A. 
Enabling authority/adoption. The Council of the Municipality of Monroeville, in Allegheny County, in accordance with the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, Act 247 of 1968, as reenacted and amended by Act 170 of 1988, and as subsequently amended, 53 P.S. § 10101 et seq. (MPC), enacts the following chapter to regulate subdivision and land development in the Municipality of Monroeville.
B. 
Repeal of prior ordinance. All and any previous subdivision ordinances and regulations are hereby repealed.
C. 
Title. This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance."
D. 
Amendments. This chapter may be amended by the Municipality in accordance with the procedures specified in the MPC.
E. 
Effective date. This chapter shall become effective 10 days after the date of enactment.
A. 
General purpose. It is the purpose of this chapter to protect and promote the public health, safety, and welfare through the establishment of standards and procedures for the review and approval of subdivisions and land development in the Municipality of Monroeville.
B. 
Specific purposes. The provisions of this chapter are intended to achieve the following specific purposes:
(1) 
To ensure new development that is well-designed, of high quality, and harmoniously suited to the natural conditions of its site.
(2) 
To ensure the coordinated growth of development; compact, efficient, and economic patterns of development; and to avoid excessive public costs of scattered development.
(3) 
To prevent development which may be hazardous because of the physical character of land.
(4) 
To protect and preserve valued natural, historic, and cultural features of the environment.
(5) 
To ensure the provision of public improvements which are necessary and appropriate for the development, and which are coordinated with nearby areas.
(6) 
To provide flexibility in standards and requirements so that the development design can be fitted to the character of its site and to the community in which it is located.
(7) 
To reflect and implement Municipal, county, and regional plans and policies.
(8) 
To provide standards and procedures for the submission and approval of subdivision and land development applications.
A. 
Approval authority. These regulations shall govern the review and approval of subdivisions and land developments in the Municipality of Monroeville. The Municipal Council will be the final approving body for all subdivisions and land developments.
B. 
Review authority. The Municipality's Planning Commission is a recommending body to the Municipal Council.
A. 
General. No subdivision or land development of any lot, tract, or parcel of land shall be made; 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 and of any applicable Municipal ordinance.
B. 
Effect on applications pending or previously approved. Changes and/or amendments to this chapter shall affect pending or previously approved applications as set forth in the MPC.
A. 
Interpretation. The provisions of this chapter shall be held to be minimum requirements for subdivisions and land developments in the Municipality of Monroeville.
B. 
Conflict with other public provisions. If any provision of this chapter imposes restrictions which are different from those imposed by any other applicable ordinance, regulation, or provision of law, the provision that is more restrictive or which imposes higher standards shall control.
C. 
Conflict with private provisions. If the requirements of this chapter are different from those contained in deed restrictions, covenants, or other private agreements, the requirements that are more restrictive or which impose higher standards shall govern, provided that the private provisions are otherwise lawful.
D. 
Liability. The review or approval of a subdivision or land development by the Municipality of Monroeville in accordance with the provisions of this chapter shall not constitute a guarantee of any kind that the proposed development is safe and shall create no liability upon the Municipality, its officials, employees, or contracted parties.
A. 
Basis for modification and waivers. The Municipal Council may grant a modification or waiver of the requirements of one or more provisions of this chapter for the following reasons, provided that such modification or waiver will not be contrary to the public interest and that the purposes of the chapter are observed:
(1) 
Hardship or alternative standard. Upon application and allegations in writing that extraordinary hardship may result from strict compliance with these regulations, or an alternative standard can be demonstrated to provide equal or better results, the case may be referred to the Municipal Planning Commission for the purpose of hearing the cause and determining substitute regulations to accommodate the specific hardships. If by adopting the substitute regulations substantial justice may be done and the public interest may be served, the Municipal Planning Commission may approve the adoption of the substitute regulations, subject to final plan approval by the Municipal Council, in lieu of the regulations causing hardship, provided that such variation will not have the effect of nullifying the intent and purpose of the Municipal Comprehensive Plan or the spirit of these regulations.
B. 
Requests in writing. All requests for modifications or waivers shall be in writing and shall accompany and be a part of the application for development. The requests shall state in full the grounds and facts of hardship or evidence of equal or better result on which the request is based, the provision or provisions of the ordinance involved and the minimum modification necessary.
C. 
Records required. The Municipality shall keep a written record of all actions on requests for modifications. The developer shall be required to note any approved modifications or waivers on the final plans issued for recording.
Any person aggrieved by a decision of the Municipality of Monroeville concerning an application for approval of a subdivision or land development may appeal the decision in accordance with the procedures specified in the MPC.
A. 
Preventive remedies. The Municipality of Monroeville may institute and maintain 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.
(1) 
No exemption in metes and bounds descriptions. 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 the penalties or remedies provided.
(2) 
Further development not permitted. The Municipality of Monroeville may refuse to issue any permit or grant any approval necessary to further improve or develop real property which has been developed or which has resulted from a subdivision of real property in violation of this chapter. The 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 notice 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) 
Compliance with chapter required for permit. As an additional condition for issuance of a permit or the granting of an approval for any such owner, current owner, vendee, or lessee for the development of any such real property, the Municipality 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.
B. 
Enforcement remedies.
(1) 
Initial jurisdiction. District Justices shall have initial jurisdiction in proceedings brought under this section.
(2) 
Judgment. 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 the Municipality, pay a judgment of not more than $500 (United States dollars), plus all court costs, including reasonable attorney fees incurred by the Municipality as a result thereof.
(a) 
No judgment shall commence or be imposed, levied or be payable until the date of the determination of a violation by the District Justice.
(b) 
If the defendant neither pays nor timely appeals the judgment, the Municipality may enforce the judgment pursuant to the applicable rules of civil procedure.
(c) 
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 persons, 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.
(3) 
Stay of judgment. The Allegheny County 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.
(4) 
Enforcement by Municipality. Nothing 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.