[HISTORY: Adopted by the Township Committee
of the Township of Carneys Point 7-14-1976 as Ord. No. 281. Section
90-10 amended at time of adoption of Code; see Ch. 1, General Provisions,
Art. I. Other amendments noted where applicable.]
No person shall, within the limits of the Township
of Carneys Point, suffer or permit the existence on any public or
private land of any abandoned, unused or unprotected well, pit, excavation,
foundation, cellar, trench, cesspool or septic tank.
Any person, firm, partnership, utility, owner
or occupier of any land contracting for or conducting the digging
of any hole, pit, excavation, foundation, trench, cellar, cesspool,
well or other unnatural declivity shall, unless the same is guarded
by a person over the age of 18 years or unless said opening is fenced
in such a manner that children or other persons will, in the opinion
of the Building Inspector, be properly restrained and safeguarded
from falling in said opening and lighted where required by the Building
Inspector, completely cover said opening with a suitable cover capable
of sustaining a weight of 500 pounds of pressure for each 10 square
feet, or a weight of 40,000 pounds if said opening is located on a
public or private street, road, alley or right-of-way.
As used in this chapter, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
Includes the terms hole, pit, excavation, cellar, foundation,
trench, abandoned cesspool, well, septic tank or other unnatural declivity.
The Building Inspector of the Township of Carneys
Point, the Police Chief, the Health Officer or their duly authorized
agents shall be responsible for the enforcement of this chapter.
An open or unguarded well, septic tank or cesspool
situated within the limits of Carneys Point Township is hereby declared
to be a public nuisance.
Any such public nuisance shall be abated by
the owner of the land or occupier thereof on which said public nuisance
exists after a notice in writing shall have been given to said owner
or occupier by the Clerk of the Township of Carneys Point as hereinafter
set forth.
The Township Clerk of Carneys Point Township
is hereby empowered, authorized and directed, upon a public nuisance
as herein defined being called to his attention, to notify in writing
the owner or occupier of the land on which such public nuisance exists
to abate such public nuisance within five days from the service of
the notice upon such owner or occupier by either filling in such with
dirt or other suitable material or by placing a cover over such nuisance
sufficient to withstand 500 pounds of pressure for each 10 square
feet of the covered area or by completely enclosing the public nuisance
with a permanent wire fence at least four feet in height, which will
bar all reasonable or normal access, which notice shall further provide
that, in the event that such owner or occupier shall fail to abate
such nuisance, the Township of Carneys Point may cause such nuisance
to be abated and the reasonable cost thereof charged against the owner
of the land on which such nuisance exists and that the cost thereof
will be a lien on such lands and will be assessed thereon and will
be collected in the same manner in which local municipal taxes are
collected.
In the event of the failure of the owner or
occupier of the land upon which such public nuisance exists to abate
the nuisance and said nuisance shall be abated by the Township of
Carneys Point, then the cost of such abatement shall be a lien on
such lands and shall be assessed thereon and collected in the same
manner as local municipal taxes are collected.
Within 30 days from the connection of sewerage
lines to any parcel of property, the owner or occupier of such land
shall be required to fill in with dirt or other suitable material
any cesspool, hole, pit, excavation, cellar, foundation trench, well
or septic tank located on such land and, further, shall be required
to pump out any such septic tanks located on any such lands.
[Amended 5-20-1985 by Ord. No. 393]
Any landowner or occupier of lands violating
any of the provisions of this chapter shall, upon conviction in the
Municipal Court of said Township, in addition to having such land
be liable to a lien as hereinbefore set forth, be subject for each
offense to a fine not exceeding $1,000 or imprisonment in the County
jail not to exceed 90 days, or both. Each day during which any of
the aforesaid public nuisances shall exist after such notice as hereinbefore
set forth has been given shall constitute a single and separate violation
of this chapter.
