[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Directors
of the Valley Forge Sewer Authority as indicated in article histories.
Amendments noted where applicable.]
[1]
Editor's Note: This resolution had an effective
date of 6-30-2004.
The Authority has determined that the state
mandated allocation to and reservation of sanitary sewer system capacity
for future use creates an unreasonable and inequitable economic burden
upon the Authority and the existing users of the system. Until such
time as persons who have been granted reserve capacity choose to make
use of such capacity, the Authority and ultimately the existing users
of the system are required to amortize the costs of the reserved facilities.
Moreover, such reserved capacity remains unavailable to other persons
who may have immediate need of the same. It is, therefore, deemed
to be in the interest of the Authority, the existing users of the
sanitary sewer system and potential users without reserved capacity
that persons desiring or required to reserve sanitary sewer system
capacity pay a charge designed and calculated to amortize the cost
of the current debt service in proportion to the existing users of
the system. The purpose of this article is to provide for the imposition
and collection of a charge to be known as the "reservation of capacity
charge" in accordance with Section 5607(d)(24) of Title 53 of the
Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, as amended by Act 57 of 2003.
When used in this article, the following words,
terms and phrases shall have prescribed to them the meanings hereafter
set forth:
The Valley Forge Sewer Authority, Chester County, Pennsylvania.
The Department of Environmental Protection of the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania or its successor in authority.
The permit which is required by the Department of Environmental
Protection of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for the construction
of a new sanitary sewer line or the extension of an existing sanitary
sewer system.
Any landowner who makes or causes to be made a subdivision
of land or a land development.
The improvement of one lot or two or more contiguous lots,
tracts or parcels of land for any purpose, involving:
A group of two or more buildings;
The division or allocation of land or space
between or among two or more existing or prospective occupants by
means of or for the purpose of streets, common areas, leaseholds,
condominiums, building groups or other features; or
Any other project requiring the approval of
the Authority.
The modules required by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental
Protection under Act 537, the Pennsylvania Sewage Facilities Act.[1]
Any individual or group of individuals, partnership, joint
venture, public or private corporation or any other entity of any
nature.
The charge imposed upon a person for the reserved sanitary
sewage capacity reserved.
The charge imposed upon a person for the allocated sanitary
sewage capacity reserved.
The reserved sanitary sewage capacity for and reserved by
a person who has received final sanitary sewer extension approval
from the Authority.
All sanitary sewers, all pumping stations, all force mains,
all sewage treatment works and all other sewage facilities owned by
or leased to and operated by the Authority for the collection, transportation
and treatment of sanitary sewage and industrial wastes, together with
their appurtenances, and any additions, extensions or improvements
thereto. Said term shall also include sewers which serve one or more
properties discharging into the public sanitary sewage system even
though such sewers may not have been constructed by the Authority
and are not owned or maintained by the Authority. It shall not include
storm sewers or culverts which have been constructed for the sole
purpose of carrying storm and surface runoff, the discharge from which
is not and does not become tributary to the sewage treatment facilities.
The division of a single lot, tract or parcel of land, or
part thereof, into two or more lots, tracts or parcels of land, including
changes in street lines or lot lines for the purposes, whether immediate
or future, of improvement and development.
[1]
Editor's Note: See 35 P.S. § 750.1
et seq.
A.
All developers of a subdivision or land development will be subject to a reservation of capacity charge as provided in § 126-14 of this article. All developers shall prepare and submit to the Authority a development plan in accordance with Authority rules and regulations and a written application requesting the allocation to and reservation of sanitary sewer capacity. Such application shall not be approved until preliminary plan approval by the applicable township is given. The first payment for reserve capacity shall be due and owing to the Authority at the time of the approval of the application by the Authority.
B.
The application for the reservation of such sewer
capacity shall be in the form provided by the Authority and contain
a time schedule for the development of the subdivision or land development
and include such other information and supporting data as the Authority
shall determine is reasonably necessary to estimate a five-year sewage
flow from the land development or subdivision.
C.
The Authority shall, in its sole discretion, based
upon competent engineering advice and all other factors and conditions
relating to the sanitary sewage system existing at the time of approval,
determine the sewer capacity to be allocated to and reserved by the
applicant for the development.
D.
In the event that the Department of Environmental
Protection shall cancel, revoke or stay the effectiveness of any permit
for any reason, or should it for any reason impose a ban on connections
or extensions to the sanitary sewer system, or should a prohibition
on connections or extensions to the sanitary sewer system arise by
operation of law or regulation, or if the Authority is unable to permit
connection for any reason whatsoever, the Authority shall not as a
result thereof incur any liability of any nature to a developer for
allocated reserve capacity.
A.
An annual reservation of capacity charge for reserve
sewer capacity is hereby imposed upon the following:
(1)
Any person or developer who has received final sewer
extension approval for any lot or lots for which a connection permit
is not simultaneously requested.
(2)
Any person or developer who shall make application
for a sewer connection permit but for whatsoever reason shall fail
to make any connection to said sewer system within six months from
date of application.
B.
The annual reservation of capacity charge shall be
applicable and continue in effect until any of the following events
occur:
(1)
The total reserve capacity has been utilized or consumed
by the applicant or applicant's successor in title.
(2)
Any unused reserve capacity has been canceled by the
applicant for whom it was reserved or by the Authority as hereinafter
provided.
(3)
A period of five years shall have expired from the
date of final approval by the Authority of the development or project
or application.
A.
The reservation of capacity charge for reserved capacity
shall be as follows:
(1)
The charge for each residential equivalent dwelling
unit (EDU) that is proposed to be connected is $180 per year.
(2)
Each nonresidential establishment, flex building or
flex space, multiple use and metered flow, shall be charged in accordance
with the category schedule attached hereto as Attachment A and made
a part of this article.
B.
The rate of the annual reservation of capacity charge
shall remain in effect until the reserve capacity has been utilized,
canceled or a period of five years shall have expired from the date
of final approval, whichever first occurs.
C.
Any person, other than a developer of a subdivision,
who desires to make application for reservation of sewer capacity
may do so by filing such form as shall be used by Authority for this
purpose.
D.
Any person, being a developer or not, who makes application
for sewer connection but who fails to connect to said sewer system
within six months from date of application shall be deemed hereunder
to have applied for sewer capacity reservation and shall be subject
to the rates, charges and liens described herein.
A.
The annual reservation of capacity shall be billed
quarterly as of the first day of January, April, July and October
of each calendar year.
B.
In the case of new subdivisions or land developments,
the first quarterly payment shall be due and payable immediately upon
approval of the preliminary plan or application.
C.
In the case of applications from persons other than
developers, the first quarterly payment shall be due and payable upon
approval of reservation by the Authority.
[1]
Editor's Note: Former § 126-17,
Failure to pay charges, was repealed 6-11-2001 by Res. No. 2-2001.
The developer who has reserved sewer capacity
may apply to the Authority to have the reservation of capacity quarterly
charge adjusted to reflect capacity utilized by connection to the
sanitary sewage system during the preceding quarter. The said adjustments
shall be as follows: each person or applicant shall have removed from
his assessment any and all lots which have been connected to the sewer
system following applicable Authority procedures. Rates cannot be
adjusted retroactively.
A.
In the event that the reserve capacity of any person shall be determined to be insufficient during the term of any permit, the person shall request additional reserve capacity. Such request shall be processed as a new application in accordance with the provisions of § 126-13.
B.
If after five years from the date of final approval by the Authority, a person is still in need of all or a portion of the sewer capacity originally reserved, the person shall make application to the Authority for continued reserve capacity which shall be processed as a new application in accordance with the provisions of § 126-13.
A.
A person may, at any time, upon written application
to the Authority cancel all or any portion of the reserve capacity
allocated to and reserved by him. Such cancellation shall be effective
as of the date of the next billing quarter, provided that the application
shall have been made at least 30 days prior thereto.
B.
The Authority may cancel any or all of the reserved
capacity as provided hereinabove. Such cancellation shall be effective
upon the date of the next billing quarter.
A.
No planning module shall be certified by the Authority
or the applicable township to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department
of Environmental Protection unless the same prominently displays the
following textual note:
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"Sewage treatment capacity is hereby certified
as available to serve the development described herein only during
such period as the said capacity shall be reserved by the developer
in conformity with the procedure described in a Valley Forge Sewer
Authority resolution adopted 5-12-1986, the operative text of which
is appended hereto and incorporated herein by reference as if the
same were here reprinted at length. The landowner and developer, by
executing this application, hereby consent to the revocation or cancellation
of the reservation of sewage treatment capacity in the event of failure
to comply with the requirements specified in the resolution adopted
5-12-1986. Landowner and developer here acknowledge and stipulate
that their consent to such revocation or cancellation is a material
inducement and that the Authority would not have certified the availability
of such capacity in the absence of such consent."
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B.
On cancellation or revocation of the reserved sewage
treatment capacity as described in this article, the Authority shall
inform the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Environmental
Protection of this cancellation.
A.
Sewer capacity allocated to and reserved by a person
shall apply to and be valid only for such persons, or their successor
in title, for the unimproved lot, parcel, tract or any part of a subdivision
or land development made the subject of the application.
B.
The reserve capacity applicable to such lot, parcel,
tract or part of the subdivision or land development shall be transferred
to the new owner thereof, with or without a formal assignment of such
reserve capacity.
[1]
Editor's Note: Former § 126-23,
Segregation of revenues, was repealed 4-12-2004 by Res. No. 1-2004.
