(1) Conserve undeveloped land for the benefit of residents, wildlife habitat and ecosystem processes;
(2) Encourage innovation and promote flexibility, economy and ingenuity in development;
(3) Provide multiple development options for landowners to reflect their varying circumstances and the individual characteristics of their properties;
(4) Provide homes with direct views of conservation land, organized around common greens;
(5) Provide for the conservation and maintenance of conservation land and for active or passive recreational use by residents;
(6) Provide greater efficiency in the siting of services and infrastructure, including the opportunity to reduce length of roads, utility runs, and the impervious cover required for residential development;
(7) Provide a wider range of feasible locations for stormwater and wastewater facilities in order to comply with prevailing state-of-the-art designs and best management practices;
(8) Protect water quality and reduce erosion and sedimentation by retaining existing vegetation and minimizing development on steep slopes; and
(9) Implement natural resource conservation policies set forth in the Township's adopted plans.

See Article XXIX: Conservation Overlay District (CO) for complete, detailed information about this overlay district.

1. Purpose and intent.

The flood hazard areas of Schuylkill Township are subject to periodic inundation which would result or has resulted in loss of property and damage to structures, and may result in loss of life, injury to people, disruption of public and private activities and services, burdensome public expenditures for flood protection and relief, and impairment of the tax base, all of which do or may adversely affect the public health, safety and general welfare. Such flood losses are or will be caused by the cumulative effect of obstructions in flood hazard areas which cause increases in flood heights and velocities and the occupancy of flood hazard areas by uses vulnerable to floods. In addition to the general purposes of § 370-2: Purpose and the community development objectives expressed in § 370-5: Community development objectives of this chapter, it is the purpose of this district to promote the public health, safety, and general welfare and to minimize those losses described above by provisions designed to:
A. Promote the general health, welfare and safety of the public, according to the provisions of Section 604(1) of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code;
B. Restrict or prohibit uses which are dangerous to the public health or safety, which may damage property in times of flood, or which could cause increased flood heights or velocities;
C. Protect the quality and quantity of surface and subsurface water supplies adjacent to the underlying flood hazard areas;
D. Protect open space along streams, in woodlands and in wetlands and provide areas for the deposition of flood-borne sediment;
E. Require that uses vulnerable to floods, including public facilities, utilize appropriate construction practices in order to prevent or minimize flood damage;
F. Preserve the integrity of stream banks and their immediate vicinity from erosion and the degradation of natural vegetation;
G. Promote the understanding that, where uses are permitted by variance, the land subject to the variance may be designated as lying either totally or partially within the flood hazard area; and
H. Comply with federal and state floodplain management requirements.

2. General provisions.

A. Establishment of Flood Hazard District. The Flood Hazard District, as a minimum, shall include that land adjoining any perennial stream, as shown on the most recent United States Geological Survey quadrangle, or adjoining any ponds or lakes with an area of one acre or more, which is within 50 feet of the banks thereof. The Flood Hazard District shall extend for such additional distance from said banks as is or may be subject to inundation by waters of the one-hundred-year frequency flood. The identified floodplain area shall be those areas of Schuylkill Township, Chester County, which are subject to the one-hundred-year flood, as identified in the Chester County Flood Insurance Study (FIS) dated September 29, 2006, and the accompanying maps (digital and paper) as prepared for by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), or the most recent revision thereof. The Flood Hazard Districts shall include the following subdistricts:

(1) FW (Floodway District Area). The areas identified as "floodway" in the AE Zone in the Flood Insurance Study prepared by FEMA and as shown on the accompanying Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRM) dated November 20, 1996, or the most recent revisions thereof. The term shall also include floodway areas which have been identified in other available studies or sources of information for those floodplain areas where no floodway has been identified in the Flood Insurance Study.
(2) FF (Flood Fringe District Area). The remaining portions of the one-hundred-year floodplain in those areas identified as an AE Zone in the Flood Insurance Study, where a floodway has been delineated. The basis for the outermost boundary of this area shall be the one-hundred-year flood elevations as shown in the Flood Profiles contained in the Flood Insurance Study, and as shown on the FIRM maps dated November 20, 1996, or the most recent revisions thereto.
(3) FA (General Floodplain District Area). The areas identified as Zone A in the Flood Insurance Study, and as shown on the FIRM maps dated November 20, 1996, or the most recent revisions thereto, for which no one-hundred-year flood elevations have been provided. When available, information from other federal, state, and other acceptable sources shall be used to determine the one-hundred-year elevation, as well as floodway area, if possible. When no other information is available, the one-hundred-year elevations shall be determined by using a point on the boundary of the identified floodplain area which is nearest the construction or development site in question.

See Article XI: F Flood Hazard and Wetlands District for complete information.

A. Intent.

(1) Create a comprehensive framework for the application of zoning ordinance provisions for the preservation of historic sites, buildings, structures, objects, and districts in Schuylkill Township;
(2) Implement the goals of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended, as they relate to historic resources in Schuylkill Township;
(3) Implement the goals of Article I, Section 27, of the Pennsylvania Constitution which establishes the Commonwealth's policy of encouraging the preservation of historic and aesthetic resources;
(4) Implement the goals of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code,[1] as presented in Section 105 of the Act, and the purposes of Article VI, which authorizes the regulation, restriction, and prohibition of uses and structures at, along, or near places having unique historical, architectural, or patriotic interest or value, and which recognizes that zoning ordinances "shall provide for the protection of natural and historic features and resources"; and
(5) Preserve the exterior appearance of historic resources and their settings by creating a process by which the expertise of the Historical Commission is made available for the review of proposed alterations to historic resources or other proposed actions that pose potential impacts on historic resources.

B. This article establishes specific roles and functions for the Schuylkill Township Historical Commission to assist the Board of Supervisors and Zoning Officer and to offer information and recommendations for possible use at Zoning Hearing Board hearings; it authorizes the creation of an Historic Properties Map which delineates the jurisdiction of the Historical Commission under this article. The protections and incentives of this article are targeted toward the Township's most important historic resources and, therefore, include procedures for proposed demolitions, standards for demolition by neglect, area and bulk modifications, additional use opportunities for historic properties, and an historic resource impact study requirement.

General provisions

A. Compliance. Schuylkill Township shall prepare and maintain an Historic Properties Map as set forth in § 370-53: Historic Properties Map of this article. Any change to an historic resource shown on the Historic Properties Map shall occur only in full compliance with the terms of this article and other applicable regulations.
B. Historic overlay concept. The Historic Properties Map shall be deemed an overlay on any zoning district now or hereafter enacted to regulate the use of land in Schuylkill Township.

(1) For any property shown on the Historic Properties Map, the requirements and opportunities contained in this article shall:

(a) Apply in addition to the applicable requirements of the underlying zoning district; and
(b) Supersede the otherwise applicable requirements of the underlying zoning district only where those requirements are inconsistent with the requirements contained in this article.

(2) Should the Historic Properties Map be altered or reduced in scope as a result of legislative or administrative action or judicial decision, the zoning requirements and other regulatory measures applicable to the property in question shall be those of the underlying zoning district without consideration of this article.

C. Preservation of other restrictions. It is not intended by this article to repeal, abrogate, or impair any existing easements, covenants, or deed restrictions. However, where this article imposes more stringent restrictions, the provisions of this article shall prevail.

See Article IX: Historic Resource Protection Standards for complete information.

Purpose.
The standards of this overlay district have been established to protect the public health, safety, and welfare by minimizing adverse environmental impacts. These standards are intended to meet the following purposes:

A. Define and delineate selected natural resources within the Township and establish resource protection standards to mitigate potential conflicts associated with land use activity.
B. Protect and conserve the natural resources that are an integral component of the Township's character in accordance with the following specific objectives of the Schuylkill Township Open Space, Recreation, and Environmental Resources Plan (1992):

(1) Preserve streams, wetlands, floodplains, and other hydrological resources.
(2) Preserve areas of steep slopes.
(3) Preserve the quality of groundwater and aquifer recharge areas.
(4) Preserve woodlands and wildlife corridors along streams.
(5) Preserve the scenic resources of the Township.

C. Protect and conserve the natural resources identified in § 370-223A(2) that are an integral component of the Township's character in accordance with the Schuylkill Township Comprehensive Plan, the Schuylkill Township Comprehensive Plan Addendum: 2005, and the Phoenixville Area Regional Comprehensive Plan.

See Article XXVIII: Natural Resources Conservation Overlay District for complete information. 

Except as permitted by state and/or federal permit, no use shall be permitted in wetlands as determined pursuant to the federal and state wetland definition and there shall be a setback of 50 feet from the border of any wetlands in accordance with Article XXVIII: Natural Resources Conservation Overlay District.

See Article XI: F Flood Hazard and Wetlands District for more information.