This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Township of Tinicum Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance."
The purpose of this chapter is to assure sites suitable for building purposes and human habitation and to provide for the harmonious development of the Township of Tinicum and to provide for adequate open spaces for traffic, recreation, light and air and for the proper distribution of population, thereby creating conditions favorable to the health, safety, morals and general welfare of the citizens of the Township of Tinicum.
A. 
As used in these regulations, words in the singular include the plural and those in the plural include the singular. The word "person" includes a corporation, unincorporated association and a partnership, as well as an individual. The word "building" includes structures and shall be construed as if followed by the phrase "or part thereof." The word "street" includes avenue, boulevard, court, expressway, highway, lane and road. The word "watercourse" includes channel, creek, ditch, drain, dry run, spring and stream. The word "may" is permissive; the words "shall" and "will" are mandatory.
B. 
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
ALLEY
A minor right-of-way providing secondary vehicular access to the side or rear of two or more properties.
APPLICANT
A landowner or developer, as hereinafter defined, who has filed an application for development, including his heirs, successors and assigns.
[1]
ARCHITECT
A person licensed to practice architecture in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
BLOCK
An area bounded by streets.
BOARD
The Board of Commissioners of Tinicum Township.
CARTWAY or ROADWAY
The portion of a street or alley intended for vehicular use.
CLEAR-SIGHT TRIANGLE
An area of unobstructed vision at street intersections defined by lines of sight between points at a given distance from the intersection of street center lines.
COLLECTOR STREETS
Those which, in addition to giving access to abutting properties, intercept minor streets and provide routes, carrying considerable volumes of traffic, to community facilities and to major traffic streets.
CUL-DE-SAC
A minor street intersecting another street at one end and terminated at the other by a vehicular turnaround.
DEVELOPER
Any landowner, agent of such landowner or tenant with the permission of a landowner who makes or causes to be made a subdivision of land or a land development.[2]
EASEMENT
A right-of-way granted for limited use of private land for a public or quasi-public purpose.
ENGINEER
A person licensed to practice engineering in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
EROSION
The removal of surface materials by the action of natural elements.
HALF OR PARTIAL STREET
A street, generally parallel and adjacent to a property line, having a lesser right-of-way width than normally required for satisfactory improvement and use of the street.
INTERIOR WALK
A right-of-way for pedestrian use extending from a street into a block or across a block to another street.
LAND DEVELOPMENT
Any of the following activities:[3]
(1) 
The improvement of one lot or two or more contiguous lots, tracts or parcels of land for any purpose involving:
(a) 
A group of two or more residential or nonresidential buildings, whether proposed initially or cumulatively, or a single nonresidential building on a lot or lots regardless of the number of occupants or tenure; or
(b) 
The division or allocation of land or space, whether initially or cumulatively, between or among two or more existing or prospective occupants by means of, or for the purpose of, streets, common areas, leaseholds, condominiums, building groups or other features.
(2) 
A subdivision of land.
(3) 
Development in accordance with Section 503(1.1) of the Municipalities Planning Code.[4]
LANDOWNER
The legal or beneficial owner or owners of land, including the holder of an option or contract to purchase (whether or not such an option or contract is subject to any condition), a lessee if he is authorized under the lease to exercise the rights of the landowner, or other persons having a proprietary interest in land shall be deemed a landowner for the purpose of this chapter.
LOT
A designated parcel, tract or area of land established by a plat or otherwise as permitted by law and to be used, developed or built upon as a unit.
[5]
MAJOR TRAFFIC STREETS
Those serving large volumes of comparatively high-speed and long-distance traffic, and including facilities classified as "main and secondary highways" by the Pennsylvania State Highway Department.
MARGINAL ACCESS STREETS
Minor streets, parallel and adjacent to major traffic streets, providing access to abutting properties and control of the intersection with the major traffic street.
MINOR STREETS
Those used primarily to provide access to abutting properties.
MULTIPLE-DWELLING BUILDING
A building providing separate living quarters for three or more families.
PLAN, FINAL
A complete and exact subdivision plan, prepared for official recording as required by statute, to define property rights and proposed streets and other improvements.
PLANNING BOARD
The Planning Board of Tinicum Township appointed by the Board of Township Commissioners.
PLAN, PRELIMINARY
A tentative subdivision plan in lesser detail than a final plan, showing approximate proposed street and lot layout as a basis for consideration prior to preparation of the final plan.
PLAN, SKETCH
An informal plan, not necessarily to scale, indicating salient existing features of a tract and its surroundings and the general layout of the proposed subdivision.
RESERVE STRIP
A strip of land adjacent to a street intended to control access to the street from an adjacent property.
REVERSE FRONTAGE LOT
A lot extending between and having frontage on a major traffic street and a minor street, and with vehicular access solely from the latter.
RIGHT-OF-WAY
Land reserved for use as a street, alley, interior walk or for other public purpose.
SECRETARY
The Township Secretary, appointed as such by the Board of Township Commissioners.
SETBACK OR BUILDING LINE
The line within a property defining the required minimum distance between any enclosed structure and the adjacent right-of-way.
SHOPPING CENTER
An area zoned as and for a shopping center under the terms of Chapter 395, Zoning, as adopted and amended.
SIGHT DISTANCE
The maximum extent of unobstructed vision (in a horizontal or vertical plane) along a street from a vehicle located at any given point on the street.
STREET
Includes street, avenue, boulevard, road, highway, freeway, parkway, lane, alley, viaduct and any other ways used or intended to be used by vehicular traffic or pedestrians, whether public or private.[6]
SUBDIVIDER
The owner, or authorized agent of the owner, of a subdivision.
SUBDIVISION
Includes:
(1) 
The division or redivision of a lot, tract or parcel of land by any means into two or more lots, tracts, parcels or other divisions of land including changes in existing lot lines for the purpose, whether immediate or future, of lease, partition by the court for distribution to heirs or devisees, transfer of ownership or building or lot development; provided, however, that the subdivision by lease of land for agricultural purposes into parcels of more than 10 acres, not involving any new street or easement of access or any residential dwelling, shall be exempted.[7]
(2) 
Any development of a parcel of land (for example, as a shopping center) which involves installation of streets and/or alleys, even though the streets and alleys may not be dedicated to public use and the parcel may not be divided immediately for purposes of conveyance, transfer or sale.
(3) 
Resubdivision, as appropriate in these regulations, shall refer to the process of subdividing land or to the land subdivided.
[1]
Editor's Note: Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I).
[2]
Editor's Note: Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I).
[3]
Editor's Note: Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I).
[4]
Editor's Note: See 53 P.S. § 10503(1.1).
[5]
Editor's Note: Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I).
[6]
Editor's Note: Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I).
[7]
Editor's Note: Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I).
No subdivision of any lot, tract or parcel of land shall be made, and no street, sanitary sewer, storm sewer, water main or other facilities 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 strict accordance with the provisions of this chapter and subdivision regulations adopted hereunder.
No lot in any subdivision may be sold, no permit to erect, alter or repair any building upon land in the subdivision may be issued and no building may be erected in a subdivision unless and until the subdivision plan has been approved and, where required, recorded and until the improvements required by the Board of Township Commissioners in connection therewith have been either constructed or guaranteed as provided herein, and no permit to erect, alter or repair any building or structure on land in a subdivision may be issued under the Township of Tinicum building code,[1] as amended, unless and until the owner or his successor in title has complied with all of the provisions of this chapter, as well as with the requirements of the Tinicum Township building code and Chapter 395, Zoning, as from time to time amended.
[1]
Editor's Note: See Ch. 103, Construction Codes, Uniform.