(a) (1) An application for final approval may be for all the land included in a development plan or, to the extent set forth in the tentative approval, a section thereof. Said application shall be made to the Board of Commissioners and within the time or times specified by the official written communication granting tentative approval as in § 1270.16 or as otherwise mutually agreed upon between the applicant and the Board of Commissioners and set forth in writing by the Board of Commissioners. If the application for final approval is in compliance with the tentatively approved development plan, a public hearing need not be held.
(2) The application for final approval shall consist of a plan or plans and accompanying documents which shall show and shall include the following information:
A. Development name or identifying title;
B. Municipality in which the development is located;
C. North arrow, scale and date;
D. Name of record owner of the tract and developer;
E. Name and seal of the registered professional engineer, landscape architect, land planner, architect or surveyor responsible for the plan;
F. Boundaries of the tract determined by accurate survey in the field, which shall be balanced and closed with an error of closure not to exceed one foot in 10,000;
G. Property lines within the development;
H. Lot areas (if any) to one one-thousandth of an acre;
I. Street lines, lot lines, rights-of-way, easements and areas dedicated to or proposed to be dedicated to public use. Profiles for all streets and for proposed sanitary and storm sewer mains, inlets and manholes, and the location of all utilities;
J. The length of all straight lines, radii, curves and tangent bearings for each street;
K. All dimensions and angles or bearings of the lines of each lot and of each area proposed to be dedicated to public use;
L. The designation of common open space, including the area contained therein;
M. Location, grades, length and width of all private driveways and all parking facilities and type of paving and other surface to be used;
N. Names proposed to be given to all streets;
O. Location of all structures;
P. Number of lots;
Q. Number of dwelling units by type and, where applicable, the number, location and square footage of areas to be devoted to nonresidential use;
R. Architectural drawings, floor plans and elevations to scale of all buildings, said drawings to bear the seal of the architect who has prepared same;
S. Total property area of the entire development tract and, in the case of development in sections, the size of the section for which plans are submitted;
T. All permanent monuments;
U. A final grading plan, including existing and proposed contours at vertical intervals of two feet, the lines thereof to be conspicuously distinguishable;
V. All existing watercourses, tree masses and other significant natural features, including all trees 12 inches in caliper or greater to be retained and/or to be removed;
W. A final soil erosion and sedimentation control plan;
X. A final landscaping plan, wherein existing and proposed plant materials are differentiated, a final plant list indicating the types, quantities and sizes of the proposed plant materials and typical planting details for tree planting and staking, shrub planting and the like;
Y. A final environmental impact assessment report; and
Z. Plan profile drawings of all streets meeting the design specifications of the latest adopted township subdivision regulations.
(b) The application for final approval shall also be accompanied by:
(1) Copies of deed restrictions and/or easements, if any, and other documents relating to title, use or occupancy;
(2) Copies of permits obtained under authority of statutes of the commonwealth of and/or the county regarding the provision for construction, operation and maintenance of the proposed sanitary sewer system, water supply system, soil erosion and sedimentation control system, and highway occupancy system;
(3) An affidavit that the applicant is the owner of the land proposed to be developed, or has been authorized by the landowner to be the applicant, supported by a copy of the written authority therefor;
(4) Offers of dedication and covenants and other documents governing the reservation and maintenance of undedicated open space, provided that all such offers of dedication and covenants shall bear the certificate of approval of the Township Solicitor as to their legal sufficiency and compliance herewith;
(5) Copies of the homeowners’ agreements for common open space not to be offered for dedication to the township;
(6) A statement duly acknowledged before an officer authorized to take acknowledgment of deeds and signed by the owner or owners of the property to the effect that the development as shown on the application for final approval is made with his, her or their free consent and that it is desired to record the application and accompanying documents upon their approval; and
(7) Such other related information as deemed necessary by the Board of Commissioners to make its determination.
(c) (1) Whenever a developer proposes to establish a street which is not offered for dedication and not required to be offered for dedication, he or she shall submit a copy of statements co-signed by the Township Solicitor, that he or she has made an agreement on behalf of his or her heirs and assigns with the township. Said agreement shall be subject to the Township Solicitor’s approval and shall be recorded with the plan.
(2) Said agreement shall establish the condition under which the streets may later be offered for dedication and stipulate among other things:
A. The street shall be in a good state of repair as certified by the Township Engineer, or that the owner or owners of the lots along it agree to include with the offer of dedication sufficient money, as estimated by the Township Engineer, to restore the street to conform with township design standards;
B. An offer to dedicate the street shall be made only for the street as a whole;
C. The method of assessing repair costs shall be as stipulated; and
D. Where applicable, agreement to offer the street for dedication by the owners of 60% of the lots shall be binding on owners of the remaining lots.
(d) In the event the application for final approval has been filed, together with all drawings, specifications, covenants, easements, performance bonds and other documents in support thereof, and as required by this Zoning Code and the official written communication for tentative approval, the township shall, within 45 days of such filing, grant such development plan final approval.
(e) (1) In the event the development plan as submitted contains variations from the development plan given tentative approval, the Board of Commissioners shall refuse to grant final approval and shall, within 45 days from the filing of the application for final approval, so advise the applicant in writing of said refusal, setting forth in said notice the reasons why one or more of said variations are not in the public interest.
(2) In the event of such refusal, the applicant may either:
A. Re-file his or her application for final approval without the variations objected to; or
B. File a written request with the Board of Commissioners that it hold a public hearing on his or her application for final approval.
(f) If the applicant wishes to take either of such alternative actions, he or she may do so at any time within which he or she shall be entitled to apply for final approval, or within 30 additional days of receipt of notice that the development plan was not in substantial compliance. In the event that the applicant shall fail to take either of these alternative actions within said time, he or she shall be deemed to have abandoned the development plan. Any such public hearing shall be held pursuant to public notice within 30 days after request for the hearing is made by the applicant, and the hearing shall be conducted in the manner prescribed in this Zoning Code for public hearings on applications for tentative approval. Within 30 days after the conclusion of the hearing, the Board of Commissioners shall, by official written communication, either grant final approval to the development plan or deny final approval. The grant or denial of final approval of the development plan shall, in cases arising under this section, be in the form and contain the findings required for an application for tentative approval set forth in this chapter.
(g) A development plan, or any part thereof which has been given final approval, shall be so certified without delay by the Board of Commissioners and shall be filed by the landowner of record forthwith in the office of the Recorder of Deeds before any development shall take place in accordance therewith. Upon the filing for record of the development plan, the zoning and subdivision regulations otherwise applicable to the land included in such plan shall cease to apply thereto. Pending completion within a reasonable time of said planned residential development or of that part thereof, as the case may be, that has been finally approved, no modification of the provisions of said development plan, or part thereof, as finally approved, shall be made except with the consent of the landowner.
(h) In the event that a development plan, or a section thereof, is given final approval and thereafter the applicant shall abandon such plan or the section thereof that has been finally approved, and shall so notify the Board of Commissioners in writing, or, in the event the applicant shall fail to commence the development project or section thereof within six months and complete it within two years after final approval has been granted, no development or further development shall take place on the property included in the development plan until after the said property is re-subdivided and is reclassified by enactment of an amendment to this Zoning Code.
(Ord. 896, passed 12-21-2011)