The Township Board of Supervisors may, from
time to time, after public notice and hearings as hereinafter prescribed,
amend, supplement, change or repeal this chapter, including the Zoning
Map. Any amendment, supplement, change or repeal may be initiated
by the Township Planning Commission, the Board of Supervisors or by
a petition to the Township Board of Supervisors. Except when the Board
of Supervisors preliminarily rejects a petitioned amendment, each
amendment, supplement, change or repeal shall be submitted to the
Township Planning Commission for its recommendations before final
action shall be taken by the Board of Supervisors.
A. Amendments initiated by the Township Planning Commission.
When an amendment, supplement, change or repeal is initiated by the
Township Planning Commission, the proposal shall be presented to the
Township Board of Supervisors, which shall then proceed in the same
manner as with a petition to the Township Board of Supervisors which
has already been reviewed by the Township Planning Commission.
B. Amendment initiated by the Township Board of Supervisors.
When an amendment, supplement, change or repeal is initiated by the
Township Board of Supervisors, it shall submit the proposal to the
Township Planning Commission for review and recommendations.
C. Amendment initiated by petition. When an amendment,
supplement, change or repeal is initiated by petition of a property
owner, the following procedures shall apply:
(1) No petition shall be accepted by the Zoning Officer
which is not complete on its face, contains all of the information
and data required by the Zoning Officer to reasonably support the
petition and is signed by at least one record owner of property which
would be affected by the proposed amendment, whose signature shall
be notarized attesting to the truth and correctness of all of the
facts and information set forth in the petition.
(2) All petitions shall be accompanied by a fee in such
amount as shall from time to time be fixed by resolution of the Board
of Supervisors.
(3) Upon receipt of a petition and the payment of the
fee, the Zoning Officer shall cause the petition to be scheduled as
an item for preliminary action at the next regular meeting of the
Board of Supervisors convening not less than 10 days following the
filing of the petition.
(4) The action of the Board of Supervisors at such meeting shall be limited to either accepting or rejecting the petition. If the petition is accepted, it shall be referred to the Township Planning Commission for a report and recommendation as provided in Subsection
D of this section. If the petition is rejected, the property owner who filed the petition shall be so notified, in writing, and the filing fee shall be refunded.
D. Referral to Township Planning Commission. After acceptance
of the petition by the Township Board of Supervisors, said petition
shall be presented to the Township Planning Commission for review
and recommendations at least 30 days prior to the public hearing.
E. Referral to the County Planning Commission. At least
30 days prior to the public hearing on the amendment by the Board
of Supervisors, the Township shall submit the proposed amendment to
the York County Planning Commission for recommendations.
F. Public hearing.
(1) The Township Board of Supervisors shall fix a time
and place for a public hearing at which parties of intent and citizens
shall have an opportunity to be heard. Notice of the time and place
of such hearing and a description of the amendment to be discussed
shall be published once each week for two consecutive weeks in a newspaper
of general circulation within the Township; the first publication
shall not be more than 30 days and the second publication shall not
be less than seven days from the date of the hearing. Whenever a proposed
amendment involves a Zoning Map change, notice of a public hearing
shall be conspicuously posted by the Township at points deemed sufficient
by the Township along the perimeter of the tract, such posting to
be performed at least one week prior to the date of the hearing.
(2) In addition to the requirement that notice be posted
under this section, where the proposed amendment involves a Zoning
Map change, notice of the public hearing shall be mailed by the Township
at least 30 days prior to the date of the hearing by first class mail
to the addresses to which real estate tax bills are sent for all real
property located within the area being rezoned, as evidenced by tax
records within the possession of the Township. The notice shall include
the location, date and time of the public hearing. A good faith effort
and substantial compliance shall satisfy the requirements of this
subsection. This clause shall not apply when the rezoning constitutes
a comprehensive rezoning.
G. Action by the Township Board of Supervisors. At the
time and place specified, the Township Board of Supervisors shall
conduct a hearing on said petition to amend, change or repeal the
Zoning Ordinance or Zoning Map of the Township and shall thereafter
at a subsequent regular meeting of the Township Board of Supervisors,
either reject the proposed change or adopt an ordinance implementing
the proposed change.
H. Authentication of Official Zoning Map. Whenever there
has been a change in the boundary of a zoning district or a reclassification
of the zoning district adopted in accordance with the above, the change
on the Official Map shall be made and shall be duly certified by the
Township Secretary and shall thereafter be refiled as part of the
permanent records of the Township.