25 Pa. Code § 71.53 - Municipal administration of new land development planning requirements for revisions
(a) It is
the responsibility of the municipality to act upon revisions for new land
development. If the new land development is requested by a private developer,
the developer or his agent may complete the Department's sewage facilities
planning module and submit it to the municipality for action.
(b) The municipality shall review sewage
facilities planning modules upon receipt and, if appropriate comments or
documents have not been received under subsections (d)(2), (3) and (5), shall
forward a copy of the sewage facilities planning modules to the sewage
enforcement officer, owner of receiving sewerage facilities and appropriate
planning or zoning agencies within 10 days of receipt. The municipality shall
determine if the submittal of the sewage facilities planning module is complete
within 10 working days of the receipt of comments from the sewage enforcement
officer and appropriate planning or zoning agencies. The municipality shall
review and act upon a complete sewage facilities planning module proposing a
revision for new land development within 60 days of receipt or additional time
as the applicant and municipality may agree to in writing. Failure of the
municipality to act within the 60-day period or an agreed-to extension will
cause the revision for new land development to be deemed approved by the
municipality and the complete sewage facilities planning module shall be
submitted to the Department by the municipality or applicant. Documentation of
the period of time the revision was in possession of the municipality shall be
in the form of a completeness checklist signed by an official of the
municipality confirming that the requirements of subsection (d) have been
met.
(c) Municipal action shall take
the form of adopting, adopting with modifications or refusing to adopt the
proposal as a revision to the municipality's official plan.
(d) For the purposes of this section, no plan
revision for new land development will be considered complete unless it
includes the following:
(1) The information
contained in §
71.52 (relating to content
requirements-new land development revisions) and the Department's sewage
facilities planning module.
(2)
Comments by appropriate official planning agencies of a municipality, including
a planning agency with areawide jurisdiction if one exists, under the
Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code (53 P. S. §§
10101-11202) and the existing
county or joint county department of health. Evidence that the sewage
facilities planning module has been before these agencies for 60 days without
comment shall be sufficient to satisfy this paragraph.
(3) A written commitment from the owner of
the receiving community sewerage facilities to provide service to the proposed
new land development and the conditions for providing the services.
(4) Documentation that the proposal is
consistent with the requirements of §
71.21(a)(5)(i)(A), (B), (E) and
(I) (relating to content of official plans)
or that inconsistencies have been resolved under §
71.31(e)
(relating to municipal responsibility to review, adopt and implement official
plans).
(5) A statement from the
sewage enforcement officer for the local agency having jurisdiction for
individual or community onlot sewage systems in the area where onlot systems
are proposed commenting on:
(i) General site
suitability for system usage.
(ii)
The sewage enforcement officer shall have 20 days from receipt of a sewage
facilities planning module from the municipality to provide these comments,
which shall be based upon onsite verification of soil tests, general site
conditions and other generally available soils information. Evidence that the
sewage enforcement officer has been in receipt of the sewage facilities
planning module for 20 days without commenting is sufficient to satisfy this
subsection.
(6) Evidence
documenting newspaper publication. The newspaper publication may be provided by
the applicant or the applicant's agent, the municipality or the local agency by
publication in a newspaper of general circulation within the municipality
affected. When an applicant or an applicant's agent provides the required
notice for publication, the applicant or applicant's agent shall notify the
municipality or local agency and the municipality and local agency will be
relieved of the obligation to publish. The newspaper notice shall notify the
public where the plan is available for review and indicate that all comments
regarding the proposal shall be sent to the municipality within which the new
land development is proposed. The newspaper publication shall meet the
requirement of §
71.31(c) and
provide notice of the proposed plan adoption action when the proposal involves
one of the following:
(i) Construction of a
sewage treatment facility.
(ii) A
change in the flow at a sewage treatment facility of greater than 50,000
gpd.
(iii) Will result in a public
expenditure in excess of $100,000 for the sewage facilities portion of a
project.
(iv) Will lead to a major
modification of the existing municipal administrative organization or the
establishment of new administrative organizations within the municipal
government.
(v) A subdivision of 50
lots or more.
(vi) A major change
in established growth projections.
(vii) A different land use pattern than that
established in the official sewage plan.
(viii) The use of large volume onlot sewage
systems.
(ix) Resolution of a
conflict between the proposed alternative and the consistency requirements
contained in §
71.21(a)(5)(i)-(iii).
(x) The sewage facilities are proposed to
discharge into high quality or exceptional value waters.
(e) Since it is the responsibility
of the municipality to implement the provisions of official plan revisions,
when reviewing a proposed plan revision the municipality shall consider the
information requested in subsection (d) and whether the proposed plan revision
is consistent with established municipal goals and capabilities.
(f) A municipality may refuse to adopt a
proposed revision to its official plan for new land development for the
following reasons, including, but not limited to:
(1) The plan is not technically or
administratively able to be implemented.
(2) Present and future sewage disposal needs
of the area, remaining acreage or delineated lots are not adequately addressed.
(3) The plan is not consistent
with municipal land use plans and ordinances, subdivision ordinances or other
ordinances or plans for controlling land use or development.
(4) The plan is not consistent with the
comprehensive sewage program of the municipality as contained in the official
plan.
(5) The plan does not meet
the consistency requirements of §
71.21(a)(5)(i)-(iii).
(g) Whenever a municipality refuses
to adopt a proposed revision to the official plan, it shall state the reasons
for the refusal and forward a copy of this statement to the person making the
submission, and to the Department.
(h) Upon adoption of the proposed revision to
the official plan, the municipality shall forward the proposed revision to the
Department with the information required in §
71.52 and subsection (d) for
review. Adoption of the proposed revision to the official plan shall be by
resolution of the municipality.
Notes
The provisions of this § 71.53 amended under section 9 of the Pennsylvania Sewage Facilities Act (35 P. S. § 750.9); The Clean Streams Law (35 P. S. §§ 691.1-691.1001); and section 1920-A of The Administrative Code of 1929 (71 P. S. § 510-20).
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