Borough Council Passed Ordinance #222
Notice is hereby given by the Council of the Borough of Riegelsville that it shall hold a public hearing on March 8, 2012 at 7:00pm at the Riegelsville Borough Hall, 615 Easton Road, Riegelsville, Pennsylvania, to vote on Riegelsville Proposed Ordinance No.222 entitled, “An Ordinance Amending the Riegelsville Borough Zoning Ordinance and Zoning Map dated January 15, 1989, as amended.” A full copy of the proposed ordinance may be examined without charge at the Borough Hall, the office of this newspaper or the Law Library at the Bucks County Court House during normal business hours, or may be obtained upon request for a charge not greater than the cost thereof. The following is a summary of the ordinance which will be presented for adoption at the public hearing:
Article I – Title and Purpose. The ordinance shall be known as the “Zoning Ordinance and Zoning Map Amendments of 2011” and its purpose is to amend various provisions of the Riegelsville Borough Zoning Ordinance and Zoning Map dated January 15, 1989, as amended, by making clarifications, additions, deletions and corrections as hereinafter set forth to same.
Article II – Amendments. Amendment 1 revises the Table of Contents to reflect the substantive amendments to the Zoning Ordinance. Amendments 2 and 3 revise the Statement of Community Goals and Objectives. Amendment 4 revises Section 105 (Establishment of Districts) by establishing the new “R-3 Residential District.”
Amendments 5 through 8 reflect changes to Article II (Definitions). Specifically, Amendment 5 deletes all categorization and identification to the definitions set forth therein by section numbers; Amendment 6 deletes reference to “Section 210” in the definition of “Lot Width”; and Amendment 7 inserts and defines the following terms: “Mechanical Equipment,” “Solar Access,” “Solar Energy Systems” and “Solar Glare”; and Amendment 8 provides for the a new definition of “Street.”
Amendments 9 through 17 reflect changes to Article III (Use Regulations). Specifically, Amendment 9 inserts and defines Use A7 Forestry/Timber Harvesting in Section 303.A. Amendment 10 provides for a new area and dimensional requirements in Section 303.B.B1.b (Use Regulations) for detached dwellings. Amendment 11 provides for new area and dimensional requirements in Section 303.B.B2.b for a detached dwelling cluster subdivision. Amendment 12 provides for a redefined institutional use, E4 Adult Commercial, in Section 303.C. Amendment 13 deletes the institutional use, “Service Business” from Section 303.C. Amendment 14 adds the institutional use, E5 Village Retail or Service Business to Section 303.C. Amendment 15 adds the industrial use, G16 Recovery of Subsurface Gas and Oil Deposits, to Section 303.G. Amendment 16 adds the general accessory use and structure, H11 Solar Collector Devices to Section 303.H. Amendment 17 provides for a new Table of Use Regulations in Section 305.
Amendment 18 amends Article IV, Section 401.a regarding uses permitted by right in the RP Resource Protection District.
Amendments 19 through 21 reflect changes to Article V regarding uses permitted by right, uses permitted by conditional use and uses permitted by special exception in the R-1 Residential District.
Amendments 22 through 24 reflect changes to Article VI regarding uses permitted by right, uses permitted by conditional use and uses permitted by special exception in the R-2 Residential District.
Amendment 25 adds Article VII with respect to the particulars of the newly created R-3 Residential District in terms of its purpose (Section 700), its use regulations (Section 701) and its area and dimensional requirements (Section 702).
Amendments 26 through 28 reflect changes to Article VIII regarding uses permitted by right, uses permitted by conditional use and uses permitted by special exception in the C Commercial District. Further, Amendment 29 changes the minimum building setbacks in section 802 in the C Commercial District.
Amendments 30 through 32 reflect changes to Article IX regarding uses permitted by right, uses permitted by conditional use and uses permitted by special exception in the I Industrial District. Amendment 33 substitutes reference to “Section 1100” with “Section 1200” in section 902.c.
Amendment 34 renames former Article IX (Area, Dimensional and Parking Requirements) as being “Article X – General Regulations” and all references to other articles and sections of the Zoning Ordinance are accordingly revised per Amendment 24, supra. Amendment 35 changes the maximum fence height under the general regulations from twelve (12) feet to six (6) feet.
Amendment 35 adds two (2) new sections to the general regulations of Article X, which sections are entitled, “Section 1017 Lighting” with respect to outdoor lighting for all residential and nonresidential use and “Section 1018 Design Guidelines for Nonresidential Buildings” with respect to all new nonresidential developments and additions/alterations to nonresidential buildings in the I Industrial District and the C Commercial District.
Amendment 37 provides for a new Minimum Building Envelope chart at Section 1201.a in reference to Article XII (Natural Resource Protection Standards, Site Capacity Calculations, Open Space Standards, and Buffers).
Amendment 38 provides for a new subsection in Section 17137 (Hearings) under Article XVII (Zoning Hearing Board) in terms of making the provisions consistent with applicable provisions of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code.
Amendment 39 provides that all references to a minimum impervious surface ratio in the area and dimensional requirements as set forth in Sections 402, 502, 602, 702 and 802 are corrected to refer to a maximum impervious surface ratio.
Amendment 40 provides for an amendment to the Zoning Map to reflect the creation of the new R-3 Residential District.
Article III – Publication of Amendments. This section provides that the amendments to the Zoning Ordinance and Zoning Map as affected by this Ordinance, together with all previous provisions unaffected by this Ordinance, appear in and are part of the publication entitled, “Riegelsville Borough Zoning Ordinance, Bucks County, Pennsylvania (Revised: June, 2011),” which published codification is hereby adopted as such upon enactment of this Ordinance.
Article IV – Repealer. This section provides that all provisions of the Zoning Ordinance or Zoning Map unaffected by this Ordinance are hereby declared to be in full force and effect and any provisions of the Zoning Ordinance or Zoning Map inconsistent with the terms of this Ordinance are hereby repealed to the extent of the inconsistency.
Article V – Severability. This section provides that the provisions of this Ordinance are declared to be severable and that if any section, clause or phrase of this Ordinance is declared by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid or unconstitutional, such determination shall have no effect on the remaining provisions of this Ordinance or on the provisions of the Zoning Ordinance or the Zoning Map.
Article VI – Effective Date. The Ordinance and by reference, the Riegelsville Borough Zoning Ordinance, Bucks County, Pennsylvania (Revised: June, 2011) shall become effective upon the date of its adoption and its incorporation by reference into the Borough’s Code of Ordinances with the same force and effect as if duly recorded therein.
Prepared by the Solicitor:
William T. Dudeck, Esquire
Eastburn and Gray, P.C.
60 East Court Street
P.O. Box 1389
Doylestown, PA 1890-10137
(215) 345-7000