiency or one-bedroom garden apartment unit | 6,000 |
Each garden apartment or townhouse unit in a retirement village (see § 27-1402) | 6,000 |
Each garden apartment or townhouse unit, and retirement village other than above | 7,000 |
(3)
Flexibility in Placement. The dwelling units allowed on the tract may be placed at any appropriate locations within the buildable area of the tract within the setback and other provisions of this chapter. However, no single acre of land shall include more than 16 dwelling units, once streets and any common open spaces are deducted from the lot area.
(4)
In calculating the allowable overall density, land which is capable of further development or subdivision for additional dwellings shall not be counted as "buildable area" unless the possibility of such development or subdivision is precluded by one of the following methods:
(5)
Condominiums and Lots. The division of land into individual lots is not required, but instead condominium ownership may be used. See § 27-1316.
(6)
Condominium Streets. In any development of or conversion to condominiums, the Board of Supervisors shall require all streets and accessways to be constructed or improved to Township standards. The responsibility of maintaining interior streets and accessways should not be assigned to a homeowner association, unless there are adequate safeguards, provisions and arrangements established for funding and performing such maintenance without involving Township funding or staff.
E.
Maximum height: 35 feet.
F.
Resubdivision. No lots that have previously been granted preliminary or final subdivision or land development approval and were thereupon subdivided to meet the standards of single-family detached dwellings shall be combined or resubdivided to allow the construction of townhouses or garden apartments.
G.
Rooflines. Variation in rooflines of structures is strongly encouraged for the purpose of variety.
H.
Buffer Yard. A twenty-foot-wide buffer yard with screening shall be required, as described in § 27-1304C, between any townhouse or garden apartment and any abutting existing single-family detached dwelling that is within 125 feet of the proposed garden apartment or townhouse building. Installation and perpetual maintenance of the buffer yard shall be the responsibility of the developer of the townhouses or garden apartments.
I.
Accessory Uses and Structures.
(1)
See § 27-1403. A ten-foot minimum setback is required for all permitted accessory uses or structures, except a one-and-one-half-foot setback is required along the shared lot line of attached buildings and except where a larger setback is required by § 27-607D, E, F and G or § 27-607M. A twenty-foot-wide minimum setback shall be maintained abutting the future right-of-way of any street.
(2)
To avoid incompatible structures in a higher-density environment, townhouse developers are strongly encouraged to establish deed restrictions or homeowner association regulations controlling the general types and materials of attached decks, fences and accessory structures that may be added or constructed in the future.
J.
Homeowners' and/or Condominium Agreements. See § 27-1316. It is strongly recommended that any such agreements include restrictions requiring any fencing, decks, garages, or other accessory structures to be compatible with the overall design.
K.
Active Recreation Area.
(1)
For any garden apartment or townhouse development involving 20 or more dwelling units, a minimum of 25% of the tract area shall be dedicated as common open space.
(3)
For any development that will not be limited to residents 55 years and older, at least 25% of the common open space shall be suitable for active recreation. "Suitable for active recreation" shall mean well drained, contiguous, planted in grass, and with average slopes of less than 4%. For any development involving more than 200 dwelling units, this area shall include an area graded to less than 4% slope that is generally suitable for two rectangular fields 300 feet in length and 100 feet in width.
(4)
For any development limited to persons 55 years and older, the common open space shall be suitable for passive recreation, with appropriate landscaping and paths or trails.
(5)
The arrangements and funding for maintenance for recreation areas shall be acceptable to the Board of Supervisors.
(6)
Land within 15 feet of any building shall not be used to meet this requirement for common open space.
L.
Maximum building length: 160 feet.
M.
Changes in Facade. For every attached grouping of townhouses, a minimum of two changes in the front wall plane shall be provided. Such change shall involve a minimum variation or offset of four feet, and may be met by placing dwellings so that they are set back further than attached private garage structures.
N.
Building Setback and Separation.
(1)
Setback. Townhouse and garden apartment buildings and their permitted accessory structures shall be set back from all exterior lot lines of a tract and all existing rights-of-way of streets a minimum setback of 30 feet, except:
(a)
A minimum setback of 70 feet shall be required for principal and accessory buildings from the lot line of an existing single-family detached residence. This setback may include any required buffer area.
(b)
A minimum setback of 50 feet shall be required for any principal building from the future right-of-way of any arterial street.
(c)
A minimum setback of 20 feet for principal and accessory buildings is permitted from a private street cartway or the future right-of-way of a local street.
(2)
Separation. Each principal building shall be separated by a minimum of 20 feet from any other principal building.
O.
Water and Sewer. Public water and public sewer service shall be required for any townhouse or garden apartment.
P.
Minimum Width of Townhouses. Each townhouse dwelling unit shall have a minimum width of 20 feet, except that a minimum width of 26 feet shall be required if the required front yard of the townhouse would include two or more off-street parking spaces or if garage door(s) for two or more motor vehicles face onto the front of the townhouse lot.
Q.
Minimum Private Area.
(1)
For each townhouse, there shall be a yard, balcony, patio or other outdoor area of not less than 200 square feet other than a driveway immediately adjacent to the front, back, or side of each dwelling for the exclusive use of the occupants of that dwelling.
(2)
If townhouses are subdivided into individual lots, the minimum lot area shall include the building footprint plus these 200 square feet.
(3)
Design measures shall be used to seek an appropriate level of privacy in any rear yards. Such measures may include landscaped screening, compatible fencing, or earthen berming. The intent is to avoid the placement of incompatible fencing by individual lot owners in the future.
(4)
Storage. If the maintenance of grass yards in front of or behind a townhouse could be the responsibility of an individual homeowner, a storage area suitable for storing lawn maintenance equipment shall be provided with appropriate outside access, together with the arrangements to access both the front and back of the townhouse, if necessary.
R.
Private Streets. All private streets and accessways serving more than five dwelling units, including parking courts, shall be built to Township construction standards for public streets.
S.
Architectural Renderings. Preliminary architectural renderings, models or photos shall be submitted to the Township for any garden apartment or townhouse development of more than 10 units.
T.
Preservation of Natural Buffers. See § 27-1304C(3)(c).
U.
Architectural Variety. A variety of complimentary designs and colors among clusters of dwellings shall be designed to avoid extreme repetition, provided that there shall not extreme changes between adjacent facades.
V.
Garages. Townhouses should be designed so that garages and/or carports are not an overly prominent part of the view from public streets. For this reason, parking courts, common garage, or carport structures or garages at the rear of dwellings are encouraged instead of individual garages opening at the front of the building, especially for narrow townhouse units.
W.
Mailboxes. Any mailboxes provided within the future street right-of-way shall be clustered together in an orderly and attractive arrangement or structure, such as a kiosk, with no dwelling unit more than 300 feet from such a mailbox cluster. Individual freestanding mailboxes of noncoordinated types at the curbside are specifically discouraged.
X.
Trash Bins. For any garden apartment or rental townhouse development, common receptacles for waste and recycling shall be provided in locations that are convenient for residents and for collection. Screening of such receptacles is required by § 27-1515.
Y.
Access. Vehicular access points onto all arterial and collector streets shall be minimized to the lowest reasonable number. No townhouse unit shall have its own driveway entering onto an arterial or collector street.
Z.
Minimum tract width and depth: 150 feet each.
AA.
Paved Area Setback. All off-street parking spaces, except spaces on driveways immediately in front of a carport or garage entrance, shall be setback a minimum of 10 feet from any dwelling.
§ 27-609 Lot and Setback Regulations for Manufactured Home Parks.
[Ord. No. 2020-01, 1/6/2020]
See § 27-1402.