Penn Hills Township
City Zoning Code

No subdivision or land development of any lot, tract, or parcel of land shall be affected, and no street, alley, sanitary sewer, storm drain, water main, or other facilities in connection therewith, shall be laid out, constructed, opened, or dedicated for public use or travel, or for the common use of occupants of buildings abutting thereon, except in strict accordance with these Regulations.

No building permit or certificate of occupancy shall be issued for any parcel or plat of land which was created by subdivision or affected by land development after the effective date of, and not in conformity with, the provisions of these Regulations.

In addition to other remedies, the Municipality may institute and maintain appropriate actions by law or in equity to restrain, correct, or abate violations, to prevent unlawful construction, to recover damages and to prevent illegal occupancy of a building, structure, or premises. The description by metes and bound in the instrument of transfer or other documents used in the process of selling or transferring shall not exempt the seller or transferor from such penalties or from the remedies herein provided.

The Municipality may refuse to issue any permit or grant any approval necessary to further improve or develop any real property which has been developed or which has resulted from a subdivision of real property in violation of any ordinance adopted pursuant to these Regulations. This authority to deny such a permit or approval shall apply to any of the following applicants:

The Penn Hills Council may from time to time revise, modify, and amend these Regulations by appropriate action taken at a scheduled public hearing.

Public notice, as prescribed by the Municipalities Planning Code, together with a brief summary setting forth the principal revisions, modifications or amendments, and a statement of the place or places within the Municipality where copies of the proposed revisions, modifications, or amendments may be examined, shall be published in a paper of general circulation in the Municipality. Amendment to these Regulations shall become effective in accordance with the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, Act 170, 1988, Article V, Section 505.

In case of an amendment other than that prepared by the planning agency, the governing body shall submit each such amendment to the planning agency for recommendations at least 30 days prior to the date fixed for the public hearing on such proposed amendment.

The granting of the modification will not be detrimental to the public safety, health, or welfare, or injurious to other property.

The conditions upon which the request for a modification is based are unique to the property for which the modification is sought and are not applicable generally to other property.

Because of the particular physical surroundings, shape or topographical conditions of the specific property involved, a particular hardship to the owner would result, as distinguished from a mere inconvenience, if the strict letter of these Regulations were carried out.

The modifications will not in any manner vary the provisions of the Zoning Ordinance, Master Plan, or Official Map.

In approving modifications, the Planning Commission or planning agency may require such conditions as will, in its judgment, secure substantially the objectives of the standards or requirements of these Regulations.

A petition for any such modification shall be submitted in writing, on the appropriate form supplied by the Planning Department by the subdivider or land developer at the time when the preliminary plat or site plan is filed for the consideration of the Planning Commission or planning agency. The petition shall state fully grounds and facts of requirements or hardship on which the request is based, the provision or provisions of the ordinance involved and the minimum modification necessary.

Residential, $20 per lot, with a minimum fee of $60.

Commercial/industrial, $50 per lot, with a minimum fee of $200.

Any person, partnership or corporation who or which has violated any of the provisions of these Regulations or prior enabling laws shall, upon being found liable therefor in a civil enforcement proceeding commenced by the Municipality, pay a judgment of not more than $500 plus all court costs, including reasonable attorney fees incurred by the Municipality 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 Municipality may enforce the judgment pursuant to the applicable 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 the ordinance 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 fifth 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.

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 Municipality the right to commence any action for enforcement pursuant to this section.