This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Harris Township Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance (SALDO)."
This chapter is enacted and ordained under the grant of powers by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, Act of 1968, July 31, P.L. 805, as amended, 53 P.S. § 10101 et seq.
This chapter is enacted for the following purposes:
A. 
To protect and provide for the health, safety, and general welfare of the Township.
B. 
To guide the future growth and development of the Township in accordance with the Comprehensive Plan.
C. 
To protect the character and the social and economic stability of all parts of the Township and to encourage the orderly and beneficial layout and development of the Township; to establish reasonable procedures for subdivision review; and to ensure proper legal descriptions and monumenting of subdivided land.
D. 
To protect and conserve the value of land throughout the Township and the value of buildings and improvements upon the land, and to minimize the conflicts among the uses of land and buildings.
E. 
To guide public and private policy and action in order to provide adequate and efficient transportation, water, sewerage, fire protection, and other public requirements and facilities; to provide the most beneficial relationship between the uses of land and buildings and the circulation of traffic throughout the Township, having particular regard to the avoidance of congestion in the streets and highways, and the pedestrian traffic movements appropriate to the various uses of land and buildings, and to provide for the proper location and design of streets; to ensure that public facilities and easements are available and will have a sufficient capacity to serve the proposed subdivision or land development.
F. 
To minimize pollution of streams and ponds; to ensure the adequacy of drainage facilities; to safeguard the water table; and to encourage the wise use and management of natural resources.
In their interpretation and application, the regulations set by this chapter shall be held to be the minimum requirements adopted for the promotion of the purposes of this chapter.
A. 
Type of control. This chapter contains regulations governing the following: submission procedures for the review and disposition of subdivision and land development plans; graphic and written information to be contained on, or filed with, such plans; and regulations governing the design and installation of required improvements, the layout and arrangement of lots and blocks, the reservation of land for public use, and methods of handling storm drainage and erosion and sedimentation.
B. 
New subdivisions and land developments.
(1) 
No subdivision or land development of any lot, tract, or parcel of land shall be made, no street, sanitary sewer, storm sewer, water main, or other improvements in connection therewith shall be laid out, constructed, opened, or dedicated for public use or travel, or for the common use of occupants of buildings abutting thereon, except in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.
(2) 
This chapter shall apply to all plans submitted for initial approval of a subdivision or land development after the date of enactment of this chapter.
C. 
Existing subdivisions and land developments.
(1) 
Any preliminary plan approved within three years prior to the date of enactment of this chapter shall be entitled to final plan approval, within three years of the date of approval of the said preliminary plan, according to the terms of said plan.
(2) 
Any plan submitted for preliminary plan approval prior to the date of enactment of this chapter shall be reviewed under the terms of Ordinance No. 18.
(3) 
This chapter shall apply to any subdivision or land development which occurred without obtaining approval required under this chapter or previous subdivision ordinances of this Township.
(4) 
The provisions of this chapter governing the design and installation of improvements shall apply to any unbuilt portion of a subdivision or land development for which a preliminary or final plan was approved more than three years prior to the date of the enactment of this chapter. Where final plan approval was preceded by preliminary plan approval, the three-year period shall be counted from the date of the preliminary plan approval.
D. 
Relationship with other restrictions. The provisions of this chapter are not intended to interfere with, abrogate, or annul other rules, regulations, or ordinances, provided that where this chapter imposes a greater restriction than that imposed by such other rules, easements, covenants, restrictions, regulations, or ordinances, the provisions of this chapter shall control.
E. 
Exemptions. This chapter shall not apply to any subdivision or land development exempted by the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, 53 P.S. § 10101 et seq., or other laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, or to the design and installation of improvements for developments governed by Chapter 12, Article XIII, Mobile/Manufactured Home Parks, of the Code of the Township of Harris or to property owned by the Township.