[HISTORY: Adopted by the Borough Council
of the Borough of Silverdale as indicated in article histories. Amendments
noted where applicable.]
[Adopted 6-15-1998 by Ord. No. 249]
It is against policy to allow uncontrolled,
unrestricted outdoor burning. The purpose of this article is to prevent
needless damage to life and property because of public and private
nuisances caused by outdoor fires deliberately or carelessly set and
improperly maintained.
For the purpose of this article, the following
words and terms shall have meanings ascribed to them as follows:
Any fire contained in an incinerator, fireplace or cooking
grill, other contained enclosure designed for outdoor cooking or a
fireproof container.
Members of the Hilltown Township Police Department shall
be designated enforcement officers under this article.
Any fire set or maintained outside a building.
Any individual, partnership, organization, association, agency,
firm, estate or corporation and any other legal or commercial entity.
An individual 18 years or older who is not under the influence
of drugs or alcohol or suffering from any other disability which would
impair his or her ability to properly supervise a fire.
Any fire not included in the definition of a "contained fire."
No person shall set, start, feed, permit to
burn, or maintain any fire upon any of the streets and/or rights-of-way,
sidewalks, alleys, or public grounds in Silverdale Borough, except
where a designated area has been set aside or reserved for this purpose
and an appropriate container has been provided to contain such a fire.
A.
No fire shall be set, started, fed, permitted to burn,
or maintained where such fire may endanger any building or property,
except where such building or property is used by the Fire Department
for training purposes.
B.
Nothing herein shall be deemed to prohibit indoor
cooking activities, provided that reasonable safeguards are maintained.
C.
Cooking grills may be less than 20 feet from a building,
provided that reasonable safeguards are maintained.
[Amended 10-4-1999 by Ord. No. 255]
A.
No fire shall be allowed to burn unattended without
a responsible adult being present at all times and without readily
available fire-extinguishing equipment.
B.
No fire shall be set that results in uncontrolled
burning of vegetation (field fire).
C.
Outdoor fires shall be contained in a noncombustible
container, covered with a wire screen of 1/2 inch or smaller mesh,
or in another suitable noncombustible container, except for fires
of leaves, brush and/or natural, untreated wood, which need not be
confined to or covered by a noncombustible container.
D.
Recreational fires using natural, untreated wood and
containing a fuel source of no more than eight cubic feet are permitted
at any time as long as they comply with all other provisions of this
article.
E.
Burning of any organic, nonmanufactured product is
permitted so long as it complies with all other provisions of this
article.
F.
Burning of construction debris, plastics, by-products
of manufacturing and processing operations and wastes from commercial
operations is strictly prohibited.
G.
Nothing contained herein shall be construed to permit
or encourage the burning of any substance determined by the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania or the United States Environmental Protection Agency
to be a hazardous substance, nor shall any fire be permitted to burn
by any person if such burning is in violation of the Air Pollution
Act or other legislation of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the
United States of America or any other competent body.
H.
No garbage or offal may be burned at any time, either
indoors or outdoors.
I.
Fires shall be used to burn only readily combustible
material. No fire, contained or uncontained, which is likely to produce
heavy smoke, disagreeable odors or air pollution shall be started.
All fires which emit heavy smoke, disagreeable odor or air pollution
must be extinguished. If any type of fire or its emitted smoke shall
escape onto the premises of a third person, the person starting the
fire shall be guilty of violation of this article.
J.
Upon the declaration of a drought emergency by either
the Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania, the County of Bucks or the Borough of Silverdale,
no outdoor fire of any kind shall be permitted to burn in the Borough
of Silverdale. A person igniting a fire during a declared drought
emergency shall be guilty of a violation of this article.
It is a violation of this article for any person
to allow any fire to burn under adverse weather conditions or unsupervised
or otherwise in an unsafe manner. Any such fire may be extinguished
by any official of the Borough-designated fire company or extinguished
immediately upon request of such officials.
No person shall burn or cause to be burned any
substances, nor shall any person or persons set or maintain any contained
or uncontained fire, or burn material of any kind outdoors anywhere
in the Borough between sunset and sunrise.
In the event that it is necessary to have an
uncontained fire of a size and/or at times other than permitted under
this article, special permission must be obtained under this article.
Special permission must be obtained in advance from the Chief of the
Silverdale Fire Company. In the event that any fire company is required
to respond to a fire which violates the provisions of this article,
a service fee may be levied by the responding fire company.
A.
Sanctions. Any person, whether as principal or agent,
who violates this article or assists or abets its violation shall,
upon conviction thereof before any Magisterial District Justice, be
sentenced to pay a fine of not more than $1,000, together with the
costs of prosecution, and in default of the payment of said fine and
costs shall be committed to the Bucks County Prison for a period not
to exceed 30 days. Each violation shall constitute a separate offense,
for which a summary conviction is sought.
[Amended 12-15-2008 by Ord. No. 288]
B.
Equitable and other remedies. No penalty herein shall
prevent the Borough from enforcing this article by equitable, injunctive
and other remedies.
The Borough of Silverdale and its agents, officials
and representatives shall not, under any circumstances, be liable
or responsible for damages caused to any person or property by reason
of the provisions of this article or by reason of the conduct of any
burning activity in compliance with the terms and provisions of this
article. The individual person or party responsible for any such fire
shall bear sole responsibility for any damages caused as a result
thereof.
[Adopted 6-4-2012 by Ord. No. 300]
This article shall be known and may be cited as the "Silverdale
Outdoor Wood-Fired Boiler Ordinance of 2012."
The Borough Council of Silverdale, under and by virtue of and
pursuant to the authority granted by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Borough Code, Section 1202(74), does hereby enact and ordain this
article.
A.
This article applies to the installation and use of all outdoor wood-fired
boilers within Silverdale.
B.
This article does not apply to:
(1)
Grilling or cooking using charcoal, wood, propane or natural gas
in cooking or grilling appliances.
(2)
Burning in a stove, furnace, fireplace or other heating device within
a building used for human or animal habitation.
(3)
The use of propane, acetylene, natural gas, gasoline or kerosene
in a device intended for heating, construction or maintenance activities.
Whereas the Borough Council of Silverdale has determined that
air pollution from outdoor wood-fired boilers may be detrimental to
the health, comfort, living conditions, welfare, and safety of the
citizens of Silverdale, it is hereby declared to be the policy of
Silverdale to safeguard the citizens of Silverdale from such air pollution.
The following words, terms, and phrases, when used in this article,
unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, shall have the following
meanings ascribed to them:
The Air Pollution Control Act.[1]
Natural wood that has no paint, stains, or other types of
coatings and natural wood that has not been treated with, including
but not limited to, copper chromium arsenate, creosote, or pentachlorophenol.
The Borough Council.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency.
A city, incorporated town, township, borough, county, municipal
authority, or other public body created under state law having jurisdiction
over the disposal of sewage, industrial wastes, or other wastes.
A fuel-burning device:
Designed to burn clean wood or other approved solid fuels;
That the manufacturer specifies for outdoor installation or
for installation in structures not normally intended for habitation
by humans or domestic animals, including structures such as garages
and sheds; and
That heats building space and/or water through the distribution,
typically through pipes, of a fluid heated in the device, typically
water or a mixture of water and antifreeze.
Any individual, public or private corporation for profit
or not for profit, association, partnership, firm, trust, estate,
department, board, bureau or agency of the commonwealth or the federal
government, political subdivision, municipality, district, authority,
or any other legal entity whatsoever which is recognized by law as
the subject of rights and duties.
An outdoor wood-fired boiler that has been certified or qualified
by the EPA as meeting a particulate matter emission limit of 0.32
pound per million British thermal units output and is labeled accordingly.
Phase 2 outdoor wood-fired boiler models will be identified with a
white hangtag.
A person designated by the municipality to be responsible
for the administration and enforcement of this article.
Any vertical structure enclosing a flue or flues that carry
off smoke or exhaust from a furnace, especially that part of a structure
extending above a roof.
[1]
Editor's Note: See 35 P.S. § 4001 et seq.
On or after January 30, 2012, no person shall install, use,
operate or maintain an outdoor wood-fired boiler in Silverdale Borough,
Pennsylvania.
A.
The Silverdale Borough Zoning Officer shall have the power and duty
to enforce the provisions of this article.
B.
Issuance of orders.
(1)
Silverdale Borough may issue such orders as are necessary to aid
the enforcement of the provisions of this article. These orders shall
include but shall not be limited to:
(2)
Such an order may be issued if Silverdale Borough finds that any
person is in violation of any provision of this article.
C.
Silverdale Borough may, in its order, require compliance with this
article.
D.
An order issued under this section shall take effect upon notice,
unless the order specifies otherwise. An appeal to the order shall
not act as a supersedeas; provided, however, that, upon application
for cause shown, the judicial authority may issue such a supersedeas
under rules established by the judicial authority.
E.
The authority of Silverdale Borough to issue an order under this
section is in addition to any remedy or penalty that may be imposed
pursuant to this article. The failure to comply with any such order
is hereby declared to be a public nuisance.
A.
Whenever the Zoning Officer finds that illegal operation of an outdoor wood-fired boiler is occurring in Silverdale Borough, in contravention of the requirements of § 127-17 above, the Zoning Officer may order the owner or operator to take corrective action in a manner satisfactory to Silverdale Borough, or the Zoning Officer may order the owner or operator to allow access to the land by the Zoning Officer or a third party to take such action.
B.
For purposes of collecting or recovering the costs involved in taking corrective action or pursuing a cost recovery action pursuant to an order or recovering the cost of litigation, oversight, monitoring, sampling, testing and investigation related to a corrective action, Silverdale Borough may collect the amount in the same manner as civil penalties are assessed and collected following the process for assessment and collection of a civil penalty contained in § 127-21 of this article.
A.
Any person who violates any provision of this article or any order
of Silverdale Borough issued pursuant to this article commits a summary
offense and shall, upon conviction, be sentenced to pay a fine of
not less than $100 nor more than $1,000 for each separate offense
and, in default of the payment of such fine, may be sentenced to imprisonment
for 90 days for each separate offense.
B.
Employees of Silverdale Borough authorized to conduct inspections
or investigations are hereby declared to be law enforcement officers
authorized to issue or file citations for summary violations under
this article, and Silverdale Borough Council is hereby authorized
to prosecute these offenses.
C.
For purposes of this section, a summary offense may be prosecuted
before any District Justice in Bucks County. There is no accelerated
rehabilitative disposition authorized for a summary offense.
A.
Assessment.
(1)
In addition to proceeding under any other remedy available at law
or in equity for a violation of a provision of this article or any
order issued pursuant to this article, Silverdale Borough may assess
a civil penalty for the violation. The penalty may be assessed whether
or not the violation was willful.
(2)
The civil penalty so assessed shall not exceed $1,000 per day for
each violation.
(3)
In determining the amount of the penalty, Silverdale Borough shall
consider:
(a)
The willfulness of the violation;
(b)
The damage to air, soil, water or other natural resources of
Silverdale Borough or their uses;
(c)
The financial benefit to the person in consequence of the violation;
(d)
The deterrence of future violations;
(e)
The cost to Silverdale Borough;
(f)
The size of the source or facility;
(g)
The compliance history of the source;
(h)
The severity and duration of the violation;
(i)
The degree of cooperation in resolving the violation;
(j)
The speed with which compliance is ultimately achieved;
(k)
Whether the violation was voluntarily reported;
(l)
Other factors unique to the owners or operators of the source
of facility; and
(m)
Other relevant factors.
B.
Notification; payment; failure to pay; lien.
(1)
When Silverdale Borough proposes to assess a civil penalty, it shall
inform the person of the proposed amount of the penalty. The person
charged with the penalty shall then have 30 days to pay the proposed
penalty in full; or, if the person wishes to contest the amount of
the penalty or the facts of the violation to the extent not already
established, the person shall forward the proposed amount of the penalty
to the judicial authority within the thirty-day period for placement
in an escrow account with the State Treasurer or any commonwealth
bank or post an appeal bond within 30 days in the amount of the proposed
penalty, provided that such bond is executed by a surety licensed
to do business in the commonwealth and is satisfactory to Silverdale
Borough.
(2)
If, through administrative or final judicial review of the proposed
penalty, it is determined that no violation occurred or that the amount
of the penalty shall be reduced, the judicial authority shall, within
30 days, remit the appropriate amount to the person with any interest
accumulated by the escrow deposit.
(3)
Failure to forward the money or appeal bond at the time of the appeal
shall result in a waiver of all legal rights to contest the violation
or the amount of the civil penalty unless the appellant alleges financial
inability to prepay the penalty or to post the appeal bond.
(4)
The judicial authority shall conduct a hearing to consider the appellant's
alleged inability to pay within 30 days of the date of the appeal.
The judicial authority may waive the requirement to prepay the civil
penalty or to post an appeal bond if the appellant demonstrates and
the judicial authority finds that the appellant is financially unable
to pay. The judicial authority shall issue an order within 30 days
of the date of the hearing to consider the appellant's alleged
inability to pay.
(5)
The amount assessed after an administrative hearing or after waiver
of an administrative hearing shall be payable to Silverdale Borough
and shall be collectible in any manner provided by law for the collection
of debts, including the collection of interest on the penalty amount.
(6)
If any person liable to pay any such penalty neglects or refuses
to pay the same after demand, the amount, together with interest and
any costs that may accrue, shall constitute a debt of such person,
as may be appropriate, to Silverdale Borough. The debt shall constitute
a lien on all property owned by said person when a notice of lien
incorporating a description of the property of the person subject
to the action is duly filed with the prothonotary of the Court of
Common Pleas where the property is located. The prothonotary shall
promptly enter, upon civil judgment or order docket, at no cost to
Silverdale Borough, the name and address of the person, as may be
appropriate, and the amount of the lien as set forth in the notice
of lien.
It shall be unlawful to fail to comply with, or to cause or
assist in the violation of, any of the provisions of this article
or to fail to comply with any order or other requirement of Silverdale
Borough; or to cause a public nuisance; or to hinder, obstruct, prevent,
or interfere with Silverdale Borough or its personnel in their performance
of any duty hereunder, including denying the Zoning Officer access
to the source or facility.
A violation of this article or of any order issued by Silverdale Borough under this article shall constitute a public nuisance. Silverdale Borough shall have the authority to order any person causing a public nuisance to abate the public nuisance. In addition, when abating a public nuisance, Silverdale Borough may recover the expenses of abatement following the process for assessment and collection of a civil penalty contained in § 127-21. Whenever the nuisance is maintained or continued contrary to this article or any order issued pursuant to this article, the nuisance may be abatable in the manner provided by this article. Any person who causes the public nuisance shall be liable for the cost of abatement.
