[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Commissioners
of the Township of Upper Gwynedd 2-24-1964 by Ord. No. 64-1. Amendments
noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Building construction — See Ch. 63.
[Amended 4-22-1985 by Ord. No. 85-6]
On and after the passage of this chapter, it
shall not be lawful for any person to carry on or work at the business
of plumbing or house drainage in the Township of Upper Gwynedd until
a certificate or license to engage in or work at said business shall
have been granted said persons by the Township of Upper Gwynedd Board
of Health nor until they have registered as such in the office of
the Board of Health of said Township; provided, however, that nothing
in this chapter shall be construed to prevent the employment of journeyman
plumbers or working of apprentices under the direction and supervision
of duly registered and licensed master plumbers.
A.
Registration of master plumbers. All master plumbers
duly registered and licensed in any other competent jurisdiction and
residing in and/or having a bona fide place of business in the Township
of Upper Gwynedd shall not be required to undergo any examination,
and they shall be entitled to register for the current year and, annually
thereafter, before the 31st day of December of each year.
B.
Registration of journeyman plumbers. All journeyman
plumbers duly registered and licensed in any other competent jurisdiction
to work at the business of plumbing and drainage work, desiring to
work in the Township of Upper Gwynedd, shall not be required to undergo
any examination, and they shall be entitled to register for the current
year and, annually thereafter, before the 31st day of December of
each year.
A.
Registration and fees. Any person or persons, firm
or corporation engaged or engaging in the business of plumbing or
house drainage in the Township of Upper Gwynedd and any journeyman
plumber working at the business of plumbing or house drainage in said
Township shall pay into the Township treasury, for the use of said
Township, such initial and renewal registration fees as the Board
of Commissioners shall establish from time to time by resolution.
B.
Expiration of licenses. At the expiration of each
calendar year, said certificate or license shall be null and void.
A licensed master plumber or journeyman plumber desiring to continue
in or work at the business of plumbing and house drainage for the
ensuing year shall, before the 31st day of December of each year,
surrender the said certificate or license for the current year to
the Township of Upper Gwynedd Board of Health and reregister his,
their or its name or names and business or home address upon such
forms or form as may, from time to time, be furnished by said Township
of Upper Gwynedd Board of Health.
[Amended 4-22-1985 by Ord. No. 85-6]
C.
Registration for institutions, etc. A person certified
as competent by the Board of Examiners of the Township of Upper Gwynedd
Board of Health may be registered as a master plumber for the care,
alteration or addition of the drainage system of a designated manufacturing
or mercantile establishment, institution, hotel, etc., where it is
necessary to have a continual service of a master plumber, and receive
a certificate of registry but, in no case, shall said person be permitted
to do any plumbing or drainage work in any building or buildings other
than that for which he is registered. To obtain a registration other
than an institutional registration, the person must submit proof that
he is no longer employed by said firm, institution or other business
establishment and offer evidence of a bona fide place of business.
[Amended 4-22-1985 by Ord. No. 85-6]
D.
Certificates may be revoked. The certificate of registry
granted under this chapter may be suspended or revoked by the Township
of Upper Gwynedd Board of Health when a master plumber, firm or corporation,
or the registered representative thereof, shall violate any of these
rules and regulations and shall refuse or neglect to make the necessary
corrections to work not approved by the Township of Upper Gwynedd
Board of Health within a reasonable time after notification thereof
or who shall permit the use of his, their or its name by a person
or persons for the purpose of obtaining a permit or permits to do
plumbing and drainage work. No person, firm or corporation carrying
on the business of plumbing and house drainage shall allow his or
their name to be used by any person, directly or indirectly, either
to obtain a permit or permits or do any work under his or their license.
[Amended 4-22-1985 by Ord. No. 85-6]
A.
Applications. Any qualified journeyman plumber desiring
to engage in the business or work of plumbing and house drainage in
this Township shall apply in writing to said Township of Upper Gwynedd
Board of Health for such certificate or license; and if, after proper
examination made by the Board of Examiners of said Township, such
person or persons so applying shall be found competent, the same shall
be certified to the Township of Upper Gwynedd Board of Health, who
shall thereupon issue a certificate or license to such person for
the period of one calendar year, or fractional part thereof, to engage
in or work at the business of plumbing and house drainage.
[Amended 4-22-1985 by Ord. No. 85-6]
B.
Register. A register of all such applicants and the
license or certificates issued shall be kept in said Department, which
said register shall be open to the inspection of all persons interested
therein.
C.
Board of Examiners.
(1)
The Township of Upper Gwynedd Board of Health is hereby
authorized to appoint a Board of Examiners, to consist of the Township
Plumbing Inspector and two competent master plumbers in no way connected
with the Township government, who shall examine all applicants for
license under the provisions of this chapter. The said Board of Examiners
shall make all reasonable rules and regulations governing examinations,
which shall be approved by said Township of Upper Gwynedd Board of
Health. An examination of any one member of a firm or corporation,
or the superintendent or foreman thereof, shall be deemed sufficient.
The master plumbers acting for said Board shall receive the sum of
$10 per day for each day, or part thereof, they are actually employed.
[Amended 4-22-1985 by Ord. No. 85-6]
(2)
The Board shall also appoint or select a competent
master plumber who shall act as an alternate in the event that one
of the regular master plumbers cannot attend an examination. The Board
of Examiners of said Township shall sit for the purpose of examination
on the following months and days: the third Wednesday of February,
May, September and November of each year.
A.
Place of business.
(1)
Every registered master plumber shall have a bona
fide place of business and shall display on the front of his or their
place of business a sign "Registered Master Plumber," bearing the
name or names of the person, firm or corporation in letters not less
than three inches high.
(2)
A bona fide place of business shall be a building
or part of a building where a shop is equipped with a reasonable amount
of stock, tools and work space or an office where people may call
to transact business at least 30 hours per week.
B.
Display of signs.
(1)
It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation
to advertise himself or itself as registered master plumbers unless
it holds a bona fide registration and place of business.
(2)
Every master plumber doing work in the Township of
Upper Gwynedd must have his truck or trucks clearly lettered with
the name and address of his business.
C.
Notice of change of place of business.
(1)
Every registered master plumber, firm or corporation
shall give immediate notice of any change in his, their or its place
of business; and upon his, their or its retirement from business or
upon his, their or its failure to continue to actively engage in the
business of plumbing shall surrender his certificate of registry to
the Township of Upper Gwynedd Board of Health.
[Amended 4-22-1985 by Ord. No. 85-6]
(2)
Every person registering for any firm or corporation
shall give the full name or names of the person, firm or officers
of the corporation for which he shall register.
A.
Plans and specifications.
[Amended 4-22-1985 by Ord. No. 85-6]
(1)
The drainage of all buildings, public or private,
and all alterations, extensions, additions and removals to the drainage
systems shall be executed in accordance with the plans and specifications
approved, in writing, by the Township of Upper Gwynedd Board of Health.
(2)
No special equipment of any description for a hospital
or institution of similar character, manufacturing establishment,
chemical laboratory or other laboratory or any place where special
equipment is required which necessitates connections with the vent
pipes or the general drainage system of a building shall be installed
until plans of the proposed installation shall be submitted to and
approved by the Township of Upper Gwynedd Board of Health.
B.
There shall be a separate plan placed on file in the
office of the Township of Upper Gwynedd Department of Health for each
building, public or private, or any addition thereto, alteration or
removal thereof, accompanied by specifications describing the drainage
of said building on the forms prescribed and furnished for this purpose,
showing the location, size and kind of pipes, traps, closets and fixtures
to be used and any connections or proposed connections with the sewerage
system and the storm drainage system, and showing partitions and the
method of ventilating water closet compartments.
[Amended 4-22-1985 by Ord. No. 85-6; 8-25-1986 by Ord. No.
86-14]
C.
Standards for submission of plans.
(1)
Forms for drawings and specifications for drainage
will be furnished on application at the office of the Township of
Upper Gwynedd Board of Health. One vertical drawing will be sufficient
for a building where it can be made to show all the work; if the work
is intricate and cannot be shown on one drawing, two or more shall
be made.
[Amended 4-22-1985 by Ord. No. 85-6]
(2)
A plot plan showing the location of the building,
together with the house sewer, wells and all drainage piping of every
description connected with the sanitary drainage system, shall in
all cases be submitted.
(3)
When plans have been prepared by registered architects
and/or engineers showing all drainage, venting piping and fixture
location in a manner satisfactory to the Township of Upper Gwynedd
Board of Health, these plans and specifications may be submitted for
approval with the necessary application form furnished for this purpose.
[Amended 4-22-1985 by Ord. No. 85-6]
D.
Approval of plan.
(1)
A permit of approval will be issued, in writing, when
a plan is deemed satisfactory by the Township of Upper Gwynedd Board
of Health.
[Amended 4-22-1985 by Ord. No. 85-6]
(2)
Under no circumstances whatever shall a verbal approval
or permission given by anyone be considered a justification for any
deviation from the approved plans or the violation of any of the rules
and regulations governing house and/or building drainage.
E.
Fees. The applicant for approval of any drawings or
ground plans for a new building, for alterations, additions, replacement
and/or removal of fixtures or for a certified statement of the sanitary
condition of the plumbing or house drainage system of any property
and/or compliance with this chapter and the rules and regulations
of the Township of Upper Gwynedd Board of Health shall pay over to
the Township such filing fee as the Board of Commissioners shall establish
from time to time by resolution.
[Amended 4-22-1985 by Ord. No. 85-6]
F.
The foregoing requirements shall not be applicable to any industrial, mercantile or institutional establishment which maintains and operates a private sewage disposal plant approved and supervised by the Pennsylvania Department of Health and which maintains upon its payroll a person certified under § 143-3C hereof as a master plumber; provided, however, that the exempted facility shall nevertheless be bound by and shall strictly adhere to the plumbing regulations of the Township of Upper Gwynedd, and that nothing herein stated shall abrogate the right of the Township of Upper Gwynedd to inspect plumbing, drainage and sewage disposal facilities installed on such premises and to order corrections to be made to such facilities where the same are not installed according to the plumbing regulations of the Township of Upper Gwynedd.
[Added 3-22-1965 by Ord. No. 65-2]
A.
Supervision. It shall be the duty of the Township
Plumbing Inspector or his representative to supervise, superintend
and inspect all plumbing and house drainage in conformity with the
provisions of the ordinances of the Township of Upper Gwynedd and
the rules and regulations of the Township of Upper Gwynedd Board of
Health.
[Amended 4-22-1985 by Ord. No. 85-6]
B.
Drainage, sewage or plumbing work must not be covered
or concealed in any manner until after it is inspected and approved
by the Plumbing Inspector or his representative.
C.
Notice must be given said Board when the work is sufficiently
advanced for inspection, when it shall be the duty of the proper officer
to inspect the same within three working days after receipt of said
notification.
[Amended 4-22-1985 by Ord. No. 85-6]
D.
The foregoing requirements shall not be applicable to any industrial, mercantile or institutional establishment which maintains and operates a private sewage disposal plant approved and supervised by the Pennsylvania Department of Health and which maintains upon its payroll a person certified under § 143-3C hereof as a master plumber, unless the exempted facility shall have been given notice that supervision or inspection is deemed necessary by the Township.
[Added 3-22-1965 by Ord. No. 65-2]
[Amended 4-22-1985 by Ord. No. 85-6]
The Township of Upper Gwynedd Board of Health
rules and regulations for the construction, repair and replacement
and/or removal of plumbing, house drainage, building drainage and
cesspools in the Township of Upper Gwynedd shall be those approved
by the Board of Township Commissioners on the ninth day of May, A.D.
1963, and/or as may be modified or changed by the Township of Upper
Gwynedd Board of Health and further approved by the Board of Township
Commissioners.[1]
[Amended 4-22-1985 by Ord. No. 85-6; 8-25-1986 by Ord. No.
86-14]
A.
Any person or persons, entity, partnership, firm or
corporation who shall violate any of the provisions of this chapter,
upon conviction thereof, shall be liable to pay a fine or penalty
not to exceed $1,000 plus costs of prosecution for each and every
offense. All fines and penalties imposed by this chapter are recoverable
by summary proceedings before the Magisterial District Judge, and
all suits or actions at law instituted for the recovery thereof are
to be in the name and for the use of Upper Gwynedd Township, against
which the offenses are committed. In default of payment of any fine
or penalty imposed by any Magisterial District Judge under the provisions
of this chapter, the person or persons so offending may be committed
to the Montgomery County Prison for a period not exceeding 30 days.
[Amended 11-23-1992 by Ord. No. 92-15]
B.
Each day a violation is committed shall constitute
a separate offense and shall be punishable as such hereunder.
C.
This section shall not preclude the Township from
any other remedy it may have at law or equity.
