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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
