All provisions of this chapter shall be administered by City
Council or their officially designated representatives. All matters
relating to this chapter shall be submitted to the City Zoning Officer
who will handle the matter in accordance with current City policies,
procedures, and guidelines established by City Council.
The City shall keep a public record of its correspondence, findings,
recommendations, and actions relating to plans filed for review, in
accordance with the policies, procedures, and guidelines established
by City Council and Planning Commission.
A.
No application for preliminary or final plan approval shall be filed
and processed until the fees and/or escrow deposit, as set forth below,
shall have been paid.
B.
City Council shall adopt and amend by resolution a schedule of fees,
payable by the applicant to the City for the filing of preliminary
and final plans.
C.
City Council shall adopt and amend by resolution a schedule of escrow
deposits to be paid by the applicant to the City at the time of the
filing of an application sufficient to pay all City expenditures anticipated
in the course of its review and disposition of plans.
D.
City expenditures subject to escrow as in § 315-62C, above, include but are not limited to the following:
(1)
Engineering and other technical services performed by landscape architects,
geologists, planners, and other professionals during the plan review.
(2)
Construction inspection and the testing of materials.
(3)
Services of the City Solicitor in reviewing and/or preparing documents
related to the plan reviews.
(4)
Actual costs of recording.
(5)
An administrative charge of 15% of the total costs described in the
previous four subsections.
F.
Disputes. In the event that the applicant disputes the amount of
any such review fee, the applicant shall within 45 days of the billing
date or the notice of withdrawal by the City of an amount held in
escrow, notify the City and their consultant that the fees are disputed.
In such case the City shall not delay or disapprove a subdivision
or land development due to the applicant's request regarding
disputed fees. The applicant shall within 30 days after the transmittal
date of a bill for inspection services or 45 days of the date of transmittal
of a final bill for inspection services, notify the City and their
professional consultant that the fees are disputed. The fee dispute
process established in the Pennsylvania Municipalities Code[2] generally includes following steps:
(1)
In the event that the City and the applicant cannot agree on the
amount of any review fees which are reasonable and necessary, then
the City and applicant shall jointly by mutual agreement appoint another
professional consultant serving as arbitrator to examine the disputed
review fees and make a determination as to the amount thereof which
are fair and reasonable within 50 days.
(2)
Appropriate payments or reimbursements shall be made within 60 days
following the decision by the arbitrator.
(3)
If the City and applicant cannot agree on an independent professional
consultant to serve as arbitrator within 20 days of the billing date,
then upon application of either party, the President Judge of the
Court of Common Pleas of the judicial district in which the municipality
is located shall appoint an engineer who shall be neither the City
Engineer or any professional engineer who has been retained by or
performed services for the City or applicant within the preceding
five years.
(4)
The fee of the appointed arbitrator shall be paid by the applicant
if the amount of payment required in the decision is equal to or greater
than the original bill. If the amount of payment is less than the
original bill by $5,000 or more, the arbitrator may require part or
full payment from the applicant or professional consultant. In all
other cases, the consultant and City should each pay 1/2 of the fees
of the professional engineer.
[2]
Editor's Note: See 53 P.S. § 10101 et seq.
A.
Upon review and recommendation by the City Planning Commission, City
Council may grant a modification of the requirements of one or more
provisions of this chapter, if the literal enforcement of them would
exact undue hardship because of peculiar conditions pertaining to
the land in question, provided that such modification(s) will not
be contrary to the public interest and that the purpose and intent
of this chapter is observed. All requests for modification(s) shall:
(1)
Be in writing and part of an application for subdivision and/or land
development;
(2)
State the grounds and facts of unreasonableness or hardship on which
the request is based or the public benefit of an alternative design
standard;
(3)
List the provision(s) of the chapter involved; and
(4)
State the minimum modification necessary.
B.
In any instance where the City Council is required to consider a
modification to this chapter, City Council shall, among other things:
(1)
Determine that there are special circumstances or conditions fully
described in the finding applying to the land or buildings for which
the exception is sought, which circumstances or conditions are such
that the application of the provisions of this chapter would deprive
the applicant of the reasonable use of such land or building.
(2)
Be guided in its study, review and recommendation by sound standards
of subdivision and land development practice.
(3)
Determine that the proposed exception will serve the best interest
of the City of Washington, the convenience of the community, and the
public welfare.
(4)
Impose such conditions, in addition to those required, as are necessary
to assure that the intent of this article is complied with, which
conditions may include, but are not limited to, harmonious design
of buildings, planting and its maintenance as a sight or sound screen
the minimizing of noxious, offensive or hazardous elements, adequate
standards or parking, and sanitation.
(5)
Determine that the unique circumstances for which the exception is
sought were neither created by the owner of the property, not were
due to or the result of general conditions in the Zoning District
in which the property is located.
(6)
Not consider financial hardship as the basis for granting an exception.
C.
Council shall keep a written record of all action on all requests
for modifications.
A.
Reconsideration. Any subdivider or land developer aggrieved by a
finding, decision, or other action of City Council regarding this
article may request and shall receive an opportunity to appear before
Council, to present additional relevant information and request, in
writing, reconsideration of the original finding, decision or action.
(1)
Appeals shall be decided within a reasonable time, not to exceed
30 days after the hearing, or if said hearing is continued, within
30 days after the continued hearing.
(2)
Written notice of decisions shall be given to all parties in interest
citing the ways in which the decision conforms to the standards outlined
above.
B.
Appeals from decisions, findings, or actions.
(1)
The decisions, findings, or actions of the City Council with respect
to the approval or disapproval of plans, or the granting of exceptions,
may be appealed directly to the County of Washington Court of Common
Pleas by any person aggrieved.
(2)
Appeals shall be filed not later than 30 days after issuance of notice
of the action of City Council.
A.
Preventative remedies.
(1)
In addition to other remedies, the City 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.
(2)
The City 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 any ordinance adopted pursuant to this article.
B.
Enforcement remedies.
(1)
Any person, partnership or corporation who or which has violated
any provisions of this chapter shall, upon being found liable therefor
in a civil enforcement proceeding commenced by the City, pay a judgment
of not more than $500 plus all court costs, including reasonable attorney
fees incurred by the City as a result thereof.
(2)
No judgment shall commence or be imposed, levied or payable until
the date of the determination of a violation by the District Justice.
(3)
If the defendant neither pays nor timely appeals the judgment, the
City may enforce the judgment pursuant to the applicable rules of
the civil procedure.
(4)
Each day that a violation continues shall constitute a separate violation,
unless the District Justice 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 District Justice,
and thereafter each day that a violation continues shall constitute
a separate violation.
(5)
All fines collected for such violations shall be paid to the City.
This chapter may be amended from time to time in accordance
with the procedure established by Section 505 of the Pennsylvania
Municipalities Planning Code, Act No. 247,[1] as follows:
A.
Amendment shall become effective only after a public hearing(s) held
by the City Council pursuant to public notice, as defined in this
section.
B.
Public notice shall include a brief summary setting forth the principal
provisions of the proposed amendment and a reference to the place(s)
within the City where copies of the proposed amendment may be secured
or examined.
C.
Unless the proposed amendment shall have been prepared by the Planning
Commission, the City Council shall submit the proposed amendment to
the City Planning Commission and Washington County Planning Commission
at least 30 days prior to the hearing of such proposed amendment to
provide the Planning Commission an opportunity to make recommendations.
D.
After enactment, if the advertisement of any amendment is required
by other laws respecting advertisement of amendment, such advertisements
may consist solely of a reference to the place or places, within the
City where copies of such amendment shall be obtainable for a charge
not greater than the cost thereof, and available for examination without
charge.
E.
Whenever a proposed amendment affects a particular property, there
shall be posted upon said property or premises at such place or places
as City Council may direct, notice of said proposed amendment.
[1]
Editor's Note: See 53 P.S. § 10505.
