TEXAS TOWNSHIP, PA — The Texas Township Board of Supervisors signed its newly revised zoning ordinances into being with little fanfare at their meeting on October 7. 

“There wasn’t a lot of changes,” township zoning officer Bill Watson told the River Reporter. “It was really just bringing it up to date.”

However, there were one or two more major additions to the document. The revised ordinances include sections on short-term rentals and on renewable energy installations, addressing topics that have become issues of concern since the last township zoning revision. 

Township residents interested in looking at the ordinances can purchase copies at the township offices, said Watson. 

Short-term rentals

Short-term rentals—rooms or full houses put up for rent on sites like Airbnb or VRBO—have taken off as an industry over the past decade. Growing numbers of short-term rentals in the region of the Upper Delaware River has led a growing number of towns and townships to put laws in place to regulate them. Municipalities include Damascus Township, Wayne County and Lackawaxen Township, Pike County. 

Texas Township’s short-term rental regulations include many elements common across the region, such as:

• Occupancy of a short-term rental is limited to two people per bedroom plus an additional two people. 
• All parking must be on the property, and the short-term rental owner must provide one parking space per bedroom on the property. 
• The owner will prevent guests from creating “unreasonable noise or disturbances,” and either the owner or a designated contact person will respond within an hour to any emergency. 
• Short-term rentals will have smoke detectors in each bedroom and common hallway on each floor; carbon monoxide detectors for coal, oil or gas furnaces; and a fire extinguisher in the kitchen. 

The purpose of the regulations is “to ensure public health, safety and welfare.”

Solar and wind

The township also looked to address another emerging land use: renewable energy generation. 

Commercial solar and wind power generation is allowed only in the rural district and only as a conditional use (meaning the planning commission and the board of supervisors need to OK any project). Accessory solar and wind generators—say, solar panels on a residential rooftop—are allowed in all districts. 

The township’s regulations on commercial solar are meant “to accommodate the need for solar power facilities while regulating their location and number in the township, in recognition of the need to protect the public health, safety and welfare.”

The ordinances impose standards on commercial solar fields, including:

• A fence and/or screening landscaping may be required around the facility. 
• A company proposing a solar field will submit information on the potential glare from the project, including on how potential nuisances to nearby properties and roads will be controlled. 
• Anyone proposing a commercial solar field will cooperate with local emergency services to develop an emergency response plan, on request. 
• All battery storage will be kept at least 200 feet from property lines. 

Another set of standards applies to commercial wind turbines, including:

• The turbines will be the minimum height required to function satisfactorily. 
• Wind turbines must be at least 2,000 feet away from any nearby buildings, unless the owners of those buildings sign waivers acknowledging the potential damages they may incur as a result of the turbine. 
• Sound from a wind turbine can’t be higher than 45 decibels as measured at the exterior of any nearby occupied building. 
• Wind turbines will be a “non-obtrusive color,” such as white, off-white or gray.