It shall be the duty of the Zoning Officer or other
such duly authorized representative of the Board of Supervisors, and
he is hereby given the power and authority, to enforce the provisions
of this chapter. The duly appointed officer shall require that the
application for a building permit contain all information necessary
to ascertain whether the proposed building, alteration or use is located
in an approved subdivision or land development. No building permit
shall be issued until the duly appointed officer has certified that
the site for the proposed building, alteration or use complies with
all the provisions of this chapter and conforms to the site description
as indicated on the approval and recorded final plan.
When an application for approval of a plat, whether preliminary or final, has been approved without conditions or approved by the applicant's acceptance of conditions, no subsequent change or amendment in Chapter 325, Zoning, this chapter 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.
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.
Where the landowner has substantially completed the
required improvements as depicted upon the final plan within the aforesaid
five-year limit or any extension thereof as may be granted by the
Supervisors, no change in Township ordinance or plan enacted subsequent
to the date of filing of the preliminary plan shall notify or revoke
any aspect of the approved final plan pertaining to zoning classification
or density, lot, building, street or utility location.
In the case of a preliminary plan calling for the
installation of improvements beyond a five-year period, a schedule
shall be filed by the landowner with the preliminary plans delineating
all proposed sections as well as deadlines within which applications
for final plan 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 plan approval until final plan
approval of the final section has been granted, and any modification
in the aforesaid schedule shall be subject to approval of the Supervisors
in its discretion.
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 the dwelling units as depicted on the
preliminary plan, unless a lesser percentage is approved by the Board
of Supervisors in its discretion. Provided the landowner has not defaulted
with regard to or violated any of the conditions of the preliminary
plan approval, including compliance with the landowner's aforesaid
schedule of submission of final plans for the various sections, then
the aforesaid protections afforded by substantially completing the
improvements depicted upon the final plan 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 protection shall apply
for an additional term or terms of three years from the date of final
plan approval for each section.
The Board of Supervisors may grant a modification
or waiver of the requirements of one or more provisions of this chapter
if the literal enforcement will exact undue hardship because of peculiar
conditions pertaining to the land in question, provided that such
modification or wavier will not be contrary to the public interest
and that the purpose and intent of the chapter is observed. All requests
for a modification or waiver shall be made in writing and shall accompany
and be a part of the application for subdivision or 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 chapter involved and the minimum modification necessary. The
request for modification or waiver will be reviewed by the Township
Planning Commission for a recommendation and advisory comments. The
Board of Supervisors and the Township Planning Commission shall keep
a written record of all action on all requests for modification or
waiver.
An applicant may request a modification or waiver
in writing prior to formally filing a preliminary or final subdivision
or land development plan. However, said modification or waiver request
shall be accompanied by an administrative fee and review escrow to
be established by resolution of the Board of Supervisors from time
to time. The applicant shall be responsible for any and all professional
review fees incurred by the Township relating to the modification
or waiver request.
The Board of Supervisors shall establish by resolution
a schedule of fees to be paid by the developer at the time of filing
a preliminary or final plan. Said schedule of fees shall be posted
in the Township Office.
Upon filing of a preliminary or final land development
or subdivision plan, the applicant shall pay, together with the filing
fee, an amount as set by resolution of the Board of Supervisors from
time to time for professional fees related to plan review, which monies
shall be placed into an escrow account.
At the time of approval of a subdivision or land development
plan, the applicant shall pay to the Township an amount as set by
resolution of the Board of Supervisors from time to time for professional
fees related to inspection of public improvements, which monies shall
be placed into an escrow account in accordance with the terms of this
chapter. Any money remaining in the applicant's plan review escrow
may be carried over into this inspection escrow. Upon approval of
the plan if there are no public improvements for which inspections
will be required or upon completion and acceptance of dedication of
public improvements by the Township, any monies remaining in the escrow
account shall be returned to the applicant.
Upon receipt of a bill for professional fees for which
the escrow was established, payment of the bill shall be made from
the escrow account. A detailed copy of the invoice shall be forwarded
to the applicant.
When an account reaches 25% of its initial amount,
the applicant shall be directed to refresh the escrow account to an
amount equal to the initial amount required. If a plan review escrow
account is not refreshed in accordance with this paragraph, professional
plan review shall cease and the plan will not be approved. If an inspection
escrow account is not refreshed in accordance with this paragraph,
inspection shall cease and a stop-work order shall be issued.
Any engineering, legal, and administrative costs in
excess of the amount submitted prior to approval of the final plan
shall be paid by the developer upon being notified of same by the
Township. Any excess paid over the amount actually required to cover
such costs of the final plan shall be returned to the developer upon
the completion of the required improvement.
No lot in a subdivision shall be sold, rented, leased
or conveyed in any manner, no permit to erect, alter or repair any
building upon land in a subdivision or land development shall be issued
and no building shall be erected in a subdivision or land development
until a final plan of such subdivision or land development has been
approved and properly recorded and until improvements have been either
constructed or guaranteed.
Any person, copartnership or corporation who shall
subdivide any lot, tract or parcel of land; lay out, construct, open
or dedicate any street, sanitary sewer, storm sewer or water mains,
for public use or travel, or for the common use of occupants of buildings
abutting thereon; sell, rent, lease or convey in any manner any lot;
or erect any building in a subdivision without first having complied
with the provisions of this chapter shall be in violation hereof.
Any person, partnership, corporation, or other entity
who shall improve or develop any real property in violation of this
chapter or an approved plan shall be in violation of this chapter
and subject to any and all penalties set forth herein.
The Township may refuse to issue any permit or grant
any approval necessary to further improve or develop any real property
that has been developed or which has resulted from a subdivision of
real property in violation of this chapter. This authority to deny
such permit or approval shall apply to any of the following applicants:
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.
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.
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. 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 condition that would
have been applicable to the property at the time the applicant acquired
an interest in such real property.
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 Springettsbury
Township, pay a 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 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 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.
The Court of Common Pleas, upon petition, may grant
an order to stay, upon cause shown, tolling the per-diem judgment
pending a final adjudication of the violation and judgment.
Nothing contained in this section shall be construed
or interpreted to grant to any person or entity other than the Township
the right to commence any action for enforcement pursuant to this
section.
In addition to other remedies, the 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 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 transferrer from such penalties or
from the remedies herein provided.
It is within the discretion of the Township to seek
cumulative remedies.
The procedure for securing review of any ordinance, decision or determination is set forth in Article X of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, Act of 1968, P.L. 805 No. 247, as reenacted and amended.