It was out with the old and in with the new for a Chadds Ford Township zoning ordinance. The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday held two hearings on the matter, one for the text change and the second, for the adoption of an official map reflecting the new ordinance. After about 40 minutes, supervisors approved the changes for both. Approval was unanimous.
Supervisors’ Chairman Samantha Reiner said it was a 10-year-long process that began with the township creating a task force to examine and streamline the zoning code in 2014. The result, she said, is a code that’s easier to follow.
“A lot of this has already been [in the code],” Reiner said. It’s been there for decades in the cover-to-cover zoning ordinance. It’s just been polished, revised to make it easier.”
One of the things the new code does, however, is to combine several zoning districts into one and create another district.
Previously, there were two separate districts, one for apartments — the RA District — and another — RM — for multi-family dwellings. The two are now combined into R-MA.
The new code also established a new Cultural Campus District. Several properties owned by the Brandywine Conservancy in the township had been under districts, now they are all in the CC District. As previously mentioned, the CC may in time include the Chadds Ford Historical Society’s properties on Creek Road, and possibly the Camp property — also known as the Davis tract — next to the Barn Shops.
In highlighting some of the other changes, township engineer Mike Schneider said “Common sections within specific zoning districts were moved to centralized sections. We had environmental controls and landscaping, and some of those common requirements were in each and every zoning district. We took those out and put them in a centralized location.”
Schneider also said uses were “reviewed and updated for clarity and removed if obsolete.” They were also reviewed to determine if they should be used by right, conditional use, or special exception.
Other new districts include an LI-1 (light industrial), which will include “marijuana grower/processor” as permitted with conditional use approval, Schneider said. Another new district MC (municipal conservation) District was added to protect publicly owned land in the township.
He also said the Historic Overlay District is expanded to include the Twin Bridges area.
Solicitor Mike Maddren added that the new code “will not affect anyone’s use of their house.” He did add, however, that developers will have to abide by some of the changes.
He said that the new MC District is designed to protect municipal property. “We want to preserve municipal property from future development.”
Maddren added that the new CC District affects the conservancy. “It’s to put things in line with the conservancy’s master plan.”
The solicitor also said the Historic Overlay District is designed to protect those properties that are historically significant. However, homeowners in the district will still be able to make changes as long as those changes can’t be seen from a public street. But, if those changes can be seen from a public street, they would have to go through. the Historic and Architectural Review Board.
“The important part of that is things you can see from a public street. If you want to do something in your backyard, if you want to build a deck and the deck isn’t something that expands over the footprint of the house if you can’t see it from a public street, that’s not affected,” Maddren said.
About Rich Schwartzman
Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.
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