8 Pa.C.S. § 1735 – Streets not to be constructed, dedicated or opened to travel without the approval of council

(a) Requirements.— No person may construct, dedicate or open to travel a street or a drainage facility in connection with the street for public use or travel or for the common use of occupants of buildings abutting thereon in a borough without first submitting suitable plans to the council and obtaining its approval. The plans must:
1. (1) be prepared in accordance with rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the council; and
2. (2) show the profiles of the street, the course, structure and capacity of a drainage facility, and the method of drainage of the adjacent or contiguous territory, and any other or further details that may be required under the rules or regulations adopted by the council.
(b) Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code.— The Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code shall apply to the construction, security requirements and dedication of streets and connected drainage facilities if the streets proposed to be constructed are part of a plan required by an ordinance adopted under the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code.
(c) Authority and duties of council.—
1. (1) Before acting upon plans not subject to review under subsection (b), council may, at its discretion, arrange for a public hearing after giving the notice as it may deem desirable in each case. Council may alter the plans and specify changes or modifications of any kind and may make its approval of the plans subject to alterations, changes or modifications. Plans, when so approved, must be:
  1. (i) signed on behalf of the borough by the officer as the council may designate; and
  2. (ii) must be filed where the plans are available for public inspection among the records of the borough at reasonable times.
2. (2) No approval of plans by council may obligate or require the borough to construct, reconstruct, maintain, repair or grade a street or drainage facilities associated therewith.
(d) No plan approved.— If the council refuses to approve any plans submitted to it, a person aggrieved by the action of council may, within 30 days after the action, appeal from the action by petition to the court of common pleas of the county, and the court shall hear the matter de novo. After hearing, the court may enter a decree affirming, reversing or modifying the action of the council as may appear just. The court shall designate the manner in which notice of the hearing of an appeal shall be given to all parties interested. The decision of the court shall be final. A plan approved by the action of council or by the court on appeal must be recorded by the person applying for approval in the office of the recorder of deeds in the county.
(e) Restriction.— If a street or a drainage facility in connection with the street is opened, constructed or dedicated for public use or travel, except in strict accordance with a plan approved by the council or the court on appeal as provided in this chapter, neither the council nor any other public authority may place, construct or operate a sewer, drain, water pipe or other facility or do any work in or upon the street. Neither council nor any other public authority has a responsibility with respect to the street or drainage facility, notwithstanding the use of the street or drainage facility by the public. Nothing in this chapter prevents the laying of a trunk sewer, drain or water or gas main, if required by engineering necessity for the accommodation of other territory.
(f) Failure to comply with chapter.— A person who constructs, opens or dedicates a street or drainage facility in connection with a street, for public use or travel in a borough, without having first complied with this chapter is guilty of a misdemeanor of the third degree and is subject to a suit for the costs and damages incurred by the borough or property owners in the course of correcting the substantive violations of State law or borough ordinance resulting from or arising out of the unlawfully constructed street or facility. Nothing under this section may be construed to apply to the Department of Transportation.