A.
This chapter shall be considered to set forth the minimum
requirements for the protection of the public health, safety, comfort,
property or general welfare, pursuant to the authority of the Pennsylvania
Municipalities Planning Code, Act of 1968, P.L. 805, No. 247, as reenacted
and amended, or such statutes hereinafter in effect, and shall be
construed most favorably to the Township as encouraging standards
of planning and development exceeding these basic and minimum regulations.
A.
The Board of Supervisors shall have the duty and authority
for the administration and enforcement of the provisions of this chapter.
As directed by the Board, officials of the Township having regulatory
duties shall have the duty and authority for the controlling enforcement
of the provisions of this chapter.
B.
Permits required by the Township for the erection or alteration
of buildings, the installation of streets, stormwater drainage systems,
or for other appurtenant improvements to or use of the land, shall
not be issued by any Township official responsible for such issuance
until it has been ascertained that the site for such building, alteration,
improvement, or use is contained in a subdivision or land development
plan approved and publicly recorded in accordance with the provisions
of this and other applicable Township Codes and Ordinances.
A.
The provisions of this chapter are intended as minimum
standards for the protection of the public health, safety and welfare
of the residents and inhabitants of Lower Paxton Township. The Board
of Supervisors may grant a modification of the requirements of one
or more provisions of this chapter if the Board concludes that literal
enforcement will exact undue hardship because of peculiar or unique
conditions pertaining to the land in question, provided that such
modifications will not be contrary to the public interest and that
the purpose and intent of this chapter is observed.
B.
All requests for a modification of requirements shall be
in writing to the Board and shall accompany and be part of the application
for subdivision or land development. The request shall state in full
the grounds and facts of unreasonableness or hardship upon which the
request is based; the provision or provisions of the Ordinance involved;
and the minimum modification necessary to afford relief. The request
for a modification of requirements shall also be referred to the Township
Planning Commission for advisory comments.
C.
All such modification requests shall be approved or disapproved
by the Board of Supervisors. A written record of the action shall
be kept for all modification requests.
D.
A listing of all modifications granted by the Board of
Supervisors shall be clearly identified on the preliminary and/or
final plan for ease of future reference.
A.
An applicant, subdivider, landowner or developer aggrieved by any action of the Board of Supervisors regarding refusal to approve a subdivision or land development plan may, within 30 days of such refusal, appeal to the Common Pleas Court of Dauphin County. Any other appeals by aggrieved parties or other landowners shall be subject to the appeal procedures outlined in Article X of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, Act of 1968, P.L. 805, No. 247, as reenacted and amended.
A.
Annually, the Board of Supervisors shall establish, by
resolution, a schedule of fees, charges and expenses pertaining to
application filing fees, plan review fees, engineering and legal fees,
inspection fees and other matters necessary for the administration
of this chapter. The schedule of fees shall be made available in the
Township municipal building during normal business hours.
B.
At the time of filing, all plans shall be accompanied by
a check payable to Lower Paxton Township, in the amount specified
herein, to cover the required initial application fees to help defray
the cost of reviewing the proposed plans and required data. Also at
the time of filing, all plans shall be accompanied by a check payable
to the Dauphin County Planning Commission, in the amount specified
by the county, to cover the costs of the County Planning Commission
review and report.
C.
Any additional fees incurred due to review during the review
process shall be promptly billed by Lower Paxton Township to the applicant,
and the same shall be paid by the applicant within 30 days. Until
all fees, charges and expenses have been paid in full by the applicant,
the subdivision or land development plan shall not be placed on public
record, nor shall any permits related to the project be issued.
D.
Review fees shall include the reasonable and necessary
charges by the Township's Engineer, Solicitor or other professional
consultant for review and report to the Township related to the application
as duly filed. Such review fees shall be reasonable and in accordance
with the ordinary and customary charges by the Township Engineer,
Solicitor or professional consultant for similar service in the community,
but in no event shall the fees exceed the rate or fees charged by
the engineer, solicitor or consultant to the Township when fees are
not reimbursed or otherwise imposed on applicants.
E.
In the event the applicant disputes the amount of any such
review fees, the applicant shall, within 15 days of the billing date,
notify the Township in writing that such fees are disputed, in which
case the Township shall not delay or disapprove a subdivision or land
development application due to the applicant's request over disputed
fees. In the event that the Township and the applicant cannot agree
on the amount of review fees which are reasonable and necessary, then
the fees shall be recalculated and recertified by another professional
engineer licensed as such in this commonwealth and chosen mutually
by the Township and the applicant or developer. The estimate certified
by the third engineer shall be presumed fair and reasonable and shall
be the final estimate. In the event that a third engineer is so chosen,
fees for the services of said engineer shall be paid equally by the
Township and the applicant or developer.
F.
Whenever an application is disapproved by the Township,
withdrawn by the applicant or subject to other similar action, and
subsequently resubmitted by the applicant, the Township shall require
the payment of new fees as any resubmission shall be considered as
a new submission.
A.
Preventive remedies.
(1)
In addition to other remedies that the Township
may institute, the Township may refuse to issue any permit or grant
any approval necessary to further improve or develop any real property
in violation of this chapter. This authority to deny such a permit
or approval shall apply to any of the following applicants:
(a)
The owner of record at the time of such violation.
(b)
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.
(c)
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.
(d)
The vendee or lessee of the current owner of the
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.
(2)
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 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.
B.
Enforcement remedies.
(1)
Any person, partnership or corporation who or
which has violated the provisions of this chapter shall, upon being
found liable thereof in a civil enforcement proceeding commenced by
the Township, pay a judgment of not more than $500 plus all court
costs, including reasonable attorney's 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. 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, 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.
(2)
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.
(3)
Nothing contained in this article 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
chapter.
(4)
The Magisterial District Judge shall have initial
jurisdiction in proceedings brought under this chapter.
Changes in this chapter shall affect plans as follows:
A.
From the time an application for approval of a plan, whether
preliminary or final, is duly filed as provided in this chapter, and
while such application is pending approval or disapproval, no change
or amendment of this chapter, zoning or other governing ordinance
or plan shall affect the decision on such application adversely to
the applicant, and the applicant shall be entitled to a decision in
accordance with the provisions of the governing ordinances or plans
as they stood at the time the application was duly filed. The applicant
shall be entitled to final approval in accordance with the terms of
the approved preliminary application as hereinafter provided. However,
if an application is properly and finally denied, any subsequent application
shall be subject to the intervening change in governing regulations.
B.
When an application for approval of a plan, whether preliminary
or final, has been approved without conditions or approved by the
applicant's acceptance of conditions, no subsequent change or
amendment in this chapter, zoning or other governing ordinance or
plan shall be applied to affect adversely the right of the applicant
to commence and to complete any aspect of the approved development
in accordance with the terms of such approval within five years from
such approval.
C.
Where final approval is preceded by preliminary approval,
the aforesaid five-year period shall be counted from the date of the
preliminary approval. In the case of any doubt as to the terms of
a preliminary approval, the terms shall be construed in the light
of the provisions of this chapter or the governing ordinance or plans
as they stood at the time when the application for such approval was
duly filed.
D.
Where the landowner has substantially completed the required
improvements as depicted upon the final plan within the aforesaid
five-year limit, or any extension thereof as may be granted by the
Board of Supervisors, no change of any ordinance or plan enacted subsequent
to the date of filing of the preliminary plan shall modify or revoke
any aspect of the approved final plan pertaining to zoning classification
or density, lot, building, street or utility location.
E.
In the case of a preliminary plan calling for the installation
of improvements beyond the five-year period, a schedule shall be filed
by the landowner with the preliminary plan delineating all proposed
sections as well as deadlines within which applications for final
plan approval of each section are intended to be filed. Such schedule
shall be updated annually by the applicant on or before the anniversary
of the preliminary plan approval, until final plan approval of the
final section has been granted and any modification in the aforesaid
schedule shall be subject to approval of the Board of Supervisors
in its discretion.
F.
Each section in any residential subdivision or land development,
except for the last section, shall contain a minimum of 25% of the
total number of dwelling units as depicted on the preliminary plan,
unless a lesser percentage is approved by the Board of Supervisors
in its discretion. Provided the landowner has not defaulted with regard
to or violated any of the conditions of the preliminary plan approval,
including compliance with landowner's aforesaid schedule of submission
of final plans for the various sections, then the aforesaid protections
afforded by substantially completing the improvements depicted upon
the final plan within five years shall apply and for any section or
sections, beyond the initial section, in which the required improvements
have not been substantially completed within said five-year period
the aforesaid protections shall apply for an additional term or terms
of three years from the date of final plan approval for each section.
G.
Failure of landowner to adhere to the aforesaid schedule
of submission of final plans for the various sections shall subject
any such section to any and all changes in this chapter, zoning, and
other governing ordinance enacted by the Township subsequent to the
date of the initial preliminary plan submission.
Should any section, subsection or provision of this chapter
be declared by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such
decision shall not affect the validity of this chapter as a whole
or any other part thereof.
After a plan has been approved and recorded as provided herein,
all streets and public grounds on such plan shall be and become a
part of the Official Map of Lower Paxton Township without public hearing.