1. Recreation Areas and Fees. The amount of land required to be provided for pubic recreational purposes for all residential subdivisions or land development plans shall be a minimum of 0.025 acres per lot or dwelling unit. Dedication of recreation land or fees in-lieu of for each dwelling unit is required on all residential subdivisions, and all multi-family developments, regardless of whether private recreational facilities are also provided.
2. Proposed recreation areas shall:
A. Be easily and safely accessible from all areas of the development to be served, have good ingress and egress, and have direct access to a public roadway. However, no public roadways shall traverse the site(s).
B. Be contiguous and regular in shape.
C. Have suitable topography and soil conditions for use and development as active play areas. The Board of Supervisors may allow 25% of the site to be comprised of floodplains, approved stormwater management facilities, and/or slopes exceeding 3%, as defined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Develop ment’s Flood Insurance Rate Maps provided that such area is otherwise suitable for soil conditions and topography for an active play area. An unimproved site shall be provided with a healthy and vibrant grass ground cover, suitable for recreation.
D. Be located and designed to conveniently access proximate public utilities (e.g., sewer, water, power, etc.). However, no part of any overhead utility easement, nor any above-ground protrusion of an underground utility, should be permitted in active play areas of the site.
E. Not include any required setback, yard, and/or open space for adjoining lots or uses as regulated by the Zoning Ordinance [Chapter 27], as part of the calculated area.
F. Protect important natural resources (e.g., streams, ponds, wetlands, steep slopes, woodlands, unique geologic features, wildlife habitats, aquifer recharge areas, etc.).
G. Protect important historical and/or archeological sites.
H. Integrate greenbelts throughout the development that link residences with on-site or adjoining parks, schools, or other similar features.
I. Be suitable for development as a particular type of park, as categorized by the National Recreation and Park Associations’s National Park, Recreation and Open Space Standards and Guidelines, 1983, and updates.
J. Be designed and developed according to the standards established by the National Recreation and Park Association.
K. Be compatible with the objectives, guidelines and recommendations as set forth in the Township Comprehensive Plan and Parks and Recreation Plan and updates.
3. In special instances, the Township may waive any or all of the preceding design standards. In such instances, the applicant must demonstrate that the public will be better served by some alternate design.
4. When the Board deems it to be in the public interest to accept title to dedicated land, such acceptance shall be by means of a clear title deed to the dedicated recreation area.
5. Recreation areas of less than 3 acres proposed to be dedicated to the Township shall not be accepted, unless opportunities exist to combine them with other recreation areas.
6. The Board of Supervisors, after having conferred with the Planning Commis sion and the Recreation Board, may find dedication to be impractical because of the size, shape location, access topography, drainage, or other physical features of the lands, or that such dedication would adversely affect the subdivision or land development and its future residents or occupants, or that there is not other land area within the proposed subdivision which is practical for dedication to the public because of size, access, topography, or other physical characteristics. In such cases, the Board of Supervisors shall require a payment of a fee in-lieu of land dedication.
7. All approved recreation areas shall be completed and dedicated before 50% occupancy has been reached in any applicable subdivision. Withholding of occupancy permits may occur to insure compliance with this provision. Developers required to dedicate land for recreation shall also develop the recreation areas according to the National Park, Recreation, and Open Space Standards and Guidelines published by the National Recreation and Park Association in 1983, and any succeeding updates or revisions in accordance with other Township ordinances, and as approved by the Township Supervisors.
8. In cases where the opportunity exists to combine dedicated recreation areas, the developer shall be required to escrow funds that will pay for later construction of facilities on a combined recreation area according to the subdivision’s percentage contribution to the ultimate combined recreation area. The Township will then develop the combined recreation area with the escrowed funds when all portions thereof have been deeded over to the Township.
9. Actual size, number, placement and other specifications of recreation facilities to be developed shall be in general conformance with subsection .12 herein, and as recommended by the Recreation Board and staff to the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors after negotiations with the developers. The specifications of recreational facilities to be developed shall bear a reasonable relationship to the anticipated use of the facilities by future inhabitants of the development or subdivision.
10. Final subdivision and/or development plans shall indicate location and specifications of all recreation facilities to be constructed and metes, bounds and acreage(s) of the recreation area(s).
11. Recreation facilities shall be bonded and have improvement guarantees posted or deposited as with other subdivision improvements–streets, sidewalks, curbs, drainage facilities, utilities, etc.
12. The developer shall install, as a minimum, the following number of recreation facilities on the land which has been set aside for this purpose.
Dwelling Units | Total Number of Recreational Facilities |
Dwelling Units | Total Number of Recreational Facilities |
24 or less | 1 |
25-49 | 3 |
50-99 | 5 |
100-199 | 7 |
200-299 | 9 |
300-400 | 11 |
over 400 | 13 |
13. Recreation facilities shall include, but shall not be limited to, play areas, basketball and/or volleyball courts, tennis courts, softball and/or baseball diamonds, pavilions, soccer and/or football fields. The mix of facilities shall be determined and approved by the Township.
14. Fee in-lieu of payments shall be arrived at by resolutions adopted by the Board of Supervisors that will set the average developed lot price per acre. Amounts established shall remain in effect until a succeeding resolution establishing other rates is adopted.
Area required (0.025 acre per dwelling unit | x average developed lot price per acre | = Fee in-lieu per dwelling unit |
15. Fee In-Lieu-of Dedication.
A. All monies paid to the Township under this manner shall be kept in an interest-bearing account identifying the recreation facilities for which the fee was received. Interest earned on such accounts shall become funds of that account. Funds from such accounts shall be expended only in properly allocable portions of the cost incurred to construct specific recreation facilities for which the funds were collected.
B. Upon request of any person who has paid a fee under this subsection, the Township shall refund such fee, plus interest accumulated thereon from the date of payment, if the Township has failed to utilize the fee paid for the purposes set forth in this Section within 3 years from the date such fee was paid.
(Ord. 2011-05, 3/14/2011, § 718)