[HISTORY: Adopted by the Borough Council of the Borough of Norristown 4-6-1982 as Ch. 168 of the 1981 Code. Section 247-7 amended at time of adoption of Code; see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I. Other amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Health and sanitation — See Ch. 184.
Property maintenance — See Ch. 239.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
ERADICATION
The elimination of rodents or insects and other pest life from any building, lot or premises through the use of traps, baiting, fumigation or any other method of extermination approved by the Board of Health and subject to applicable laws relating to poisonous substances and fumigants.
HARBORAGE
Any condition which provides shelter or protection for rodents, insects or other pest life.
PERSON IN CONTROL
The owner or part owner of a building, lot or premises, whether an individual, partnership or corporation, the agent or occupant of a building, lot or premises or any other person who has the use or custody of the same or part thereof, whether an individual, partnership or corporation.
RODENTPROOFING
The treatment or shielding, with material impervious to rodent gnawing, of all actual or potential openings in the exterior and interior of walls, ground or first floors, roofs, foundations, basements, sidewalk gratings and other places that may be reached by rodents from the ground or by climbing or burrowing.
All buildings, lots or premises in this borough shall be kept free from any condition conducive to rodents, insects and other pest life. The person in control shall not allow the accumulation of trash, water, garbage, building material, brush, woodpiles or any other material which may afford harborage or provide food for rodents, insects or other pest life.
A. 
No person in control shall feed wild birds other than in suitable properly shielded containers for the food, installed in such a manner as to be inaccessible to rodents and to prevent the scattering of feed on the ground.
B. 
No person shall place food in the open for the feeding of any domesticated fowl or animal except in a container which will prevent the scattering of the food upon the ground. Unconsumed food shall not be allowed to remain where it is accessible to rodents, insects or other pest life.
All garbage and waste material shall be placed in nonleaking metal containers with tight-fitting lids and shall be stored in such a manner as not to create an attraction or harborage for rodents, insects or other pest life.
A. 
When any building, lot or premises is subject to infestation by rodents, insects or other pest life, the person in control shall apply continuous or repeated eradication measures as required by the Board of Health until there is no evidence of an infestation remaining.
B. 
No building shall be demolished until the Board of Health certifies to the Building Inspector of the borough that the building and premises are free from the infestation of rodents, insects or other pest life.
C. 
The Board of Health may, in its discretion, order the person in control of any swamp, pond, creek, lake, pool, sunken lot, quarry, abandoned excavation or any other place where stagnant water may collect to fill in or drain the same or to employ other methods to prevent the breeding of insects and other pest life.
A. 
Whenever conditions inside, outside or under any building or buildings or on any lot or premises provide harborage for rats, the Board of Health may require all or any one (1) or more buildings or premises to be rodentproof and harborages to be removed.
B. 
The person in control of a building or premises required to be rodentproof shall maintain the rodentproofing in good repair. No person shall injure the rodentproofing. When the rodentproofing is injured in the course of making alterations, installations, additions or repairs to the building, the person in control shall restore the rodentproofing in good condition.
C. 
No person shall undertake to remodel or alter any existing building or portion thereof for the purpose of rodentproofing without first submitting plans for approval to the Board of Health.
Every person who does not comply with any order or regulation of the Board of Health or who resists or interferes with any officer or agent thereof in the performance of his duties shall be guilty of a violation of the same and, upon conviction thereof before a District Justice in a summary proceeding, shall be sentenced to pay a fine of not less than thirty dollars ($30.) and costs and not more than six hundred dollars ($600.), payable to the Borough of Norristown, and in default of the payment of such fines, to imprisonment of not more than thirty (30) days. Each day any violation continues shall constitute a separate offense.
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Editor's Note: Amended at time of adoption of Code; see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I.