An Administrator to the Planning Commission
shall be appointed by the Borough Council and shall receive such compensation
as the Borough Council, by resolution, shall provide. The Administrator
shall not hold any elective office in the Borough. The duties of the
Administrator shall be:
A.
Providing prospective developers and subdividers with
this chapter at a fee to be established by the Council.
B.
Providing prospective subdividers and developers with
other documents and information as they may require.
C.
Supplying application forms and collecting fees with
regard to the preliminary plan and final plan phases of subdivision
and land development and supply forms for chapter amendments.
D.
Accepting fees, classifying applications, reviewing
applications for completeness, and preparing reports on those applications
for the Planning Commission.
E.
Inspecting subdivisions and land developments for
compliance with the regulations and reporting to the Planning Commission
on such inspections.
For any change in a map or an approved or recorded
subdivision plan, if such change affects any street layout shown on
such map, or any reserved thereon for public use, or any lot line,
or if it affects any map or plan legally reached prior to the adoption
of any regulations controlling subdivisions, such parcel shall be
approved by Riverside Borough by the same procedures, rules, and regulations
as for a subdivision.
A.
General requirements. The Borough Council, upon recommendation
of the Planning Commission, may grant a modification 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 will not
be contrary to the public interest, and that the purpose and intent
of this chapter is observed.
B.
Procedures.
(1)
Filing. All requests for a modification shall be in
writing and shall accompany and be 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 this chapter involved and the minimum modification necessary.
(2)
Review. All proposals for modification of the provisions
of this chapter shall be referred by the Borough Council to the Planning
Commission for its advisory comments and decision.
(3)
Record of decisions. The Borough Council shall keep
a written record of all action on all requests for modifications and
decision.
The Borough may offer a mediation option as an aid in completing proceedings of Article III, Procedural Requirements. In exercising such an option, the Borough and the mediating parties shall meet the stipulations and follow the procedures set forth below:
A.
Parties to proceedings. Parties to proceedings authorized in Article II, Administration and Enforcement, in Chapter 285, Zoning, of the Code of the Borough of Riverside may utilize mediation as an aid in completing such proceedings. In proceedings before the Zoning Hearing Board, in no case shall the Zoning Hearing Board initiate mediation or participate as a mediation party.
B.
Supplemental role of mediation. Mediation shall supplement, not replace, those procedures in Article II, Administration and Enforcement, in Chapter 285, Zoning, of the Code of the Borough of Riverside once they have been formally initiated. Nothing in this section shall be interpreted as expanding or limiting municipal police powers or as modifying any principles of substantive law.
C.
Rules for mediation. 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. The Borough shall assure that, in each case, the mediating
parties, assisted by the mediator, as appropriate, develop terms and
conditions for:
(1)
Funding mediation.
(2)
Selecting a mediator who, at a minimum, shall have
a working knowledge of municipal zoning and subdivision procedures
and demonstrated skills in meditation.
(3)
Completing mediation, including time limits for such
completion.
(4)
Suspending time limits otherwise authorized in the
Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code (Act 247, as amended),[1] provided there is written consent by the mediating parties
and by an applicant or municipal decisionmaking body if either is
not a party to the mediation.
[1]
Editor's Note: See 53 P.S. § 10101 et seq.
(5)
Identifying all parties and affording them the opportunity
to participate.
(6)
Subject to legal restraints, determining whether some
or all of the mediation sessions shall be open or closed to the public.
(7)
Assuring that mediated solutions are in writing and
signed by the parties and become subject to review and approval by
the appropriate decisionmaking body pursuant to the authorized procedures
set forth in other sections of this chapter.
D.
Admissibility as evidence. No offer or statements
in the mediating sessions, excluding the final written mediated agreement,
shall be admissible as evidence in any subsequent judicial or administrative
proceedings.
Both the Planning Commission and Borough Council
shall keep records of their respective findings, decisions, and recommendations
relative to all subdivision and land development plans filed for review
and approval. Such records shall be open to the public for review.
A.
Actions to restrain, correct or abate violations.
In addition to other remedies, the Borough 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 transferor from such penalties or from
the remedies herein provided.
B.
Authority to refuse to issue permits or grant approvals.
(1)
The Borough 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 any ordinance adopted pursuant to
this chapter.
(2)
This authority to deny such a permit or approval shall
apply to any of the following applicants:
(a)
The owner of record at the time of such violation.
(b)
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.
(c)
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.
(d)
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.
(3)
As an additional condition for issuance of a permit
or the granting of an approval to such owner, current owner, vendee
or lessee for the development of any such real property, the Borough
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.
Magisterial District Judges shall have initial jurisdiction in proceedings brought under § 250-72 below.
A.
Any person, partnership or corporation who or which
has violated the provisions of this chapter enacted by the Borough
of Riverside shall, upon being found liable therefor in a civil enforcement
proceeding commenced by the Borough, pay a judgment of not more than
$500, plus all court costs, including reasonable attorney fees incurred
by the Borough as a result thereof.
(1)
No judgment shall commence or be imposed, levied or
payable until the date of the determination of a violation by the
Magisterial District Judge.
(2)
If the defendant neither pays nor timely appeals the
judgment, the Borough 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 Magisterial District Judge,
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 Magisterial District Judge, and thereafter, each day that a
violation continues shall constitute a separate violation.
B.
The Court of Common Pleas, upon petition, may grant
an order of stay, upon cause shown, tolling the per diem judgment
pending the final adjudication of the violation and judgment.
C.
Nothing in this section shall be construed or interpreted
to grant to any person or entity other then the Borough the right
to commence any action for enforcement pursuant to this section.
All appeals from approval or disapproval of a subdivision or land development shall be governed by Chapter 285, Zoning, § 285-18, Appeals to court, of the Code of the Borough of Riverside (or Article X-A, Appeals to Court, of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, Act 247, as amended by Act 170[1]).
[1]
Editor's Note: See 53 P.S. § 11001-A et seq.
The following fees shall be paid by the developer,
subdivider, or his agent to the Borough of Riverside by certified
check or money order:
C.
A fee for review of the plan by the Northumberland
County Planning Commission.
E.
A financial security in the amount of 110% of the cost of proposed required improvements if the completion of such improvements is to be delayed as a condition of final approval. (See § 250-22E.)
