In any case in which an applicant demonstrates to the satisfaction
of the City Council that strict application of any provisions of this
chapter would be unreasonable and would cause unnecessary hardship
as applied to the proposed subdivision or land development, the City
Council may grant a modification of such provision so as to grant
relief from the unnecessary hardship, and such modification granted
shall be the least modification necessary to grant relief from the
unnecessary hardship and shall be applied so that substantial justice
may be done and the public interest secured; provided, however, that
such modification shall not be granted if it would have the effect
of nullifying the intent and purpose of this chapter.
In granting modifications, the City Council may impose such conditions
as will, in its judgment, secure substantially the objectives of the
standards and requirements so modified.
The City shall assign a subdivision application number to all subdivision
and land development applications, and all matters referring to an
application should be filed in accordance with the subdivision case
number. The City shall keep a record of its findings, decisions, and
recommendations relative to all plans filed with it for review.
No application for preliminary or final approval shall be deemed
to have been submitted until the fee and escrow deposit, as set forth
below, shall have been paid.
A subdivision or land development application fee (nonrefundable) and an escrow deposit shall be submitted with any application for preliminary or final plan approval to cover the costs of plan review and processing. Amounts of the application fee and escrow deposit shall be fixed by the City Council by resolution. The escrowed funds shall be used to reimburse the City for actual expenditures incident to these processes, including but not limited to fees of the engineering consultant, and legal fees in excess of the fee for review of the City's standard forms. Any costs incurred by the City in excess of the amount held in escrow shall be fully reimbursed by the applicant prior to the issuance of any permits. Any unexpended balance in the escrow deposit shall become part of the second deposit required in Subsection C below.
Following final plan approval and recording and the establishment
of any required performance guarantee, a second escrow deposit shall
be established to cover the cost of inspections of improvements construction;
materials or site testing; or maintenance costs (e.g., snow removal),
prior to the acceptance of improvements by the City. Any costs incurred
by the City in excess of the amount held in escrow shall be fully
reimbursed by the applicant. Any unexpended balance in the escrow
deposit following acceptance of dedication of improvements by the
City shall be returned to the applicant. The amount of the escrow
deposit shall be fixed by the City Council by resolution.
Any person, partnership, or corporation who or which, being the owner
or agent of the owner of any lot, tract, or parcel of land, shall
lay out, construct, open, or dedicate any street, sanitary sewer,
storm sewer, water main, or other improvements for public use, travel,
or other purposes or for the common use of occupants of buildings
abutting thereon, or who sells or offers to sell, transfers or agrees
or enters into an agreement to sell any land in a subdivision or land
development, whether by reference to or by other use of a plat of
such subdivision or land development or otherwise, or who erects any
building thereon, unless and until a final plat has been prepared
in full compliance with the provisions of this chapter and has been
recorded as provided herein, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and,
upon conviction thereof, such person or the members of such partnership
or the officers of such corporation or the agent of any of them responsible
for such violation shall pay a fine not exceeding $1,000 per lot or
parcel or per dwelling within each lot or parcel. All fines collected
for such violations shall be paid over to the City. The description
by metes and bounds in the instrument of transfer or other document
used in the process of selling or transferring shall not exempt the
seller or transferor from such penalties of from the remedies herein
provided.
At the discretion of the City, misdemeanor prosecution for violation
of this chapter may be converted to a civil penalty suit for the amounts
set forth as fines hereinabove.
The procedures for securing review of any ordinance, decision
or determination is set forth in Article X of the Pennsylvania Municipalities
Planning Code, Act 170 of December 21, 1988, P.L. 170, as amended.[1]