As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
AREA OF EARTH DISTURBANCE
The calculation of area of earth disturbance shall include
all haul roads, skid trails/roads, landing areas, as well as areas
of tree harvesting when the felling and removal of trees also results
in earth disturbance.
BOROUGH
Bell Acres Borough, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.
BOROUGH ENGINEER
A professional engineer licensed in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,
duly appointed by the Borough Council to serve as the engineer for
the Borough.
BOROUGH FORESTER
A professional forester whose services have been engaged
by the Borough Council on an as-needed basis.
BUFFERS
Buffers are land areas of certain varying widths in which
no logging operation shall occur. Buffers may be located between the
boundary of any logging operation and the top of bank of any flowing
and nonflowing bodies of water, or between the boundary of any logging
operation and the boundary of any public road or the boundary of any
adjoining property.
CLEAR-CUTTING
Removing all or a majority of the trees from the area logged.
CUTTING BLOCK
An area of property to be logged, no more than 10 acres in
size, depicting the phase number, defined by natural boundaries and
determined by a professional forester.
DIAMETER LIMIT CUTTING
The practice of cutting all and only all trees above a certain
diameter within the area logged.
DOMINANT FOREST CANOPY
The upper forest layer of leaves of the trees that have the
most influence and are sometimes the most abundant and spacious trees
in the area to be logged.
EARTH DISTURBANCE
Any area where the vegetation and/or soil is disturbed from
its existing natural condition.
HAUL ROAD
A haul road is a temporary dirt or gravel road within a piece
of forestland used to connect the broad logging operation, including
all landings, to main roads.
LANDING AREA
Cleared area of usually flat ground on the edge of a timber
harvest that serves as a collection point for logs where logs are
sorted and loaded onto trucks for shipment to a processing plant;
a landing area may also include the temporary staging of equipment
and materials prior to utilization.
LANDSLIDE-PRONE AREA
Any geologic formation which is especially susceptible to
landslides due to the presence of unstable rock formations or soil
types. See Borough's Geologic Hazard Map of Landslide-Prone Areas.
LOGGING
The act of cutting/harvesting live or dead trees for firewood,
timber, pulp, or any other purpose, excepting therefrom a landowner
and/or any agent of a landowner cutting on the property of the landowner
for the use solely of the landowner; any properly approved clearing
development of building sites; cutting for right-of-way maintenance
along utility or transportation corridors or clearing for commercial
farming operations. A landowner who cuts/harvests trees or permits
such cutting/harvesting of trees upon the landowner's property
for other than the landowner's own use is a person engaging in
logging and in a logging operation.
LOGGING OPERATION
In addition to logging, a logging operation also includes
the construction of landing areas, related haul roads, and skid trails/roads,
as well as the acts of tree harvesting, site cleanup, and site restoration.
The removal of individual trees for disease or safety reasons is not
a logging operation.
PROFESSIONAL ENGINEER
A person who has obtained a professional engineer's
license in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
PROFESSIONAL FORESTER
A person who has earned a four-year college degree in forest
management and is registered with the Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry.
SKID TRAIL/ROAD
A skid trail or road is a path through the woods used by
loggers and machinery, such as skidders, to move logs between the
harvest area and the landing area.
SLASH
All debris resulting from logging operations, including stems,
limbs, and parts thereof. "Tops" shall refer to the upper portion
of a felled tree not normally merchantable. Typically, a top becomes
part of the slash produced by a logging operation.
SPECIAL PROTECTION WATERS
Any stream designated as "exceptional value" or "high quality"
waters, or any wetland designated as an "exceptional value wetland,"
or their legal equivalent, by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental
Protection or other state or federal agency.
SPECIMEN TREE
The largest or oldest healthy tree of each species proposed
to be harvested on the property to be logged.
Nothing in this chapter is intended to supersede, and nothing
does supersede, federal and/or state law relating to clean water,
flowing water, fish hatcheries or the pollution of water resources.
As part of the application, the logging operator shall address and
comply with the requirements of all federal and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
laws, regulations, and permits. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania requirements
include, but are not limited to, the following:
A. As regulated by the Allegheny County Conservation District (ACCD)
and the Department of Environmental Protection (PA DEP):
(1) Erosion and sedimentation control regulations, 25 Pennsylvania Code,
Chapter 102, promulgated pursuant to Clean Streams Law (35 P.S. § 691.1
et seq.);
(2) Stream crossings and wetland protection regulations issued pursuant
to the Stormwater Management Act (32 P.S. § 680.1 et seq.);
and
(3) Stormwater management plans and regulations pursuant to the Stormwater
Management Act (32 P.S. § 680.1 et seq.).
B. As regulated by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (DOT),
access and use of public roads maintained by DOT.
Any person aggrieved by a permit decision or stop-work order
may file a written appeal within 30 days of the date of the decision
or order appealed from. The appeal shall be filed, along with the
applicable fee, to the Borough office. The Borough Council shall hold
a hearing on such appeal and may affirm, reverse, or modify the decision
or order appealed from. The Borough Council may impose, as part of
its decision, any conditions and safeguards necessary in order to
protect the public health, safety and welfare or to protect private
or public property and to promote the objectives of this chapter.
The Borough Council, as part of its decision, may grant relief from
any substantive requirement herein where full compliance with the
requirement, due to unique physical conditions of the land to be logged,
is not reasonably possible and where waiving the requirement will
not result in significant adverse environmental consequences or in
any violation of applicable laws or regulations.
Neither the issuance of permits under the provisions of this
chapter nor the compliance with the provisions hereto or with any
conditions imposed by the Borough Council or its agents hereunder
shall relieve any person from the responsibility for damage to any
persons or property otherwise imposed by law, nor impose any liability
upon the Borough for damages to persons or property. Nothing in this
chapter is to be interpreted as eliminating or reducing the immunities
enjoyed by the Borough or its elected or appointed officials.
Any person, firm or corporation who shall violate any provision
of this chapter or fails to comply therewith or with any of the requirements
thereof, upon conviction thereof in an action brought before a Magisterial
District Judge in the manner provided for the enforcement of summary
offenses under the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure, shall
be sentenced to pay a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $1,000
plus costs, including reasonable attorneys' fees incurred by
the Borough, and, in default of payment of said fines and costs, to
a term of imprisonment to the extent permitted by law for the punishment
of summary offenses. A separate offense shall arise for each day or
portion thereof in which a violation of this chapter is found to exist
and for each section of this chapter found to have been violated.
The Borough may also commence appropriate actions in equity to prevent,
restrain, correct, enjoin or abate violations of this chapter. All
fines and penalties collected for violations of this chapter shall
be paid to the Borough Treasurer. The initial determination of ordinance
violation is hereby delegated to the Borough Manager, the Police Department,
the Code Official, the authorized designee of the Borough Manager,
and to any other officer or agent that the Borough Manager or the
Borough Council shall deem appropriate.
When provisions of this chapter conflict with other applicable
regulations, codes, or laws, the more stringent of the regulations,
codes, or laws shall apply. The chapter is to be interpreted and applied,
to the extent possible, so that it meets all federal and state constitutional
and statutory requirements. If any section, subsection, sentence,
clause or phrase of this chapter is, for any reason, held to be unconstitutional
or illegal, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining
portions of this chapter. The Borough Council hereby declares that
it would have passed this chapter, and each section, subsection, clause
or phrase thereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more sections,
subsections, sentences, clauses and phrases be declared unconstitutional
or illegal.
This chapter becomes effective immediately upon enactment.