The designated Conservation Area(s) of an RD-C zone (which allows single-family detached dwellings) shall meet the requirements of the Township Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance. The designated Development Area(s) of the RD-C zone (which allows attached, semidetached and detached single-family dwellings) shall meet the following specific design criteria.
The Township Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance shall remain in full force and effect in the Development Area unless there is a specific conflict with this Section in which event this Section shall control.
A. Utilities
All utility lines shall be installed underground and easements shall be provided for utilities with the following minimum widths:
1. Sanitary Sewer Main or Storm Water main (minimum diameter of 36 inches or greater) - thirty (30) feet;
2. Storm Sewer (18 to 30 inch diameter) or Water Main - twenty (20) feet;
3. Combined utilities thirty (30) feet;
4. Telephone, electric, gas, cable television, and lot yard drain systems (less than 18-inch diameter) and other similar utilities - ten (10) feet.
Sewerage and water supply shall be by a public sewerage supply system and a public or community water supply system as approved by the Township. All t.v. hook-ups shall either be by cable television or a central antenna system or individual direct broadcast satellite services with dishes not to exceed 31 in diameter, designed to minimize adverse aesthetic impact.6
B. Refuse
Refuse stations to serve residential and recreational areas shall be designated with suitable opaque fencing with a minimum height of six (6) feet, located so as to be convenient for trash removal and not offensive to nearby residential areas.
C. Streets and Pathways
1. The street system shall be designed so as to relate harmoniously with land uses within and adjacent to the development. A hierarchy of roadway functions shall be established. This hierarchy shall include internal collector and local streets to create a separation of automobile and pedestrian traffic. The design of streets, dwelling units, open space areas and pedestrian walkways shall be coordinated in order to create efficient and safe connections with the existing road system of the municipality, to ensure proper ingress and egress, and to minimize through traffic in residential areas.
2. Internal collector streets and local streets shall be so designated and shall have a minimum right-of-way of fifty (50) feet and minimum cartway widths of twenty-eight (28) and twenty-two (22) feet respectively.
3. Each lot shall be served by a driveway. However, a driveway may be shared by no more than three (3) lots of detached dwellings, four (4) lots or semi-detached dwellings, twelve (12) lots of attached dwellings, or twelve (12) lots of a mixture of attached and semi-detached dwellings.
4. Driveways serving individual groupings or clusters of not less than five (5) and not more than twelve (12) dwellings shall have a minimum cartway width of twenty-two (22) feet, shall not be in excess of four hundred (400) feet in length, and shall have a paved area with an outside turning radius of forty-eight (48) feet at the terminus.
5. Loop streets shall have an interval of at least three hundred (300) feet between intersections.
6. In order to separate automobile and pedestrian circulation and to increase accessibility to common open space areas, pedestrian walkways and pathways may be provided throughout the property in lieu of sidewalks within the roadway right-of-way.
7. The construction of streets must conform to the standards set forth in the Solebury Township Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance relative to paving specifications, cartway design, horizontal and vertical alignment, and sight distances.
a. Cul-de-sac street may not exceed a distance of eight hundred (800) feet as measured from the right-of-way line of the intersecting through street to the center of the turnaround.
b. Stub streets less than three hundred (300) feet in length, as measured from the right-of-way of the intersecting through street to the terminus of the road shall be permitted, provided the total number of lots fronting the stub street shall not exceed eight (8).
c. Stub streets in excess of three hundred 300 feet which provide access to adjacent parcels shall be permitted, provided a temporary cul-de-sac with a minimum width of fifty (50) feet and minimum length of seventy-five (75) feet is constructed.
D. Parking
1. Provisions of Article 16 shall apply except that:
a. Required off-street parking spaces shall be on the same lot or within one hundred (100) feet of the principal use served, and
b. Private garage space for a dwelling shall not be counted for the purpose of determining compliance with this article.
No common parking area shall be closer than ten (10) feet from any building and five (5) feet from any property line or right-of-way line. All parking areas shall be screened and landscaped in accordance with Article 19, Sections .1907 and 1908.
2. The number of off-street parking spaces required for visitor parking shall be an additional one (1) space per ten (10) dwellings units. The spaces shall be conveniently located with regard to serving each group of buildings.
3. Off-street parking spaces shall not be less than nine and one-half (9.5) feet in width and nineteen (19) feet in depth. However, two (2) percent of the spaces shall not be less than twelve and one-half (12.5) feet in width and nineteen (19) feet in depth and shall be reserved for the handicapped and so marked with an appropriate symbol.
4. Where parking spaces are grouped in lots, aisles at least twenty-two (22) feet in width shall be provided.
5. No more than twenty (20) parking spaces shall be accommodated in any single parking area.
6. A partial space shall require a full parking space to be provided.
7. Parking spaces shall be a least nine (9) feet by eighteen (18) feet in size.
1. Driveways shall be set a minimum of thirty-five (35) feet from a street intersection (as measured from the gutterline of the intersecting street).
2. On-lot driveway turnaround shall not be required.
3. The maximum slope for any portion of the driveway shall not exceed an eight (8) percent grade.
The designated Conservation Area(s) of an RD-C zone (which allows detached single-family dwellings) shall meet the requirements of the Township Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance. The designated Development Area(s) of an RD-C zone (which allows attached, semidetached and detached single-family dwellings) shall meet the following specific environmental controls.
The Township Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance shall remain in full force and effect in the Development Area unless there is a specific conflict with this Section in which event this Section shall control.
A. Stormwater Control
1. The storm drainage system shall be designed and constructed so as to minimize erosion and flooding, using as necessary, drainage easements, swales, catchment basins, silt traps, and the design of cartways to minimize runoff.
2. Where existing storm sewers are deemed by the Township Supervisors as accessible, the Township Supervisors may require that proposed development connect therewith.
3. All stormwater management design standards shall be in accordance with the provisions for Design Standards and Required Improvements embodied in the Solebury Township Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance, as may be amended from time to time.
4. Storm sewer systems for the development shall be designed, constructed and shall operate and be readily capable of being maintained to prevent concentration of stormwater runoff on adjacent developed or undeveloped properties and streets and other areas of impervious surface.
5. The design and construction of all storm drainage facilities and storm sewer systems shall be subject to the approval of the Township.
6. Yard drain inlets and associated piping shall be sized for the required design storm, however, in no case shall the minimum pipe size be less than twelve (12) inches in diameter. Yard drains shall be a minimum 2 foot by 2 foot concrete structure or Township approved equivalent. Clean-outs shall be required at bends. Corrugated polyethylene pipe shall be permitted for yard drain systems.9
B. Soil Erosions and Sedimentation Control
Plans submitted for any development shall conform to the guidelines for minimizing erosion and sedimentation as set forth in the Soil Erosion and Sedimentation Control Manual of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources prepared by the State Conservation Commission and Bureau of Water Quality Management and the U.S.D.A. Soil Conservation Service, as amended. In developing a plan for the control of erosion and sedimentation, the developer shall meet as a minimum, the standards and specifications outlined in the aforementioned manual, as well as the standards set forth in the Solebury Township Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance.
C. Location of Structures, Drainage Channels and French Drains within, or within two hundred (200) feet of areas as identified as having carbonate limestone geology in Conservation and Management Practices for Buckingham and Durham Carbonate Valleys, February 1985.
Except as provided herein below, no structures of any kind, roads or driveways shall be constructed within one hundred (100) feet of:
1. sinkholes
2. closed depressions
3. lineaments
4. fracture traces
5. caverns
6. ghost lakes
7. disappearing streams
8. surface or subsurface pinnacles
9. fissures
10. faults
All drainage on the site shall be channeled away from them. French drains are prohibited within one hundred (100) feet of these features.
Structures may be located closer than one hundred (100) feet from the above specified carbonate geology features, or any of them, provided that
1. A qualified professional geologist, selected by the Developer, certifies that the specific carbonate geology feature or features in question are inactive or present minimal risk to the safety of such structure(s), and that the findings of the said qualified professional geologist are also certified by an expert chosen by the Township, and
2. Said structure(s) shall be constructed to conform to the then current standards of The American National Standards Institute (ANSI), Building Officials & Code Administrators International, Inc. (BOCA) and The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officers (AASHTO).
Roads and/or driveways, excluding bridges and culverts, may be constructed to cross carbonate geology features provided that:
a. There is access to the site other than such roads and/or driveways;
b. Flexible couplings are used for utilities, storm drains and similar facilities; and,
c. Construction conforms to then current engineering standards for safe construction considering the type and conditions of carbonate geology feature being crossed.
D. Tree Conservation and Landscaping
1. In the Conservation Areas and in the Development Areas, existing trees shall be preserved wherever possible. Areas in which trees are to be preserved shall remain at original grade level or shall remain with minimal disturbance to the area within the drip line. Tree wells may be constructed to preserve existing trees in graded areas.
Where natural tree cover and vegetation do not exist or cannot be preserved on the site, landscaping shall be regarded as an essential feature of the development, responsive to the functional aesthetic characteristics of the site. In these cases, landscaping shall be undertaken in order to create visual interest, enhance the appearance of the development, aid in erosion control, provide protection from wind and sun, screen streets and parking areas, and enhance the privacy of dwelling units.
2. In the Development Areas, a woodland and tree inventory plan shall be submitted as part of the preliminary land development or subdivision plan submission. The Township Planning Commission may require that a tree of at least three to four (3-4) inches in caliper is planted for every tree of twelve (12) inches or more in caliper which is removed, as evidenced in a woodland and tree inventory plan. This requirement is in addition to the required street trees.
3. In the Conservation Areas, the following landscape criteria shall apply:
a. The preservation of existing hedgerows, woodlands, and woodland edges shall be a feature of any preliminary or final plan submission;
b. No more than ten (10) percent of the linear feet of any existing hedgerow shall be destroyed;
c. For every one hundred (100) feet length of perimeter edge of existing woodland, no more than ten (10) percent of the edge shall be destroyed.
4. Street trees shall be provided along all internal collector and local streets in accordance with Section 1908. Trees shall be planted in alternating or opposite rows at intervals of sixty (60) feet. Trees may be grouped in certain cases to achieve a particular design objective when approved by the Township Supervisors.
5. A buffer area of fifty (50) feet in width shall be provided along all perimeter property lines, within which a twenty (20) foot buffer planting strip shall be provided, both of which shall be in accordance with Article 19. A twenty (20) foot buffer planting area shall also be provided in the thirty-five (35) foot setback required between any two principal buildings.
6. Buildings and parking areas shall be landscaped in accordance with Section 1908.
E. Other Environmental Controls
In addition to the controls presented in the above subsections herein, all development shall be governed by the Environmental Controls set forth in Article 18, Section 1811, pertaining to such matters as noise, vibration, storage, glare and heat, fire and explosion, and traffic control.
F. Environmental Impact Assessment Report (EIAR)
The EIAR shall be prepared in accordance with Article 19, Section 1909, except that the EIAR shall be submitted as part of the preliminary land development or subdivision plan submission. An updated EIAR shall cover the designated Development Area of the RD-C parcel and need not cover the Conservation Area where individual lots are greater than twenty (20) acres each.
The vegetation map (woodland and tree inventory plan) prepared as part of the EIAR shall define the locations and boundaries of the woodland and forest areas of the Development Area(s). The vegetation map shall note the type of vegetative associations which exist. Within the area of disturbance, the numbers of existing trees twelve (12) inches or greater in caliper shall be estimated. The area of disturbance shall include areas which have been regraded, cleared or otherwise disturbed, including the area within the drip fine of all impacted trees.
A. General
Open space areas may include woodland and forest areas, surface water resources, wetland areas, flood plains, agricultural lands, Class I, Class II and Class III Steep Slopes, and other areas having scenic, ecological, historic, environmental and/or recreational characteristics in accordance with Article 20.
B. Preservation of Open Space in Conservation Areas
The permanent preservation of open space in designated Conservation Areas shall be accomplished by the filing of appropriate covenants, deed restrictions, easements, or other agreements, unless all or part of such areas are to be transferred to a conservation organization which is dedicated to the permanent preservation of open space. Such an organization must be acceptable to the Township Supervisors.
C. Preservation of Open Space in Development Areas
The permanent preservation of open space in designated Development Areas shall be in accordance with Article 20.
To the extent that the controls listed in this Article conflict with the standards and controls outlined elsewhere in the Solebury Township Zoning Ordinance and in the Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance then the provisions of this section shall take precedence.
