White Township has the power to review and approve
or disapprove plans for the subdivision of land, for the arrangement
and administration of land developments, and for the layout of multifamily
residential developments within its corporate limits under the authority
vested in the Board of Supervisors by the Pennsylvania Municipalities
Planning Code, Act 247 of 1969, as amended.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: See 53 P.S. § 10101 et seq.
This chapter is adopted for the following reasons:
A.
To promote the public health, safety and general welfare
of the residents and property owners.
B.
To guarantee that a vehicular circulation system,
a safe means of sewage disposal, a potable water supply of sufficient
capacity and control of storm drainage are provided for in each subdivision
and development plan.
C.
To safeguard lands subject to flooding or subsidence,
and to prevent erosion, unnecessary destruction of plant materials
and excessive grading.
D.
To assure property owners and residents of the Township
that all plans will be considered on an established public policy,
objectively and uniformly enforced.
This chapter shall be known and may be cited
as the "White Township Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance."
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
The arrangement of nonresidential building or buildings and
supporting facilities on a parcel of land for use by a commercial
or industrial business, or a nonprofit entity when the building is
used for any use except a single-family dwelling. Examples of the
latter include, but are not limited to, hospitals, places of worship
and assembly, or educational facilities. Supporting facilities will
normally include, but not necessarily be limited to, access drives
into the site, car parking, truck servicing areas, storm drainage
system and landscaping. The impact of the development on adjacent
roads and the surrounding neighborhood, as the result of site grading
and traffic generation among other considerations, are of sufficient
concern to the public health and safety to require the Township's
review and action prior to construction.
[Amended 12-7-2016 by Ord. No. 1076]
A subdivision in which five or more lots, tracts or parcels
are created, and/or new streets or extensions of existing streets,
public or private, required to serve at least one of the lots, tracts,
or parcels in order to provide the minimum street frontage for the
lot or lots, and/or sewer or water lines or both must be extended
to serve one or more of the lots.
A subdivision in which less than five lots, tracts or parcels
are created, all of which abut a public street in existence prior
to presentation of the subdivision, each lot with sufficient frontage
thereon; and further, no extension of public or private sewer or water
lines is required to serve any or all of the lots, tracts or parcels.
A tract of land in one ownership which has been planned and improved for the placement of two or more mobile homes, each on a prepared site at which sanitary sewage and water supply connections are available. Improvements within the tract shall include paved roads abutting all mobile home sites connecting to a public street and community facilities. Each mobile home to be accommodated on the site shall contain its own bathing and toilet enclosure, as well as its own cooking and food storage facilities. The mobile home park regulations are incorporated into this chapter as Article VIII.
A design concept to be applied to a tract of land which is
proposed for improvement as a single plan for a number of dwelling
units. The arrangement of buildings and density of development may
be more intense on the more accessible and easily developed parts
of the property, provided a compensating portion of the property is
permanently set aside for open space and recorded as such. The purposes
of the concept are to safeguard forever steep slopes, woods, floodplains
and other environmentally sensitive areas, permit shorter lengths
of streets and utilities with less land surface disturbance and encourage
a wider range of housing types.
The division by the owner, grantor or devisor, of a single lot,
tract or parcel of land, or a part thereof, into two or more lots,
tracts or parcels of land, including lots, tracts or parcels to be
retained by the owner, grantor or devisor, and those lots, tracts
and parcels to be conveyed, or leased, whether now or in the future,
to others for immediate or later development. The rearrangement of
property lines, although not creating any new properties, and the
combining of several lots, tracts, or parcels or parts thereof to
create a new property or properties, whether resulting in fewer properties
in number or not, shall be considered subdivisions for the purpose
of this chapter.
The division of land for agricultural purposes into lots, tracts,
or parcels of more than 10 acres and not involving the construction
of any new streets, utilities or access easements shall be exempted
provided each such lot, tract or parcel thus created has access to
at least a usable, permanent recorded easement not less than 20 feet
wide connecting to a public road.
A.
On and after the effective date of this chapter, no
lot in a subdivision may be sold, no permit to erect, alter, repair
or remove any building upon land in a subdivision or a land development
may be issued and no building may be erected in a subdivision or land
development or mobile home placed in a mobile home park unless and
until a subdivision plan or land development plan has been approved
by the Board of Supervisors or its designated representative, the
Planning Commission and recorded in the office of the Indiana County
Recorder of Deeds, and until the improvements required by this chapter
have either been constructed or guaranteed.
B.
In their interpretation and application, the provisions
of this chapter shall be held to be the minimum requirements adopted
for the protection of the public health, safety and welfare.
C.
This chapter shall not apply to any lot or lots, plan
of lots, development, or mobile home park plan created and lawfully
recorded prior to February 14, 1963, except as regards the development
of such lots or plan.
D.
Any redivision or combination of lots within a plan
previously recorded or any rearrangement of structures, parking areas,
graded land surfaces or other elements within a development plan or
mobile home park shall be subject to this chapter.
E.
Any lot or plan of lots or development or mobile home
park plan illegally recorded or not lawfully recorded prior to adoption
of this chapter shall not be given legal status by adoption.
F.
It is not the intent of this chapter to annul or interfere
with existing laws or ordinances or with private restrictions placed
upon property by deed, covenant or other private agreement or with
restrictive covenants running with the land to which the Township
is a party, except that where this chapter imposes greater restrictions
upon land and development than are imposed or required by such existing
provisions of law, ordinance, contract or deed, it shall be interpreted
that they are in addition to the restrictions of such other existing
regulation or ordinance.
[Amended 12-22-2004 by Ord. No. 1001]
The Board of Supervisors hereby delegates the White Township Planning Commission to act and to have full authority in the administration of this chapter and any subsequent amendments thereto. The Planning Commission shall have the power to grant reasonable modifications, in accordance with § 275-66 herein, and to propose and to hold public hearings upon amendments to this chapter. The Board of Supervisors shall approve or reject proposed amendments to this chapter.
