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If the Township determines that this Chapter or any portion thereof is substantially invalid, the Township shall take the following actions:
1. A Township shall declare by formal action this Chapter or portions thereof substantively invalid and propose to prepare a curative amendment to overcome such invalidity. Within 30 days following such declaration and proposal the Board of Supervisors of the Township shall:
A. Make specific findings by resolution setting forth the declared invalidity of this Chapter which may include:
(1) References to specific uses which are either not permitted or not permitted in sufficient quantity.
(2) References to a class of use or uses which require revision.
(3) Reference to the entire Chapter which requires revisions.
B. Begin to prepare and consider a curative amendment to this Chapter to correct the declared invalidity.
2. Within 180 days from the date of the declaration and proposal, the Township Board of Supervisors shall enact a curative amendment to validate, or reaffirm the validity of this Chapter pursuant to the provisions required by §609 of the MPC, 53 P.S. §10609, in order to cure the declared invalidity of this Chapter.
3. Upon the initiation of the procedures, the Board of Supervisors shall not be required to entertain or consider any landowner's curative amendment filed under §27-1103 nor shall the Zoning Hearing Board be required to give a report. Upon completion of the procedures, no rights to a cure pursuant to the provisions of §§609.1 and 916.1 of the MPC, 53 P.S. §§10609.1, 10916.1, shall, from the date of the declaration and proposal, accrue to any landowner on the basis of the substantive invalidity of the unamended Chapter for which there has been a curative amendment pursuant to this Section.
4. The Township having utilized the procedures as set forth in subsections 1. and 2. above may not again utilize said procedure for a 36-month period following the date of the enactment of a curative amendment or reaffirmation of the validity of this Chapter; provided, however, if after the date of declaration and proposal there is a substantially new duty or obligation imposed upon the Township by virtue of a change in statute or by virtue of a Pennsylvania appellate court decision, the Township may utilize the provisions of this Section to prepare a curative amendment to this Chapter to fulfill said duty or obligation.
(Ord. 2024-01, 5/13/2024)
1. Parties to proceedings authorized in this Chapter may utilize mediation as an aid in completing such proceedings. In proceedings before the Zoning Hearing Board, in no case shall the Zoning Hearing Board initiate mediation or participate as a mediating party. Mediation shall supplement, not replace, those procedures in this Chapter once they have been formally initiated. Nothing in this Section shall be interpreted as expanding or limiting municipal police powers or as modifying any principles of substantive law.
2. Participation in mediation shall be wholly voluntary. The appropriateness of mediation shall be determined by the particulars of each case and the willingness of the parties to negotiate. In each case, the mediating parties, assisted by the mediator as appropriate, shall develop terms and conditions for:
A. Funding mediation.
B. Selecting a mediator who, at a minimum, shall have a working knowledge of municipal zoning and subdivision procedures and demonstrated skills in mediation.
C. Completing mediation, including time limits for such completion.
D. Suspending time limits otherwise authorized in this Chapter, provided there is written consent by the mediating parties, and by an applicant or Board of Supervisors if either is not a party to the mediation.
E. Identifying all parties and affording them the opportunity to participate.
F. Subject to legal restraints, determining whether some or all of the mediation sessions shall be open or closed to the public.
G. Assuring that mediated solutions are in writing and signed by the parties, and become subject to review and approval by the appropriate decision making body pursuant to the authorized procedures set forth in the Municipalities Planning Code, 53 P.S. § 10101 et seq.
3. No offers or statements made in the mediation sessions, excluding the final written mediated agreement, shall be admissible as evidence in any subsequent judicial or administrative proceedings.
(Ord. 2024-01, 5/13/2024)
The Board of Supervisors shall by resolution establish fees for all applications, permits, or appeals provided by this Chapter to defray the costs of advertising, mailing notices, processing, inspecting, and copying applications, permits, and use certificates. The fee schedule shall be made available at the Township office for inspection. Alterations shall not be considered an amendment to this Chapter and may be adopted at any public meeting of the Board of Supervisors.
(Ord. 2024-01, 5/13/2024)
Any person aggrieved or affected by provision of this Chapter, or decision of the Zoning Officer, Township Engineer, Zoning Hearing Board or Board of Supervisors, may appeal in the appropriate manner as set forth in either Article IX or X-A of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, 53 P.S. §§ 10901 et seq., 11001-A et seq., as amended, whichever is applicable.
(Ord. 2024-01, 5/13/2024)
In case any building, structure, landscaping or land is, or is proposed to be, erected, constructed, reconstructed, altered, converted, maintained or used in violation of this Chapter, the Board of Supervisors, or, with the approval of the Board of Supervisors, an officer of the Township, or any aggrieved owner or tenant of real property who shows that his/her property or person will be substantially affected by the alleged violation, in addition to other remedies, may institute any appropriate action or proceeding to prevent, restrain, correct, or abate such building, structure or land, or to prevent, in or about such premises, any act, conduct, business or use constituting a violation. When any such action is instituted by a landowner or tenant, notice of that action shall be served upon the Township at least 30 days prior to the time the action is begun by serving a copy of the complaint on the Board of Supervisors of the Township. No such action may be maintained until such notice has been given.
(Ord. 2024-01, 5/13/2024)
Any person, partnership or corporation who or which has violated or permitted the violation of the provision of this Chapter, shall upon being found liable therefore in a civil enforcement proceeding commenced by the Township, pay a judgment of not less than $100 nor more than $500 plus all court costs, including reasonable attorney fees incurred by the Township as a result thereof. No judgment shall commence or be imposed, levied or payable until the date of the determination of a violation by the magisterial district judge. If the defendant neither pays nor timely appeals the judgment, the Township may enforce the judgment pursuant to the applicable rules of civil procedure. Each day the violation continues is considered a separate violation, unless the magisterial district judge determining that there has been a violation further determines that there was a good faith basis for the person, partnership or corporation violating this Chapter to have believed that there was not 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 the violation by the magisterial district judge and thereafter each day that a violation continues is considered a separate violation.
(Ord. 2024-01, 5/13/2024)
In their interpretation and application the provisions of this Chapter shall be held to be minimum requirements, adopted to meet the purposes of this Chapter. Wherever the requirements of this Chapter are at variance with the requirements of any other lawfully adopted rules, regulations, and ordinances; the most restrictive or that imposing the higher standards shall govern.
(Ord. 2024-01, 5/13/2024)
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