§ 14-1109. District Rules and Exceptions.

   (a)   Ornamental Towers and Belfries, and Areas Below Ground.

      (1)   Monuments, belfries, cupolas, minarets, pinnacles, church gables, spires, or ornamental towers not for human occupancy shall not be considered part of the "gross floor area" as used in the regulations for this district;

      (2)   Towers of mechanical or structural necessity shall not be considered part of the "gross floor area" as used in the regulations for this district, except where the area of such towers exceeds an area equal to 20% of the ground floor level of the building of which they are a part, in which case they shall be considered a part of the "gross floor area" of the building in the same manner as any other part;

      (3)   Any floor area in any building, below ground level, not used for residential purposes shall not be considered a part of the "gross floor area" as used in the regulations for this district;

      (4)   Any floor area in any building, above or below ground level, used exclusively for off-street parking of automobiles, shall not be considered as part of the "gross floor area" as used in the regulations for this district.

   (b)   Fences. Fences shall be permitted in this District; provided, they shall not exceed six feet in height, except fences surrounding athletic fields shall be permitted to a maximum of fifteen feet in height.

   (c)   Retaining Walls. Retaining walls shall be considered as fences, and controlled under this paragraph to the extent that such walls protrude above the actual ground level at the highest point of such walls.

   (d)   Decks and Patios. 390 Decks and patios shall be permitted only in accordance with the following requirements:

      (.1)   Front yard. Any deck or patio shall be prohibited between the street line and front wall of any building;

      (.2)   Side yard. Any deck or patio shall be prohibited;

      (.3)   Rear yard. Any deck or patio may be permitted between the rear wall and the rear property line of any building and shall not be considered as occupied area provided the following conditions are met:

         (i)   Extension of commercial use. No deck or patio shall extend the commercial use of the property;

         (ii)   Roofs, walls and stairs. No deck may be enclosed by walls and/or a roof above the usable surface of the deck, nor enclosed by walls below the usable surface. Stairs from the ground level shall not be permitted;

         (iii)   Access to garage. No deck or patio shall be constructed and/or located so as to prevent access to any existing garage whether or not the garage is providing required off street parking for the use of the lot;

         (iv)   Minimum distance from the driveway and/or rear property line. The deck or patio shall be constructed so that it is not closer at any point than three (3) feet from the edge of any driveway and/or rear property 391 line, serving two or more lots;

         (v)   Minimum distance from lot lines. The deck or patio shall be constructed so that all vertical support elements are located a minimum distance of one foot (1) six inches (6) from all lot lines.

   (e)   In instances where the Institutional Development District is located adjacent to an "R-1" Residential District and has street frontage on Germantown Avenue between Northwestern Avenue and Bells Mills Road: 391.1

      (.1)   Notwithstanding the provisions of § 14-1102(a) through (m) above, the following uses shall not be permitted:

         (.a)   Billiards, pool and bowling;

         (.b)   Bus terminals, railroad passenger stations;

         (.c)   Fraternity and sorority houses;

         (.d)   Medical and surgical hospitals, medical centers, health centers, sanataria (including those for contagious diseases), eleemosynary institutions, and adjunct dwellings, but not including any health care facilities accessory to the main use of the campus as an educational facility;

         (.e)   Post offices;

         (.f)   Repair of household appliances and fixtures;

         (.g)   Retail sales of:

            (.i)   Motorcycles;

            (.ii)   Department store merchandise, electric appliances and fixtures, floor coverings, furniture, household appliances, meat, packaged paints, seafood and/or variety store merchandise as a main use;

         (.h)   Taxidermist;

         (.i)   Telephone exchange buildings;

         (.j)   Treatment or sale of pet birds and pet animals and animal hospitals;

      (.2)   Notwithstanding the provisions of § 14-1103(a) above, the minimum Institutional Development District area shall be thirty acres of contiguous property;

      (.3)   Notwithstanding the provisions of § 14-1103(c) above, not more than 20% of the Institutional Development District area, exclusive of streets, shall be occupied by buildings;

      (.4)   Notwithstanding the provisions of § 14-1103(b) above, in instances where the Institutional Development District is located on the north side of Germantown Avenue between Northwestern Avenue and Hillcrest Avenue, the gross floor area of all buildings shall not exceed 48.5% of the Institutional Development District nor 925,000 square feet, exclusive of streets, subject to the provisions of § 14-1109 of this Chapter;

      (.5)   Notwithstanding the provisions of § 14-1103(b) above, in instances where the Institutional Development District is located on the south side of Germantown Avenue between Northwestern Avenue and Bells Mills Road, the gross floor area of all buildings shall not exceed 38% of the Institutional Development District nor 500,000 square feet, exclusive of streets, subject to the provisions of § 14-1109 of this Chapter;

      (.6)   Notwithstanding the provisions of § 14-1603.2(4)(a), in instances where the Institutional Development District is located on the north side of Germantown Avenue between Northwestern Avenue and Hillcrest Avenue, solely within the buildable area of the approved Master Plan and the internal road system new impervious ground cover may be constructed as part of the relocation and widening of existing internal roads when the internal road improvements result in a net decrease in impervious surface within the floodplain and floodway and when such construction is in accordance with applicable Philadelphia Water Department, Philadelphia City Planning Commission and Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection regulations and the regulations of any other agencies having jurisdiction and in accord with plans approved by such agencies;

      (.7)   Notwithstanding the provisions of § 14-1603.2(4)(b), in instances where the Institutional Development District has street frontage on Germantown Avenue between Northwestern Avenue and Bells Mills Road, solely within the buildable area of the approved Master Plan and the internal road system construction and earth moving activity on previously disturbed slopes in excess of 25% may be permitted when such construction is in accordance with applicable Philadelphia Water Department, Philadelphia City Planning Commission and Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection regulations and the regulations of any other agencies having jurisdiction and in accord with plans approved by such agencies;

      (.8)   Notwithstanding the provisions of § 14-1603.2(4)(c)(.1), in instances where the Institutional Development District is located on the south side of Germantown Avenue between Northwestern Avenue and Bells Mills Road, solely within the buildable area of the approved Master Plan and the internal road system impervious ground coverage may exceed 20% in Category 1 when accompanied by mitigation measures such as green roofs, stormwater cisterns and bioswales, or other engineering countermeasures which reduce the volume and rate of stormwater runoff to the Wissahickon Creek in accordance with applicable Philadelphia Water Department, Philadelphia City Planning Commission and Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection regulations and the regulations of any other agencies having jurisdiction and in accord with plans approved by such agencies.

      (.9)   The exceptions authorized by the provisions of paragraphs (.6), (.7) and (.8) above, shall be applicable only to those improvements authorized through the enactment of Institutional Development District rezoning legislation and the accompanying approved Master Plan for the Chestnut Hill College campuses and which are consistent with the allowances provided in paragraphs (.4) and (.5) above.

      (.10)   Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraphs (.6), (.7) and (.8) above, all rights of appeal under Section 14-1705 from any decision of the Department, including, without limitation, the issuance of any permit under Section 14-1703, shall be preserved.

 

Notes

390	Added, Bill No. 960311 (approved July 5, 1996), 1996 Ordinances, p. 574.
391	Enrolled bill read "porperty".
391.1	Added, Bill No. 110377 (approved June 22, 2011).