[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors of the Township
of Pine as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where
applicable.]
[Adopted 11-21-2016 by Ord. No. 380.]
The Marshall Township Municipal Sanitary Authority (hereinafter
"the Marshall Authority") and the Township have previously entered
into an intermunicipal agreement, dated as of June 22, 1988, in which
the Township and the Marshall Authority agreed that the Marshall Authority
would provide sanitary sewage service to certain areas of the Township
as more fully described in said 1988 Agreement.
The aforementioned 1988 Agreement provided, inter alia, that
the Township would be subject to all existing and subsequently enacted
resolutions, rules, and regulations of the Marshall Authority and
all local, state, or federal ordinances, laws or regulations to which
the Marshall Authority may be subject from time to time.
The Marshall Authority and its customers located within Marshall
Township are subject to the requirements of a dye testing ordinance
first enacted by Marshall Township as its Ordinance No. 413 (enacted
June 4, 2012) and subsequently amended by Marshall Township as its
Ordinance No. 441 (enacted February 1, 2016).
The areas within the Township whose sanitary sewage service
rights are held by the Marshall Authority pursuant to the agreement
referred to in § 365A-1 above shall be referred to herein
as the "Marshall Service Area."
After the effective date of this chapter, it shall be unlawful
for any person to sell, transfer or assign any real estate within
the Marshall Service Area on which a building or improvement exists
that is connected to public sanitary sewers owned and operated by
the Marshall Authority, without first delivering to the purchaser,
transferee or assignee a document of certification or a temporary
document of certification obtained from the Marshall Authority.
Section 6. For any real estate within the Marshall Service Area
on which a building or improvement exists that is connected to a public
sanitary sewer owned and operated by the Marshall Authority which
real estate has been sold, transferred or assigned within 18 months
prior to the date of entry into a new contract for sale, transfer
or assignment of the same real estate, the seller shall only be required
to have an interior test (as defined herein) performed and obtain
a document of certification that an interior test has been successfully
passed with respect to such initial new sale, transfer or assignment.
With respect to any other sale, transfer or assignment of the same
real estate within said eighteen-month period or thereafter, the seller
shall have both interior and exterior tests (as defined herein) performed
and a complete new document of certification shall be required.
Any person selling, transferring or assigning real estate located
within the Marshall Service Area ("applicant") shall make application
to the Marshall Authority or the Township's designated agent
for a document of certification on the then required form, which application
shall be made at least 14 days before the date of the proposed sale,
transfer or assignment. The applicant shall then request the Marshall
Authority or the Township's designated agent to perform a visual
inspection and dye testing on the property to be sold, transferred
or assigned to determine if any interior sumps or drains ("interior
test") or any downspouts and area or outside drains ("exterior test")
are illegally connected to the sanitary sewer system. Upon completion
of the dye testing, the Marshall Authority or the Township's
designated agent shall certify the results of each test. In the event
that there are no illegal storm sewers or surface water connections,
the document of certification shall be issued to the applicant upon
payment of the amount established as the administrative fee for the
same.
The Marshall Authority may issue temporary documents of certification
under such terms and conditions as are contained in its rules and
regulations.
The inspections and dye testing described herein as necessary
to obtain a document of certification or temporary document of certification
may be performed by any person or entity authorized to perform same
by rules and regulations adopted by the Marshall Authority or by a
registered or licensed plumber or other qualified contractor approved
by the County of Allegheny to perform such inspections and dye testing.
When an illegal storm or surface connection is discovered by
the means of the above-mentioned dye testing, no document of certification
will be issued until the illegal connection is removed and subsequently
inspected and approved by the Marshall Authority.
In the event it is determined from a dye test that there is
an illegal connection of storm water or surface water from applicant's
property, then applicant shall redirect such storm or surface water
in compliance with the applicable provisions of the Code of the Township
of Pine (for Storm Water Management) as amended and any applicable
storm water management plan. If a storm water management plan is not
then in existence, then the Township shall determine how stormwater
surface water is to be redirected.
The Marshall Authority is hereby authorized, empowered, and
directed to make reasonable rules and regulations for the implementation
of this chapter regarding the following:
A.
Form of application for the document of certification and the temporary
document of certification, including any purchaser acknowledgement.
B.
Terms and conditions for temporary document of certification.
C.
Establishment of acceptable forms of security or guarantees for temporary
documents of certification.
D.
Time and circumstances of dye testing, including establishment of
those persons or entities authorized to perform the inspections and
tests required hereunder; provided, however, that any registered or
licensed plumber or other qualified contractor approved by the County
of Allegheny to perform such inspections and tests shall be permitted
to perform same by the Marshall Authority.
E.
Use of tests other than dye tests.
F.
Reasonable fees for the application for a document of certification
or a temporary document of certification, which fees shall be identical
to those applicable to properties situate in Marshall Township, and
which shall, in no event, exceed $50 without the approval of the Township.
G.
Such other rules and regulations as are necessary for the operation
and enforcement of this chapter as approved by both the Township and
by the Marshall Authority.
The Township is hereby authorized, empowered and directed to
make rules and regulations for the enforcement of this chapter as
it deems necessary.
B.
The Township is authorized to issue orders to correct any violation
of this chapter.
C.
Any person, firm or corporation which is found to have violated any
order of the Marshall Authority or the Township issued pursuant to
this chapter shall pay a fine of $1,000 following adjudication by
a Magisterial District Judge for each violation. Each day on which
a violation shall occur or continue to occur shall be deemed a separate
and distinct violation.
D.
In addition to the penalties provided herein, the Township may recover
penalties, damages, costs, reasonable attorneys' fees, court
costs, court reporter fees and other expenses of litigation by appropriate
suit at law against the person or user found to have violated this
chapter or the orders, rules, regulations, and permits issued hereunder.
E.
Upon final adjudication that a violation of this chapter exists and
the refusal or failure to act by the property owner to undertake the
repair, replacement or rehabilitation identified by a written order
as herein provided, the Township shall have the right to enter onto
the subject property to conduct the necessary work to bring the property
into compliance at the expense of the property owner, and further,
upon the failure of the property owner to pay said expense, the Township
shall have the right to file a lien against the subject property for
the amount of said expense, together with costs of filing and perfecting
such lien.
The provisions of this chapter providing for dye testing and
issuance of a document of certification shall be modified to the extent
required by any mandates of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or of
Allegheny County relating to such programs of testing and compliance.
Nothing herein shall authorize the Marshall Authority to enter
upon any private real estate, except for the purpose of conducting
the dye test provided for herein.
It is the express intent of the Township that the provisions
of this chapter are severable. If any section, subsection, sentence,
clause, or phrase of this chapter or the regulations adopted pursuant
thereto shall be held to be illegal, invalid, or unconstitutional,
the remaining provisions of this chapter or said regulations shall
not be affected or impaired.
This article shall not preclude the Township from conducting
dye testing or other testing or inspection, or implemewnting a program
of dye testing or inspection, within the Marshall Service Area for
purposes of discovering or locating the inflow of surface storm water
to the Marshall Authority's sanitary sewer system.
A request to the Marshall Authority or to the Township for a
municipal lien letter must be accompanied by a valid document of certification
or temporary document of certification.
