This chapter shall be known and may be cited
as the "Upper Hanover Township Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance
of 2004."
This chapter has been enacted in conformance
with the provisions of Act 247 of 1968, the Pennsylvania Municipalities
Planning Code, as amended.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: See 53 P.S. § 10101
et seq.
This chapter contains regulations that include,
but are not limited to, the following:
A.
Provisions for the submittal and processing of plats
for subdivisions and land developments, and specifications for such
plats, including provisions for preapplication sketch plans, preliminary
and final plan processing and approvals and for processing of final
approval by stages or sections of development.
B.
Provisions governing the standards by which streets
shall be graded and improved and walkways, curbs, gutters, streetlights,
fire hydrants, water, sewage, and storm drainage facilities and other
improvements shall be installed as conditions precedent to formal
approval of plats.
The following are the purposes of this chapter:
A.
To ensure that development within the Township will
be orderly, efficient, integrated and harmonious.
B.
To ensure that the layout and arrangement of subdivisions
or land developments shall conform to the Upper Perkiomen Valley Regional
Comprehensive Plan and to any regulations, maps, studies and reports
adopted in furtherance thereof.
C.
To ensure that streets in and bordering a subdivision
or land development shall be coordinated and be of such design and
in such locations as deemed necessary to accommodate prospective traffic
and parking and to facilitate fire protection.
D.
To require adequate, appropriately located, easements
or rights-of-way for utilities and storm drainage facilities.
E.
To ensure that any lands offered for dedication or
otherwise reserved for use as public or common grounds shall be of
suitable size, configuration, and topographical character for their
designated uses.
F.
To ensure conformance of subdivision and land development
proposals with the availability of municipal services and public facilities,
and the coordination of intermunicipal programs.
G.
To preserve lands subject to inundation or flooding
from subdivision or land development which would endanger life or
property or further aggravate or increase the existing flooding or
inundation conditions.
H.
To encourage and promote flexibility, economy and
ingenuity in the layout and design of subdivisions and land developments,
including provisions authorizing the Township to modify the requirements
of this chapter in accordance with concepts and practices consistent
with the modern and evolving, generally accepted, principles of site
planning and land development.
I.
To provide equitable handling of all subdivision and
land development proposals by providing uniform procedures and standards.
J.
To encourage subdivision and land development in accordance
with principles and practices which conserve energy, both during and
after construction, and which encourage the use of alternative energy
sources by the layout of the proposal and the siting of buildings.
The provisions of this chapter shall be the
minimum requirements to meet the above-stated purposes. Where the
provisions of this chapter impose greater restrictions than those
of any other statute, ordinance or regulations, then the provisions
of this chapter shall prevail. Where the provisions of any other statute,
ordinance or regulations impose greater restrictions than those of
this chapter, the provisions of such statute, ordinance or regulations
shall take precedence.
A.
Subdivision of a lot or construction, opening or dedication
of a street. No subdivision or land development of any lot, tract
or parcel of land shall be made, and no street, alley, sanitary sewer,
storm drain, water main, gas, oil or electric line, or other improvements
in connection therewith, shall be laid out, constructed or dedicated
for public use or travel, or for the common use of occupants of a
building abutting thereon, except in strict accordance with this chapter.
B.
Sale of lots, issuance of building permits or erection
of buildings. No lot in a subdivision or land development may be sold,
and no permit to erect, alter or repair any building upon land in
a subdivision or land development will be issued unless and until
a subdivision and/or land development plan has been approved and,
where required, recorded, and until the required improvements in connection
therewith have either been constructed or guaranteed for construction
in the form of a bond, escrow or other means approved by the Board
of Supervisors under the advice of the Township Engineer and Solicitor,
in accordance with the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
C.
Condominiums. No provision of this chapter shall be
construed to prohibit condominium ownership as permitted by the applicable
enabling legislation of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
The Board of Supervisors may grant a modification
of the requirements of this chapter through a waiver if strict application
of these requirements would be unreasonable or cause undue hardship
or when an alternative standard can be demonstrated to provide equal
or better results, provided that such modification will not be contrary
to the public interest and that the purpose and intent of the chapter
is observed. All requests for modifications shall:
A.
Be in writing and be part of the application for subdivision
and/or land development;
B.
State the grounds and facts of unreasonableness or
hardship on which the request is based;
C.
List the provision(s) of the chapter involved;
D.
State the minimum modification necessary;
E.
Be subject to approval by the Board of Supervisors
after receiving advisory recommendations from the Township Planning
Commission.
