A. 
Title. These regulations are officially known as the "Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance (SALDO) of the City of Allentown." For convenience the regulations are referred to throughout this document as "this chapter."
B. 
Authority. This chapter is adopted pursuant to the City Charter and in accordance with the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code (MPC), Act No. 247 of 1968,[1] and the Pennsylvania Stormwater Management Act, P.L. 864 (Act 167).[2]
[1]
Editor's Note: See 53 P.S. § 10101 et seq.
[2]
Editor's Note: See 32 P.S. § 680.1 et seq.
C. 
Effective date. The provisions of this chapter become effective on January 1, 2026, except as otherwise expressly stated herein.
D. 
Applicability and jurisdiction.
(1) 
Regulation of the development of land and the imposition of reasonable conditions to land development is an exercise of valid police power delegated by the commonwealth to the City.
(2) 
Developers have the duty of complying with reasonable conditions laid down by the Planning Commission for the use of the land so as to conform to the comprehensive plan and the various ordinances and regulations adopted by the City for the orderly and beneficial development of the City. Developers have the further responsibility to protect and provide for the safety and general welfare of the future plot owners in the development and of the community at large.
(3) 
This chapter applies to all land development located wholly or partially within the corporate limits of the City of Allentown.
(4) 
No building permits may be issued by the City for any parcel or plot of land created by land development until final approval has been granted by the Planning Commission and a land development agreement has been approved and signed by the developer and appropriate City officials. All land development must be in accordance with the provisions set forth in this chapter.
(5) 
No building permits, including demolition permits, or other permits may be issued for earth disturbance activities requiring a PA-DEP permit until PA-DEP or a conservation district has issued the required erosion and sedimentation permit or individual NPDES permit, or approved coverage under the general NPDES permit for Stormwater Discharges Associated With Construction Activities under 25 Pa. Code § 102.5.
(6) 
No certificate of occupancy may be issued by the City until the City Engineer certifies that land development improvements necessary for the reasonable use of or occupancy of the building or buildings are substantially complete, as authorized in Section 509(m) of the MPC.[3]
[3]
Editor's Note: See 53 P.S. § 10509(m).
E. 
Purposes. This chapter is adopted for the following purposes:
(1) 
To provide and protect for the public health, safety, and general welfare of the community.
(2) 
To guide for future growth and development of the City in accordance with the Official Comprehensive Plan.
(3) 
To provide for adequate light, air, and privacy, to secure safety from fire, flood, and other danger, and to prevent overcrowding of the land and undue congestion of population.
(4) 
To protect the character and the social and economic stability of all parts of the City and to encourage the orderly and beneficial development of all parts of the City.
(5) 
To protect and conserve the value of the land throughout the City and the value of buildings and improvements upon the land; and to minimize the conflicts among the uses of land and buildings.
(6) 
To guide public and private policy and action in order to provide adequate and efficient transportation, water, sewerage, schools, parks, playgrounds, recreation, and other public requirements and facilities.
(7) 
To provide the most beneficial relationship between the uses of land and building, the circulation of pedestrian and vehicular traffic throughout the City, having particular regard to the avoidance of congestion in the streets and highways, and to provide for the proper location and width of streets and building lines.
(8) 
To establish reasonable standards of design and procedures for land development in order to further the orderly layout and use of the land; and to ensure proper legal descriptions and monumenting of land developments.
(9) 
To ensure that public facilities are available and will have a sufficient capacity to serve the proposed subdivision and/or land development.
(10) 
To prevent the pollution of air, 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 throughout the City in order to preserve the integrity, stability, and the beauty of the community and the value of the land.
(11) 
To ensure the natural beauty and topography of the City and to ensure appropriate development with regard to these natural features.
(12) 
To provide for adequate open space through the most efficient design and layout of the land.
F. 
Policy. Land to be developed must be of such character that it can be safely used for building purposes without danger to health or peril from fire, flood, or other menace, and land may not be developed until available public facilities and drainage, water, sewerage, and capital improvements such as schools, parks, recreational facilities and transportation facilities are deemed adequate.
G. 
Minimum requirements.
(1) 
The regulations of this chapter are deemed the minimum requirements necessary to carry out their stated purpose.
(2) 
In addition to the requirements of this chapter, all uses, buildings, and structures must comply with all other applicable codes, laws, and regulations and with decisions made by other governmental or quasi-governmental bodies with jurisdiction.
(3) 
All references in this chapter to other governmental regulations are for informational purposes only. Such references do not constitute a complete list of such regulations. These references do not imply any responsibility for the City to enforce regulations imposed by other authorities.
H. 
Compliance required.
(1) 
All lots created or modified must comply with all applicable provisions of this chapter.
(2) 
Land may not be used for any purpose other than ones that are allowed by the provisions of this chapter.
(3) 
A building or structure may not be erected, located, moved, reconstructed, extended, or structurally altered except as allowed by this chapter.
(4) 
Buildings, structures, and land may be used and occupied only in compliance with the provisions of this chapter.
I. 
Conflicting provisions.
(1) 
State law. If the provisions of this chapter conflict with state law, state law prevails and governs.
(2) 
Other City regulations. If the provisions of this chapter are inconsistent with one another or if they conflict with provisions found in other adopted ordinances or regulations of the City, the more restrictive provision governs unless otherwise expressly stated. The more restrictive provision is the one that imposes more stringent controls.
(3) 
Private agreements and restrictions. The regulations of this chapter are not intended to abrogate or annul any easements, covenants, or other private agreements or restrictions.
(4) 
Text and illustrations. In case of any difference of meaning or implication between the text of this chapter and any heading, drawing, table, figure or illustration, the text governs.
J. 
Delegation of authority. Whenever a provision of this chapter requires the head of a department or another official or employee to perform an act or duty, that provision is to be construed as authorizing the department head or officer to delegate that responsibility to others over whom they have authority.
A. 
Chapter not retroactive. The adoption of this chapter does not require any change in the plans, construction or designated use of any building or structure upon which actual construction was lawfully begun prior to the adoption of this chapter and upon which building or structure actual construction has been diligently pursued.
B. 
Previous violations. The adoption of this chapter does not affect any pending or future prosecution of, or action to abate, violations of the previous subdivision and land development regulations that occurred before the effective date specified in § 350-1C.
A. 
Violations. No subdivision or land development of any lot, tract or parcel of land may be made, no street, sanitary sewer, storm sewer, water main or other improvements in connection with a subdivision or land development may 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.
B. 
Enforcement remedies.
(1) 
Any person, partnership or corporation who or which has violated the provisions of this chapter enacted under authority of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code[1] or other enabling laws shall, upon being found liable therefor in a civil enforcement proceeding commenced by the City, pay a judgment of not more than $500 plus all court costs, including reasonable attorney fees incurred by the City as a result thereof. No judgment may commence or be imposed, levied or payable until the date of the determination of a violation by the district justice. If the defendant neither pays nor timely appeals the judgment, the City may enforce the judgment pursuant to the applicable rules of civil procedure. Each day that a violation continues constitutes a separate violation, unless the district justice determining that there has been a violation further determines that there was a good faith basis for the person, partnership or corporation violating this chapter to have believed that there was no such violation, in which case there is deemed to have been only one such violation until the fifth day following the date of the determination of a violation by the district justice and thereafter each day that a violation continues constitutes a separate violation.
[1]
Editor's Note: See 53 P.S. § 10101 et seq.
(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 section shall be construed or interpreted to grant to any person or entity other than the City the right to commence any action for enforcement pursuant to this section.
C. 
Liability.
(1) 
Any owner, or agent of the owner, of any land located within a land development, who sells, transfers, or leases any land by reference to, or exhibition of, or by other use of a plan of a subdivision, before the same has been approved by the Planning Commission must upon being found liable, pay a judgment consistent with this section.
(2) 
The description of such lot or parcel by metes and bounds in the instrument of transfer, or other document used in the process of selling or transferring, does not exempt the transaction from such penalties, or from the remedies herein provided. The City may also enjoin such transfer or sale or agreement by action for injunction brought in any court of equity, in addition to the penalty herein provided.
(3) 
Any owner, or agent of the owner, or land developer who fails to comply with the provisions set forth in this chapter or fails to proceed with the development in accordance with the provisions and stipulations of the final plan as approved by the Planning Commission must, upon being found liable therefor in a civil enforcement proceeding commenced by the City, pay a judgment of not more than $500 plus all court costs consistent with this section.
Appropriate actions and proceedings may be taken by law or in equity to prevent any violation of these regulations, to prevent unlawful construction, to recover damages, to restrain, correct, or abate a violation to prevent illegal occupancy of a building, structure or premise, and these remedies are in addition to the penalties described above.
If one or more provisions of this chapter, or the application of this chapter to specific properties is held by a court of competent jurisdiction to be unlawful, invalid, unenforceable, or preempted by applicable state or federal law or regulations, such provisions are deemed to be severed from this chapter. The City Council declares that it would have passed this entire chapter, except those parts declared unlawful, invalid, unenforceable, or preempted, if it had knowledge that such parts would be declared unlawful, invalid, unenforceable, or preempted. All provisions not declared unlawful, invalid, unenforceable, or preempted therefore remain in full force and effect. If any requirement or condition attached to an approval given under this chapter is found to be invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, it will be presumed that the approval would not have been given without the requirement or condition and, therefore, the subject approval will also be deemed invalid.