A.
The Board of Commissioners shall have the duty and
authority for the administration and general enforcement of the provisions
of this chapter, as specified or implied herein. Officials of Swatara
Township having regulatory duties and authorities connected with or
appurtenant to the subdivision, use or development of land shall have
the duty and authority for the controlling enforcement of the provisions
of this chapter, as specified or implied herein or in other ordinances
of the Township.
B.
Permits required by Swatara Township for the erection
or alteration of buildings, the installation of sewers or sewage disposal
systems, or for other appurtenant improvements to or use of the land,
shall not be issued by any municipal official responsible for such
issuance until it has been ascertained that the site for such building,
alteration, improvement or use is contained in a subdivision or land
development plat approved and publicly recorded in accordance with
the provisions of this chapter, or that no subdivision or land development
plat was required in relation thereto. Such permits shall be issued
only after it has been determined that the site for such building,
alteration, improvement or use conforms to the site description as
indicated by the approved and recorded final plat or other land description
acceptable in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, and
that it is in compliance with all applicable provisions of this chapter.
C.
The Township's Code Enforcement Officer shall require
that the sewage module and applicants for sewage disposal system permit
contain all the information necessary to ascertain that the site for
the proposed system is acceptable in accordance with the provisions
of this chapter, the Rules and Regulations of the Department of Environmental
Protection, and the provisions of other applicable ordinances of the
Township.
D.
The approval of a subdivision and/or land development
plat or of any improvement installed, or the granting of a permit
for the erection and/or use of a building or land therein, shall not
constitute a representation, guarantee, or warranty of any kind or
nature by the Township or any official, employee, or appointee thereof,
of the safety of any land, improvement, property or use from any cause
whatsoever, and shall create no liability upon, or a cause of action
against the Township or such official, employee or appointee for any
damage that may result pursuant thereto.
Changes in this chapter shall affect plats as
follows:
A.
From the time an application for approval of a plat,
whether preliminary or final, is duly filed as provided in this chapter,
and while such application is pending approval or disapproval, no
change or amendment of this chapter, zoning or other governing ordinance
or plan shall affect the decision on such application adversely to
the applicant and the applicant shall be entitled to a decision in
accordance with the provisions of the governing ordinances or plans
as they stood at the time the application was duly filed. The applicant
shall be entitled to final approval in accordance with the terms of
the approved preliminary application as hereinafter provided. However,
if an application is properly and finally denied, any subsequent application
shall be subject to the intervening change in governing regulations.
B.
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 this chapter, zoning 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.
C.
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 this chapter or the governing ordinance or plans
as they stood at the time when the application for such approval was
duly filed.
D.
Where the landowner has substantially completed the
required improvements as depicted upon the final plat within the aforesaid
five-year limit, or any extension thereof as may be granted by the
Board of Commissioners, no change of any ordinance or plan enacted
subsequent to the date of filing of the preliminary plat shall modify
or revoke any aspect of the approved final plat pertaining to zoning
classification or density, lot, building, street or utility location.
E.
In the case of a preliminary plat calling for the
installation of improvements beyond the five-year period, a schedule
shall be filed by the landowner with the preliminary plat delineating
all proposed sections as well as deadlines within which applications
for final plat 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 plat approval, until final plat
approval of the final section has been granted and any modification
in the aforesaid schedule shall be subject to approval of the Board
of Commissioners in its discretion.
F.
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 dwelling units as depicted on the preliminary
plan, unless a lesser percentage is approved by the Board of Commissioners
in its discretion. Provided the landowner has not defaulted with regard
to or violated any of the conditions of the preliminary plat approval,
including compliance with landowner's aforesaid schedule of submission
of final plats for the various sections, then the aforesaid protections
afforded by substantially completing the improvements depicted upon
the final plat 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 protections shall apply for an additional term or terms
of three years from the date of final plat approval for each section.
G.
Failure of landowner to adhere to the aforesaid schedule
of submission of final plats for the various sections shall subject
any such section to any and all changes in this chapter, zoning, and
other governing ordinance enacted by the Township subsequent to the
date of the initial preliminary plan submission.
A.
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 transferor from such penalties or from
the remedies herein provided.
B.
The Township 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 this chapter. This authority to deny
such a permit or approval shall apply to any of the following applicants:
(1)
The owner of record at the time of such violation.
(2)
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.
(3)
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.
(4)
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.
C.
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 conditions that would have been applicable
to the property at the time the applicant acquired an interest in
such real property.
A.
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
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 Magisterial
District Judge. 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 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 a final adjudication of the violation and judgment.
C.
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.
D.
Magisterial District Judges shall have initial jurisdiction
in proceedings brought under this section.
