[Adopted 12-3-1970 by Ord. No. 107]
Unless the context specifically indicates otherwise,
the meaning of terms used in this ordinance shall be as follows:
Palmer Township Municipal Sewer Authority as originally organized
and as presently or hereafter constituted, which has been created
by the Board of Supervisors of the Township and to which has been
referred by the Board of Supervisors of the Township the specific
project of sewers.
Each single dwelling unit, household unit, flat or apartment
unit, store, shop, office, business or industrial unit or family unit
contained within any structure erected within 150 feet from the sewer
system and intended for continuous or periodic habitation, occupancy
or use by human beings or animals and from which structure sanitary
sewage is, or may be, discharged.
An individual, firm, company, association, society, corporation
or group.
Improved property which adjoins, abuts on, or is adjacent
to, the sewer system.
The normal water-carried household and toilet wastes from
residences, business buildings, institutions and industrial establishments.
Refers to the public sanitary-sewer collection system, together
with appurtenant facilities about to be acquired and constructed for
a portion of the Township, and any improvements, additions or extensions
that hereafter may be made thereto by the authority or the Township
or to any part or parts of any or all thereof.
The Township of Palmer, Northampton County, Pennsylvania,
or the duly constituted and elected municipal officials thereof.
A.
All persons owning any occupied building now erected
upon property in the Township accessible to the sewer system shall,
at their own expense, connect such building with the sewer system
within 60 days after written notice to such persons from the Township.
B.
All persons owning any property in the Township accessible
to the sewer system upon which an occupied building is, hereafter
erected shall, at the time of the erection of such building, and at
their own expense, connect the same with the sewer system.
C.
All persons owning any occupied building upon property
in the Township which hereafter becomes accessible to the sewer system
shall, at their own expense, connect such building with the sewer
system within 60 days after notice to do so from the Township.
D.
Where more than one occupied building, as hereinbefore
defined, is contained in a separate structure, a single common connection
to the lateral of the sewer system may be permitted for accommodating
all units contained in such structure, except that separate connections
shall be required for each semidetached or row-type house or structure.
It shall be unlawful for any person owning any property in the Township accessible to the sewer system to erect, construct or use or maintain, or cause to be erected, constructed, used or maintained, any privy, cesspool, sinkhole, septic tank or other receptacle on such premises for receiving sanitary sewage after expiration of the particular period specified in § 147-15 hereof, or otherwise at any time to erect, construct, use or maintain any pipe, conduit, drain or other facility for the discharge of sanitary sewage into the gutters of the Township, the storm sewers of the Township or upon public or private property or otherwise, except into the sewer system.
Any person who erects, constructs, uses or maintains
a privy, cesspool, sinkhole or septic tank on any property accessible
to the sewer system, or otherwise erects, constructs, uses or maintains
any pipe, conduit, drain or other facility for the discharge of sanitary
sewage in violation of this ordinance, shall be deemed and shall be
declared to be erecting, constructing and maintaining a nuisance,
which nuisance the Township is hereby authorized and directed to abate
in the manner provided by law.
No connection shall be made to the sewer system,
except in compliance with the ordinances and resolutions, as well
as such rules and regulations as may from time to time be enacted,
adopted, approved or promulgated by the Township or the authority.
After the expiration of the particular periods specified in § 147-15 of this ordinance, if any owner of an occupied building on property in the Township accessible to the sewer system shall have failed to connect such property with the sewer system, as required by said § 147-15, the Township shall cause to be served on the owner of such property so failing to connect to said sewer system, and also upon the occupants of the building in question, a copy of this ordinance and a written or printed notice requiring such connection to be made, and such notice shall further state that its requirements shall be complied with within 30 days from the date thereof.
[Amended 8-6-1973 by Ord. No. 142]
Any person owning any occupied building who
shall fail to connect the same to the sewer system after receipt of
notice as set forth above shall be liable to a penalty as follows:
A.
Such person shall, at the expiration of the thirty-day
notice and for the next quarterly sewer billing period and for each
such period thereafter, pay a penalty to the Township and for the
use of the Township set by the volume of water used by such occupied
building, times the applicable sewer rate, or minimum which would
be charged such person if the occupied building was connected to the
sewer.
B.
In the event that for some reason the penalty set forth in Subsection A above cannot be determined or charged, the penalty shall be set at $90 for each ninety-day period during which such violation continues, and each such ninety-day period shall constitute a separate offense.
C.
In default of payment for reasons other than indigence,
any person may be sentenced to Northampton County Prison for a period
not exceeding 30 days for each offense.
D.
Nothing contained herein shall prevent the Township
from constructing the sewer and house lateral and connection itself
and proceeding to charge the costs of same against the property served
as a municipal claim.
E.
Each day of violation of the particular code or ordinance
applicable shall be considered a separate offense, for which the fines
and penalties stated herein may be imposed on a daily basis.
[Added 10-25-1988 by Ord. No. 227]
If any provision, sentence, clause, section
or part of this ordinance, or the application of any provision hereof,
is for any reason found to be unconstitutional, illegal or invalid,
such unconstitutionality, illegality or invalidity shall not affect
or impair any of the remaining provisions, sentences, clauses, sections
or parts of this ordinance. It is hereby declared as the intent of
the Township Supervisors that this ordinance would have been enacted
had such unconstitutional, illegal or invalid provision, sentence,
clause, section or part not been included herein.
All ordinances or parts of ordinances in conflict
or inconsistent herewith be and the same are hereby repealed absolutely.
This ordinance is hereby declared to be urgent
for the preservation of the peace, health and comfort of the people
of the Township and shall take effect and be in force immediately
after its passage.
[Added 8-6-1973 by Ord. No. 142]
All notices required herein may be given by
certified mail or personal service. Enforcement may be by summary
proceedings.
[Added 8-6-1973 by Ord. No. 142]
In addition to the usual tapping fee of $150,
the Township may require additional moneys as a security deposit to
cover the cost of lateral construction. Any unpaid tapping fee or
lateral costs shall be the responsibility of both the property owner
and contractor building the home or sewer line, and such fee or costs
may be filed as a municipal claim against the property served.
[Added 7-9-1974 by Ord. No. 154]
The minimum lot size upon which an on-site disposal
system may be constructed shall be one acre (43,560 square feet),
and lots of lesser size may be built upon only when served by both
public sewers and water, or when served by public water with service
by planned public sewers approved by the Board of Supervisors expected
within not more than 10 years, in which case it shall be the joint
and several obligation of the lot owner and developer to connect accessible
buildings on such lot to the public sewer when the same is constructed.
In securing this connection obligation, the Township may require bonds
and appropriate agreements of record. In cases of hardship the Board
of Supervisors may exempt existing residential lots of record from
the one-acre lot size requirement of this section if such lots are
inaccessible to public sewers, served by public water and at least
12,000 square feet in size.
[Added 7-9-1974 by Ord. No. 154]
Whenever, in the opinion of the Township Engineer,
proposed development or subdivision of land will or may necessitate
or lead or substantially contribute to alteration or enlargement of
existing or planned sewage pumping stations, transportation lines
or treatment plants, the Township Board of Supervisors may require
that the person or persons developing or subdividing pay for or secure
payment for so much of the cost of such enlargement or alteration
as shall reasonably be attributable to the development or subdivision.
In securing payment of this obligation, the Township may require bonds
and appropriate agreements of record.
