Indiana Borough has the power to review and approve or disapprove plans for the subdivision of land, for the arrangement and administration of land developments, and for the layout of multifamily residential developments within its corporate limits under the authority vested in Borough Council by the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, Act 247 of 1969, as amended.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: See 53 P.S. § 10101 et seq.
This chapter is adopted for the following reasons:
A. 
To promote the public health, safety, and general welfare of the residents and property owners;
B. 
To guarantee that a vehicular circulation system, safe means of sewage disposal, a potable water supply of sufficient capacity, and control of storm drainage are provided for in each subdivision and development plan;
C. 
To safeguard lands subject to flooding or subsidence and to prevent erosion, unnecessary destruction of plant materials, and excessive grading; and
D. 
To assure property owners and residents of the Borough that all plans will be considered based on an established public policy and objectively and uniformly enforced.
This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Indiana Borough Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance."
For subdivisions and developments governed by this chapter, the following terms shall have the meaning indicated:
LAND DEVELOPMENT
As defined by the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code.[2] Examples may include, but are not limited to, a new nonresidential building, the expansion of a nonresidential building, the separation of space within an existing building for two or more tenants, and two buildings functioning as dwellings on a single lot.
LOT LINE REVISION
A form of minor subdivision where no new lot is created but lot lines between two or more adjacent lots are expanded, diminished, combined, or altered in some fashion.
MAJOR SUBDIVISION
A subdivision in which three or more lots, tracts, or parcels are created or new streets or extensions of existing streets, public or private, required to serve at least one of the lots, tracts, or parcels in order to provide the minimum street frontage for the lot or lots and/or sewer or water lines or both must be extended to serve one or more of the lots.
MINOR SUBDIVISION
A subdivision in which fewer than three lots, tracts, or parcels are created (including original or residual land), all of which abut a public street in existence prior to presentation of the subdivision, each lot with sufficient frontage thereon, and further, no extension of public or private sewer or water lines is required to serve any or all of the lots, tracts, or parcels.
SUBDIVISION
The division by the owner, grantor, or devisor of a single-lot tract or parcel of land, or a part thereof, into two or more lots, tracts or parcels of land, including lots, tracts, or parcels to be retained by the owner, grantor, or devisor, and those lots, tracts, and parcels to be conveyed or leased, whether now or in the future, to others for immediate or later development. The rearrangement of property lines, although not creating any new properties, and the combining of several lots, tracts, or parcels or parts thereof to create a new property or properties, whether resulting in fewer properties in number or not, shall be considered subdivisions for the purpose of this chapter.
[1]
Editor's Note: See also Article II, Definitions.
[2]
Editor's Note: See 53 P.S. § 10101 et seq.
A. 
On and after the effective date of this chapter, no lot in a subdivision may be sold, no permit to erect, alter, repair or remove any building upon land in a subdivision or a land development may be issued, and no building may be erected in a subdivision or land development unless and until a subdivision plan or land development plan has been approved by the Borough Council or its designated representative, the Planning Commission, and recorded in the office of the Indiana County Recorder of Deeds, and until the improvements required by this chapter have either been constructed or guaranteed.
B. 
In their interpretation and application, the provisions of this chapter shall be held to be the minimum requirements adopted for the protection of the public health, safety, and welfare.
C. 
This chapter shall not apply to any lot or lots, plan of lots or development created and lawfully recorded prior to the third day of August 2010, except as regards to the development of such lots or plan, and as permitted by the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code.
D. 
Any redivision or combination of lots within a plan previously recorded or any rearrangement of structures, parking areas, graded land surfaces, or other elements within a development plan shall be subject to this chapter.
E. 
Any lot, plan of lots, or development plan illegally recorded or not lawfully recorded prior to adoption of this chapter shall not be given legal status by adoption.
F. 
It is not the intent of this chapter to annul or interfere with existing laws and ordinances, private restrictions placed upon property by deed, covenants, private agreements, or such covenants running with the land to which the Borough is a party except where this chapter imposes greater restrictions upon the land and development than are imposed or required by such existing provisions of law, ordinance, contract or deed. It shall be interpreted that these are in addition to the restrictions of such other existing regulation and ordinance.
Borough Council hereby delegates the Indiana Borough Planning Commission to act and to have full authority in the administration of this chapter and any subsequent amendments thereto. The Planning Commission shall have the power to grant reasonable modifications in accordance with § 405-32 and to propose and to hold public hearings upon amendments to this chapter. The Borough Council shall approve or reject proposed amendments to this chapter.