This chapter shall be known and cited as the
"Foster Township Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance."
Foster Township is empowered to regulate subdivisions
and land developments within its municipal limits as provided for
under the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, Act 247, as amended. The Foster Township Board of Supervisors shall retain
and exercise the authority for the approval or disapproval of all
subdivisions and land developments as set forth in this chapter. The
Foster Township Planning Commission shall act in an official advisory
capacity to the Board of Supervisors for the review and recommendation
of the approval or disapproval of all subdivisions and land developments
set forth in this chapter.
Through the adoption, administration and enforcement
of this chapter, Foster Township proposes to create conditions favorable
to promote the health, safety, and general welfare of the Township
with regulations aimed at achieving the following objectives:
A. To guide the future growth and development of the
Township in accordance with the Comprehensive Plan.
B. To provide a standard set of minimum regulations to
guide applicants in the design and development of subdivisions and
land developments.
C. 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.
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 ensure that public facilities are available and
will have a sufficient capacity to serve a proposed subdivision or
land development.
F. To establish reasonable standards of design and procedures
for subdivisions and land developments in order to further the orderly
layout and use of land and to ensure proper legal descriptions and
monumentation of proposed subdivisions and land developments.
G. To guide public and private policy and action in order
to provide adequate and efficient transportation, water, sewage, schools,
parks, playgrounds, recreation, and other public requirements and
facilities.
H. To provide the most beneficial relationship between
the uses of land and buildings and the circulation of traffic throughout
the Township, with 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 width of streets and building lines.
I. To provide for open spaces through the most efficient design and layout of the land and preserving the density of land as established in Chapter
255, Zoning.
J. To prevent the pollution of air, streams, and ponds;
to assure the adequacy of drainage facilities; to safeguard the water
table; and to encourage the prudent use and management of natural
resources throughout the Township in order to preserve the integrity
and stability of the community and the natural environmental characteristic
of the land.
K. To protect and regulate land in critical areas which
may be unsuitable for development.
From the time an application for approval of a subdivision or land development, whether preliminary or final, is duly filed in accordance with the provisions of this chapter and while such application is pending approval or disapproval, an amendment to this chapter, Chapter
255, Zoning, or any other applicable ordinance shall not affect the decision on such application adversely to the applicant, and the applicant shall be entitled to a decision in accordance with the provisions of all applicable ordinances as they stood at the time the application was duly filed. When an application is, however, properly and finally denied, any subsequent application shall be subject to any amendments to this chapter, Chapter
255, Zoning, and any other applicable ordinance and/or regulations.
A revision or resubdivision of a plan of record
and/or lot of record shall be considered as a new subdivision and
shall come under the jurisdiction of this chapter.
The regulations set forth in this chapter may,
from time to time, be amended by the Foster Township Board of Supervisors.
The following requirements shall be observed prior to enacting any
amendments to this chapter:
A. A public hearing on the proposed amendment shall be
held by the Board of Supervisors pursuant to public notice.
B. In the case of an amendment other than that prepared
by the Planning Commission, the Board of Supervisors shall submit
such amendment to the Planning Commission not less than 30 days prior
to the public hearing.
C. The proposed amendment shall be submitted to the Luzerne
County Planning Commission not less than 30 days prior to the public
hearing.
D. The proposed amendment shall not be enacted unless
public notice is given, which shall include the time and place of
the meeting at which passage will be considered and a reference to
a place within the municipality where copies of the proposed amendment
may be examined without charge or obtained for a charge not greater
than the cost of reproduction.
E. Public notice of the proposed amendment shall include
the full text thereof or the title and a brief summary, prepared by
the Municipal Solicitor, setting forth all the provisions in reasonable
detail. If the full text is not provided, a copy shall be supplied
to the newspaper in which the public notice is placed and an attested
copy shall be placed on file at the Luzerne County Law Library.
F. Within 30 days following the adoption of an amendment
to this chapter, the Board of Supervisors shall forward a certified
copy of the amendment to the Luzerne County Planning Commission.
Decisions rendered by the Board of Supervisors
may be appealed to a court of proper jurisdiction in accordance with
the procedures, provisions and time limitations as contained in Article
X-A of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, Act 247, as
amended.
All ordinances, or any parts thereof, which
are inconsistent or in conflict with this chapter, including but not
limited to the Foster Township Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance
of February 14, 1995, and any amendments thereto, are hereby repealed.