Adams Township Butler County
City Zoning Code

Preapplication conference (optional). Before submission of an application for tentative approval, the applicant is strongly encouraged to meet with the Zoning Officer, Code Enforcement Officer, Township Engineer and other personnel as may be necessary to determine the feasibility, suitability, aesthetics, and timing of the application.

An applicant proposing to develop a planned residential development shall attend a regularly scheduled meeting of the Adams Township Planning Commission to discuss the key components of the development. The following information shall be made available for discussion:

The application for a proposed planned residential development shall be submitted by the landowner for tentative approval to the Planning Commission and shall include all the materials required by § 192-41 in three copies. In addition the landowner shall provide one copy of the plan to the Butler County Planning Commission.

The Commission shall review the application and send one copy to the Board of Supervisors together with recommendation.

Within 60 days after the filing of the application, the Board shall call and hold a public hearing on it. The hearing may be continued from time to time but shall be concluded not later than 60 days after being first convened. Notice of the hearing shall appear twice in a newspaper of general local circulation, the first time not less than 14 days before the hearing and the second time not less than seven days thereafter, and shall announce the date, time, place, and purpose of the hearing and the times and place when and where the application may be examined prior to the hearing. In addition, the property on which the planned residential development is proposed shall be posted in at least one prominent place with the same information contained in the notice not less than seven days before the hearing.

The Board shall conduct the hearing. The Chairman may administer oaths and compel the attendance of witnesses. All testimony shall be given under oath, and every party of record shall have the right to cross examine adverse witnesses. A verbatim record shall be made, but costs of copying shall be borne by those requiring copies. All exhibits accepted in evidence shall be identified and preserved until the conclusion of the hearing.

Action following hearing.

If conditions are attached to approval, the applicant may either:

General requirements.

The official written grant or denial of tentative approval shall include not only conclusions but also findings of fact related to the specific proposal and shall set forth the reasons for approval or denial and any attached conditions to approval, as well as specific reasons why the plan would or would not be in the public interest on the proposed site, including but not limited to the following:

Upon receiving tentative approval, the applicant shall, not more than one year thereafter, file an application for final approval of the first phase of the plan.

The official written communication provided for in this article shall be certified by the Secretary of Adams Township and shall be filed in the office of the Secretary. A certified copy shall be mailed to the landowner; where tentative approval has been granted, this shall be recorded on the official Adams Township Zoning Map.

Tentative approval of a development plan shall not qualify the planned residential development for recording nor authorize development or the issuance of any building permits. A development plan which has been given tentative approval as submitted, or which has been given tentative approval with conditions acceptable to the landowner, shall not be modified or revoked nor otherwise impaired by action of Adams Township pending an application or applications for final approval, without the consent of the landowner, provided an application for final approval is filed or, in the case of development over a period of years, provided applications are filed, within the periods of time specified in the official written communications granting tentative approval.

If a development plan is given tentative approval, and thereafter, but prior to final approval, the landowner elects to abandon the development plan and shall so notify Adams Township in writing, or in the event the landowner shall fail to file application or applications for final approval within the required period of time or times, as the case may be, the tentative approval shall be deemed to be revoked and all that portion of the area included in the development plan for which final approval has not been given shall be subject to the zoning regulations that applied prior to tentative approval of the development plan or as they may be amended from time to time, and the same shall be noted on the Township Zoning Map and in the records of the Secretary of Adams Township.

A written statement by the landowner setting forth the reasons why, in his opinion, a planned residential development would be in the public interest and would be consistent with the comprehensive plan for the development of Adams Township;

The location, size, and topography of the site and the nature of the landowner's interest in the land proposed to be developed;

The density of residential land use to be allocated to parts of the site to be developed;

The location and area of the common open space and the form of organization proposed to own and maintain the common open space and services;

The use and the maximum height, bulk and location of buildings and other structures;

The feasibility of proposals for the disposition of sanitary wastes and stormwater and the provision of a potable water supply to all dwellings;

The substance of covenants, grants of easements or other restrictions proposed to be imposed upon the use of the land, buildings, and structures, including proposed easements or grants for public utilities;

The provisions for parking of vehicles and the location and width of proposed streets and public ways;

In the case of development plans which call for development over a period of years, a schedule showing the proposed times within which applications for final approval of all sections of the planned residential development are intended to be filed and this schedule must be updated annually, on the anniversary of its approval, until the development is completed and accepted.

The location, list of plantings and dimensions of proposed bufferyards consistent with the provisions of § 192-53E5(c).

The Planning Commission may, at its discretion, require a traffic study to be prepared if it is clear the project will have a significant impact on roads or streets adjacent to and near the project. Such study shall identify existing traffic volumes and projected volumes based on the characteristics of the uses proposed, with particular attention to intersections used to provide direct or indirect access to the development site. The provisions of § 192-60, Traffic, shall dictate the content of the traffic study, and specific mitigations to address deficiencies in the transportation network shall be included.

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, for a section thereof. The application shall be made to the Township Code Enforcement Officer within the time or times specified by the official written communication granting tentative approval. The application shall include the documents required by § 192-43 as well as any covenants, easements, performance bonds and conditions set forth in the official written communication at the time of tentative approval. A public hearing on an application for final approval of the development plan, or part thereof, shall not be required, provided the development plan, or the part thereof, submitted for final approval is in compliance with the development plan theretofore given tentative approval and with any specified conditions attached thereto.

The application shall be immediately forwarded to the Planning Commission which shall review it at its next regular meeting thereafter and recommend approval or further action as provided, in this section, to the Board of Supervisors.

In the event the application for final approval has been filed together with all drawings, specifications and other documents in support thereof, and as required by the chapter and the official written communications of tentative approval, Adams Township shall, within 45 days of such filing, grant such development plan final approval and authorize the issuance of building permits.

In the event the development plan as submitted contains variations from the development plan given tentative approval, the Board of Supervisors shall refuse to grant final approval and shall, within 30 days from the filing of the application for final approval, so advise the landowner 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. In the event of such refusal, the landowner may either:

A development plan, or any part thereof, which has been given final approval shall be so certified without delay by the Board and shall be filed of record forthwith in the office of the Recorder of Deeds before any development shall take place in accordance therewith. Upon filing of 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 the planned residential development or of that part thereof, as finally approved, no changes in the conditions of approval shall be made by the Township, except with the consent of the landowner.

In the event that a development plan, or a section thereof, is given final approval and thereafter the landowner abandons such plan or the section thereof that has been finally approved, and shall so notify the governing body in writing, or in the event the landowner shall fail to commence and carry out the planned residential development within the time limitations contained in the tentative approval, no further development shall take place on the property included in the development plan until after said property is resubdivided and is reclassified by enactment of an amendment to this chapter unless written request for an extension of the time period is granted by the Board of Supervisors to the landowner.

Tract boundary lines, right-of-way lines of streets, easements and other rights-of-way, and property lines of residential lots and other sites, when applicable, with accurate dimensions, bearings or deflection angles and radii, arcs and central angles of all curves;

Name and right-of-way width of each street or other right-of-way;

Location and dimension and purpose of easements;

Number to identify each lot and/or site when applicable;

Purpose for which sites other than residential are dedicated or reserved;

Minimum building setback line on all lots and other sites;

Location and description of survey monuments;

Names of record owners of adjoining unplatted land;

Reference to recorded subdivision plats of adjoining platted land by record name, date, and number;

Certification by surveyor or engineer certifying to accuracy of survey and plat;

Certification of title showing that applicant is the landowner;

Statement by owner dedicating streets, rights-of-way and sites for public uses;

Title, scale, North arrow, and date.

The table of minimum area, open space, permitted uses, and maximum density is applicable to all planned residential developments: