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Borough of Norristown, PA
Montgomery County
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Code
New Laws (9) Index
This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Municipality of Norristown Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance of 2012."
This chapter has been enacted in conformance with the provisions of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, Act No. 247 of 1968, as amended.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: See 53 P.S. § 10101 et seq.
This chapter contains regulations which include, but are not limited to, the following:
1. 
Provisions for the filing, processing, review, and approval of all subdivision and land development plans.
2. 
Design standards and guidelines for the overall layout, configuration, and placement of lots, roads, open space, parks, public facilities and other physical improvements on property to promote orderly development compatible with the Municipality of Norristown Comprehensive Plan.
3. 
Engineering and technical standards governing the manner by which various improvements, including streets, bridges, common facilities, water supply and sewage facilities infrastructure, stormwater management facilities, walkways, lighting, and other improvements, are properly constructed.
The following are the purposes of this chapter:
1. 
To ensure the overall health, safety and general welfare of the residents of the Municipality of Norristown.
2. 
To ensure that development within Norristown will be orderly, efficient, integrated, and harmonious.
3. 
To guide the future growth and development of Norristown in conformance to the Comprehensive Plan and to other relevant regulations, maps, studies, and reports adopted in furtherance thereof.
4. 
To ensure that streets in and bordering a subdivision or land development shall be coordinated and be of such design and in such locations as deemed necessary to accommodate prospective traffic and parking and to facilitate fire protection and other emergency services.
5. 
To require adequate, appropriately located easements or rights-of-way for utilities and storm drainage facilities.
6. 
To ensure that any lands offered for dedication or otherwise reserved for use as public or common grounds shall be of suitable size, configuration, and topographical character for their designated uses.
7. 
To ensure conformance of subdivision and land development proposals with the availability of municipal services and public facilities and the coordination of intermunicipal programs.
8. 
To preserve lands subject to inundation or flooding from subdivision or land development which would endanger life or property or further aggravate or increase the existing flooding or inundation conditions.
9. 
To encourage and promote flexibility, economy, and ingenuity in the layout and design of subdivisions and land developments, including provisions authorizing the Municipality to modify the requirements of this chapter in accordance with concepts and practices consistent with the modern and evolving, generally accepted principles of site planning and land development.
10. 
To provide equitable handling of all subdivision and land development proposals by providing uniform procedures and standards.
11. 
To encourage subdivision and land development in accordance with principles and practices which conserve energy, both during and after construction, and which encourage the use of alternative energy sources by the layout of the proposal and the siting of buildings.
12. 
To ensure conformance of subdivision and land development plans with the public improvements of Norristown and coordination of intermunicipal, county, and commonwealth improvement plans and programs.
13. 
To provide adequate open space for traffic, recreation, light and air and for proper distribution of population.
14. 
To preserve and protect natural resources, such as, but not limited to, streams, wetland areas and groundwater reserves, so as to maintain the quality of life within Norristown and adjacent lands.
15. 
To maintain the character and the social and economic stability of Norristown and to encourage the orderly and beneficial development of the community.
16. 
To provide for the buffering of certain types of land uses to minimize their impact upon their surroundings.
The provisions of this chapter shall be the minimum requirements to meet the above-stated purposes. Where the provisions of this chapter impose greater restrictions than those of any other statute, ordinance, or regulations, then the provisions of this chapter shall prevail. Where the provisions of any other statute, ordinance, or regulations impose greater restrictions than those of this chapter, the provisions of such statute, ordinance, or regulations shall take precedence.
The Municipal Council shall, with the recommendation of the Norristown Planning Commission, review all subdivision and land development plans, as defined below and in § 282-201 of this chapter, which are located in whole or in part in Norristown.
1. 
Subdivision and land development. No subdivision or land development of any lot, tract, or parcel of land, as defined in Article II, shall be made, and no street, alley, sanitary sewer, storm drain, water main, gas, oil or electric line, or other improvements in connection therewith, shall be laid out, constructed, or dedicated for public use, or travel, or for the common use of occupants of a building abutting thereon, except in strict accordance with this chapter.
2. 
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 Municipal Council under the advice of the Norristown Engineer and Solicitor, in accordance with the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
3. 
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.
The Municipal Council may grant a modification of the requirements of this chapter, through a waiver, if strict application of these requirements would be unreasonable or cause undue hardship, or when an alternative standard can be demonstrated to provide equal or better results, provided that such modification will not be contrary to the public interest and that the purpose and intent of this chapter is observed. All requests for modifications shall:
1. 
Be in writing, listed on the plans and/or sketch, and be part of the application for subdivision and/or land development;
2. 
State the grounds and facts of unreasonableness or hardship on which the request is based;
3. 
List the provision(s) of the chapter involved;
4. 
State the minimum modification necessary;
5. 
Be subject to approval by the Municipal Council after receiving advisory recommendations from the Norristown Planning Commission.