Act 247 of 1968 (as amended), the "Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code,"[1] grants the governing body of each municipality within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania the power to regulate subdivisions and land development by enacting a subdivision and land development ordinance. The proper enactment procedures require that a certified copy of this chapter must be filed with the Clearfield County Planning Commission within 30 days of adoption.
[1]
Editor's Note: See 53 P.S. § 10101 et seq.
A. 
No subdivision of any parcel of land shall be made, nor improvements in connection therewith shall be laid out, constructed, opened or dedicated for public use or travel, except in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.
B. 
All subdivision plans proposed for land development within Lawrence Township shall henceforth be submitted to and be approved by the Board of Township Supervisors after review and recommendations by the Lawrence Township Planning Commission. Review by Clearfield County is required for comment only. Final approvals rest with the Lawrence Township Board of Supervisors. This approval must be received before the plans or deeds for lots within the plans are recorded with the Clearfield County Recorder of Deeds.
Applications and plans for subdivision and land development located within Lawrence Township shall be forwarded on receipt by Lawrence Township to the Clearfield County Planning Commission for review and comment. The Township shall not approve such applications and plans until the county comments are received, or until the expiration of 30 days from the date the applications and plans are received by the Township.
A. 
In addition to other remedies, Lawrence Township may institute and maintain appropriate actions by law or in equity to restrain, correct, or abate violations, to prevent unlawful construction, to recover damages and to prevent illegal occupancy of a building, structure, or premises. The description of property by metes and bounds in the instrument of transfer or other documents used in the process of selling or transferring shall not exempt the seller or transferor from such penalties or from the remedies herein provided. The Township of Lawrence may refuse to issue any permit or grant any approval necessary to further improve or develop any real property which has been developed or which has resulted from a subdivision of real property in violation of this chapter. This authority to deny such a permit or approval shall apply to any of the following applicants:
(1) 
The owner of record at the time of such violation.
(2) 
The vendee or lessee of the owner of record at the time of such violation without regard as to whether such current owner had actual or constructive knowledge of the violation.
(3) 
The current owner of record who acquired the property subsequent to the time of violation without regard as to whether such current owner had actual or constructive knowledge of the violation.
(4) 
The vendee or lessee of the current owner of record who acquired the property subsequent to the time of violation without regard as to whether such vendee or lessee had actual or constructive knowledge of the violation.
B. 
As an additional condition for issuance of a permit or the granting of an approval to any such owner, the current owner, vendee, or lessee for the development of any such real property, the Township may require compliance with the conditions that would have been applicable to the property at the time the applicant acquired an interest in such real property.
[Added 12-2-1997 by Ord. No. 97-7]
Where landowners ascertain that their grantor or previous grantors have conveyed a property without approval of a subdivision as required by this chapter or the prior subdivision ordinance, the landowner may seek a curative subdivision for the tract. The application shall be filed under an application for that purpose and shall be referred to the Lawrence Township Planning Commission as other applications. The Township Planning Commission shall review the application to determine whether the granting of the application shall achieve the goals of Article I of this chapter and whether the applicant was at fault in failing to secure an application. If it determines the applicant was not at fault, it may recommend the approval of the subdivision as to the tract and recommend such waivers of the subdivision ordinance as is consistent with the overall goals of Article I of this chapter. If it is determined the applicant was at fault, then the application shall meet all the requirements of either § 107-16, 107-17 or 107-18 depending on the number of lots involved in the subdivision. The Township Planning Commission shall render a recommendation to the Township Supervisors in the same manner as other applications.
A. 
District Justices shall have initial jurisdiction in proceedings brought under this section.
B. 
Any person, partnership, or corporation who or which has violated the provisions of this chapter shall, upon being found liable therefor in a civil enforcement proceeding commenced by Lawrence Township, pay judgment of not more than $500 plus all court costs, including reasonable attorney fees incurred by the Township as a result thereof. No judgment shall commence or be imposed, levied, or payable until the date of the determination of a violation by the appropriate District Justice. If the defendant neither pays nor timely appeals the judgment, the Township may enforce the judgment pursuant to the applicable rules of civil procedure. Each day that a violation continues shall constitute a separate violation, unless the District Justice determines that there has been a violation and further determines that there was a good-faith basis for the person, partnership, or corporation violating the chapter to have believed that there was no such violation, in which event there shall be deemed to have been only one such violation until the fifth day following the date of the determination of a violation by the District Justice and thereafter each day that a violation continues shall constitute a separate violation.
C. 
The Clearfield County Court of Common Pleas, upon petition, may grant an order of stay, upon cause shown, tolling the per diem judgment pending a final adjudication of the violation and judgment.
D. 
Nothing contained in this section shall be construed or interpreted to grant to any person or entity other than Lawrence Township the right to commence any action for enforcement pursuant to this section.