The City Manager shall assign an application number to all applications
for preliminary plan and final plan approval. All matters pertaining to such
applications shall be filed in accordance with the subdivision and/or land
development application number. In addition, the city shall keep a record
of its findings, decisions and recommendations relative to all subdivision
and/or land development plans filed with the application for review. All such
records shall be public records.
Upon the filing of an application for preliminary and final approval of a subdivision and/or land development plan, the landowner or developer shall pay to the City Manager to the use of the city such fees as the City Council shall from time to time provide by ordinance or resolution in Chapter 108, Fees.
The landowner or developer shall pay to the use of the city and upon
invoice rendered by the city the actual cost of all fees incurred by the city
in the review of all subdivision and/or land development plans by the City
Engineer, consultants, City Solicitor and such other professionals as are
engaged by the city to review and evaluate subdivision and land development
plans. The need for such professionals and the selection thereof shall be
determined solely by the City Council.
A.Â
In the event that the applicant disputes the amount of
any such review fees, the applicant shall, within 10 days of the billing date,
notify the city that such fees are disputed; in which case the city shall
not delay or disapprove a subdivision or land development application due
to the applicant's request over disputed fees.
A.Â
The landowner or developer shall pay to the use of the
city and upon invoice rendered by the city such charges as shall be made by
the City Engineer, other city inspector or consultants for the field inspection
of improvements in the subdivision or land development; but in the event that,
owing to special or unusual conditions, specialized or expert inspections,
analyses or tests of improvements shall be required, such inspections, analyses
or tests shall be performed by persons or firms selected by the City Council,
and the fees and costs of such inspections, analyses or tests shall be paid
by the landowner or developer to the use of the city upon invoice rendered
by the city, in an amount equivalent to the actual cost thereof to the city.
B.Â
All invoices shall be due upon presentation.
C.Â
Any landowner or developer who is delinquent in the payment
of invoices shall be denied issuance of any further approvals or permits by
the city, whether such approvals or permits pertain to the development for
which said invoice was rendered or any other land or development within the
city.
D.Â
A landowner or developer who disputes an invoice as billed
within 10 days shall state such objection to the City Manager in writing upon
receipt, via certified mail return receipt requested.
E.Â
Reimbursement by the applicant to the city shall be based
upon a schedule established by ordinance or resolution. Such expense shall
be reasonable and in accordance with the ordinary and customary fees charged
by the City Engineer or consultant for work performed for similar service
in the community, but in no event shall the fees exceed the rate or cost charged
by the Engineer or consultant to the city when fees are not reimbursed or
otherwise imposed on applicants.
(1)Â
In the event that the applicant disputes the amount of
any such expense in connection with the inspection of improvements, the applicant
shall, within 10 working days of the date of billing, notify the city that
such expenses are disputed as unreasonable or unnecessary; in which case the
city shall not delay or disapprove a subdivision and/or land development application
or any approval or permit related to development due to the applicant's request
over disputed Engineer expenses.
(2)Â
If within 20 days from the date of billing, the city
and the applicant cannot agree on the amount of the expenses which are reasonable
and necessary, then the applicant and city shall jointly, by mutual agreement,
appoint another professional engineer licensed as such in the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania to review said expenses and make a determination as to the
amount thereof which is reasonable and necessary.
(3)Â
The professional engineer so appointed shall hear such
evidence and review such documentation as the professional engineer, in his
or her sole opinion, deems necessary and render a decision within 50 days
of the billing date. The applicant shall be required to pay the entire amount
determined in the decision immediately.
(4)Â
In the event that the city and applicant cannot agree
upon the professional engineer to be appointed within 20 days of the billing
date, then upon application of either party, the President Judge of the Court
of Common Pleas (or if at the time there be no President Judge, then the senior
active Judge then sitting) shall appoint such engineer, who, in that case,
shall be neither the City Engineer nor any professional engineer who has been
retained by or performed service for the city or the applicant within the
preceding five years.
(5)Â
The fee of the appointed professional engineer for determining
the reasonable and necessary expenses shall be paid by the applicant if the
amount of payment required in the decision is equal to or greater than the
original bill. If the amount of payment required in the decision is less then
the original bill by $1,000 or more, the city shall pay the fee of the professional
engineer; but otherwise, the city and the applicant shall each pay one-half
(1/2) of the fee of the appointed professional engineer.
The landowner or developer shall pay to the use of the city and upon
invoice rendered by the city the cost of performing all material tests determined
by the City Council to be necessary or desirable in connection with the inspection
or approval of all subdivision and/or land development plans or improvements.
The landowner or developer shall pay to the use of the city and upon
invoice rendered by the city all fees incurred by the city in the preparation
of the subdivision and land development agreements, improvement and maintenance
bonds, escrow agreements and other instruments deemed necessary or desirable
by the City Council in connection with subdivisions or land developments.
A.Â
Preventive remedies.
(1)Â
In addition to other remedies, the city may institute
and maintain appropriate actions by law or in equity to restrain, correct
or abate violations, to prevent unlawful construction, to recover damages
and to prevent illegal occupancy of a building, structure or premises. The
description by metes and bounds in the instrument of transfer or other documents
used in the process of selling or transferring shall not exempt the seller
or transformer from such penalties or from the remedies herein provided.
(2)Â
The city may refuse to issue any permit or grant any
approval necessary to further improve or develop any real property which has
been developed or which has resulted from a subdivision of real property in
violation of any ordinance provisions. This authority to deny such a permit
or approval shall apply to any of the following applicants:
(a)Â
The owner of record at the time of such violation.
(b)Â
The vendee or lessee of the owner of record at the time
of such violation without regard as to whether such vendee or lessee had actual
or constructive knowledge of the violation.
(c)Â
The current owner of record who acquired the property
subsequent to the time of violation without regard as to whether such current
owner had actual or constructive knowledge of the violation.
(d)Â
The vendee or lessee of the current owner of record who
acquired the property subsequent to the time of violation without regard as
to whether such vendee or lessee had actual or constructive knowledge of the
violation.
(3)Â
As an additional condition for issuance of a permit or
the granting of an approval to any such owner, current owner, vendee or lessee
for the development of any such real property, the city may require compliance
with the conditions that would have been applicable to the property at the
time the applicant acquired an interest in such real property.
B.Â
Jurisdiction. District Justices shall have initial jurisdiction in proceedings brought under Subsection C below.
C.Â
Enforcement remedies.
(1)Â
Any person, partnership or corporation who or which has
violated the provisions of this chapter 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 shall commence or be
imposed, levied or be 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 shall constitute
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 the ordinance to have believed
that there was no such violation; in which event, there shall be 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 shall constitute a separate violation.
(2)Â
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)Â
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.
All fines collected for violations of this chapter, as provided in § 197-84C, shall be paid over to the city.
A.Â
The regulations set forth in this chapter may, from time
to time, be amended by the City Council.
B.Â
The following requirements shall be observed prior to
making any amendment to this chapter:
(1)Â
Proposed amendments shall be submitted to the City Planning
Commission for their findings and recommendations at least 30 days prior to
the date fixed for the public hearing on such proposed amendment, if the amendment
has been prepared by an agency other than the City Planning Commission. In
addition, the proposed amendment shall be submitted to the Chester County
Planning Commission for their recommendations at least 30 days prior to the
date fixed for the public hearing on the amendment.
(2)Â
The findings of the Planning Commission shall be submitted
to the City Council in a written report.
(3)Â
Before voting on the enactment of a proposed amendment,
the City Council shall hold a public hearing thereon pursuant to public notice
as defined by this chapter; at which time, the parties in interest and citizens
shall have an opportunity to be heard. A brief summary, setting forth the
principal provisions of the proposed amendment and a reference to the place
within the city where copies of the proposed amendment may be secured or examined,
shall be incorporated into the public notice.
(4)Â
Prior to the enactment of proposed amendments, the city
shall publish the proposed amendment once in a newspaper of general circulation
in the city not more than 60 days and not less than seven days prior to passage.
Publication of the proposed amendment shall include the time and place of
the meeting, the place within the city where copies of the proposed amendment
can be obtained and either the full text thereof or the title and a brief
summary prepared by the City Solicitor, setting forth all the provisions in
reasonable detail. If the full text is not included:
(a)Â
A copy thereof shall be supplied to a newspaper of general
circulation in the city at the time the public notice is published.
(b)Â
An attested copy of the proposed amendment shall be filed
in the County Law Library.
(c)Â
In the event that substantial charges are made in the
proposed amendment, before voting upon enactment, the City Council shall,
at least 10 days prior to the enactment, readvertise in a newspaper of general
circulation in the city a brief summary setting forth all the provisions in
reasonable detail, together with a summary of the changes.
(5)Â
Within 30 days after enactment, the City Council shall
forward a certified copy of the amendment to the Chester County Planning Commission.
