[Adopted 4-27-2004 by Ord. No. 2004-349]
For the purpose of this ordinance, unless otherwise
expressly used, the following terms shall have the meanings herein
respectively indicated:
Nazareth Borough Municipal Authority, a Pennsylvania municipality
authority.
The Board of Supervisors of Palmer Township.
The extension from the sewage drainage system of any structure
to the lateral of a sewer.
The normal waterborne or dissolved waste discharged by a
residential household, as well as toilet wastes discharged by any
user.
Any property located within the service area of the Township
upon which there is erected a structure intended for continuous or
periodic habitation, occupancy or use by human beings or animals and
from which structure sanitary sewage and/or industrial waste shall
be or may be discharged.
Any room, group of rooms, building or other enclosure used
or intended for use, in whole or in part, is the operation of a business
enterprise for the manufacturing, fabricating, processing, cleaning,
laundering or assembling of any product, commodity or article, or
from which any process waste, as distinct from sanitary sewage, shall
be discharged.
Any solid, liquid or gaseous substance or waterborne or dissolved
wastes or process contact cooling water, other than domestic waste,
that is ejected, escaping or discharged into the municipal wastewater
system. Industrial waste includes pollutant and toxic pollutants as
defined herein. Industrial waste includes waste from health care facilities
that would be otherwise identified as domestic waste.
That part of the sewer system extending from sewer to the
curbline, or if there shall be no curbline to the property line or
if no such lateral shall be provided, then "lateral" shall mean that
portion of or place in a sewer which is provided for connection of
any building sewer.
Any person vested with ownership, legal or equitable, sole
or partial, of any improved property.
Any individual, firm, partnership, company, association,
society, trust, corporation or other group or entity of any kind.
Any dredged spoil, solid waste, liquid waste, gaseous waste,
incinerator residue, sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, chemical wastes,
biological materials, radioactive materials, heat, rock, sand, cellar
dirt and industrial, municipal and agricultural waste discharged into
water.
Normal water-carried household and toilet wastes discharged
from any improved property.
Any pipe, main or conduit constituting a part of the sewer
system used or usable for sewage collection purposes.
All facilities, as of any particular time, for collecting,
transporting, pumping, treating and disposing of sanitary sewage and
industrial wastes, situate in or adjacent to this Township, owned
and operated by the Authority.
Any street, alley, public way and public place as now laid
out, whether opened or unopened, dedicated to public use, and all
extensions or additions thereof as may now or hereafter be made.
The Township of Palmer, Northampton County, Pennsylvania,
a municipality of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, acting by and
through its Board of Supervisors, or, in appropriate cases, acting
by and through its authorized representatives.
Any pollutant or combination of pollutants: 1) listed as
toxic in regulations promulgated by EPA under the Act; or 2) discharged
into the municipal wastewater system at a concentration that has been
or can be shown by scientific experiment to inhibit or disrupt any
part or portion of the treatment process; or 3) listed as toxic in
regulations promulgated by DEP; or 4) specifically identified by any
other state or federal act as being toxic.
The Township, by and through its Board of Supervisors,
shall enter into an agreement with the Authority, which agreement
shall provide that:
B.
Township grants to the Authority the license, franchise,
right and privilege of constructing, maintaining and operating within
the Township a collection system for sanitary sewage, which sewage
will be transported by said system to the plant of the Authority.
No person shall extend the sewer lines constructed under this ordinance
and the enabling intermunicipal agreement beyond the service area
hereunder.
C.
Township authorizes the Authority in the operation
of the construction, maintenance and operation of the collection system
to provide for the payment of the necessary costs of construction,
maintenance and operation in accordance with the terms of this ordinance,
laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and rules and regulations
which may be promulgated by the Authority and the Township. Authority
shall be totally responsible for the construction, operation and maintenance
of the sewer collection system in the service area and shall pay for
all costs of construction, maintenance, operation and administration,
including all engineering, legal and administrative costs incurred
by the Authority and the Township.
D.
The Authority's construction, operation and maintenance
of the system shall be performed so as not to endanger or interfere
with the lives of persons, or to interfere with new improvements the
Township may deem proper to make, or to unnecessarily hinder or obstruct
the free use of the streets, alleys, bridges, or other public property.
E.
The Authority shall be responsible to restore the
streets in accordance with the reasonable rules, regulations and conditions
as shall be adopted and specified from time to time, by resolution
or ordinance of this Township, and this Township does reserve the
right to adopt and specify, from time to time, such reasonable rules,
regulations and conditions in connection with exercise by the Authority
of such rights and privileges.
F.
In the event that a change is made in the grade of
public streets, alleys, avenues and ground by the Township which may
necessitate a change in the system to conform to the change of grade,
Authority shall make necessary changes to the system at its own expense
upon due notice from the Board.
A.
The owner of any property benefitted, improved or
accommodated by a sewer shall connect such property with such sewer,
in such manner as the Authority may require, within 45 days after
notice to such owner from the Authority to make such connection, for
the purpose of discharge of all sanitary sewage and industrial wastes
from such property, subject to the rules and regulations as shall
be established by the Authority from time to time.
B.
All sanitary sewage and industrial wastes from any
property, after connection of such property with a sewer, shall be
required to be conducted into a sewer, subject to the rules and regulations
as shall be established herein or as otherwise shall be established
by the Authority from time to time.
C.
No person shall place or deposit or permit to be placed or deposited upon public or private property within this Township any sanitary sewage or industrial wastes in violation of Subsection A. No person shall discharge or permit to be discharged to any natural outlet within this Township any sanitary sewage or industrial wastes in violation of Subsection A, except where suitable treatment has been provided which is satisfactory to the Authority.
D.
No privy vault, cesspool, sinkhole, septic tank or similar receptacle shall be used or maintained at any time upon any property which has been connected to a sewer or which shall be required under Subsection A above to be connected to a sewer. Every such privy vault, cesspool, sinkhole, septic tank or similar receptacle in existence shall be abandoned and, at the discretion of the Township, shall be cleaned and filled at the expense of the owner of such property and under the direction and supervision of the Authority, and any such privy vault, cesspool, sinkhole, septic tank or similar receptacle not so abandoned and, if required by this Township, cleansed and filled shall constitute a nuisance, and such nuisance may be abated as provided by law, at the expense of the owner of such improved property.
E.
No privy vault, cesspool, sinkhole, septic tank or
similar receptacle at any time shall be connected with a sewer.
F.
The notice by the Authority to make a connection to a sewer, referred to in Subsection A, shall consist of a copy of this part, including any amendments and/or supplements at the time in effect, or a summary of each section hereof, and a written or printed document requiring the connection in accordance with the provisions of this ordinance and specifying that such connection be made within 45 days from the date such notice is given. Such notice may be given at any time after a sewer is in place which can receive and convey sanitary sewage and industrial waste for treatment and disposal from the particular improved property. Such notice shall be served upon the owner either by personal service by registered mail or by such other method as at the time may be provided by law.
A.
No person shall uncover, connect with, make any opening
into or use, alter or disturb in any manner any sewer or any part
of the sewer system without first obtaining a permit, in writing,
from the Authority.
B.
Application for a permit required under Subsection A of this section shall be made by the owner of the improved property served or to be served.
C.
No person shall make or cause to be made a connection
of any property with a sewer until such person shall have fulfilled
each of the following conditions:
(1)
Such person shall have notified the Authority of the
desire and intention to connect such improved property to a sewer.
(2)
Such person shall have applied for and obtained a permit as required by Subsection A of this section.
(3)
Such person shall have given the Authority at least
24 hours' notice of the time when such connection will be made so
that the Authority may supervise and inspect the work of connection
and necessary testing.
(4)
Such person shall have furnished satisfactory evidence
to the Authority that any tapping fee charged and imposed by the Authority
against the owner of each property who connects such property to a
sewer has been paid.
(5)
No person or entity of any kind shall discharge or
permit to be discharged from within the service area into the sewer
lines to be constructed hereunder or on any property any sanitary
or industrial wastes in violation of this or any other Township ordinance,
except where suitable treatment has been provided satisfactory to
Authority and the Township.
D.
Except as otherwise provided in this subsection each
improved property shall be connected separately and independently
with a sewer through a building sewer. Grouping of more than one improved
property on one building sewer shall not be permitted except under
special circumstances and for good sanitary reasons or other good
cause shown and then only after special permission of the Authority,
in writing, shall have been secured and subject to such rules, regulations
and conditions as may be prescribed by the Authority.
E.
All costs and expenses of construction of a building
sewer and all costs and expenses of connection of a building sewer
to a sewer, including testing, shall be borne by the owner of the
property to be connected, and such owner shall indemnify and save
harmless the Authority and the Township from all loss or damage that
may be occasioned, directly or indirectly, as a result of connection
of a building sewer to a sewer.
F.
A building sewer shall be connected to a sewer at
the place designated by the Authority and where the lateral is provided.
The invert of a building sewer at the point of connection shall be
at the same or a higher elevation than the invert of the sewer. A
smooth, neat joint shall be made and the connection of a building
sewer to the lateral shall be made secure and watertight.
G.
If the owner of any property benefitted, improved or accommodated by a sewer, after 45 days' notice from the Authority requiring the connection of such property with a sewer, in accordance with § 17-17A, shall fail to connect such property, as required, the Authority may make such connection and may collect from such owner the cost and expenses thereof by a municipal claim, an action in assumpsit or such other legal proceeding as may be permitted by law.
A.
Where a property, at the time connection to a sewer
is required, shall be served by its own sewage disposal system or
device, the existing house sewer line shall be broken on the structure
side of such sewage disposal system or device and attachment shall
be made, with proper fittings, to continue such house sewer line as
a building sewer.
B.
No building sewer shall be covered until it has been
inspected and approved by the Authority. If any part of a building
sewer is covered before so being inspected and approved, it shall
be uncovered for inspection at the cost and expense of the owner of
the improved property to be connected to a sewer.
C.
Every building sewer of any improved property shall
be maintained in a sanitary and safe operating condition by the owner
of such property.
D.
Every excavation for a building sewer shall be guarded
adequately with barricades and lights to protect all persons from
damage and injury. Streets, sidewalks and all other public property
disturbed in the course of installation of a building sewer shall
be restored, at the cost and expense of the owner of the improved
property being connected, in a manner satisfactory to the Authority.
E.
If any person shall fail or refuse, upon receipt of
a notice from the Authority, in writing, to remedy any unsatisfactory
conditions with respect to a building sewer, within 45 days of receipt
of such notice, the Authority and the Township may refuse to permit
such person to discharge sanitary sewage and/or industrial wastes
into the sewer system until such unsatisfactory conditions shall have
been remedied to the satisfaction of the Authority.
F.
This Township authorizes the Authority to adopt, from
time to time, additional rules and regulations as it shall deem necessary
and proper relating to connections with a sewer and the sewer system,
which additional rules and regulations, to the extent appropriate,
shall be construed as a part of this ordinance.
A.
Any person who shall violate any provision of this
ordinance shall, upon conviction thereof, be sentenced to pay a fine
of not more than $500 and costs of prosecution or, in default of payment
of such fine and costs, to undergo imprisonment for not more than
30 days, or such penalties and fines as may be prescribed by the statutes
of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania from time to time. Each day that
violation shall continue shall be deemed and shall be taken to be
a separate offense and shall be punishable as such.
B.
Fines and costs imposed under provisions of this ordinance
shall be enforceable and recoverable in the manner at the time provided
by applicable law.
In the event that any provision, section, sentence,
clause or part of this ordinance shall be held to be invalid, such
invalidity shall not affect or impair any remaining provision, section,
sentence, clause or part of this ordinance, it being the intent of
the Authority that such remainder shall be and shall remain in flail
force and effect.
It is hereby declared that the enactment of
this ordinance is necessary for the protection, benefit and preservation
of the health, safety and welfare of the inhabitants of this Township.
Authority is subject to all requirements of
the Township ordinances, rules and regulations and specifications
of the Township heretofore or hereafter enacted or established, including
but not limited to those concerning street work, street excavation,
use, removal and relocation of property within a street and other
street work.
