A. 
This chapter requires that all plans for the subdivision or land development, as defined herein, of land lying in the Borough of Newtown be submitted for approval to the Borough Council of Newtown. All such plans shall be reviewed by the Newtown Borough Planning Commission and the Bucks County Planning Commission and any other reviewing agencies specified by this chapter prior to submission to Borough Council. It shall be unlawful for the owner or any other person, firm or corporation owning or controlling any land in the Borough to subdivide any lot, tract or parcel of land, 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:
[Amended 9-10-2002 by Ord. No. 633]
(1) 
Final plans of such subdivision or land development shall have been prepared in accordance with all licensing laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania;
(2) 
Final plans of such subdivision or land development have been submitted to and approved in writing thereon by the President and Secretary of the Newtown Borough Council;
(3) 
Final plans of such subdivision or land development have been reviewed and signed by the Bucks County Planning Commission;
(4) 
Final plans of such subdivision or land development have been recorded in the Bucks County Recorder of Deeds Office in Doylestown, Pennsylvania; and
(5) 
The improvements required by the Borough Council in connection therewith have either been constructed or the Borough Council has been assured of proper completion by the deposit of funds or securities in escrow sufficient to cover the cost of the required improvements, as determined by the methods set forth herein.
B. 
Before the approval of a subdivision or land development plan by the Borough, the applicant shall submit a copy of the proposed plat to the Bucks County Planning Commission and that Commission may make a report thereon to the Borough of Newtown. If the Bucks County Planning Commission wishes to submit a report to Borough Council, such report must be submitted to the Newtown Borough Planning Commission within 30 days of the submission of the plat to the Bucks County Planning Commission or within such further time as may be agreed by Borough Council.
[Amended 11-10-2020 by Ord. No. 773]
A. 
In addition to other remedies, the Borough 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 provided herein.
B. 
The Borough 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 an ordinance adopted pursuant to the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, Act 247, as amended.[1] This authority to deny such a permit or approval shall apply to any of the following applicants: 1) the owner of record at the time of such violation; 2) the vendee or lessee of the owner of record at the time of such violation without regard as to whether such vendee or lessee had actual or constructive knowledge of the violation; 3) 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; 4) the vendee or lessee of the current owner of record who acquired the property subsequent to the time of violation without regard as to whether such vendee or lessee 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 or lessee for the development of such real property, the Borough may require compliance with the conditions that would have been applicable to the property at the time that the applicant acquired an interest in such property.
[1]
Editors Note: See 53 P.S. § 10101 et seq.
C. 
Sale of lots; issuance of building permits; erection of buildings:
(1) 
No lot in a subdivision may be sold nor any improvement constructed thereon, and no permit to erect, alter or repair any building upon land in a subdivision or land development may be issued unless and until the improvements required by the Borough Council in connection therewith have either been constructed or guaranteed as hereinafter provided, and the subdivision or land development plan has been approved by the Borough Council and recorded in the Bucks County Recorder of Deeds Office.
(2) 
No building in a subdivision or land development which depends upon the improvement of any street or streets herein provided for ingress and egress shall be permitted to be occupied before improvements are substantially completed from a now existing paved street to and across the front of the land on which the building is located, and/or to a sufficient depth along the side of the land to service any driveway, or parking spaces, or in the case of streets of insufficient width, until such widening of said street has been completed.
(3) 
No building depending upon public water and sewer facilities shall be permitted to be occupied before such facilities are fully provided and operational.
D. 
Any person, partnership, or corporation who shall violate any of the provisions of this chapter shall, upon being found liable therefor in a civil enforcement proceeding commenced by the Borough, pay a judgment of not more than $500 plus all court costs, including reasonable attorneys' fees incurred by the Borough 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. If the defendant neither pays nor timely appeals the judgment, the Borough 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 the 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.