This chapter shall be known and may be cited
as the "Lower Providence Township Subdivision and Land Development
Ordinance of 1985."
This Part 1 has been prepared in accordance
with the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, Act 247 of 1968,
P.L. 805, as amended, and the Lower Providence Comprehensive Plan for the following
purposes:
A. To assist the orderly, efficient, integrated and harmonious
development of the Township.
B. To ensure that the layout and arrangement of subdivision or land development plans are in conformance with the Lower Providence Comprehensive Plan, Chapter
143, Zoning, as amended, and with any other adopted regulations or maps which affect subdivisions and land developments.
C. To provide equitable handling of all subdivision and
land development proposals by providing uniform procedures and standards
for observance by subdividers, developers, the Planning Commission
and the Board of Supervisors.
D. To ensure that streets in and bordering a proposed
development be coordinated with existing or proposed streets, or other
features of the Township, and be of such widths and grades and in
such locations as deemed necessary to accommodate prospective traffic
and parking and to facilitate fire protection.
E. To provide adequate open space for traffic, recreation,
light and air and for proper distribution of population, thereby promoting
the health, safety and general welfare of the residents of Lower Providence
and the highest quality environment obtainable.
F. To ensure conformance of subdivision and land development
plans with the availability and development of public facilities and
municipal services in Lower Providence Township and to ensure the
coordination of intermunicipal, county and commonwealth improvement
plans and programs.
G. To provide procedures and standards for appropriately
locating and recording all public and private easements and rights-of-way
for utilities and for storm drainage facilities.
H. To ensure that any lands offered for dedication or
otherwise reserved for public use or common grounds shall be of a
size, location, configuration and topographical character suitable
for their designated uses.
I. To preserve floodplains and low-lying areas from subdivision
or land developments which would further increase or aggravate the
existing flooding or would endanger life or property.
J. To encourage and promote flexibility, economy and
ingenuity in the layout and design of subdivisions and land developments,
including provisions authorizing the Board of Supervisors to modify
the requirements of this Part 1 in order to encourage concepts and
practices consistent with modern and evolving generally accepted principles
of site planning and land development.
K. To encourage and promote energy conservation in the
layout and design of subdivisions and land developments, both during
and after construction.
L. To prevent or eliminate damage to the environment by regulating all grading activities within the Township, to prevent soil erosion and to provide sedimentation control of Township streams, consistent with the mandates of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 and Article
I, Section 27, (the Environmental Amendment) of the Pennsylvania Constitution.
M. To encourage alternative routes of travel for pedestrian
and bicycle use in open space areas and for access to activity centers
and to provide standards for the safe development of these routes.
The provisions of this Part 1 shall be held
to be the minimum requirements to meet the above-stated purposes.
Where the provisions of this Part 1 impose greater restrictions than
those of any other statute, ordinance or regulations, then the provisions
of this Part 1 shall prevail. Where the provisions of any other statute,
ordinance or regulations impose greater restrictions than those of
this Part 1, the provisions of such statute, ordinance or regulations
shall take precedent.
The sale of units as condominiums under the
Pennsylvania Uniform Condominium Act of 1980, as amended, shall be permitted in accordance with this
Part 1, and no provision of this Part 1 shall be construed to prohibit
the condominium form of ownership.