MapLink™ | Procedures | Landowner Curative Amendments

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Landowner Curative Amendments
(1) A curative amendment may be filed by a landowner who desires to challenge, on substantive grounds, the validity of this chapter or the Zoning District Map or any provision thereof, which prohibits or restricts the use or development of land in which he/she has an interest.

(2) Procedure. The landowner may submit a curative amendment to the Board of Commissioners with a written request that his challenge and proposed amendment be heard and decided as provided in the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, Act 247, as amended. As with other proposed amendments, the curative amendment shall be referred to the Township Planning Commission and the Montgomery County Planning Commission at least 30 days before the hearing is conducted by the Board of Commissioners, pursuant to Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, Section 908.[1] Public notice shall be given in accordance with the applicable provisions of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code.

(3) Evaluation of merits of curative amendment. If the Board of Commissioners determines that a validity challenge has merit, the Board of Commissioners may accept a landowner's curative amendment, with or without revision, or may adopt an alternative amendment which will cure the alleged defects. The Board of Commissioners shall consider the curative amendments, plans and explanatory material submitted by the landowner and shall also consider:
(a) The impact of the proposal upon roads, sewer facilities, water supplies, public schools and other public service facilities;
(b) If the proposal is for a residential use, the impact of the proposal upon regional housing needs and the effectiveness of the proposal in providing housing units of a type actually available to and affordable by classes of protected persons otherwise unlawfully excluded by the challenged provisions of this chapter or Zoning District Map;
(c) The suitability of the site for the intensity of the use proposed by the site's soils, slopes, woodlands, wetlands, floodplains, aquifers, natural resources and other natural features;
(d) The impact of the proposed use on the site's soils, slopes, woodlands, wetlands, floodplains, natural resources and natural features, the degree to which these are protected or destroyed, the tolerance of the resources to development and any adverse environmental impacts; and
(e) The impact of the proposal on the preservation of open space and other land uses which are essential to public health and welfare.
 
(4) Declaration of invalidity by court. If the Township does not accept a landowner's curative amendment brought in accordance with this section and a court subsequently rules the challenge has merit, the court's decision shall not result in a declaration of invalidity for this entire chapter but only for those provisions which specifically relate to the landowner's curative amendment challenge.