[Amended 7-16-1990 by Ord. No. 90-2]
This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Douglass Township Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance of 1985."
This chapter has been enacted in conformance with the provisions of Act 247 of 1968, the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, as amended.
This chapter contains regulations which include, but are not limited to, the following:
A. 
Provisions for the submittal and processing of plats for subdivision and land developments, and specifications for such plats, including provisions for tentative sketch, preliminary, and final plan processing and approvals, and for processing of final approval by stages or sections of development.
B. 
Provisions governing the standards by which streets shall be graded and improved, and walkways, curbs, gutters, streetlights, fire hydrants, water, sewage and storm drainage facilities, and other improvements shall be installed as conditions precedent to formal approval of plats.
The following are the purposes of this chapter:
A. 
To insure that development within the Township will be orderly, efficient, integrated, and harmonious.
B. 
To insure that the layout and arrangement of subdivisions or land developments shall conform to the Douglass Township Comprehensive Plan and to any regulations, maps, studies, and reports adopted in furtherance thereof.
C. 
To insure that streets in and bordering a subdivision or land development shall be coordinated, and be of such widths, grades, and in such locations as deemed necessary to accommodate prospective traffic and parking, and to facilitate fire protection.
D. 
To require adequate, appropriately located easements or rights-of-way for utilities and storm drainage facilities.
E. 
To insure that any lands offered for dedication or otherwise reserved for use as public or common grounds shall be of suitable size, configuration, and topographical character for their designated uses.
F. 
To insure conformance of subdivision and land development proposals with the availability of municipal services and public facilities, and the coordination of intermunicipal programs.
G. 
To preserve lands subject to inundation or flooding from subdivision or land development which would endanger life or property or further aggravate or increase the existing flooding of inundation conditions.
H. 
To encourage and promote flexibility, economy, and ingenuity in the layout and design of subdivisions and land developments, including provisions authorizing the Township to modify the requirements of this chapter in accordance with concepts and practices consistent with the modern and evolving generally accepted principles of site planning and land development.
I. 
To encourage alternative routes of travel for pedestrian and bicycle use, in open space areas, away from the vehicular routes, and to provide standards for development of these routes.
J. 
To provide equitable handling of all subdivisions and land development proposals by providing uniform procedures and standards.
K. 
To encourage subdivision and land development in accordance with principles and practices which conserve energy, both during and after construction, and which encourage the use of alternative energy sources by the layout of the proposal and the siting of buildings.
The provisions of this chapter shall be the minimum requirements to meet the above-stated purposes. Where the provisions of this chapter impose greater restrictions than those of any other statute, ordinance, or regulations, then the provisions of this chapter shall prevail. Where the provisions of any other statute, ordinance or regulations impose greater restrictions than those of this chapter, the provisions of such statute, ordinance or regulations shall take precedent.
A. 
Subdivision of a lot or construction, opening or dedication of a street. No subdivision or land development of any lot, tract, or parcel of land shall be made, and no street, alley, sanitary sewer, storm drain, water main, gas, oil or electric transmission line, or other improvements in connection therewith, shall be laid out, constructed, or dedicated for public use or travel, or for the common use of occupants of a building abutting thereon, except in strict accordance with this chapter.
B. 
Sale of lots, issuance of building permits, or erection of buildings. No lot in a subdivision or land development may be sold, and no permit to erect or alter any building upon land in a subdivision or land development will be issued unless and until a subdivision and/or land development plan has been approved, and where required, recorded, and until the required improvements in connection therewith have either been constructed or guaranteed for construction in the form of a bond, escrow, or other means suitable to the Township Supervisors and approved by the Township Engineer and Solicitor, in accordance with the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
C. 
Condominiums. No provisions of this chapter shall be construed to prohibit condominium ownership as permitted by the applicable enabling legislation of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.