Pursuant to Section 702, Clause XLI.1 (53 P.S. § 65741.1) of the Second Class Township Code, the codification of a complete body of ordinances for Upper Merion Township, County of Montgomery, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, as revised, codified and consolidated into titles, chapters and sections by General Code Publishers Corp. and consisting of Chapters
1 through
165, together with an Appendix, are hereby approved, adopted, ordained and enacted as a single ordinance of Upper Merion, which shall be known and is hereby designated as the "Code of Upper Merion Township," hereinafter referred to as the "Code."
The provisions of this Code, insofar as they are substantively the same as those of ordinances in force immediately prior to the enactment of this ordinance, are intended as a continuation of such ordinances and not as new enactments, and the effectiveness of such provisions shall date from the date of adoption of the prior ordinance. All such provisions are hereby continued in full force and effect and are hereby reaffirmed as to their adoption by the Board of Supervisors of Upper Merion Township, and it is the intention of said Board of Supervisors that each such provision contained within the Code is hereby reenacted and reaffirmed as it appears in said Code. Only such provisions of former ordinances as are omitted from this Code shall be deemed repealed or abrogated by the provisions of §
1-3 below, and only new or changed provisions, as described in §
1-6 below, shall be deemed to be enacted from the effective date of this Code, as provided in §
1-15 below.
All ordinances or parts of ordinances of a general and permanent nature adopted by Upper Merion Township and in force on the date of the adoption of this Code and not contained in the Code are hereby repealed as of the effective date given in §
1-15 below, except as hereinafter provided.
The adoption of this Code and the repeal of ordinances provided for in §
1-3 of this ordinance shall not affect the following ordinances, rights and obligations, which are hereby expressly saved from repeal; provided, however, that the repeal of ordinances pursuant to §
1-3 or the saving from repeal of ordinances pursuant to this section shall not be construed so as to revive any ordinance previously repealed, superseded or no longer of any effect:
A. Any ordinance adopted subsequent to August 17, 1987.
B. Any right or liability established, accrued or incurred
under any legislative provision of the Township prior to the effective
date of this ordinance, or any action or proceeding brought for the
enforcement of such right or liability or any cause of action acquired
or existing.
C. Any offense or act committed or done before the effective
date of this ordinance in violation of any legislative provision of
the Township or any penalty, punishment or forfeiture which may result
therefrom.
D. Any prosecution, indictment, action, suit or other
proceeding pending, or any judgment rendered prior to the effective
date of this ordinance, brought pursuant to any legislative provision
of the Township.
E. Any franchise, license, right, easement or privilege
heretofore granted or conferred by the Township or any lawful contract,
obligation or agreement.
F. Any ordinance or resolution appropriating money or
transferring funds, promising or guaranteeing the payment of money
or authorizing the issuance and delivery of any bond of the Township,
or other instruments or evidence of the Township's indebtedness.
G. Any ordinance adopting an annual budget or establishing
an annual tax rate.
H. Any ordinance providing for the levy, imposition or
collection of special taxes, assessments or charges.
I. Any ordinance authorizing the purchase, sale, lease
or transfer of property or acquiring property by acceptance of deed,
condemnation or exercise of eminent domain.
J. Any ordinance annexing land to the Township.
K. Any ordinance providing for requiring the construction
or reconstruction or opening of sidewalks, curbs and gutters.
L. Any ordinance or part of an ordinance providing for
laying out, opening, altering, widening, relocating, straightening,
establishing grade, changing name, improvement, acceptance or vacation
of any right-of-way, easement, street, road, highway, sidewalk, park
or other public place or property or designating various streets as
public highways.
M. Any ordinance establishing water, sewer or other special
purpose districts and designating the boundaries thereof; or providing
for a system of sewers or water supply lines; or providing for the
construction, extension, dedication, acceptance or abandonment of
any part of a system of sewers or water supply lines.
N. Any ordinance providing for the making of public improvements.
O. Any ordinance providing for the salaries and compensation
of officers and employees of the Township or setting the bond of any
officer or employee.
All ordinances of a general and permanent nature adopted subsequent to the date given in §
1-4A and/or prior to the date of adoption of this ordinance are hereby deemed to be a part of the Code and shall, upon being printed, be included therein. Attested copies of all such legislation shall be temporarily placed in the Code until printed supplements are included.
In interpreting and applying the provisions
of the Code, they shall be held to be the minimum requirements for
the promotion of the public health, safety, comfort, convenience and
general welfare. Where the provisions of the Code impose greater restrictions
or requirements than those of any statute, other ordinance or regulation,
the provisions of the Code shall control. Where the provisions of
any statute, other ordinance or regulation impose greater restrictions
or requirements, the provisions of such statute, other ordinance or
regulation shall control.
Three (3) copies of the Code in a post-bound
volume shall be filed with the Ordinance Book in the office of the
Township Secretary and shall remain there for use and examination
by the public. Upon adoption, such copies shall be certified to by
the Township Secretary, as provided by law, and such certified copies
shall remain on file in the office of the Township Secretary, available
to persons desiring to examine the same during all times while said
Code is in effect.
Any and all additions, deletions, amendments
or supplements to the Code, when passed and adopted in such form as
to indicate the intention of the Board of Supervisors to be a part
thereof, shall be deemed to be incorporated into such Code so that
reference to the Code shall be understood and intended to include
such changes. Whenever such additions, deletions, amendments or supplements
to the Code shall be adopted, they shall thereafter be printed and,
as provided hereunder, inserted in the post-bound book containing
said Code, as amendments and supplements thereto.
It shall be the duty of the Township Secretary,
or someone authorized and directed by him or her, to keep up-to-date
the certified copies of the book containing the Code required to be
filed in the office of the Township Secretary for the use of the public.
All changes in said code and all ordinances adopted by the Board of
Supervisors subsequent to the effective date of this codification
which the Board of Supervisors shall adopt specifically as part of
the Code shall, when finally adopted, be included therein by reference
until such changes or new ordinances are printed as supplements to
said Code books, at which time such supplements shall be inserted
therein.
The Township Secretary, pursuant to law, shall
cause to be published in the manner required a notice of the introduction
and of the adoption of the Code in a newspaper of general circulation
in the Township. The enactment and application of this ordinance,
coupled with the publication of the notices of introduction and adoption,
as required by law, and the availability of copies of the Code for
inspection by the public, shall be deemed, held and considered to
be due and legal publication of all provisions of the Code for all
purposes.
It shall be unlawful for anyone to improperly
change or amend, by additions or deletions, or to alter or tamper
with the Code, or any part or portion thereof, in any manner whatsoever,
which will cause the law of the Township to be misrepresented thereby.
Anyone violating this section of this ordinance shall, upon conviction
thereof, be punished by a fine not exceeding $300 plus costs of prosecution,
and in default of payment thereof by imprisonment for a term not exceeding
30 days.
The provisions of this ordinance and of the
Code adopted hereby are severable, and if any clause, sentence, subsection,
section, article or part thereof shall be adjudged by any court of
competent jurisdiction to be illegal, invalid or unconstitutional,
such judgment of decision shall not affect, impair or invalidate the
remainder thereof but shall be confined in its operation and application
to the clause, sentence, subsection, section, article or part thereof
rendered. It is hereby declared to be the intent of the Board of Supervisors
that this ordinance and the Code would have been adopted if such illegal,
invalid or unconstitutional clause, sentence, subsection, section
or article or part thereof had not been included therein.
All provisions of this ordinance and of the
Code shall be in force and effect on and after February 22, 1988.