[Ord. 208, 9/25/2012]
Section 501 of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code
(Act 247), as amended, provides that Smithfield Township may regulate
subdivision and land development within the Township by enacting a
subdivision and land development ordinance.
[Ord. 208, 9/25/2012]
This Chapter requires that all plans for the subdivision or
development of land lying within Smithfield Township be submitted
for approval to the Smithfield Township Board of Supervisors. Further,
all such plans shall be reviewed by the Smithfield Township Planning
Commission in accordance with procedures set forth in this Chapter
prior to submission to the Board of Supervisors.
[Ord. 208, 9/25/2012]
The provisions of this Chapter shall be held to be minimum requirements
to meet the purposes stated herein. Where the provisions of this Chapter
impose greater restrictions than those of any statute, other ordinance
or regulation, the provisions of this Chapter shall prevail. Where
the provisions of any statute, other ordinance or regulation impose
greater restrictions than those of this Chapter, the provisions of
such statute, ordinance or regulation shall prevail.
[Ord. 208, 9/25/2012]
The Monroe County Planning Commission is empowered under Section
502 of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code (Act 247) to
review and report on each subdivision and land development plan before
local approval and recording, as required by law. The submission of
plans to the Monroe County Planning Commission for review and report
shall be as provided in this Chapter.
[Ord. 208, 9/25/2012]
1.
It shall
be unlawful for the applicant/developer or any other person, firm
or corporation owning or controlling any land in the Township to initiate
a land development or 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 and land development unless the following
are completed:
A.
Final
plans of such subdivision and land development shall have been prepared
and signed by and sealed by a professional engineer or land surveyor
or landscape architect, as permitted by the appropriate licensure
laws, duly and currently registered in the State of Pennsylvania.
B.
Submitted
to and approved, in writing, thereon by the Smithfield Township Supervisors.
C.
Recorded
in the Monroe County Recorder of Deeds Office in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania.
D.
The improvements
required by the Board of Supervisors in connection therewith have
either been constructed or the Board of Supervisors has been assured
of proper completion by the deposit of funds or securities in escrow,
sufficient to cover the cost of the required improvements and inspections
as determined by the methods set forth by this Chapter.
[Ord. 208, 9/25/2012]
1.
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 provided
herein.
2.
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 any ordinance adopted pursuant to Article 5 of the Pennsylvania
Municipalities Planning Code, Act 247, as amended. This authority
to deny such a permit or approval shall apply to any of the following
applicant/developers: the applicant/developer of record at the time
of such violation; the vendee or lessee of the applicant/developer
of record at the time of such violation without regard to whether
such vendee or lessee had actual or constructive knowledge of the
violation; the current applicant/developer of record who acquired
the property subsequent to the time of violation without regard as
to whether such current applicant/developer had actual or constructive
knowledge of the violation; the vendee or lessee of the current applicant/developer
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 applicant/developer,
current applicant/developer, vendee or lessee for the development
of such real property, the Township may require compliance with the
conditions that would have been applicable to the property at the
time that the applicant/developer acquired an interest in such property.
[Ord. 208, 9/25/2012]
1.
Any persons,
partnership or corporation who or which has violated the provisions
of the Smithfield Township subdivision and land development ordinance
enacted under this act or prior enabling laws 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 be 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, partnership or corporation
violating the ordinance 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.
The Township
shall have the sole right to commence actions of enforcement pursuant
to this Section.
