All guarantees shall be prepared by the developer in the form required by the Township or by the Authority and acceptable to the Solicitor of the Township or Authority. The amount of the guarantee shall be calculated in accordance with Article
V of the Municipalities Planning Code. The guarantee shall assure completion of all improvements within a time period as may be determined by the Township. The following are acceptable forms of guarantees. All other forms of guarantees shall be individually approved by the Township or Authority.
A. Letter of credit. A letter of credit provided by the
developer from a financial institution or other reputable institution
subject to the approval of the Township or Authority. This letter
shall be deposited with the Township or Authority and shall certify
the following:
(1) That the creditor does guarantee funds in an amount
equal to the cost of completing all required improvements.
(2) In case of failure on the part of the developer to
complete the specified improvements within the required time period,
the creditor shall pay to the Township or Authority immediately, and
without further action, such funds as are necessary to finance the
completion of those improvements, up to the limit of credit stated
in the letter.
(3) The letter of credit may not be withdrawn, or reduced
in amount, until released by the Township or Authority.
B. Surety performance bond. A security bond from a surety
bonding company authorized to do business in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
The bond shall be payable to the Township and/or the Authority accepting
the improvement.
C. Escrow account. A deposit of cash either with the
Township and/or Authority or in escrow with a financial institution.
The use of a financial institution for establishing an escrow account
shall be subject to approval by the Township or Authority. In the
case of an escrow account, the developer shall file with the Township
or Authority an agreement between the financial institution and himself
guaranteeing the following:
(1) That the funds of said escrow account shall be held
in trust until released by the Township or Authority and may not be
used or pledged by the developer as security in any other matter during
that period.
(2) In the case of a failure on the part of the developer
to complete said improvements, then the institution shall immediately
make the funds in said account available to the Township or Authority
for use in the completion of those improvements.
All improvements including streets, any and
all easements for sanitary sewers, water lines or storm sewers and
improvements thereto including street paving, sidewalks, street trees,
water mains, fire hydrants, sanitary and storm sewers, manholes, inlets,
pumping stations and other appurtenances shall be deemed to be private
improvements and only for the benefit of the specific subdivision
or land development until such time as the same have been offered
for dedication and formally accepted by the Township, or appropriate
authority or entity, by ordinance, resolution, deed or other formal
action or document. The developer shall reference and complete the
Township's Road Dedication Checklist (See Appendix 25) and submit any necessary documentation, fees and as-constructed plans, in accordance with §
285-24, for all improvements which will be dedicated to the Township or Authority. Neither the Township nor the Authority shall have any responsibility of any kind with respect to improvements shown on the final plan until the improvements have been formally accepted by the Township or the Authority.
The wearing course of streets shall not be completed
prior to such time that 75% of the lots in the subdivision or land
development have been improved by the construction of a primary residential,
commercial, industrial or institutional structure, if approved for
such uses. At such time as 75% of the lots in the subdivision have
been improved as set forth above, the Township may notify the developer
to complete the surface course within 60 days from the date of such
notice. In computing the sixty-day requirement, the period from October
1 to April 1 shall not be counted.
In the event that any improvements which are
required by this chapter have not been installed as provided in this
chapter or in accord with the approved final plan, the Supervisors
may enforce any corporate bond, or other security, by appropriate
legal and equitable remedies. If proceeds of such bond or other security
are insufficient to pay the cost of installing or making repairs or
corrections to all the improvements covered by said security, the
Board of Supervisors may, at its option, install part of such improvements
in all or part of the subdivision or land development and may institute
appropriate legal or equitable action to recover the monies necessary
to complete the remainder of the improvements.
The developer shall maintain all streets in
the subdivision or development in travelable condition, including
the prompt removal of snow, until such time as the streets are accepted
by the Township as part of the Township highway system; or, if such
streets are not to be dedicated, until a homeowners' association or
other entity responsible for the maintenance of the streets has been
formed and accepted such maintenance responsibility.
Recording of the final plan after approval of
the Board of Supervisors has the effect of an irrevocable offer to:
A. Dedicate all streets and other public ways, including
stormwater management facilities, utilities or other public improvements
installed within the right-of-way of the street, to the Township and/or
commonwealth and/or Authority, as applicable, unless such streets
are indicated on the plan as private streets.
B. Dedicate all parks, open space and recreation areas
shown on the plan as being public parks, open space or recreation
areas to the Township.
C. Dedicate all utility easements for sanitary sewerage
and/or public water facilities and appurtenances located outside of
public street rights-of-way to the Authority.
Prior to the final release of the financial
security by the Supervisors, the developer shall provide the Township
with one Mylar and two prints of the as-constructed plan, at the same
size and scale of the approved plans, showing the following:
A. Actual location of all concrete monuments and/or markers
which were found or set at all angle breaks, points of curvature and
tangents around the perimeter of the total tract. When the outside
perimeter of a tract falls within or along an existing road right-of-way,
then the right-of-way of that roadway shall be monumented at the above
referenced points.
B. Actual location of all iron pins or drill holes in
curbs for all individual lot lines.
C. Actual cul-de-sac radius.
D. Actual horizontal location of cartway center line
versus right-of-way center line should be indicated by dimension.
E. Actual horizontal location of floodplain by elevation
and dimension from property line.
F. Actual horizontal location and cross section of swales
and accompanying easements.
G. Actual horizontal and vertical location of stormwater
management facilities including type and size drainage pipes.
H. Detention basin.
(1) Actual contours of the detention basin.
(2) Actual outlet structure details including type size
and inverts of outlet pipes.
(3) Actual elevation of the embankment and emergency spillway.
(4) A table showing the stage/storage/discharge curve
for the constructed conditions.
The Township and/or the Authority may require
that the developer submit a maintenance guarantee to secure the structural
integrity and functioning in accordance with the designs and specifications
as depicted on the final plan for any improvement to be dedicated
to the Township or the Authority for a period of 18 months from the
date of acceptance of dedication. Such maintenance guarantee shall
be in a form acceptable to the Township or Authority Solicitor and
shall be in the amount of 15% of the actual cost of installation of
said improvements unless a lesser amount is accepted by the Township
or Authority.