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Township of Willistown, PA
Chester County
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents
[Amended 10-27-1992 by Ord. No. 2-1992]
A. 
The Board of Supervisors may grant a modification of the requirements of one or more provisions of this Part 1 if the literal enforcement will exact undue hardship because of peculiar conditions pertaining to the land in question, provided that such modification will not be contrary to the public interest and that the purposes and intent of this Part 1 are observed.
B. 
Any request for a modification shall be in writing and shall accompany and be a part of the application for development. The request shall state in full the grounds and facts of unreasonableness or hardship on which the request is based, the provision or provisions of the ordinance involved and the minimum modification necessary.
C. 
The Board may refer the request for modification to the Township Planning Commission for advisory comments.
D. 
In granting modifications, the Board may impose such conditions, acceptable to the applicant, as will, in its judgment, secure substantially the objectives of the standards and requirements so modified. The granting of any conditional approval shall be in accordance with the terms of § 123-17A(2)(b)[4] or 123-18A(2)(b)[5], as appropriate.
E. 
The Township shall keep a written record of all actions on all requests for modification.
A. 
No application, whether for preliminary approval, final approval or otherwise, shall be deemed to have been submitted until the fee and escrow deposit, as set forth below, shall have been paid.
B. 
A subdivision or land development application fee (nonrefundable) and an escrow deposit shall be submitted with any application for preliminary or final plan approval to cover the costs of plan review and processing. Amounts of the application fee and escrow deposit shall be fixed by the Board of Supervisors by resolution. The escrowed funds shall be used to reimburse the Township for actual expenditures incident to these processes, including but not limited to fees of the Township Engineer and legal fees in excess of the fee for review of the Township's standard forms. Any costs incurred by the Township in excess of the amount held in escrow shall be fully reimbursed by the applicant prior to the issuance of any permits. The Township may require at any time or from time to time an additional deposit to the amount being held in escrow to cover the amount of expenses reasonably anticipated to be incurred by the Township in the future. Upon completion of all of the improvements required by the approved subdivision or land development plan, after reimbursement to the Township of all of its costs and expenses as above, if any balance remains unexpended in the escrow fund, then such unexpended balance shall be returned to the applicant.
[Added 10-27-1992 by Ord. No. 2-1992]
A. 
In addition to other remedies, the Board may institute and maintain appropriate actions at 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.
B. 
The Township 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 Part 1. 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 vendee or lessee 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.
C. 
As an additional condition for issuance of a permit or the granting of an approval to any such owner, 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.
D. 
The demolition or removal of an historic resource as defined in Chapter 139 of this Code involving any existing, proposed or future subdivision or land development shall constitute a violation of this Part 1.
[Added 6-11-2001 by Ord. No. 3-2001]
[Amended 10-27-1992 by Ord. No. 2-1992]
Any person, partnership or corporation who or which has violated the provisions of this Part 1 shall, upon being found liable therefor in a civil enforcement proceeding commenced by the Township, pay a judgment of not more than $500 plus all court costs, including reasonable attorney's fees, incurred by the Township as a result thereof. No judgment shall commence or be imposed, levied or be payable until the date of the determination of a violation by the 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 determining that there has been a violation further determines that there was a good-faith basis for the person, partnership or corporation violating this Part 1 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.
[Added 10-27-1992 by Ord. No. 2-1992]
A. 
The Board may, from time to time, revise, modify or amend the terms of this Part 1. Except for an amendment proposed by the Township Planning Commission, the Board shall submit any proposed amendment to the Township Planning Commission for review and recommendation. At least 30 days prior to the hearing on the proposed amendment, the Board shall submit any proposed amendment to the Chester County Planning Commission for review and recommendation. The Board shall take no action to approve or deny any proposed amendment until it has received a report on the proposed amendment from the County Planning Commission, or until 30 days have been allowed for the receipt of such report.
B. 
Notice of the date, time and place of the public hearing on the proposed amendment, and the content of that notice, shall be in accordance with Section 506 of the Municipalities Planning Code.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: See 53 P.S. § 10506.
C. 
In the event that substantial amendments are made in the proposed ordinance or amendment, before voting on enactment, the Board, at least 10 days prior to enactment, shall readvertise a brief summary setting forth all the provisions in reasonable detail, together with a summary of the amendments.
D. 
Within 30 days following adoption, the Township shall forward a certified copy of any amendment to this Part 1 to the Chester County Planning Commission.