This chapter shall be known as the "City of DuBois Subdivision
and Land Development Ordinance."
These regulations are adopted for the following purposes:
A.
To protect and provide for the public health, safety and general
welfare of the City.
B.
To guide the future growth and development of the City in accordance
with the Comprehensive Plan of the City.
C.
To provide for adequate light, air and privacy; to secure safety
from fire, flood and other danger; and to prevent overcrowding of
the land and undue congestion of population.
D.
To protect the character and social and economic stability of the
City and to encourage the orderly and beneficial development of the
City.
E.
To protect and conserve the value of land throughout the City and
the value of buildings and improvements upon the land and to minimize
the conflicts among the uses of land and buildings.
F.
To guide public and private policy and action in order to provide
adequate and efficient transportation, water supply, sewerage, schools,
parks, playgrounds, recreation, and other public requirements and
facilities.
G.
To provide the most beneficial relationship between the uses of land
and buildings and the circulation of traffic within the City, having
particular regard to the avoidance of congestion in the streets and
highways, and the pedestrian traffic movements appropriate to the
various uses of land and buildings, and to provide for the proper
location and width of streets and building lines.
H.
To establish reasonable standards of design and procedures for subdivision
and resubdivisions, in order to further the orderly layout and use
of land; and to ensure proper legal descriptions and monumenting of
subdivided land.
I.
To ensure that public facilities are available and will have a sufficient
capacity to serve the proposed subdivision.
J.
To prevent the pollution of air, streams and ponds; to assure the
adequacy of drainage facilities; to safeguard the water table; and
to encourage the wise use and management of natural resources in order
to preserve the community and value of the land.
K.
To preserve the natural beauty and topography of the City and to
ensure appropriate development with regard to these natural features.
L.
To provide for open spaces through efficient design and layout of
the land.
M.
To ensure that documents prepared as part of a landownership transfer
fully and accurately describe the parcel of land being subdivided
and the new parcels thus created.
A.
Authority of the City Council. The Council of the City of DuBois
is vested by law with the control of the subdivision of land and land
development within the City by Act 247 of 1968, the Pennsylvania Municipalities
Planning Code, as amended, 53 P.S. § 10101 et seq. The City
Council shall retain the authority to approve all subdivision plans
and land development plans as required herein.
B.
Authority of the City Planning Commission. The City Planning Commission
is hereby designated by the City Council as an agency which shall
review and make recommendations on preliminary and final subdivision
and land development plans, as required herein, prior to action by
the City Council and, when provided by ordinance, make other recommendations.
A.
Subdivision control. No subdivision, as herein defined, of any lot, tract or parcel of land shall be effected and no street, alley, 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 or to abut thereon, except in strict accordance with the provisions of this chapter. No lot in any subdivision may be sold, and no permit to erect, alter or repair any building upon land in a subdivision may be issued, and no building may be erected in a subdivision, unless and until a subdivision plan has been approved and recorded, and until the improvements required by the City Council in connection therewith have either been constructed or guaranteed as herein provided in § 390-47.
B.
Land development control.
(1)
Land development, as herein defined, must comply with the regulations
contained herein. Such compliance shall include, but not be limited
to: the filing of preliminary and final plats; the dedication and
improvement of rights-of-way, streets and roads; and the payment of
fees and charges as established by resolution of the City Council.
(2)
Land development plans shall indicate the location of each structure
and clearly define each unit and shall indicate public easements,
common areas, and improvements, all easements appurtenant to each
unit, and improvements to public rights-of-way. Developments are subject
to the zoning regulations as they apply to use and density requirements,
setbacks, parking and other features, and shall be indicated on the
land development plans.
A.
Interpretation. In interpreting and applying the provisions of this
chapter, they shall be held to be minimum requirements for the promotion
of public health, safety, comfort, convenience and general welfare.
B.
Conflict with public and private provisions.
(1)
Public provisions. Where any provision of this chapter imposes restrictions
different from those imposed by any other provision of this chapter
or any other ordinance, rule or regulation, or other provision of
law, whichever provisions are more restrictive or impose higher standards
shall control.
(2)
Private provisions. This chapter is not intended to abrogate any
easement, covenant or any other private agreement or restriction,
provided that, where the provisions of this chapter are more restrictive
or impose higher standards or regulations than such easement, covenant,
or other private agreement or restriction, the requirements of this
chapter shall govern. Where the provisions of the easement, covenant
or private agreement or restriction impose duties and obligations
more restrictive, or higher standards than the requirements of these
regulations or the determinations of the City Council in approving
a subdivision or in enforcing this chapter, and such private provisions
are not inconsistent with this chapter or determinations thereunder,
then such private provisions shall be operative and supplemental to
these regulations and determinations made hereunder.
A.
The City Council may grant a modification of the requirements of
one or more provisions of this chapter if the literal enforcement
will exact undue hardship because of peculiar conditions pertaining
to the land in question, provided that such modification will not
be contrary to the public interest and that the purpose and intent
of this chapter is observed.
B.
All requests for a modification shall be in writing and shall accompany
and be a part of the application for development. The request shall
state in full the grounds and facts of unreasonableness or hardship
on which the request is based, the provision or provisions of this
chapter involved and the minimum modification necessary.
C.
The request for modification shall be referred to the City Planning
Commission for advisory comments.
D.
The City Council shall keep a written record of all action on all
requests for modifications.
Any applicant aggrieved by a finding, decision or recommendation
of the City Council may request and receive opportunity to appear,
present additional, relevant information and request reconsideration
of the original finding, decision or recommendation.
The following are exempt or partially exempt from the provisions
of this chapter:
A.
The conversion of an existing single-family detached dwelling or
single-family semidetached dwelling into not more than three residential
units, unless such units are intended to be a condominium;
B.
The addition of an accessory building, including farm buildings,
on a lot or lots subordinate to an existing principal building; or
C.
The addition or conversion of buildings or rides within the confines
of an enterprise which would be considered an amusement park. For
the purposes of this subsection, an "amusement park" is defined as
a tract or area used principally as a location for permanent amusement
structures or rides. This exclusion shall not apply to newly acquired
acreage by an amusement park until initial plans for the expanded
area have been approved by proper authorities.
A.
In addition to other remedies, the City 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 bound 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 City 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 City 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 City, pay a judgment
of not more than $500 plus all court costs, including reasonable attorneys'
fees incurred by the City as a result thereof. No judgment shall commence
or be imposed, levied or be 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 City 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 City 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.
A.
Within 30 days after the date of approval by the City Council of
the final plat, the owner shall record an approved duplicated copy
thereof in the office of the Clearfield County Register and Recorder
of Deeds and forthwith file with the City Council a recorder's certificate
that the approved plat has been recorded with the deed book and page
numbers indicated and two copies of the recorded plat.
B.
If due to unforeseen circumstances the owner is unable to record
the final plat within the above thirty-day period, the owner should
so notify the Planning Commission and request concurrence in an extension
of time. Providing that no adjustment has been made in the final plat,
the City Council shall approve the extension of time not to exceed
an additional 30 days.
