This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Subdivision
and Land Development Ordinance of the Borough of Canonsburg, Washington
County, Pennsylvania."
The Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code (MPC), Act 247
of 1968, as reenacted and amended by Act 170 of 1988, and as subsequently
amended, 53 P.S. § 10101 et seq. The MPC enables and authorizes
governing bodies of municipalities to enact a subdivision and land
development ordinance to regulate subdivisions and land developments
situated within the Borough.
This chapter has been developed to require basic minimum standards
for the development of land, including the subdivision thereof into
separate lots; and establishes rules and regulations, definitions,
application procedures and permits by which the standards may be carried
out. These requirements are designed to provide for:
A.
The coordinated development of land throughout the Borough;
B.
Assurance that new subdivisions will be developed consistent with
the maintenance of the health, safety and general welfare of the public;
C.
Necessary public facilities in an amount and size commensurate with
the needs of the area to be subdivided and the uses to which the land
will be devoted;
D.
Assistance in identification of hazards from flooding, landslides,
subsidence or other dangers, by requirements that land subject to
such dangers will be made safe for its proposed use or be set aside
for uses that will not precipitate dangerous conditions;
E.
Protection of the soil, water and other natural environmental resources
of the area from the effects of uncontrolled development practices;
F.
Coordination of continuing community growth with respect to overall
development considerations, such as sewage disposal, water supply,
drainage facilities, traffic circulation systems, emergency accessways,
retention of open spaces and related factors; and
G.
Equitable administration of all subdivision and development proposals
throughout the Borough.
A.
Subdivision and land development. 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
wherewith 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.
B.
Sale of lots, issuance of building permits, or erection of buildings.
No lot in a subdivision or land development may be sold, and no permit
to erect, alter, or repair any building upon land in a subdivision
or land development will be issued unless and until a subdivision
and/or land development plan has been approved and, where required,
recorded, and until the required improvements in connection therewith
have either been constructed or guaranteed for construction in the
form of a bond, escrow, or other means approved by the Borough under
the advice of the Engineer and Solicitor, in accordance with the laws
of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
C.
Condominiums. No provision of this chapter shall be construed to
prohibit condominium ownership as permitted by the applicable enabling
legislation of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
In their interpretation and application, the provisions of this
chapter shall be minimum requirements. Wherever the requirements of
this chapter are at conflict with the requirements of any other lawfully
adopted rules, regulations, ordinances, deed restrictions or covenants,
the most restrictive, or that imposing the highest standards, shall
govern.
The Council may from time to time amend, add to, change or repeal
in its entirety provision of this chapter. Such amendments shall be
enacted in conformance with Section 505 and Section 506 of the MPC.[1] Applicability of any such amendment to an approved plan
or pending plan application shall be governed by Section 508(4) of
the MPC.[2]
Any person, partnership or corporation, who or which has violated
the provisions of this chapter, upon being found liable therefor in
a civil enforcement proceeding commenced by the Borough, shall be
subject to the enforcement remedies of the MPC (Section 515.3, Enforcement
Remedies[1]). In addition, the Borough may utilize the preventive
remedies authorized by the MPC (Section 515.1, Preventive Remedies[2]).
Upon the adoption of these regulations according to law, the
subdivision regulations of the Borough of Canonsburg adopted as Ordinance
No. 1217, February 17, 1998, as amended, are hereby repealed.
Should any section or provision of this chapter be declared
by a court of competent jurisdiction to be unconstitutional or invalid,
such decision shall not affect the validity of this chapter as a whole,
or any part thereof, other than the part so declared to be unconstitutional
or invalid.
Pursuant to the provisions of the Pennsylvania Municipalities
Planning Code, Act 245, as amended, the effective date of this chapter
shall be five days after the date on which the Borough Council of
Canonsburg has formally adopted this chapter.
