Unless otherwise expressly stated, the following words and phrases shall be construed throughout this Zoning Ordinance to have the meaning herein indicated.
The singular shall include the plural, and the plural shall include the singular. The word "used" shall include the words "arranged," "designed" or "intended to be used." The word "building" shall include the word "structure." The present tense shall include the future tense.
(1) "Accessory building" means a building subordinate to the main building on a lot and used for purposes customarily incidental to those of the main building.
(2) "Accessory use" means a use subordinate to the main use of land or of a building on a lot and customarily incidental thereto.
(3) "Arterial road" means a public street which serves large volumes of high-speed and long-distance traffic. Roads classified as arterial in the Borough are Route 48 (Jacks Run Road and Long Run Road) and Lincoln Way.
(Ord. 2717. Passed 2-10-86.)
(Ord. 2717. Passed 2-10-86.)
(4) "Attached building" means a building which is attached to two or more other buildings by common vertical walls. (See also "Building," "Detached Building" and "Semi-Detached Building".)
(Ord. 2942. Passed 7-19-93.)
(5) "Bed and Breakfast Host Home" means private residence occupied by its owner in which the owner occasionally rents spare bedrooms to guests by advance reservation.
(Ord. 2818. Passed 1-16-89.)
(6) "Billboard" means any off-premises sign in excess of 100 square feet in surface area which advertises goods or services which are unrelated to or not available on the premises where the sign is located.
(Ord. 2853. Passed 3-19-90.)
(7) "Buffer area" means a landscaped area of a certain depth specified by this Zoning Ordinance which shall be planted and maintained in trees, grass, ground cover, shrubs, bushes or other natural landscaping material and shall consist of a mix of types and sizes of plant material which meets the standard of providing a compact, year-round visual screen at least six feet in height or an existing natural or constructed physical barrier, including a wall or fence, which duplicates the effect of the required buffer area.
(8) "Building" means any permanent structure having a roof supported by columns or by walls intended for the shelter, housing and/or enclosure of persons, animals, equipment, materials or other property. (See also "Attached Building," "Detached Building" and "Semi-Detached Building.")
(9) "Building area" means the aggregate of the maximum horizontal cross-section areas, excluding cornices, eaves, and gutters, of all buildings on a lot.
(10) "Building coverage" means that percentage of the lot covered by all principal and accessory buildings.
(11) "Building line" means the line parallel to the street line at a distance therefrom equal to the depth of the front yard required for the district in which the lot is located.
(12) "Cartway" means the portion of a street or alley intended for vehicular use.
(13) "Centerline of street or road" means a line midway between and parallel to the right-of-way lines.
(14) "Collector road" means a public street which, in addition to giving access to abutting lots, intercepts local streets and provides a route for carrying considerable volumes of local traffic to community facilities and arterial roads. Streets classified as collector roads in the Borough are Foster Road, McClintock Road, McKee Road, O'Neil Boulevard, Pennsylvania Avenue and State Street.
(Ord. 2717. Passed 2-10-86.)
(14.5) “Communication facilities” means any communication tower and its associated structures operated by any person, agency or corporation, who or which furnishes mobile domestic cellular radio telecommunications services, or other communications services for public or private use.
(15) "Community living arrangement" means a facility which provides room and board and specialized services for not more than eight residents, other than staff, who are in need of supervision, including dependent children adjudicated by the criminal Court system under the age of eighteen, mentally retarded, physically handicapped and mentally disturbed persons of any age, and elderly persons, sixty-two or more years of age, and not more than two live-in supervisors and a maximum of four total supervisors on any shift. The facility shall be licensed or certified by a sponsoring agency to provide specialized health, social and/or rehabilitative services to the residents. Twenty-four hour supervision shall be provided by staff qualified by the sponsoring agency.
(16) "Community service or shopping center" means a commercial development in which the buildings, roads, walkways, planted areas, parking, loading and related activities are integrated and designed in accordance with an overall plan for the entire site as recommended by the Planning Commission.
(Ord. 2717. Passed 2-10-86.)
(17) "Construction Trailer" means a transportable structure built on a chasis erected on a site without a permanent foundation which is used for temporary human occupancy as an office for management and supervision of construction, but not including use as a dwelling, on a site for which a building permit has been issued.
(Ord. 2853. Passed 3-19-90.)
(18) "Corner lot" means a lot at the intersection of, and fronting on, two or more street rights of way.
(Ord. 2942. Passed 7-19-93.)
(19) "Day care center" means a facility licensed by the Commonwealth, located within a building which is not used as a dwelling unit, for the care during part of a twenty-four hour day of children under the age of sixteen or handicapped or elderly persons.
(20) "Day care home" means a facility licensed by the Commonwealth within a dwelling for the care on a regular basis during part of a twenty-four hour day of not more than six children under sixteen years of age, excluding care provided to children who are relatives of the provider. Such use shall be secondary to the use of the dwelling for living purposes and persons who do not reside in the dwelling shall not be employed.
(21) "Density, net" means the average number of dwelling units per acre of land that is proposed or actually in use for residential purposes.
(22) "Density, gross" means the average number of dwelling units per acre of the total acres in the tract of ground. The total tract includes all lands used for residential purposes, open space, recreation, entrance drives, traversing streets and land used for any or all other purposes.
(Ord. 2717. Passed 2-10-86.)
(Ord. 2874. Passed 12-17-90.)
(24) "Designed multiple dwelling project" means one in which the various component buildings, roads, walkways, recreational areas, planted areas, parking and related activities are arranged on the site in accordance with an overall plan for the entire site, as recommended by the Planning Commission.
(Ord. 2717. Passed 2-10-86.)
(25) "Detached building" means a building which is surrounded on all sides by open space and which is not attached to any other building by a common vertical wall or any other means. (See also, "Attached Building" "Building" and "Semi-Detached Building.").
(Ord. 2942. Passed 7-19-93.)
(26) "Dwelling" means any building or portion thereof which is designed for and/or occupied in whole or in part as a home or residence for one or more persons. It shall not be deemed to include hotels, motels, boarding and rooming houses, institutional homes and residence clubs.
(Ord. 2717. Passed 2-10-86.)
A. "Single family dwelling" means a detached building, including a modular dwelling, containing not less than 500 square feet of usable, enclosed floor area on the first floor of a two-story house and not less than 700 square feet of usable, enclosed floor area of a one-story house.
(Ord. 2942. Passed 7-19-93.)
B. "Two-family dwelling" means a semi-detached building occupied by two families only, independently of each other, including the following:
1. "Double house" means a semi-detached building containing two dwelling units attached side-to-side, with separate entrances and separate culinary and sanitary facilities and separated by an unpierced party wall.
2. "Duplex" means a semi-detached building containing two dwelling units, one above the other, each having a separate entrance, and separate culinary and sanitary facilities.
C. "Multiple dwelling or apartment" means a building, on a lot, designed with separate culinary and sanitary facilities and used exclusively as a residence for three or more families, not including attached or row houses, which are not intended to be referred to when such multiple dwellings are permitted.
D. "Townhouse dwelling" means a one-family dwelling unit that is part of a townhouse unit and has a separate entrance and a minimum width of twenty feet center-to-center of party walls.
E. "Mobile home" means a transportable, single-family dwelling intended for permanent occupancy contained in one unit, or in two 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.
(27) "Dwelling unit" means one or more rooms in a building which are used as living quarters for one family and which has permanent cooking, sleeping and sanitary facilities.
(28) "Electric substation" means an assemblage of equipment for purposes other than generation or utilization, through which electric energy in bulk is passed for the purpose of switching or modifying its characteristics to meet the needs of the general public, provided that in residence districts:
A. An electric substation shall not include rotating equipment, storage of materials, trucks or repair facilities or housing of repair crews; and
B. The external design of the installation shall be subject to the approval of the Zoning Hearing Board as a special exception after a public hearing. In determining the propriety of granting such special exception, the Zoning Hearing Board shall first determine that the external design will not unduly conflict with the design of adjoining residences.
(29) "Family" means an individual or two or more persons related by blood or marriage or not more than two individuals who may or may not be related by blood or marriage living together as a single household in a dwelling unit.
(30) "Farm" means a tract of land containing not less than five acres upon which are maintained, grown and produced for sale or use on the property: domestic livestock; horses; farm grains; feeds or hay; fruits; nursery stock; vegetables; dairy products; poultry; eggs or other crops or produce typical of farm activity in Allegheny County. Kennels for breeding or boarding domestic pets shall be considered farm activity and shall be limited to farm tracts.
(31) "Front lot line" means that lot line which bounds the lot contiguous with the street right of way or that lot line through which the lot has access to a street right of way. (See also "Lot Line," "Rear Lot Line" and "Side Lot Line".)
(Ord. 2942. Passed 7-19-93.)
(32) "Garage" is defined as follows:
A. "Community garage" means a building or a group of buildings, one story in height, used exclusively for the storage of motor vehicles for compensation.
B. "Private garage" means an accessory building used for the storage of motor vehicles, which may include one commercial vehicle, owned and used by the owner or tenant of the premises, and for the storage of not more than two private, noncommercial vehicles owned and used by persons other than the owner or tenant of the premises, and provided that a private garage may exceed two vehicle capacity when appurtenant to or an integral part of the dwelling.
C. "Public garage" means a building, other than a private or community garage, which is available to the general public and is used, with or without compensation, for the parking, storage or rental of motor vehicles, but which is not used for the repair or maintenance of motor vehicles.
D. "Repair garage" means a building, or part thereof, used for the service and repair of motor vehicles, including heavy repairs such as engine overhaul, body work and recapping or retreading of tires.
(33) "Garden apartment building" means a multiple dwelling structure of not more than three and one-half stories or forty-five feet in height.
(34) "Height of building" means a building's vertical measurement from the mean level of the ground abutting the building to a point midway between the highest and lowest points of the roof; provided that chimneys, spires, towers, elevator penthouses, tanks and similar projections of the building shall not be included in calculating the height.
(35) "High-rise apartment building" means a multiple dwelling structure of more than three and one-half stories or forty-five feet in height.
(36) "Home occupation" means an accessory use of a service character, conducted entirely within a dwelling by the residents thereof, which is clearly secondary to the use of the dwelling for living purposes and does not, in any way, change the residential character of the dwelling.
(37) "Hospital" means a building used for the short-term care of patients suffering from physical or mental illnesses, but not including narcotics addiction or those found to be criminally insane, and which may or may not include facilities for major surgery and which may be publicly or privately operated.
(38) "Lot" means a parcel of land on which a main building and any accessory buildings are or may be placed, together with the required open spaces.
(39) "Lot area" means that area measured on a horizontal plane bounded by the front, rear and side lot lines, exclusive of any area within a street right of way.
(Ord. 2717. Passed 2-10-86.)
(Ord. 2717. Passed 2-10-86.)
(40) "Lot line" means that line which describes the limits of a lot and separates it from adjoining properties or rights of way. (See also "Front Lot Line," "Rear Lot Line" and "Side Lot Line.")
(Ord. 2942. Passed 7-19-93.)
(41) "Lot width" means the horizontal distance between the side lot lines measured at right angles to the front lot line along the minimum required building line.
(Ord. 2717. Passed 2-10-86.)
(Ord. 2717. Passed 2-10-86.)
(42) "Mediation" means a voluntary negotiating process in which parties in a dispute mutually select a neutral mediator to assist them in jointly exploring and settling their differences, culminating in a written agreement which the parties themselves create and consider acceptable.
(Ord. 2843. Passed 11-20-89.)
(43) "Medical office building" means one in which the building, roads, walkways, planted areas, parking areas and related activities are arranged on a site in accordance with an overall plan for the entire site as recommended by the Planning Commission.
(44) "Medical Professional Office" means a professional office, as defined herein, which is exclusively used by physicians, dentists, chiropractors or other medical practitioners and their professional and staff assistants, including diagonostic testing facilities and facilities for the examination and treatment of human patients who are not kept overnight, whether or not the professional office is located in a Designed Medical Center, as defined herein, or in a professional office building or other commercial building.
(Ord. 2874. Passed 12-17-90.)
(45) "Mobile home lot" means a parcel of land in a mobile home park, improved with the necessary utility connections and other appurtenances necessary for the erection thereon of a single mobile home.
(46) "Mobile home park" means a parcel or contiguous parcels of land which have been so designated and improved that it contains two or more mobile home lots for the placement thereon of mobile homes.
(Ord. 2843. Passed 11-20-89.)
(47) "Modular dwelling" means a single family dwelling intended for permanent occupancy which arrives at a site in one or more prefabricated sections ready for placement on a permanent foundation and which complies with the PA Manufactured Homes Act of 1971 and bears the seal of the Commonwealth.
(Ord. 2942. Passed 7-19-93.)
(48) "Net Floor Area" means the total of the floor areas of a building measured from the interior faces of the walls, excluding stairwells and elevator shafts, common hallways, common lobbies and common restrooms which are not leasable space, HVAC mechanical equipment rooms and interior vehicle parking and loading spaces.
(Ord. 2942. Passed 7-19-93.)
(49) "Nonconforming lot" means any lot which does not comply with the applicable area and bulk provisions of this Zoning Ordinance or amendment thereto, where such use was lawfully in existence prior to the enactment of this Zoning Ordinance or amendment.
(Ord. 2717. Passed 2-10-86.)
(50) "Nonconforming structure" means a structure, or part of a structure, manifestly not designed to comply with the applicable area and bulk provisions of this Zoning Ordinance or an amendment hereafter enacted, which structure lawfully existed prior to the enactment of this Zoning Ordinance or any subsequent amendment.
(51) "Nonconforming use" means a use, whether of land or structure, which does not comply with the applicable use provisions of this Zoning Ordinance or an amendment hereafter enacted, which use lawfully existed prior to the enactment of this Zoning Ordinance or any subsequent amendment.
(Ord. 2942. Passed 7-19-93.)
(52) "Nursing home" means a building used for the care of children or the aged or infirm or a place of rest for those persons suffering disorders requiring full-time nursing care, but not including facilities for major surgery or institutions for the care and treatment of narcotics addiction.
(53) "Occupancy certificate" means a certificate stating that all work indicated on a building permit has been satisfactorily completed or, in cases not involving construction, that a proposed new use is in conformity with this Zoning Ordinance and the building or lot may be occupied.
(54) "Parking space" means an open space or garage, on a lot, used for parking motor vehicles, the area of which is not less than two hundred square feet and to which there is access from a street or alley.
(55) "Personal care boarding home" means a facility licensed by the Commonwealth located within a dwelling where room and board is provided to more than three, but not more than twelve permanent residents, other than staff or the operator, who are sixty-two or more years of age, and who are not relatives of the operator; who are mobile or semi-mobile and require specialized services in such matters as bathing, dressing, diet and medication prescribed for self-administration for a period exceeding twenty-four consecutive hours; but who are not in need of hospitalization or skilled or intermediate nursing care, plus a maximum of four staff on any shift. Twenty-four hour supervision shall be provided by staff qualified by the sponsoring agency.
(Ord. 2717. Passed 2-10-86.)
(Ord. 2717. Passed 2-10-86.)
(55.5) “Portable Home Storage Units” means portable sheds, sometimes referred to as “PODS” that are loaded with goods and materials and temporarily placed on a residential property for the purpose of storing said goods and materials.
(Ord. 3545. Passed 7-20-09.)
(56) "Principal building or structure" means the building(s) or structure(s) on a lot in which the principal use or uses are conducted.
(57) "Principal use" means the primary or predominant use of any lot or structure.
(58) "Professional office" means the office of a member of a commonly recognized profession, including, but not limited to, medicine, law, architecture, engineering and similar occupations, which is maintained for the conduct of that profession.
(Ord. 2717. Passed 2-10-86.)
(Ord. 2717. Passed 2-10-86.)
(59) "Public hearing" means a formal meeting held pursuant to public notice by Borough Council or the Planning Commission, intended to inform and obtain public comment, prior to taking action in accordance with this Ordinance.
(60) "Public meeting" means a forum held pursuant to notice under the act of July 3, 1986 (P.L. 388, No. 84), known as the "Sunshine Act."
(61) "Public notice" means notice published once each week for two successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the Municipality. Such notice shall state the time and place of the hearing and the particular nature of the matter to be considered at the hearing. The first publication shall not be more than thirty days and the second publication shall not be less than seven days from the date of the hearing.
(Ord. 2843. Passed 11-20-89.)
(62) "Rear lot line" means that lot line which is generally opposite to the front lot line, except on corner lots where the lot lines which are opposite to the front lot lines shall be side lot lines. (See also "Lot Line," "Front Lot Line" and "Side Lot Line".)
(63) "Recreational vehicle" means a single axle or multiple axle structure mounted on wheels or otherwise capable of being made mobile, either with its own motive power or designed to be mounted on or drawn by an automotive vehicle for the purpose of travel, camping, vacation and/or recreational use, including, but not limited to, travel trailers, motor homes, tent trailers, boats, boat trailers, pick-up trucks with campers, van campers and horse trailers, but not including mobile homes.
(64) "Semi-detached building" means a building which is attached to only one other building by a common vertical wall. (See also "Building," "Attached Building" and "Detached Building.")
(Ord. 2942. Passed 7-19-93.)
(65) "Service station" means a retail business engaged primarily in the sale of motor fuels or in supplying goods and services generally required in the operation and maintenance of motor vehicles and fulfilling motorists needs, including one or more of the following: the sale of petroleum products; the sale and service of tires, batteries, automotive accessories and replacement items; washing and lubrication services; the supplying of other incidental automotive customer services and products; the performing of automotive maintenance and repair, excluding such repairs as spray painting, body, fender, frame or recapping/retreading of tires. A service station may also include the operation of a convenience store, provided motor fuel is sold at self-service or full-service pumps as part of the operation.
(Ord. 2942. Passed 7-19-93.)
(66) "Side lot line" means any lot line which is not a "front lot line" or a "rear lot line." (See also "Lot Line," "Front Lot Line" and "Rear Lot Line.")
(Ord. 2942. Passed 7-19-93.)
(67) "Single and separate ownership" means the ownership of a lot by one or more persons, partnerships or corporations, which ownership is separate and distinct from that of any abutting or adjoining lot.
(68) "Single Occupancy Medical Professional Office" means a medical professional office, as defined herein, where no more than on medical practitioner is on the site at any given time, including the office and nursing staff necessary to assist the medical practitioner, but not including any additional staff authorized to treat, test or diagnose patients independent of the medical practitioner.
(Ord. 2874. Passed 12-17-90.)
(69) "Signboards" or "billboards" means any structure, or part thereof, on which lettered or pictorial matter is displayed for advertising purposes.
(70) "Specialty retail" means an establishment devoted exclusively to the sale of distinctive, high-quality merchandise, including one or more of the following: art and photography galleries, or studios; antiques; books; boutique items; candles; candy; cards and stationery; cut and dried flowers; gifts; handicrafts; homemade and gourmet food and baked goods; ice cream parlors; interior decorator items; leather goods; men's, ladies' and children's apparel; pipes and tobacco; and shops of a similar nature.
(Ord. 2717. Passed 2-10-86.)
(Ord. 2717. Passed 2-10-86.)
(71) "Storage Trailer" means any vehicle or transportable structure which is enclosed and monted on wheels and is used as a conveyance on streets drawn by its own or other motive power intended to carry materials, equipment or other vehicles, but which is not intended for human occupancy, and which is used without permanent foundation as an accessory structure for the storage of goods and materials directly related to the principal use(s) of the lot.
(Ord. 2853. Passed 3-19-90.)
(72) "Street" means a public or private right of way deeded or dedicated for public use, twenty-five feet or more in width, which provides a means of access for vehicles or pedestrians. The term "street" shall include "road," "highway" and "thoroughfare."
(73) "Street line" means the dividing line between a lot and a public street, road or highway legally open or officially plotted by the Borough, or between a lot and private street, road or way over which the owners or tenants of two or more lots held in single and separate ownership have the right of way.
(74) "Structure" means any man-made object having an ascertainable stationary location on or in land or water, whether or not affixed to the land.
(75) "Structural alterations" means any change in the support members of a building such as bearing walls, columns, beams or girders; changes in the means of ingress and/or egress, enlargement of floor area or height of a structure; or relocation of a structure from one position to another.
(76) "Swimming pool, private" means a swimming pool, capable of containing water of a depth of greater than twenty-four inches, on the lot accessory to a dwelling, which pool is used solely for recreational purposes by the owner, operator or lessee of such a dwelling and his family or by friends invited to use such a pool without payment of fee. The term shall include all structures, appurtenances, equipment and other facilities incidental to the operation of such a pool.
(77) "Telephone central office" means a building and its equipment erected and used for the purposes of facilitating transmission and exchange of telephone or radio telephone messages between subscribers and other business of the telephone company; provided that, in residence districts, such use shall not include the transaction of business with the public, storage of materials, trucks, or repair facilities or housing or repair crews.
(Ord. 2717. Passed 2-10-86.)
(Ord. 2717. Passed 2-10-86.)
(77.5) “Tower site” means any lot or parcel on which communications facilities, as defined herein, are located or proposed to be located.
(78) "Townhouse unit" means a multiple dwelling structure of not more than three stories and not more than thirty-five feet in height containing three or more townhouse dwellings.
(79) "Use by special exception" means an authorized use which may be granted only by the Zoning Hearing Board in accordance with express standards and criteria specified in this Zoning Ordinance.
(80) "Variance" means relief from the literal terms of this Zoning Ordinance granted by the Zoning Hearing Board in cases of hardship which meet the standards of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, Act 247 of 1968, as amended.
(81) "Yard" means a required open space on a lot which is unobstructed by any portion of a principal structure other than steps, open porches, bay windows, overhanging eaves, gutters or cornices.
A. "Front yard" means a yard extending across the full width of the lot and adjacent to the front lot line. The depth measurement required by this Zoning Ordinance for the front yard shall be the horizontal distance between the front lot line and a line parallel thereto known as the building line.
B. "Side yard" means a yard extending from the building line to the rear lot line parallel to the side lot line. The minimum width measurement required by this Zoning Ordinance shall be the horizontal distance between the side lot line and a line parallel thereto.
C. "Rear yard" means a yard extending across the width of the lot between the side yard lines and adjacent to the rear lot line. The minimum depth measurement required by this Zoning Ordinance shall be the horizontal distance between the rear lot line and a line parallel thereto.
(82) "Zoning certificate" means a written form issued by the Zoning Officer which certifies that the use of land, buildings or other structures is in compliance with the provisions of this Zoning Ordinance.
(83) "Zoning Map" means the official map delineating the zoning districts of the Borough together with all amendments subsequently adopted.
(84) "Zoning Officer" means the designated official or an authorized representative appointed by Council whose duty it shall be to administer this Zoning Ordinance.