TITLE 14. ZONING AND PLANNING
CHAPTER 14-1600. MISCELLANEOUS
§14-1621. Passyunk Avenue Special District Controls. [425]
(1) Legislative Findings. The Council finds
that:
(a) Major public and private investments have been made and
continue to be made in and around Passyunk avenue to enhance visual aesthetics,
preserve and protect the economic development potential, prevent declining
property values, encourage investment and tourism, promote residential uses in
and adjacent to this area of the City, and protect and promote the economic
vitality of this area of Philadelphia;
(b) Substantial private
investment within and immediately adjacent to Passyunk avenue includes the
restoration, adaptive reuse, and reconstruction of numerous buildings as well as
new construction, thereby creating many employment opportunities and new housing
units within the area;
(c) Passyunk avenue is important to the economic
vitality and diverse character of Philadelphia in that it serves as a major
retail destination for a number of neighborhoods;
(d) The Passyunk
avenue commercial area is an area consisting of a fragile and unique balance of
retail development surrounded by predominantly single-family residential areas
within walking distance or a short commute;
(e) Therefore, special land
use and zoning controls, providing for the prohibition of certain uses and the
institution of certain development controls, are required to preserve the
integrity of the residential community and to promote and help guide appropriate
commercial development.
(2) District Boundaries. For the purposes of
this Section, the Passyunk Avenue Special District Controls shall apply to all
commercially zoned properties with frontage on Passyunk avenue between
Washington avenue and Twenty-fifth street.
(3) Prohibited Uses. Within
the area subject to the Passyunk Avenue Special District Controls and
notwithstanding any other Chapter of this Title, the following uses shall be
prohibited:
(a) Athletic and drill hall, dance hall, and other
entertainment of guests and patrons as a main use;
(b) Automobile
repair shops; automobile service station for the retail sale of automobile
fuels, lubricants and accessories; retail sale and installation of automobile
parts, tires or audio equipment; automobile and truck sale lots, except as part
of franchise new car facility; automobile and truck rental
lots;
(c) Car wash;
(d) Fortune teller
establishment;
(e) Installations of auto, boat, motorcycle or truck
parts;
(f) Non-accessory outdoor advertising
signs;
(g) Outdoor sales or storage, including outdoor use of coin
operated machines that dispense food or drink;
(h) Private
clubs;
(i) Restaurants, take-out restaurants, cafes, coffee shops and
other similar establishments for the sale and consumption of food and/or
beverages, with drive-in or take-out service (sale of food and/or beverages to
be consumed outside the confines of the premises);
(j) Retail sales of
products or food through a window or aperture which opens directly onto the
sidewalk, a public arcade, or public entranceway into a
building;
(k) Tattoo and body piercing
establishments;
(1) Trolley and bus terminals and car and bus barns;
and
(m) Any accessory speaker or audio device that causes music or
voices to reach the sidewalk area, public arcade, or public entranceway to a
building, which is adjunct to any permitted retail use, used to advertise
merchandise sold, and/or used to call public attention to the use of the
premises.
(4) Prohibition of Building Set-Back. Any building upon any
lot abutting Passyunk avenue shall not provide any front, side or rear yard that
sets back from the street line of Passyunk avenue.
(5) Signs. Signs
accessory to the use on the premises shall be permitted in this district only
under the following conditions:
(a) All signs must be attached flat
against the wall of the building;
(b) Lots facing one street line shall
be permitted a total sign area of 3 square feet for each lineal foot of street
line;
(c) Lots facing more than one street line shall be permitted a
total sign area as follows:
(.1) For the shorter street line frontage
there shall be permitted a sign area of 3 square feet for each lineal foot of
street line;
(.2) For the longer street line frontage there shall be
permitted a sign area of 2 square feet for each lineal foot of street line;
provided, that in no case shall the total sign area on the longer street line
frontage be less than the equivalent sign area permitted upon the shorter street
line frontage;
(.3) Where a lot has 2 or more short and/or 2 or more
long street line frontages, the provisions of (.1) and (.2) shall apply to each
of said street frontages;
(.4) The total of the sign areas permitted
in sub-paragraphs (.1) and (.2) may be cumulated; provided, such use is
restricted to one street frontage.
(6) Conflicting Regulations. When the
provisions of this Section conflict with other provisions of this Title, more
restrictive provisions shall control.