For the purpose of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
ALLEY or SERVICE DRIVE. A minor right-of-way providing second vehicular access to the side or rear of abutting property.
BLOCK, EXTERIOR. An area bounded by exterior property lines and by streets.
BLOCK, INTERIOR. An area bounded by streets.
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS. The governing body of the Township of Conemaugh.
BUILDING. Any structure intended for the shelter, housing or enclosure of any person, animal or property of any kind.
BUILDING, ACCESSORY. A building subordinate to the main building on a lot and used for purpose other than residential.
BUILDING LINE(S). Lines parallel to and inside of the property lines within which buildings may be constructed.
BUILDING, RESIDENTIAL. A building which is designed, used or intended to be used for human occupancy.
CARTWAY. The portion of a street right-of-way, paved or unpaved, intended for vehicular traffic.
CLEAR SIGHT TRIANGLE. An area of unobstructed vision at street intersections defined by lines of sight between points at a given distance from the point of intersection of the street right-of-way lines, measured along the right-of-way lines.
COMMISSION. The Conemaugh Township Planning Commission.
COMMONWEALTH. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
COMPREHENSIVE PLAN. The complete plan plus any amendments, or any of its constituent municipalities, providing for the continuing orderly development of the municipality and being recognized by the governing bodies of the township as the OFFICIAL PLAN.
CUL-DE-SAC (DEAD-END). A minor street intersecting another street at one end and terminating in a vehicular turnaround.
DEDICATION. The deliberate appropriation of land by its owner for any general and public, or limited public use, reserving to himself or herself no other rights than such as are compatible with the full exercise and enjoyment of the public uses to which the property has been devoted.
DEVELOPER. Any landowner, agent of such landowner or tenant with the permission of such landowner, who makes or causes to be made a subdivision of land or a land development.
DEVELOPMENT. The subdivision of land or the installation or proposed installation of streets, or the construction or proposed construction of commercial or industrial facilities or buildings.
DEVELOPMENT, SELF-CONTAINED. A residential subdivision including adequate areas for commercial, recreational and other necessary public uses intended to be used exclusively by and maintained by owners of lots in the subdivision.
DRIVEWAY. A minor vehicular right-of-way providing access to five or fewer properties of separate ownership, not dedicated to public use, the maintenance being provided by the property owners served.
DWELLING. See BUILDING, RESIDENTIAL.
DWELLING, SINGLE-FAMILY. A building and appurtenant structures designated for or used exclusively for occupancy by one family, related by blood or adoption, and non-paying guests.
EASEMENT. A right-of-way granted for limited use of private land for a public or quasi-public purpose.
FLOODING, OCCASIONAL. Innundation of land occurring with a frequency normally in excess of five years.
FLOODING, PERIODIC. Innundation of land occurring with a frequency normally five years or less.
FLOODPLAINS. Those areas adjacent to streams or river, subject to frequent flooding (yearly or every two or three years).
HIGHWAY. See STREET.
IMPROVEMENTS. Those physical changes to the land necessary to produce useable and desirable lots including, but not limited to, grading, paving, street lighting, curbs, gutters, storm sewers, drains, sidewalks, crosswalks, monuments, water supply and sewage disposal facilities.
LANDOWNER. The legal or beneficial owner or owners of land including the holder of an option or contract to purchase (whether or not such option or contract is subject to any condition), a lessee if he or she is authorized under the lease to exercise the rights of the landowner, or other person having a proprietary interest in land.
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT, QUALIFIED. A landscape architect holding current registration status in the commonwealth.
LOT. A designated parcel, tract or area of land established by a plat or otherwise as permitted by law and to be used, developed or built upon as a unit.
LOT AREA. The area of a horizontal plane bounded by the front, rear and side lot lines.
LOT DEPTH. The average horizontal distance between the front lot line and the rear lot line.
LOT LINE, FRONT. The boundary of a lot which is an existing or proposed right-of-way. In the case of corner lots, the line having the least dimension along a right-of-way shall be designated as the FRONT LOT LINE.
LOT LINE, REAR. The boundary of a lot which is most distant from and most nearly parallel to the front lot line.
LOT LINE, SIDE. Any boundary of a lot which is not a front or a rear lot line.
LOT OWNERS ASSOCIATION or HOME OWNERS ASSOCIATION. An organization either incorporated or not, of owners of lots of a specific subdivision, formed for the purpose of:
(1) Operation, improvement and maintenance of streets, playgrounds, lakes, athletic fields, swimming pools, community halls and other public areas in which the developer may have conveyed an interest, in common to others, to individual lot owners or to the LOT OWNERS ASSOCIATION; and
(2) For the general civic betterment of the community as a whole.
LOT WIDTH. The average horizontal distance between the side lot lines, measured parallel to the front lot line.
MOBILE HOME. A transportable, single-family dwelling intended for permanent occupancy, contained in one unit, or in two or more units designed to be joined into one integral unit capable of again being separated for repeated towing, which arrives at a site complete and ready for occupancy except for minor and incidental unpacking and assembly operations, and constructed so that it may be used without a permanent foundation.
MOBILE HOME COURT. Any lot, parcel or tract of land upon which two or more mobile homes are located or parked for occupancy, whether charges are made or not, for the use and occupancy.
PLAN. A map or plan indicating the subdivision of land.
PLAN, FINAL. A complete and exact plan, prepared for official recording as required by statute and by these regulations, to define property rights and proposed streets and/or other improvements.
PLAN, PRELIMINARY. A tentative plan, in lesser detail than a final plan, showing proposed streets and lot layout and such other information as required within these regulations, as a basis for consideration prior to preparation of a final plan.
PLAN, SKETCH. An informal plan indicating important existing features of a tract and its surroundings and the general layout of the proposed subdivision.
PLANNER, QUALIFIED. A planner having two of the following four qualifications:
(1) A degree in community and/or regional planning, or a graduate degree in a related field with major course work in planning;
(2) At least five years of professional level experience working as a staff member or consultant to an official municipal, regional or county planning agency, or a state or federal agency whose major function is community or regional planning or a combination thereof;
(3) Responsible professional level participation in the preparation of completed comprehensive plans for at least three communities; and/or
(4) Membership or associate membership in the American Institute of Planners.
PLANNING COMMISSION. See COMMISSION.
PUBLIC. The general citizenry and the specific residents of a particular subdivision.
REGISTERED PROFESSIONAL ENGINEER. A person registered and licensed to practice civil engineering within the commonwealth. Whenever an engineer is cited in these regulations, it refers to REGISTERED PROFESSIONAL ENGINEER.
REGISTERED SURVEYOR. A person registered and licensed to practice land surveying within the commonwealth. Whenever a surveyor is cited in these regulations, it refers to a REGISTERED SURVEYOR.
RESERVE STRIP. A relatively narrow strip of land running parallel with a street, between the right-of-way line of the street and an exterior property line.
RIGHT-OF-WAY. Land reserved for the public or the abutting owners for use as a street, alley, interior walk or for other public purposes.
SHOULDER. The improved portion of a street immediately adjoining the travelway for access to abutting properties.
SIGHT DISTANCE. The maximum extent of unobstructed vision (in a horizontal and/or vertical plane) along a street from a vehicle located at any given point on the street.
STREET. A strip of land, including the entire right-of-way, intended for use as a means of vehicular and pedestrian movement.
STREET, COLLECTOR. Those which intercept minor streets, provide access to abutting properties and serving or anticipated to serve between 750 and 4,000 vehicles daily.
STREET, MAJOR. Those serving or anticipated to serve in excess of 4,000 vehicles daily, a large proportion thereof generally being through traffic.
STREET, MINOR. Those used primarily to provide access to abutting property and serving or anticipated to serve up to 750 vehicles daily.
STREET, PRIVATE. A street used to provide access to a single property, the use thereof being limited, exclusively to the dependent property and the cost of construction and maintenance being borne exclusively by the dependent property owner served by the street.
STREET, PUBLIC. A street dedicated to general public use, or abutting property owners use, or dedicated exclusively to the use of all owners of lots within a specified subdivision.
SUBDIVIDER. See DEVELOPER.
SUBDIVISION. For the purpose of these regulations, shall be defined as follows.
(1) The division or redivision of a lot, tract or parcel of land by any means into two or more lots, tracts, parcels or other divisions of land including changes in existing lot lines for the purpose, whether immediate or future, of lease, partition by the court for distribution to heirs or devisees, transfer of ownership or building or lot development; provided, however, that the subdivision by lease of land for agricultural purposes into parcels of more than ten acres, not involving any new street or easement of access or any residential dwelling, shall be exempted.
(2) Any development of a parcel of land (including shopping centers, industrial parks and multiple dwelling projects) which involves the installation of streets even though the streets may not be dedicated to general public use and the parcel may not be divided immediately for purposes of conveyance, lease, transfer or sale.
SUBDIVISION, MAJOR. Any subdivision not classified as a minor subdivision.
SUBDIVISION, MINOR. Parcels of land subdivided under any one of the following conditions shall be classified as MINOR SUBDIVISIONS:
(1) Parcels of land divided into lots three or more acres in area provided use of the land is limited to a single-family dwelling and further subdivision of the lot is prohibited unless the approval of the Commission be first obtained and further provided that the subdivision complies with the requirements as set forth in §§ 153.036 and 153.038;
(2) Parcels of land divided into lots three-quarters of an acre or more in area for conveyance to an immediate relative of the owner (i.e., son, daughter, father or mother) for his, her or their personal use, provided use of the land is limited to a single-family dwelling and further subdivision of the land is prohibited unless approval of the Commission be first obtained and provided that the subdivision complies with the requirements as set forth in §§ 153.036 and 153.038;
(3) Parcels of land divided into lots of any size for agricultural, lumbering, hunting or fishing purposes, provided any sanitary facilities installed shall be subject to the approval of the Commission and further provided that the subdivision complies with the requirements as set forth in §§ 153.036 and 153.039;
(5) Any division of a parcel of land not involving more than five lots or the construction of any new street, providing all requirements for major subdivisions are complied with, except the submission shall be on an informal basis as set forth above.
SUBMISSION, FORMAL. Submission of plans and/or data for consideration by the Commission, the fee or consideration being as set forth in the regulations.
SUBMISSION, INFORMAL. A submission of plans and/or data for consideration by the Commission at no fee or expense to the developer.
TOWNSHIP PLANNING COMMISSION. See COMMISSION.
TRAILER. A travel trailer constructed to be towed on its own chassis, for temporary occupancy as a vacation trailer, or for occasional transport of personal effects.
YARD, FRONT. The required area from any building or structure to the front lot line.
YARD, REAR. The required area from any building or structure to the rear lot line.
YARD, SIDE. The required area from any building or structure to any side lot line.
(Ord. 295, passed 3-14-1974; Ord. 592, passed 12-13-1990)