The Pocono Township Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance
of February 17, 1981, as amended, is hereby amended and restated in
its entirety as hereinafter set forth. This chapter is not intended
to and shall not be construed to affect or change any other ordinance,
code or regulation of Pocono Township. If any other ordinance, code
or regulation of Pocono Township is in conflict or inconsistent with
the requirements of this chapter, the most restrictive standards and
provisions shall apply.
An ordinance governing subdivisions and land developments within
the limits of Pocono Township and providing application procedures,
design standards and maintenance requirements for improvements and
prescribing penalties for violations. This chapter shall be known
and may be cited as the "Pocono Township Subdivision and Land Development
Ordinance."
A.
Application. This chapter shall apply to all proposed subdivisions
and land developments in Pocono Township proposed after the effective
date of this chapter.
(1)
The responsibilities of the Planning Commission are specifically
enumerated throughout this chapter. All other power and authority
is specifically reserved by the Board of Commissioners.
(2)
No subdivision or land development of any lot, tract or parcel of
land shall be made, and no street, sanitary sewer, storm sewer, water
main or other improvements in connection therewith shall be laid out,
constructed, opened or dedicated for public use or travel, or for
the common use of occupants of buildings abutting thereon, except
in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.
(3)
No lot in a subdivision may be sold, no permit to erect or alter
any building upon land in a subdivision or a land development may
be issued, and no building may be erected in a subdivision or a land
development, unless and until a plan of such subdivision or land development
shall have been approved and properly recorded, and until the improvements
required herein in connection therewith have been constructed or guaranteed
as hereinafter provided.
(4)
No person, firm or corporation proposing to make, or having made,
a subdivision or land development within the Township shall proceed
with any grading before obtaining from the Board of Commissioners
the approval of the preliminary plan of the proposed development,
and no deeds shall be recorded for lots in any development, before
obtaining from the Board of Commissioners the approval of the final
plan of the proposed subdivision or land development, except as otherwise
provided herein.
(5)
The proposed subdivision or land development plat shall be in general
accordance with the Township Comprehensive Plan.
B.
Powers. The Township shall have all powers necessary to administer
the provisions of this chapter without limitation by reason of enumeration
including the following:
(1)
To prohibit the development of any land found to be unsuitable as
defined by this chapter.
(2)
To require that improvements to the land be made as defined by this
chapter.
(3)
To require the dedication of land, provision of open space and/or
payment of recreation fees as defined as a condition of subdivision
or land development plan approval.
(4)
To require adherence to this chapter and its standards.
(5)
To require complete and accurate preliminary and final subdivision
and land development submissions and additional information necessary
to make reasonable evaluations of such plans.
(6)
To make conditional approvals where requirements specified in writing
by the Township will satisfactorily protect the public interest and
health, and will not violate state laws and will accomplish the purpose
of this chapter.
C.
Recording of plans. In accord with Section 513 of the Pennsylvania
Municipalities Planning Code,[1] the Recorder of Deeds of the County shall not accept any
subdivision or land development map or plan for recording unless such
map or plan officially notes the approval of the Board of Commissioners
and the review of the Monroe County Planning Commission.
[1]
Editor's Note: See 53 P.S. § 10513.
A.
General. This chapter has been adopted to protect and promote the
health, safety, and general welfare of the citizens of Pocono Township
by establishing regulations to allow for the proper and controlled
development of the Township, to provide for environmental protection
and to insure the proper provision of community facilities. Regulations
for specific types of development for which additional standards have
been deemed necessary are intended to protect the rights of the residents
of Pocono Township to enjoy clean air, pure water, and the natural,
scenic, historic, and aesthetic value of the environment, and in particular
to preserve and conserve the natural features of the Township.
B.
Land capability; conservation design. The basic tenet of subdivision
and land development in Pocono Township is basing design on land capability
and encouraging flexibility of design via the conservation design
process to help protect an interconnected network of open space throughout
the Township and help establish substantial buffers along boundaries
with existing protected lands.
C.
Comprehensive Plan. This chapter has also been adopted to accomplish
the goals and objectives of the Township Comprehensive Plan and to
establish the resource inventory maps and the Map of Conservation
Opportunities in the Comprehensive Plan as the basis for the design
of projects and conservation area protection.
In interpretation and application, the provisions of this chapter
shall be held to be the minimum requirements for the promotion of
the public health, safety, morals, and the general welfare of the
Township and its citizens. It is not intended to interfere with or
abrogate or annul other rules, regulations, or ordinances of the Township
except that where this chapter imposes a more stringent or greater
requirement on the development of land or structure, or requires larger
open spaces than are imposed by such other rules, regulations, or
ordinances, the provisions of this chapter shall control.
Changes in this chapter shall affect plats as follows:
A.
Pending action. From the time an application for approval of a plat,
whether preliminary or final, is duly filed as provided in this chapter,
and while such application is pending approval or disapproval, no
change or amendment of the Township subdivision or other governing
ordinance or plan shall affect the decision on such application adversely
to the applicant, and the applicant shall be entitled to a decision
in accordance with the provisions of the governing ordinances or plans
as they stood at the time the application was duly filed. In addition,
when a preliminary application has been duly approved, the applicant
shall be entitled to final approval in accordance with the terms of
the approved preliminary application as hereinafter provided. However,
if an application is properly and finally denied, any subsequent application
shall be subject to the intervening change in governing regulations.
B.
Project completion and effect of litigation. When an application
for approval of a plat, whether preliminary or final, has been approved
under the terms of this chapter without conditions or approved by
the applicant's acceptance of conditions, no subsequent change
or amendment in the subdivision or other governing ordinance or plan
shall be applied to affect adversely the right of the applicant to
commence and to complete any aspect of the approved development in
accordance with the terms of such approval within five years from
such approval. The five-year period shall be extended for the duration
of any litigation, including appeals, which prevent the commencement
or completion of the development, and for the duration of any sewer
or utility moratorium or prohibition which was imposed subsequent
to the filing of an application for preliminary approval of a plat.
In the event of an appeal filed by any party from the approval or
disapproval of a plat, the five-year period shall be extended by the
total time from the date the appeal was filed until a final order
in such matter has been entered and all appeals have been concluded
and any period for filing appeals or requests for reconsideration
have expired. Provided, however, no extension shall be based upon
any water or sewer moratorium which was in effect as of the date of
the filing of a preliminary application.
C.
Five-year initiation. Where final approval is preceded by preliminary
approval, the aforesaid five-year period shall be counted from the
date of the preliminary approval. In the case of any doubt as to the
terms of a preliminary approval, the terms shall be construed in the
light of the provisions of the governing ordinances or plans as they
stood at the time when the application for such approval was duly
filed.
D.
Substantially completed improvements. Where the landowner has substantially
completed the required improvements as depicted upon the final plat
within the aforesaid five-year limit, or any extension thereof as
may be granted by the Board of Commissioners, no change of municipal
ordinance or plan enacted subsequent to the date of filing of the
preliminary plat shall modify or revoke any aspect of the approved
final plat pertaining to zoning classification, density, lot, building,
street or utility location.
E.
More than five years. In the case of a preliminary plat calling for
the installation of improvements beyond the five-year period, a schedule
shall be filed by the landowner with the preliminary plat delineating
all proposed sections as well as deadlines within which applications
for final plat approval of each section are intended to be filed.
Such schedule shall be updated annually by the applicant on or before
the anniversary of the preliminary plat approval, until final plat
approval of the final section has been granted and any modification
in the aforesaid schedule shall be subject to approval of the Board
of Commissioners in its discretion.
F.
Sections. Each section in any residential subdivision or land development,
except for the last section, shall contain a minimum of 25% of the
total number of dwelling units as depicted on the preliminary plan,
unless a lesser percentage is approved by the Board of Commissioners
in its discretion. Provided the landowner has not defaulted with regard
to or violated any of the conditions of the preliminary plat approval,
including compliance with the landowner's aforesaid schedule
of submission of final plats for the various sections, then the aforesaid
protections afforded by substantially completing the improvements
depicted upon the final plat within five years shall apply, and for
any section or sections, beyond the initial section, in which the
required improvements have not been substantially completed within
said five-year period, the aforesaid protections shall apply for an
additional term or terms of three years from the date of final plat
approval for each section.
G.
Landowner failure. Failure of landowner to adhere to the aforesaid
schedule of submission of final plats for the various sections shall
subject any such section to any and all changes in zoning, subdivision
and other governing ordinance enacted by the Township subsequent to
the date of the initial preliminary plan submission.
Only one plan concerning any area of land shall be actively
before the Township for review at any one moment in time.
This chapter, as adopted herein and as may be duly amended by
the Board of Commissioners, is not intended to and shall not be construed
to affect or repeal any other ordinance, code or regulation of the
Township. If any other ordinance, code or regulation of the Township
is in conflict or inconsistent with the requirements of this chapter,
the most restrictive standards and provisions shall apply.
In the event that any provision, section, sentence, or clause
of this chapter shall be held to be unconstitutional, illegal or invalid,
such unconstitutionality, illegality or invalidity shall not affect
or impair any remaining part of this chapter, it being the intent
of the Township that such remainder shall be and shall remain in full
force and effect.
