A. 
The Board may, from time to time, revise, modify, and amend this chapter by appropriate action taken at a scheduled public meeting and in accordance with the provisions of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, Act 247, as amended.
B. 
Notice of the date, time, and place of such a public meeting together with the brief summary setting forth the principal provisions of the proposed revisions, modifications, or amendments, shall be published in one newspaper of general circulation in the Township once a week for two successive weeks in advance of such meeting.
A. 
If any mandatory provisions of this chapter are shown by the applicant, to the satisfaction of the Board, to be unreasonable and cause undue hardship as they apply to the applicants proposed subdivision, the Board may grant a modification of the requirements of one or more provisions 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 purpose and intent of the ordinance is observed.
B. 
All requests 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. 
In granting modifications, the Board may impose such conditions as will, in its judgment, secure substantially the objectives of the standards or requirements so varied or modified.
D. 
The Board shall refer all requests for modification to the Township Planning Commission for advisory review and comments.
E. 
The Board shall keep a written record of all action on all requests for modifications.
A. 
Any applicant aggrieved by a finding, decision, or recommendation of the Board may request and receive opportunity to appear before the Board, present additional relevant information and request reconsideration of the original finding, decision, or recommendation.
B. 
Parties to proceedings listed below in Subsection G may utilize mediation as an aid in completing such proceedings. Mediation shall supplement, not replace, those procedures as may be provided for by this chapter and the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: See 53 P.S. § 10101 et seq.
C. 
Participation in mediation shall be wholly voluntary. The appropriateness of mediation shall be determined by the particulars of each case and the willingness of the parties to negotiate.
D. 
Prior to commencement of the actual mediation, the mediating parties, with the assistance of a mediator, if desired, shall develop terms and conditions for:
(1) 
Funding the mediation;
(2) 
Selecting a mediator who, at a minimum, shall have working knowledge of municipal zoning and subdivision procedures, and demonstrated skills in mediation;
(3) 
Completing mediation, including time limits for such completion;
(4) 
Suspending time limits specified by this chapter and authorized by the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, provided that there is written consent by the mediating parties, and by an applicant or municipal decision-making body if either is not a party to the mediation;
(5) 
Identifying all parties and affording them the opportunity to participate;
(6) 
Determining whether any or all of the mediation sessions shall be open to the public, subject to legal constraints; and
(7) 
Assuring that mediated solutions are in writing and signed by the parties and become subject to review and approval by the appropriate decision-making body pursuant to the authorized procedures set forth by this chapter and authorized by the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code.
E. 
No offers or statements made during the mediation process, excluding the final written mediated agreement, shall be admissible as evidence in any subsequent judicial or administrative proceedings.
F. 
Mediation shall be an option, subject to the above requirements, to achieve agreement on the proceedings specified by Articles IX and X-A of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code and as authorized by Section 908.1 thereof.
G. 
Mediation is not an option to resolve conflict between an applicant and the Township on the issue of fees. Conflicts involving fees shall be resolved as described in § 170-8 of this chapter and Sections 503(1), 503(11), 509 and 510 of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code.
The decision of the Board of Supervisors regarding the approval or rejection of subdivision or land development plans may be appealed directly to the Chester County Court as provided for in Act 247, the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code.
A. 
The Township shall assign a subdivision application number to all applications, and all matters referring to this should be tied in with and filed in accordance with the subdivision case number. The Township shall keep a record of its findings, decisions and recommendations relative to all subdivision plans filed with it for review.
B. 
All such records shall be public records.
A. 
Subdivision and land development application fees and initial escrow deposits for plan review and processing shall be fixed by the Board of Supervisors by resolution. In addition to such fees and escrow deposits, all disbursements by the Township incident to plan review, approval and processing in excess of the amount required by escrow deposits, and all inspections of construction, including but not necessarily limited to legal fees, engineering fees, inspection fees, costs of materials or site testing and any maintenance costs prior to the acceptance of improvements by the Township, shall be reimbursed to the Township.
B. 
All such reimbursements for costs expended prior to establishment of the applicant's performance guarantee shall be made prior to issuance of any permits. All such reimbursements for costs expended during construction shall be made out of escrow funds established as the performance guarantee, on a monthly basis.
A. 
Any person, partnership or corporation who or which being the owner or agent of the owner of any lot, tract or parcel of land who shall lay out, construct, open or dedicate any street, sanitary sewer, storm sewer, water main or other improvements for public use, travel or other purposes or for the common use of occupants of buildings abutting thereon, or who sells or offers to sell, transfers or agrees or enters into an agreement to sell any land in a subdivision or land development whether by reference to or by other use of a plat of such subdivision or land development or otherwise, or erect any building thereon, unless and until a final plat has been prepared in full compliance with the provisions of this chapter and has been recorded as provided herein, shall, upon such person or the members of such partnership, or the officers of such corporation or the agent of any of them, responsible for such violation being found liable thereof in a civil enforcement proceeding commenced by a municipality, pay a judgment not exceeding $500, plus all court costs, including reasonable attorney fees incurred by the municipality as a result thereof.
B. 
All fines collected for such violation shall be paid over to New Garden Township.
C. 
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 municipality may enforce the judgment pursuant to the applicable Rules of Civil Procedure.
D. 
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 the ordinance to have believed that there was no such violation, in which event there shall be deemed to have been only one such violation until 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.
E. 
The 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.
F. 
Nothing contained in this section shall be construed or interpreted to grant to any person or entity other than the municipality the right to commence any action for enforcement pursuant to this section.
G. 
The description by metes and bounds in the instrument of transfer or other document used in the process of selling or transferring shall not exempt the seller or transferor from such penalties or from the remedies herein provided.