West Chester Township reviews major zoning and land-use code overhaul; short-term rentals, signs and garages draw the most comment

West Chester Township officials and consultant McBride Dale Clarion presented a draft comprehensive land use plan update and a near-complete rewrite of the township's zoning resolution at a Feb. 19 joint work session with the Board of Trustees and Zoning Commission.

The consultant said the land use plan changes are strategic edits that update demographics and the future land use map and align terminology with the new zoning code, while the zoning resolution is a near-total rewrite intended to modernize formatting, strengthen design standards and make the code easier to use.

The draft code would: restrict short-term rentals to multifamily and commercial districts and not permit them in single-family districts; raise the maximum allowable size for detached residential garages from 480 square feet to 1,000 square feet while limiting garages to no more than 50% of a principal structure's floor area and a 20-foot maximum height; replace pole and pylon freestanding signs with lower-profile ground signs that must include a masonry base and landscaping; allow wall-sign area based on linear frontage rather than building elevation and permit multiple wall signs if the overall allowance is not exceeded; require landscaping buffers and a 10-foot parking-lot buffer from the right-of-way for new commercial construction; adopt specific temporary-sign rules (residential temporary signs: up to two signs per lot, 16 square feet each and a 6-foot height limit; commercial temporary signs: generally 90 days at a time, up to two periods per year); permit food trucks for special events and private-property uses with owner permission and required state/county licenses (operations limited to 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.; overnight parking prohibited unless associated with the principal use); and restrict new standalone…