Pennsylvania Act 1927-492 — SUPPLEMENTARY ACT, SECOND CLASS CITIES

Act text

SUPPLEMENTARY ACT, SECOND CLASS CITIES
                 Act of May 13, 1927, P.L. 1011, No. 492              Cl. 11
                               A SUPPLEMENT

     To an act entitled "An act for the government of cities of the
        second class," approved the seventh day of March, Anno Domini
        one thousand nine hundred and one, creating a department of
        city planning; providing for its organization and powers;
        regulating the platting of ground; prohibiting the recording
        of plans and sales of lots therein before their approval,
        under penalties; making it a misdemeanor for the recorder of
        deeds to record an unapproved plan; restricting accepting,
        laying out, opening and improving private streets;
        prohibiting the erection of buildings on land not abutting on
        public streets or streets not shown on the official master
        plan or an approved plat; transferring to the department of
        city planning powers conferred by other statutes over plats
        or subdivisions of land, the reservation of locations of
        mapped streets for future use and authorizing the assessment
        of damages for same, the preparation and compilation of an
        official street map; providing penalties for the violation of
        this act; and repealing certain statutes.

                              GRANT OF POWER

        Section 1.  Be it enacted, &c., That an additional executive
     department in cities of the second class, to be known as the
     department of city planning, which shall be in charge of a city
     planning commission, with the powers and duties herein set
     forth, and to make, adopt, amend, extend, add to, and carry out
     a municipal plan as provided in this act, is hereby created.
        Section 2.  Personnel of the Commission.--The commission
     shall consist of nine persons, who shall be residents of the
     city or the county within which such city is located, at least
     seven of whom shall not be paid city employes, to be appointed
     by the mayor, subject to the approval of the council, three of
     whom shall be designated to serve until the first day of
     January, one thousand nine hundred and twenty-eight, three until
     the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred and thirty,
     and three until the first day of January, one thousand nine
     hundred and thirty-two. Their successors shall be appointed on
     the expiration of their respective terms to serve six years.
     Vacancies occurring otherwise than through the expiration of
     term shall be filled as original appointments are made and for
     the unexpired term. All members of the commission shall serve,
     as such, without compensation.
        Section 3.  Organization and Rules.--The commission shall
     elect a chairman, vice chairman, and secretary and shall have
     such other officers and employes as may be authorized by
     council. The term of the chairman, vice chairman, and secretary
     shall be for two years, with eligibility for reelection. The
     commission shall hold at least one regular meeting in each
     month. it shall adopt rules for transaction of all business and
     shall keep a record of its resolutions, transactions, findings,
     and determinations, which shall be a public record.
        Section 4.  Finances.--The commission may contract with city
     planners, engineers, architects, and other consultants for such
     services as it may require. The expenditures and contracts of
     the commission, exclusive of gifts, shall be within the amounts
     appropriated for the purpose by council, which shall provide the
     funds, equipment, and accommodations necessary for the
     commission's work.
        Section 5.  General Powers and Duties.--It shall be the duty
     of the commission to make and adopt a master plan, either as a
     whole or in sections, from time to time, for the physical
     development of the city and of any land outside its boundaries
     which in the commission's judgment bears relation to the
     planning of such city. Such plan or plans, with the accompanying
     maps, plats, charts, and descriptive matter, shall show the
     commission's recommendations for the future development of said
     territory, including among other things the general location,
     character, and extent of streets, viaducts, subways, bridges,
     waterways, water fronts, boulevards, parkways, playgrounds,
     squares, parks, aviation field, and other public ways, grounds,
     and open spaces, and a major street plan, the general location
     of public buildings and other public property, and the general
     location and extent of public utilities and terminals, whether
     publicly or privately owned or operated, for water, light,
     sanitation, transportation, communication, power, and other
     purposes, and the removal, relocation, widening, narrowing,
     vacating, abandonment, change of use or extension of any of the
     foregoing ways, grounds, open spaces, buildings, public
     utilities or terminals, as well as a zoning plan for the control
     of the height, area, bulk, location, occupation, and use of
     buildings and land. The commission may from time to time make,
     adopt, and publish a part of the plan covering one or more
     divisions of the city or one or more of the aforesaid or other
     subjects. The commission may from time to time amend, extend or
     add to the plan or any section thereof.
        Section 6.  Purposes in View.--In the preparation of such
     plan the commission shall make careful and comprehensive surveys
     and studies of present conditions and probable future growth of
     the city and with due regard to its relation to neighboring
     territory. The plan shall be made with the general purpose of
     guiding and accomplishing a coordinated, adjusted, and
     harmonious development of the city and its environs which will,
     in accordance with present and future needs, best promote
     health, safety, morals, order, convenience, prosperity, and
     general welfare as well as efficiency and economy in the process
     of development, including, among other things, adequate
     provision for traffic, the promotion of safety from fire and
     other dangers, adequate provision for light and air, the
     promotion of the distribution of population, the promotion of
     good civic design and arrangement, wise and efficient
     expenditure of public funds and the adequate provision of public
     utilities and other public requirements.
        Section 7.  Legal Status of Official Plan.--Whenever the
     commission shall have adopted the master plan of the city, or of
     any division thereof, no street, square, park or other public
     way, ground or open space or public building or structure or
     public utility, for which a franchise may hereafter be granted
     by the proper municipal authorities, whether publicly or
     privately owned, shall be constructed or authorized in the city,
     unless the location and general extent conform thereto:
     Provided, In case the said proposed street, square, park or
     other public way, ground or open space, or public building or
     structure or public utility, as aforesaid, does not conform to
     said master plan, and the city planning commission, upon
     application to it, shall refuse to alter said master plan so as
     to permit said street, square, park or other public way, ground
     or open space or public building or structure or public utility,
     as aforesaid, the said city planning commission shall refer the
     same to the council, together with its reasons for disapproval,
     and the council shall have power to overrule said disapproval by
     a majority vote of its entire membership. The failure of the
     commission to act within sixty days from and after the date of
     official submission to the commission shall be deemed approval.
        Section 8.  Miscellaneous Powers and Duties.--The commission
     shall have power to promote public interest in, and
     understanding of, the master plan, and, to that end, may publish
     and distribute copies of the plan, or of any report, and may
     employ such other means of publicity and education as it may
     determine. The commission may authorize its members and staff to
     attend city planning conferences or meetings and pay the
     expenses incident thereto. The commission shall, from time to
     time, recommend to the appropriate public officials programs for
     specific improvements and for the financing thereof. It shall be
     part of its duties to consult and advise with public officials
     and agencies, public utility companies, civic, educational,
     professional, and other organizations, and citizens, with
     relation to the carrying out of the plan. The commission shall
     have the right to accept and use gifts for the exercise of its
     functions. All public officials shall, upon request, furnish to
     the commission, within a reasonable time, such available
     information as it may require for its work. The clerk of council
     shall, upon introduction into council, furnish to the city
     planning commission for its consideration a copy of all
     ordinances and bills relating to the location of any public
     building of the city, and to the location, extension, widening,
     enlargement, ornamentation, and parking of any street,
     boulevard, parkway, park, playground, or other public grounds
     and to the vacation of any street or other alteration of the
     city plan of streets and highways, and to the location of any
     bridge, wharf, tunnel or subway, or of any surface, underground
     or elevated railway. The said commission may make a report or
     suggestion in relation thereto if it deems a report necessary or
     advisable for the consideration of council. All such reports,
     when delivered to the clerk of council, shall be for the
     information of the public as well as of council, and the
     commission shall furnish to any newspaper of the city on request
     for publication a copy of any such report. The commission, its
     members, officers and employes, in the performance of their
     functions, may enter upon any land and make examinations and
     surveys and place and maintain necessary monuments and marks
     thereon. In general the commission shall have such powers as may
     be necessary to enable it to fulfill its functions and carry out
     the purposes of this act.
        Section 9.  Platting; Jurisdiction; Scope of Control of
     Subdivisions.--The planning commission shall have jurisdiction
     and control of the subdivision of land located in such city, and
     no plat of a subdivision of land shall be recorded until it
     shall have been approved by such planning commission and such
     approval entered in writing on the plat by the chairman and
     secretary of the commission.
        Any division of land into lots or parcels, two or more in
     number, by the owner thereof for the purpose of improvement or
     sale, for residential, commercial, industrial or similar use,
     shall be considered as a subdivision of land, a plat or a plan
     of lots within the meaning of this statute.
        (9 amended Nov. 19, 1959, P.L.1523, No.537)
        Section 10.  Platting Regulations.--Before exercising the
     powers referred to in section nine, the planning commission
     shall adopt general regulations governing the subdivision of
     land within its jurisdiction. Such regulations may provide for
     the proper arrangement of streets in relation to other existing
     or planned streets and to the master plan, for adequate and
     convenient open spaces for traffic utilities, access of fire-
     fighting apparatus, recreation, light, and air, and for the
     avoidance of congestion of population, including minimum width
     and area of building lots.
        Such regulations may include provisions as to the extent to
     which streets and other public ways shall be graded and
     improved, and to which water and sewer and other utilities,
     mains, piping or other facilities shall be installed, as a
     condition precedent to the approval of the plat. The regulations
     or practice of the commission may provide for a tentative
     approval of the plat, previous to such installation, but any
     such tentative approval shall be revocable and shall not be
     entered on the plat. In lieu of the completion of such
     improvements and utilities prior to the final approval of the
     plat, the commission may accept a bond, with surety, to secure
     to the city the actual construction and installation of such
     improvements or utilities at a time and according to
     specifications fixed by or in accordance with the regulations of
     the commission. The city is hereby granted the power to enforce
     such bond by all appropriate legal and equitable remedies.
        All such regulations shall be published and be available for
     distribution upon request.
        Where the subdivision plan has been completed as tentatively
     approved, and the plat has been finally approved by the
     commission, or if prior to completion of such improvements and
     utilities and final approval of the plat a bond, with surety, to
     secure the city the actual construction and installation of such
     improvements and utilities has been accepted by the commission,
     subsequent purchasers and mortgagees of lots in the subdivision,
     with or without buildings thereon or on any of them, shall be
     relieved of any and all liability for any deficiency in lack of
     or failure to complete the improvements and utilities above
     mentioned as set out in said plat or required as a condition
     precedent to the approval of the plat, and any failure to
     complete or properly complete such improvements and utilities
     shall not encumber any or all of the lots of the subdivision.
        In exercising its said powers, the planning commission shall
     take into consideration the local conditions of the particular
     district affected by the proposed subdivision of land, the
     existing buildings or improvements on adjoining or adjacent
     land, and the building line established or observed thereon, the
     extent of the use of any streets or highways, upon which the
     proposed subdivision abuts, by motor or other vehicles and
     pedestrians, and the effect of the proposed subdivision upon the
     public welfare, with particular reference to the district of
     which the proposed subdivision is a part; and, irrespective of
     the minimum requirements of any zoning regulations, shall
     disapprove any subdivision which would be detrimental to such
     public welfare.
        (10 amended Apr. 4, 1955 (1956), P.L.1403, No.457)
        Section 11.  Procedure; Legal Effect of Approval of Plat.--
     The planning commission shall approve or disapprove a plat of a
     subdivision of land within thirty days after the submission
     thereof to it; otherwise such plat shall be deemed to have been
     approved and a certificate to that effect shall be issued by the
     commission on demand: Provided, however, That the applicant for
     the commission's approval may waive this requirement and consent
     to an extension of such period. Every plat approved by the
     commission shall, by virtue of such approval, be deemed to be an
     amendment of or addition to and become part of the municipal
     plan. Approval of a plat shall not be deemed to constitute or
     effect an acceptance by the public of any street or other open
     space shown upon the plat. The planning commission may from time
     to time recommend to council amendments of the zoning ordinance
     or map or additions thereto to conform to the commission's
     recommendations for the zoning regulation of the territory
     comprised within approved subdivisions.
        Section 12.  Penalties for Subdividing Land without Approval
     and for Transferring Lots in Unapproved Subdivisions.--Whoever,
     being the owner or agent of the owner of any land, subdivides
     the land without a plan of subdivision being approved by the
     planning commission, or whoever, being the owner or agent of the
     owner of any land located within a subdivision, transfers or
     sells, or agrees to sell, any part of a tract of land before a
     plat of subdivision showing the same to be a lot or a parcel
     therein has been approved by the planning commission and
     recorded in the office of the county recorder, shall, upon
     summary conviction thereof for the first offense, be sentenced
     to pay a fine of not less than twenty-five dollars nor more than
     one hundred dollars and the costs of prosecution, and for
     subsequent offenses, be sentenced to pay a fine of not less than
     one hundred dollars nor more than three hundred dollars and the
     costs of prosecution, or in default of such fine and costs, be
     imprisoned in the county jail for not less than ten days nor
     more than thirty days. In the case of a transfer or sale or
     agreement to sell in violation of this act, a separate penalty
     may be imposed for each lot or parcel so transferred or sold or
     agreed to be sold; and the description of such lot or parcel by
     metes and bounds in the instrument or transfer or other document
     used in the process of selling or transferring shall not exempt
     the transaction from such penalties or from the remedies herein
     provided. Such cities may enjoin any subdivision of land in
     violation of this act, or such transfer or sale or agreement by
     action for injunction brought in any court of equity
     jurisdiction, or may recover the said penalty or both.
        (12 amended Nov. 19, 1959, P.L.1523, No.537)
        Section 13. County Recorder's Duties.--A county recorder who
     records a plat of a subdivision without the approval of the
     same, as herein provided, shall be deemed guilty of a
     misdemeanor and shall be fined not to exceed five hundred
     dollars, and the plat of subdivision so recorded shall be null
     and void and so marked.
        (13 amended Nov. 19, 1959, P.L.1523, No.537)
        Section 14.  Improvements in Unapproved Streets.--The city
     shall not accept, lay out, open, improve, grade, pave, curb, or
     light any street, or lay or permit water mains or sewers or
     connections to be laid in any street, unless such street shall
     have been accepted or opened as, or shall otherwise have
     received the legal status of, a public street prior to said
     action or unless such street corresponds with a street shown on
     the official master plan, or with a street on a subdivision plat
     approved by the planning commission, or with a street on a
     street plat or official map made by and officially adopted by
     the commission. Council may, however, accept any street not
     shown on, or not corresponding with a street on, the official
     master plan or on an approved subdivision plat or an official
     street plat or the official map, provided the ordinance or other
     measure accepting such street be first submitted to the city
     planning commission for its approval and, if approved by the
     commission, be enacted or passed by not less than a majority
     vote of the entire membership of council, or, if disapproved by
     the commission, be enacted or passed by not less than a two-
     thirds vote of the entire membership of council. A street
     approved by the planning commission upon submission by council,
     or accepted by a two-thirds vote after disapproval by the
     planning commission, shall thereupon have the status of an
     approved street, and part of the official street map, as fully
     as though it had been originally shown on the official master
     plan or on a subdivision plat approved or plotted by the
     planning commission or on an official street plan.
        Section 15.  Erection of Buildings.--No building or
     buildings, or parts thereof, shall be erected on any tract, lot
     or parcel, nor shall a building permit be issued therefor,
     unless the street giving access to the tract upon which such
     building or buildings are proposed to be placed shall have been
     accepted or opened as, or shall otherwise have received the
     legal status of, a public street prior to that time, or unless
     such street corresponds with a street shown on the official
     master plan or with a street on a subdivision plat approved by
     the planning commission or with a street on a street plat or the
     official street map made by and officially adopted by the
     commission or with a street accepted by council after submission
     to the planning commission by the favorable vote required in
     section fourteen of this act, or unless such tract, lot or
     parcel has been created or transferred in compliance with this
     act. Any building erected in violation of this section shall be
     deemed an unlawful structure, and the building inspector or
     other appropriate official may cause it to be vacated and have
     it removed.
        (15 amended Nov. 19, 1959, P.L.1523, No.537)
        Section 16.  Status of Existing Platting Statutes.--The
     jurisdiction of the planning commission over plats shall be
     exclusive within such cities, and all statutory control over
     plats or subdivisions of land granted by other statutes shall,
     in so far as in harmony with the provisions of this act, be
     deemed transferred to the planning commission of such city, and,
     in so far as inconsistent with the provisions of this act, are
     hereby repealed.
        Section 17.  Reservation of Locations of Mapped Streets for
     Future Public Acquisition.--The city planning commission of such
     cities is empowered, after it shall have adopted a major street
     plan of the city or any section or part of it, to make or cause
     to be made from time to time surveys for the exact location of
     the lines of a new street or streets, or for the relocation or
     widening of existing streets, in any portion of such territory,
     and to make a plat of the area or district thus surveyed showing
     the land which it recommends be reserved for future acquisition
     for public streets. The commission, before adopting any plat,
     shall hold a public hearing thereon, notice of the time and
     place of which, with a general description of the district or
     area covered by the plat, shall be published once not less than
     ten days previous to the time fixed therefor. After such hearing
     the commission may transmit the plat as originally made, or
     modified as may be determined by the commission, to council,
     together with the commission's estimates of the time or times
     within which the lands shown on the plat as street locations
     should be acquired by the city. Thereupon by ordinance council
     may approve and adopt, or may reject, such plat, or may modify
     it with the approval of the planning commission, or, in the
     event of the planning commission's disapproval, council may, by
     a majority vote of its entire membership, modify such plat and
     adopt the modified plat. In the ordinance of adoption of a plat
     council shall fix the period of time for which such street
     locations shall be deemed reserved for future taking or
     acquisition for public use. Such approval and adoption of a plat
     shall not, however, be deemed the opening or establishment of
     any street, nor the taking of any land for street purposes, nor
     for public use, nor as a public improvement, but solely as
     reservation of the street locations shown thereon, for the
     period specified in the ordinance, for future taking or
     acquisition for public use. The commission may at any time
     negotiate for or secure from the owner or owners of any such
     lands releases of claims for damages or compensation for such
     reservations, or agreements indemnifying the city from such
     claims by others, which releases or agreements shall be binding
     upon the owner or owners executing the same and their successors
     in title. After a plat is so adopted it may be changed by
     council to conform to a new plat prepared by the commission
     after a hearing similar to that required in the case of the
     original plat. At any time council may by ordinance abandon any
     reservation.
        Section 18.  Compensation for Such Reservations.--On
     petition, viewers shall be appointed, as provided by law for
     municipal improvements, who shall fix the amount of compensation
     to be paid to the respective owners of lands reserved for the
     period of time as shown on the plat and fixed by the ordinance
     of council.
        Section 19.  No Compensation for Buildings in Reserved Street
     Locations.--The reservation of a street location, as provided in
     section seventeen of this act, shall not be deemed to prohibit
     or impair in any respect the use of the reserved land by the
     owner or occupant thereof for any lawful purpose, including the
     erection of buildings thereon, but no compensation other than
     the compensation awarded in the final report of said board of
     viewers, or, in the case of an appeal, as awarded on such
     appeal, shall at any time be paid by the city to, or recovered
     from the city by, any person for the taking of or injury to any
     building, structure or other improvement built or erected within
     the period fixed in the ordinance of council upon any such
     reserved location.
        Section 20.  Record Map.--The city planning commission shall
     receive and keep on file an exact copy of each subdivision plat
     approved by it and of each plat made by it as adopted or
     modified by council as provided by section seventeen of this
     act. The commission shall also cause to be made or received by
     it a plat showing the location of any street accepted by council
     as provided by section fourteen of this act. The commission
     shall also obtain a map or maps or plat or plats of all streets
     established by law or officially approved previous to the taking
     effect of this act. All these plats or maps shall together
     constitute the official street map of the city. The placing of a
     street upon the official street map shall not in and of itself
     be or constitute an acceptance of a street or give to the same
     the legal status of an accepted street of the city.
        Section 21.  Saving Clause.--The invalidity of any provision
     of this act shall not affect the validity of any other
     provision.
        Section 22.  Nothing in this act contained shall be deemed to
     affect, vary, alter or modify the jurisdiction of the Public
     Service Commission of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania over
     public service companies, nor shall the provisions of this act
     apply to the government of cities of the second class A.