An application for an approval authorizing a modification of the requirements of this chapter for a planned residential development must be made to the Borough Council in three copies. This application shall contain the following information:

The Borough Council shall refer the application to the Borough Planning Commission and the County Planning Department for study and recommendation. The two agencies shall be required to make comment to the Borough Council within 30 days or the right to review will be considered forfeited.

Within 60 days after the filing of an application for tentative approval of a planned residential development pursuant to this chapter, a public hearing pursuant to public notice on said application shall be held by the Borough Council.

Public notice shall be given and written notice shall be given to the applicant, the Zoning Officer and to any person who has made timely request for the same. Written notices shall be given at such time and in such manner as shall be prescribed by rules of the Borough Council. In addition to the written notice provided herein, written notice of said hearing shall be conspicuously posted on the affected tract of land at least one week prior to the hearing.

The parties to the hearing shall be the Borough, any person affected by the application who has made timely appearance of record before the Borough Council, and any other person including civic or community organizations permitted to appear by the Borough Council. The Borough Council shall have power to require that all persons who wish to be considered parties enter appearances in writing on forms provided by the Borough Council for that purpose.

The Chairman, or Acting Chairman in the absence of the Chairman, of the Borough Council shall have power to administer oaths and issue subpoenas to compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of relevant documents and papers, including witnesses and documents requested by the parties.

The parties shall have the right to be represented by counsel and shall be afforded the opportunity to respond and present evidence and argument and cross-examine adverse witnesses on all relevant issues.

Formal rules of evidence shall not apply, but irrelevant, immaterial, or unduly repetitious evidence may be excluded.

The Borough Council shall keep a stenographic record of the proceedings. The appearance fee for a stenographer shall be shared equally by the applicant and the Borough Council. The cost of the original transcript shall be paid by the Borough Council if the transcript is ordered by the Borough Council or shall be paid by the person appealing from the decision of the Borough Council if such appeal is made, and in either event the cost of additional copies shall be paid by the person requesting such copy or copies. In other cases the party requesting the original transcript shall bear the cost thereof.

The Borough Council shall not communicate, directly or indirectly, with any party or his representatives in connection with any issue involved except upon notice for all parties to participate, shall not take notice of any communication, reports, staff memoranda, or other materials, except advice from their solicitor, unless the parties are afforded an opportunity to contest the material so noticed and shall not inspect the site or its surroundings after the commencement of hearings with any party or his representative unless all parties are given an opportunity to be present.

The Borough Council may continue the hearing from time to time, and may refer the matter back to the Planning Commission for a report, provided, however, that in any event, the public hearing or hearings shall be concluded within 60 days after the date of the first public hearing.

The Borough Council within 60 days following the conclusion of the public hearing shall, by official written communication to the landowner, either:

Failure to so act with said sixty-day period shall be deemed to be a grant of tentative approval of the development plan as submitted. In the event, however, that tentative approval is granted subject to conditions, the landowner may, within 30 days after receiving a copy of the official written communication of the Borough Council notify such Borough Council of his refusal to accept all said conditions, in which case, the Borough Council shall be deemed to have denied tentative approval of the development plan. In the event the landowner does not, within said period, notify the Borough Council of his refusal to accept all said conditions, tentative approval of the development plan, with all said conditions, shall stand as granted.

The grant or denial of tentative approval by official written communication shall include not only conclusions but also findings of fact related to the specific proposal and shall set forth the reasons for the grant, with or without conditions, or for the denial, and said communication shall set forth with particularity in what respects the development plan would or would not be in the public interest, including, but not limited to findings of fact and conclusions on the following:

In the event a development plan is granted tentative approval, with or without conditions, the Borough Council may set forth in the official written communication the time within which an application for final approval of the development plan shall be filed or, in the case of development plan which provides for development over a period of years, the periods of time within which applications for final approval of each part thereof shall be filed. Except upon the consent of the landowner, the time so established between grant of tentative approval and an application for final approval shall not be less than three months and, in the case of development over a period of years, the time between applications for final approval of each part of a plan shall be not less than 12 months.

The official written communication shall be certified by the Borough Secretary and shall be filed in his office, and a certified copy shall be mailed to the landowner. Where tentative approval has been granted, it shall be deemed an amendment to the zoning map, effective upon final approval, and shall be noted on the zoning map.

Tentative approval of a development plan shall not qualify a plat of 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, to which has been given tentative approval with conditions which have been accepted by the landowner (and provided that the landowner has not defaulted nor violated any of the conditions of the tentative approval), shall not be modified or revoked nor otherwise impaired by the action of the Borough pending an application or applications for final approval, without the consent of the landowner, provided an application or applications 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 communication granting tentative approval.

In the event that a development plan is given tentative approval and thereafter, but prior to final approval, the landowner shall elect to abandon said development plan and shall so notify the Borough Council 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 those ordinances otherwise applicable thereto as they may be amended from time to time, and the same shall be noted on the zoning map and in the records of the Borough Secretary.

The application for final approval may be for all the land included in the plan or, to the extent set forth in the tentative approval, for a section thereof. Said application shall be made to the Borough Council within time or times specified by the tentative approval. The application for final approval shall meet all requirements and contain all enclosures specified for the final plan of the subdivision stated within the Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance. A public hearing on an application for final approval of the development plan or part thereof shall not be required, provided the development or part thereof submitted for final approval is in compliance with the development plan theretofore given tentative approval.

A development plan or any part thereof which has received final approval shall be certified by the Borough Council and filed within 90 days with the Lebanon County Recorder of Deeds. Should the plan not be recorded within such period, the action of the Borough Council shall become null and void. No development shall take place until the plan has been recorded, and from that point of time, no modification of the provisions of said plan or part thereof as finally approved shall be made without the consent of the landowner.

In the event that a development plan, or a section thereof, is given final approval and thereafter the landowner shall abandon such plan or the section thereof that has been finally approved, the landowner shall so notify the Borough Council in writing; or, in the event the landowner shall fail to commence and carry out the planned residential development, 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 the Jonestown Borough Zoning Ordinance.

Any decision of the Borough Council under this Part granting or denying tentative or final approval of a development plan shall be subject to appeal to court in the same manner and within the same time limitation provided for zoning appeals.

Dwelling Units Permitted. The number of dwelling units permitted shall be determined by dividing the net development area by the minimum lot area per family required by the district in which the area is located. Net development area shall be determined by subtracting the area set aside for churches and school uses from the gross development area and deducting 15% of the remainder for streets, regardless of the amount of land actually required for streets. The area of land set aside for common open space or recreational use shall be included in determining the number of dwelling units permitted. The Borough Council shall determine the appropriate percentage of multi-family dwellings and/or commercial uses permitted in the development depending upon the size of the development and the character of the area in which such development is located; however, in no case shall more than 50% of the net developable land area be developed into multiple dwellings and no more than 6% of the net developable land area shall be developed into commercial uses.

Lot Area and Frontage. The minimum lot area and minimum lot frontage of dwelling lots established within the development shall not be less than 1/2 of the normal minimum lot area or minimum lot frontage of the district in which the lot is located.

Other Requirements. All other applicable provisions of this Zoning Ordinance such as off-street parking regulations and limitations of signs shall apply to the planned unit development. Layout and improvement of streets and driveways shall conform to the Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance and other regulations pertaining thereto established by the Borough Council.

Any person, partnership or corporation, who or which has violated the planned residential development provisions of this chapter shall, upon being found liable therefor in a civil enforcement proceeding commenced by the Borough, pay a judgment of not more than $500 plus all court costs, including reasonable attorney fees incurred by the Borough 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 district justice. If the defendant neither pays nor timely appeals the judgment, the Borough may enforce the judgment pursuant to the appropriate rules of civil procedure. Each day that a violation continues shall constitute a separate violation, unless the district justice determining that there has been a violation further determines that there was a good faith basis for the person, partnership or corporation violating these provisions to have believed that there was no such violation, in which event there shall be deemed to have been only one such violation until the 5th day following the date of the determination of a violation by the district justice, and thereafter each day that a violation continues shall constitute a separate violation. All judgments, costs and reasonable attorney fees collected for the violation of planned residential development provisions of this chapter shall be paid over the Borough.

The court of common pleas, upon petition, may grant an order of stay, upon cause shown, tolling the per diem judgment pending a final adjudication of the violation and judgment.

Nothing contained in this section shall be construed or interpreted to grant to any person or entity other than the Borough the right to commence any action for enforcement pursuant to this section.

District justices shall have initial jurisdiction over proceedings brought under this section.