[HISTORY: Adopted by the Borough Council of the Borough of
Sellersville 6-2-1952 by Ord. No. 194. Amendments noted where
applicable.]
There is hereby created a department of the Borough of Sellersville
to be known as the "Department of Borough Planning."
[Amended 2-9-1970 by Ord. No. 391; 4-9-2001 by Ord. No. 621]
Said Department shall be in charge of a Borough Planning Commission
consisting of seven residents of said Borough of Sellersville to be
appointed by the Borough Council of the Borough of Sellersville. The
terms of office of the present members of the Borough Planning Commission
shall continue in full force and effect until such term expires, and
thereafter, reappointments or new appointments shall be made for a
four-year term, excepting that the terms of two of the present members
shall be increased by one year in order that no more than three members
of the Borough Planning Commission shall be reappointed or replaced
during any future calendar year. The initial appointments of the four
new members of the Borough Planning Commission created and established
by this chapter shall be for one member of said commission to serve
for one year, one member to serve for two years, one member to serve
for three years and one member to serve for four years, and thereafter,
as each term expires, reappointments or new appointments to such term
shall be made for a four-year term. In the event of a vacancy of said
membership of said Commission by reason of the death, resignation,
incapacity or refusal of any member of said Commission, said Borough
Council shall fill said vacancy by appointment for the unexpired portion
of the term so becoming vacant.
The members of said Commission shall make and alter rules and
regulations for their own organization and procedure consistent with
ordinances of this Borough and the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
They shall serve without compensation and shall make annually, to
the Borough Council, a report of their transactions. They may employ
engineers and other persons, whose salaries and wages and other necessary
expenses of the Commission, where approved by the Borough Council,
shall be provided for through proper appropriation of the Borough
Council. They may contract for professional planning services, the
costs and the expenses of which, when approved by the Borough Council,
shall be provided through proper appropriation by the Borough Council.
[Amended 7-7-1997 by Ord. No. 604]
The Borough Manager/Secretary shall, upon introduction, furnish
to said Commission for its consideration a copy of all proposed ordinances
of the Borough Council and all amendments thereto relating to the
location of any public building of the Borough and to the location,
extension, widening, narrowing, enlarging, ornamentation and parking
of any street, boulevard, park, parkway, playground or other public
ground and to the relocation, vacation, curtailment, changes of use
or any other alteration of the Borough plan with relation to any of
the same and to the location of any bridge, tunnel and subway or any
surface, underground or elevated railway. The Commission shall give
an advisory opinion of said ordinances or amendments, which opinion
shall be communicated to the Borough Council, in writing, within 10
days from the introduction of said ordinances or amendments.
[Amended 7-7-1997 by Ord. No. 604]
Upon request of the governing body, said Commission may make
or cause to be made and lay before the Borough Council and, at its
discretion, cause to be published maps of the Borough or any portions
thereof, including territory extending beyond the Borough limits for
such distance as may be permitted by law, showing the streets and
highways and other natural and artificial features and also locations
proposed by it for any new public building, civic center, street,
parkway, park, playground or any other public ground or public improvement
or any widening, extension or relocation of the same or any change
in the Borough Plan by it deemed advisable; and said Commission may
make recommendations to the Borough Council, from time to time, concerning
any such matters and things aforesaid, for action by the Borough Council
thereon and, in so doing, have regard for the present conditions and
future needs and growth of the Borough and the distribution and relative
location of all the principal and other streets and railways, waterways
and all other means of public travel and public communications, as
well as the distribution and relative location of all public buildings,
public ground and open spaces devoted to public use.
[Amended 7-7-1997 by Ord. No. 604]
Upon request of the governing body, said Commission may also
make recommendations to any public authorities or any corporations
or individuals in said Borough or such distance beyond the limits
of said Borough as may be authorized by law, with reference to the
location of any buildings, structures or works to be erected or constructed
by them.
All plans, plots or replots of land laid out in building lots
and the streets or other portion of the same intended to be dedicated
to public use of or for the use of the purchasers or owners of lots
fronting thereon or adjacent thereto, located within the Borough limits,
shall be submitted to said Commission and approved by it before they
shall be recorded. It shall be unlawful to receive or record such
a plan in any public office unless the same shall bear thereon, by
endorsement or otherwise, the approval of said Commission. The disapproval
of any such plan by said Commission shall be deemed a refusal of the
proposed dedication shown thereon. The approval of the Commission
shall be deemed an acceptance of the proposed dedication, but shall
not impose any duty or liability upon the Borough of Sellersville
concerning or arising from or by reason of the maintenance of improvement
of any such dedicated parts until the proper authorities of said Borough
shall have made actual appropriation of the same by entry, use or
improvement. No sewer, water or gas main or pipes or other improvements
shall be voted or made within the area under the jurisdiction of said
Commission as may be provided by law, from time to time, for use of
any such purchasers or owners, nor shall any permit of connection
with or any other use of any such improvement existing or for any
other reason made be given to any such purchasers or owners until
such plan is so approved.
[Added 10-12-2015 by Ord.
No. 703]
Conduct declared to be unlawful under § 29-7 shall be enforced by a criminal action in the same manner provided for the enforcement of summary offenses under the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure. A person convicted of violating § 29-7 shall be sentenced to pay a fine not to exceed $1,000 per violation, plus court costs and reasonable attorneys' fees incurred by the Borough of Sellersville, or to imprisonment for not more than 90 days, or both. Violations of more than one provision of § 29-7 shall constitute separate violations. Each day that a violation of any provision of § 29-7 continues or occurs shall constitute a separate violation.
To the extent that it is authorized so to do by law, as now
existing or as may hereafter be enacted, said Commission shall also
have authority, subject to the final approval and ratification of
the Borough Council of the Borough of Sellersville, to cooperate with
one or more adjoining municipalities in the exercise and performance
of the powers, functions and duties of said Commission and of carrying
into effect provisions of the law now or hereafter enacted relating
to said subjects which are common to all such municipalities and which
each may, under laws now or hereafter enacted, separately exercise
and perform. For the purpose of carrying the provisions of this section
into effect, said Commission shall negotiate for such joint agreement
or agreements with such one or more adjoining municipalities as it
may deem appropriate for such purposes, and such agreement or agreements
shall be submitted to the Borough Council of the Borough of Sellersville
for final ratification and approval by ordinance, subject to law.
