Township of Wrightstown, PA: Jurisdiction.

[Ord. 260, 9/17/2007]

Subdivision and Land Development Control. It shall be unlawful for the owner or any other person, firm, or corporation owning or controlling any land in Wrightstown Township to subdivide any lot, tract, parcel of land, or interior or exterior space by leasehold or other means, including the creation of condominium units, or to lay out, construct, open or dedicate for public use or travel any street, sanitary or storm sewer drainage facility or other facility in connection therewith, for the common use of occupants of buildings located within the subdivision or land development, unless final plans of such subdivision or land development shall:

[Amended by Ord. 312, 3/21/2016]

Have been prepared in conformance with the requirements of this chapter, the Floodplain Management Ordinance [Chapter 8], the applicable Wrightstown Stormwater Management Ordinance [Chapter 25] and other applicable ordinances and regulations.

Have been prepared and signed by and sealed by a professional engineer or land surveyor or landscape architect, as permitted by the Landscape Architects' Registration Law, 63 P.S. § 901 et seq., duly and currently registered in the State of Pennsylvania.

Have been submitted to and approved in writing thereon by the Board of Supervisors subsequent to meeting the requirements of sketch and preliminary submissions.

Have been recorded in the Bucks County Recorder of Deeds office in Doylestown, Pennsylvania.

The improvements required by the Township for plan approval have either been constructed or proper completion of those improvements has by deposit of funds or financial security sufficient to cover the cost of improvements, inspections and legal fees.

Before the approval of a plan, the Board of Supervisors shall transmit a copy of the proposed plat to the Bucks County Planning Commission, and give the Bucks County Planning Commission 30 days in which to make a recommendation. Pending the receipt and consideration of such report, the Board of Supervisors shall defer action thereon, but if such report is not received by the Board of Supervisors within 30 days from the submission of the plan to the Bucks County Planning Commission, or within such further time as may be agreed upon by the Board of Supervisors, the Board of Supervisors may proceed to final action thereon.

§ 22-202 Sanctions and Penalties.

[Ord. 260, 9/17/2007]

Site alterations, grading, filling or clearing of vegetation prior to the issuance of zoning or building permits or receipt of a permit or final approval for a subdivision or land development from Wrightstown Township shall be a violation of this chapter.

Any removal of trees, grading, or disturbance of protected resources initiated four years or less before the submission of plans for subdivision, land development, building or zoning permits is presumed to be in anticipation of development. If an application for building, conditional use, subdivision or land development is submitted for the property within four years of the date the tree removal, grading, or other disturbances occurred, the requirements for resource protection, as set forth in this chapter and in the Joint Municipal Zoning Ordinance, shall be applied to the property as it was prior to the disturbance. If tree removal has exceeded the limits set forth in Township ordinances, the applicant shall be required to replace trees removed. Replacement shall be based on the actual number and size of trees or forest removed, and trees shall be replaced on an inch-for-inch basis. Determination of actual caliper-inches of trees removed may be determined through a site inspection, aerial photographs (latest available from Bucks County) or on the basis of any tree inventory that was submitted to the Township. If it is not possible to determine the caliper inches of trees removed, then replacement trees shall be provided so that there shall be a minimum of 100 caliper inches (measured diameter at breast height (dbh) of trees per acre after replanting as determined in consultation with an arborist approved by the Township.

It shall be unlawful to record any subdivision plan in any public office, unless the same shall bear thereon by endorsement or otherwise the approval of the Board of Supervisors.

The Township shall have all of the remedies provided in the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code to enforce compliance with the provisions of this chapter including those remedies provided in §§ 511, 515.1 and 515.3 of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code as same may, from time to time, be revised.

Any owner, or agent of the owner, of any land located within a subdivision, who sells, transfers or agrees to sell, any land by reference to, or exhibition of, or by other use of a plan of a subdivision, before the same has been finally approved by the Board of Supervisors shall be subject to the sanctions and penalties hereafter set forth. The Board of Supervisors may also enjoin such transfer or sale or agreement by injunction in addition to the penalties herein provided.

In addition to other remedies, the Township may institute and maintain appropriate actions by law or in equity to restrain, correct or abate violations, to prevent unlawful construction, to recover damages and to prevent illegal occupancy of a building, structure or premises. The description by metes and bounds in the instrument of transfer or other documents used in the process of selling or transferring shall not exempt the seller or transferor from such penalties or from the remedies herein provided.

The Township may refuse to issue any permit or grant any approval necessary to further improve or develop any real property which has been developed or which has resulted from a subdivision of real property in violation of this chapter. This authority to deny such a permit or approval shall apply to any of the following applicants:

The owner of record at the time of such violation.

The vendee (buyer) or lessee (renter) of the owner of record at the time of such violation without regard as to whether such vendee (buyer) or lessee (renter) had actual or constructive knowledge of the violation.

The current owner of record who acquired the property subsequent to the time of violation without regard as to whether such current owner had actual or constructive knowledge of the violation.

The vendee (buyer) or lessee (renter) of the current owner of record who acquired the property subsequent to the time of violation without regard as to whether such vendee (buyer) or lessee (renter) had actual or constructive knowledge of the violation.

As an additional condition for issuance of a permit or the granting of an approval to any such owner, current owner, vendee (buyer) or lessee (renter) for the development of any such real property, the Township may require compliance with the conditions that would have been applicable to the property at the time the applicant acquired an interest in such real property.

Magisterial district judges or the Court of Common Pleas exercising jurisdiction of magisterial district judges, shall have initial jurisdiction in proceedings brought under § 22-202, Subsection 9, hereof.

Any person, partnership or corporation who or which has violated the provisions of this chapter shall, upon being found liable therefore in a civil enforcement proceeding commenced by the Township, pay a judgment of not more than $500 plus all court costs, including reasonable attorney fees incurred by the Township as a result thereof. No judgment shall commence or be imposed, levied or payable until the date of the determination of a violation by the magisterial district judge or other appropriate tribunal. If the defendant neither pays nor timely appeals the judgment, the Township may enforce the judgment pursuant to the applicable rules of civil procedure. Each day that a violation continues shall constitute a separate violation, unless the magisterial district judge determining that there has been a violation further determines that there was a good faith basis for the person, partnership, or corporation violating this chapter to have believed that there was no such violation, in which event there shall be deemed to have been only one such violation until the fifth day following the date of the determination of a violation by the magisterial district judge and thereafter each day that a violation continues shall constitute a separate violation.

10.

The Court of Common Pleas, upon petition, may grant an order of stay, upon cause shown, tolling the per diem judgment pending a final adjudication of the violation and judgment.

11.

Nothing contained in this section shall be construed or interpreted to grant to any person or entity other than the Township the right to commence any action for enforcement pursuant to this section.

12.

For subdivisions involving new residential streets, the sale of individual lots by the developer without an occupancy permit for the completed structure is prohibited, unless 90% of the lots laid out as part of the subdivision have been sold, and the public improvements have been accepted for dedication by Wrightstown Township.