[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors of the Township of Darlington as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Streets and sidewalks — See Ch. 140.
Subdivision and land development — See Ch. 147.
[Adopted 10-6-1967 by Ord. No. 13]
A. 
Short title. This article shall be known and may be cited as the "Darlington Township Sanitary Sewage Disposal System Ordinance."
B. 
Purpose. This article is adopted for the purpose of promoting and protecting the health, safety, comfort and general welfare of the citizens and residents of the Township of Darlington.
For the purpose of this article, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this article:
HEALTH OFFICER
The legally designated health officer of the Township of Darlington or any duly authorized representative of the Board of Supervisors of Darlington Township.
MUNICIPAL SEWER SYSTEM SERVICE AVAILABLE
Those areas of Darlington Township which the Township has constructed and maintains a system of sanitary sewers located in streets, alleys and rights-of-way; and where said streets, alleys or rights-of-way, in which said sanitary sewers are located abuts upon or is adjacent to property of said applicant, shall be considered available and shall be connected to the municipal system. When the first floor elevation of all proposed or existing dwellings or structures can be sewered by gravity to the municipal sewer, they shall be considered available and shall be connected to the municipal system. All sanitary sewage systems in proposed subdivisions shall be subject to the rules and regulations relating to the subdivision and development of land and the construction, opening and dedication of streets, alleys, sewer drainage, and other facilities in connection therewith in the Township of Darlington.
MUNICIPAL SEWER SYSTEM SERVICE NOT AVAILABLE
All areas of the Township which are not subject to the requirements or regulations of those areas that are considered available under "municipal sewer system service available" as defined in this section of this article.
PERMIT
A written permit issued by the Township permitting the construction and/or alteration of a sewage disposal system under this article.
PERSON
Any property owner, person, association of persons, institution, firm, public or private corporation, individual, partnership, contractor, general agent, lessee, tenant, or any representative of any of the aforementioned.
SEWAGE DISPOSAL SYSTEM
A sewage disposal system (other than the municipality's sewage system) which receives either human excreta, liquid waste, laundry waste or waste drainage from one or more premises or structures. Included within the scope of this definition are septic tanks, soil absorption beds, seepage pits, privies, and chemical-type toilets, and such other types as may be prescribed in regulations adopted by the Township.
In all areas of Darlington Township where municipal sewer system facilities are available every improvement and structure, even though such structure is fabricated or manufactured elsewhere, whether mobile or immobile, that is erected and/or placed upon a plot of land in the Township and intended to be used and occupied either permanently or temporarily for either dwelling, commercial or industrial purposes shall be connected to the municipal system.
In all areas of Darlington Township where municipal sewer system facilities are not available there shall be required to be provided inside plumbing facilities and a sanitary sewage disposal system for every improvement and structure, even though such structure is fabricated or manufactured elsewhere, whether mobile or immobile, that is erected and/or placed upon a plot of land in the Township and intended to be used and occupied either permanently or temporarily for either dwelling, commercial or industrial purposes.
A. 
The design of individual sewage disposal systems shall take into consideration the system's location with respect to water wells, cisterns, springs or other sources of water supply, water table, soil characteristics, topography, area available for absorption field, maximum occupancy of buildings or structures; with each unit of the sewage disposal system to be designed to adequately treat the estimated maximum volume of sewage and waste material to be discharged from the premises to be served by said disposal system.
B. 
The sanitary sewage disposal system shall be constructed to include a tank, a distribution box and a tile disposal field area, absorption bed or seepage pit; with the size, capacity, method and materials of construction, and the location of the different units of the system to be in compliance with design standards, specifications and regulations as shall be adopted by the Board of Supervisors of Darlington Township and as may be amended by resolution of said Board of Supervisors.
C. 
Illustrations and design standards regulating the location and installation of sewage disposal systems, septic tanks, distribution boxes, tile disposal fields, absorption beds, seepage pits, etc., shall be set forth in and adopted by resolution of the Board of Supervisors of Darlington Township contemporaneously with the adoption of this article or as said resolution may be hereafter amended.
It shall be unlawful and a violation of this article for any person, corporation or contractor when installing and constructing a sewage disposal system to use as a part of said system any drilled wells, dug wells, abandoned wells, or drilled holes as a part of said system into any wells or drilled holes as hereinbefore mentioned.
A. 
From and after the effective date of this article, it shall be unlawful and a violation of this article for any person to construct, reconstruct, enlarge, alter, or extend a sanitary sewage disposal system within the Township of Darlington, unless and until he holds a valid permit issued by the legally designated authority of the Board of Supervisors of Darlington Township granting permission to proceed with the specific construction, installation or alterations as specified in the permit.
B. 
No person shall commence construction, erection or placement of a building or structure or mobile unit of any type, any of which are intended to be used and occupied for either dwelling, commercial or industrial purposes upon a plot of land in Darlington Township unless and until a valid permit has been obtained from the legally designated authority of the Board of Township Supervisors.
C. 
No person shall occupy and use for either dwelling, commercial or industrial purposes any dwelling, building structure or mobile unit of any type unless and until the sanitary sewage disposal system for said premises has been fully constructed and completed in compliance with the permit issued for it, and in accordance with all of the provisions of this article, and said disposal system officially approved by the legally designated authority of the Board of Township Supervisors.
D. 
All sanitary sewage disposal systems which drain or overflow sanitary waste effluent on to the surface of the ground, thereby creating a nuisance or health hazard, shall be corrected according to specifications of this article when notified, in writing, by the Township to correct such violation. It shall be the duty of the Township Secretary or other fully authorized representatives of the Board of Supervisors of Darlington Township to give written notice to the offending person responsible for creating such health hazard to correct and make the necessary changes in the sewage disposal system to conform to the requirements, specifications, and provisions of this article, said work and compliance with this article to be performed within a period of 30 days from the date of the receipt of said notification from the Township representative. A permit must be obtained from the Township's duly authorized representative before the commencement of any work of renewal, alteration and corrective construction. Upon failure to comply with the requirements of the notice and the provisions of this article within the time specified in the thirty-day notice, such person shall be deemed to be in violation of this article.
E. 
The provision of this § 126-7 requiring a permit before any work may be performed to construct, reconstruct, enlarge, alter or extend a sanitary sewage disposable system within the Township of Darlington shall not be applicable to those tracts of land which would qualify for an exemption under the provisions of 25 Pa. Code § 72.22 from the requirement of a permit.
[Added 8-11-2003 by Ord. No. 42]
All applications for permits shall be made upon forms provided by the Township and shall be submitted to the Board of Township Supervisors or their duly authorized representative and shall show and include the following information:
A. 
Name and address of the applicant.
B. 
Name and address of the owner of the property.
C. 
Name and address of the contractor or person proposing to do the construction work.
D. 
Location and address of the property upon which the construction is to be performed.
E. 
A plan showing the following information:
(1) 
Boundaries and description of the plot of land involved in the construction.
(2) 
Location, outline and dimensions of existing structures or structures to be built or placed.
(3) 
Location of any easements, driveways, embankments, large trees, well, spring, cistern and any existing sanitary sewage disposal systems on the property.
(4) 
Location of proposed sanitary sewage disposal system, alterations or extensions, with distances being given to any existing or proposed structures, and to any property lines.
(5) 
Topography of the area occupied or to be occupied by buildings and the sewage disposal system, indicating by contour lines or elevations showing the general direction of natural surface drainage and the general slope of the existing plot of land.
(6) 
Location and distance to any existing water wells, cistern or springs on adjacent properties less than 100 feet from the sewage disposal system proposed to be constructed.
(7) 
Purpose for which building, structure, mobile or immobile unit is to be used that is to be served by the disposal system.
(8) 
Size of structure or unit, number of bedrooms, number of bathrooms, number of commodes, size of septic tank, length of tile field, size of absorption bed, size of seepage pits showing its component parts, percolation reports when required by the Township.
(9) 
Commercial and industrial establishments that require sanitary disposal systems and that are subject to the rules and regulations of the Pennsylvania Department of Health shall submit all plans, specifications, data and approvals required by the Pennsylvania Department of Health to the Board of Township Supervisors for that Board's approval. The Board of Supervisors may require such alterations in the plans and specifications as the Board of Supervisors may deem advisable and necessary before a permit shall be issued to the applicant by the Board of Supervisors or their duly authorized representative for the construction of said disposal system.
The applicant shall submit with his application for a permit a fee payable to the Township of Darlington, in accordance with the fee schedule to be adopted by the Board of Supervisors of Darlington Township, to defray or help to defray the costs and expense of issuing said permit and performing the necessary inspection service.
A. 
No permit shall be issued until the authorized representative of the Board of Supervisors has examined the application and, if he deems it advisable, has viewed the site of the proposed construction and is satisfied that the construction as proposed in the application will comply with all the provisions of this article.
B. 
It shall be the duty of the Board of Supervisors or their duly authorized representative, in writing, to either approve or reject the application within a period of 10 days from the date of the receipt of said application. In event of rejection, said Township representative shall state, in writing, to the applicant the reason for such rejection.
C. 
Any person whose application for a permit has been denied may request and shall be granted a hearing on the matter before the Board of Township Supervisors within 20 days after the receipt of the request for such hearing.
D. 
No work of construction, installation, alteration or extension of any sanitary sewage disposal system or any part thereof shall be commenced by any person unless and until a permit has been obtained from the Township permitting such work.
E. 
Any variation, change or revision in the size, design, location specifications and construction of the sewage disposal system from that which the permit was issued for, unless such variation was approved in writing by the Township's representative, may be rejected on final inspection and the disposal system considered to be in violation of the provisions of this article.
F. 
All permits issued for construction and installation of sanitary disposal systems relative to the construction and erection of new dwellings and structures shall be considered null and void unless such construction and installation for which the permit was issued has been fully completed and final inspection obtained within a period of six months from the date of its issuance, unless an extension of time by the Township has been officially authorized.
A. 
Upon completion of the construction and installation and before the backfilling or covering of any part of the disposal system is performed, the applicant shall notify the Township's duly authorized representative that such installation is ready for inspection. No part of the system shall be covered before inspection.
B. 
The Township's duly authorized representative shall make such inspection within a period of 48 hours from the time of receiving such request and shall determine if the construction and installation complies with all the provisions of this article.
C. 
The Township's representative shall approve or reject the disposal system and, if rejected, shall state in writing his reason for rejecting.
D. 
No dwelling, building, structure, mobile or immobile unit of any type shall be used and/or occupied by any person for dwelling, commercial or industrial purposes unless and until the sanitary sewage disposal system intended to serve said premises has been fully completed and a final inspection has been made and a form of final approval approving said systems has been obtained from the Township's duly authorized representative.
Failure to comply with the following shall constitute a separate violation of this article:
A. 
The failure to observe and conform to any provisions of this article.
B. 
The failure to secure a permit prior to commencement of any work mentioned and covered under the provisions of this article.
C. 
The failure to immediately comply with any stop, cease or desist order issued by the Township.
D. 
The failure to secure final inspection and approval before covering any part of the system.
E. 
To occupy any dwelling or structure before final inspection has been made of the sanitary disposal system constructed and final approval granted by the Township.
F. 
Failure to correct a sanitary sewage disposal system within 30 days after notification to correct such violation.
When written notice of a violation of any of the provisions of this article has been served by the Board of Township Supervisors or their duly authorized representative on any person, such person shall immediately stop, cease and desist such violation.
For any and every violation of the provisions of this article, the property owner, person, association of persons, institution, firm, public or private corporation, individual, partnership, contractor, general agent, lessee, tenant, or any representative of the aforementioned or any other person who commits, takes part or assists in any such violation, upon conviction thereof before any Magisterial District Judge, shall be sentenced to pay a fine of not less than $500 nor more than $5,000, plus costs, or to imprisonment not to exceed 90 days, or both. Whenever such person shall have been notified by the Board of Township Supervisors or their duly authorized representative, in writing, that he is committing a particular violation of this article, then each day such violation shall continue after delivery of such notification shall constitute a separate offense and shall be collected as like fines are now by law collected.
[1]
Editor's Note: Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I).
[Added 7-7-1970 by Ord. No. 15]
A. 
The requirements of this article of the Township of Darlington shall apply to all land uses or proposed land uses within the Township of Darlington wherein a sanitary sewage disposal system is used or proposed to be used, be the use for dwelling, residential, commercial or industrial or for any other purpose.
B. 
Unless otherwise provided by this article, all sewage disposal systems used or proposed to be used for any purpose or land use shall contain a septic tank, a distribution box and tile field disposal area with the minimum sizes and capacities and the manner of construction and location of the different units of the system to be in accordance with specifications and schedules to be adopted by resolution of the Board of Supervisors of the Township of Darlington upon enactment of this amendment to this article or as such specifications and/or schedules may be amended from time to time by resolution of the Board of Supervisors of Darlington Township.
[Adopted 11-8-1989 by Ord. No. 28]
The purpose of this article is to establish procedures for the use and maintenance of holding tanks designed to receive and retain sewage whether from residential or commercial uses, and it is hereby declared that the enactment of this article is necessary for the protection, benefit and preservation of the health, safety and welfare of the inhabitants of this municipality.
Unless the context specifically and clearly indicates otherwise, the meaning of terms used in this article shall be as follows:
AUTHORITY
Supervisors of Darlington Township, Beaver County, Pennsylvania.
HOLDING TANK
A watertight receptacle to which sewage is conveyed by a water-carrying system and which receives and retains the sewage and is designed and constructed to facilitate ultimate disposal of the sewage to another site.
IMPROVED PROPERTY
Any property within 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 sewage shall or may be discharged.
MUNICIPALITY
Darlington Township, Beaver County, Pennsylvania.
OWNER
Any person vested with ownership, legal or equitable, sole or partial, of any property located in the Township.
PERSON
Any individual, partnership, company, association, corporation or other group or entity.
SEWAGE
Any substance that contains any of the waste products or excrement or other discharge from the bodies of human beings or animals and any noxious or deleterious substances being harmful or inimical to public health, or to animal or aquatic life or to the use of water for domestic water supply or for recreation, or which constitutes pollution under the Clean Streams Law.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: See 35 P.S. § 691.1 et seq.
The Authority is hereby authorized and empowered to undertake within the Township the control and methods of holding tank disposal and the collection and transportation thereof.
The Authority shall have the power, after proper investigation, to issue a permit to an owner of improved property to construct a holding tank for the purpose of handling and containing on-lot sewage. No permit shall be issued until a proper application has been filed, the design plans have been approved by the Township Sewage Enforcement Officer, and the proper permit fee has been paid by the applicant.
The Authority shall impose such conditions upon the issuance of a permit as it deems necessary for the operation and maintenance of the holding tank so as to prevent the tank from becoming a nuisance or a public health hazard. The permit shall provide for the replacement of the holding tank by adequate sewerage services in accordance with a schedule approved by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
The collection and transportation of all sewage from any improved property utilizing a holding tank shall be undertaken by the Authority, or such responsibility may be delegated or contracted by the Authority, which shall retain the ultimate responsibility for the proper collection and disposal of the contents of any holding tank. The disposal of the contents of the holding tank shall be made only at such site or sites as may be approved by the Department of Environmental Protection of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
A. 
Should the disposal of the sewage from any holding tank be undertaken by the Authority, the Authority shall impose upon the owner a reasonable collection fee.
B. 
The Authority shall be responsible for obtaining, receiving, reviewing and retaining the pumping receipts from all permitted holding tanks.
The owner of an improved property that utilizes a holding tank shall:
A. 
Maintain the holding tank in conformance with this or any ordinance of this Township, the provisions of any applicable law, and the rules and regulations of the Authority and any administrative agency of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
B. 
Permit only the Authority or its agent to collect, transport, and dispose of the contents therein.
It shall be the obligation and responsibility of the Authority, or its duly designated agent on its behalf, to conduct periodic inspections of all holding tanks for which it has issued a permit. Such inspections shall occur no less frequently than annually. Written reports of all such inspections shall be completed and retained by the Authority.
Any person who violates any provisions of § 126-24 shall, upon conviction thereof by summary proceedings, be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than $1,000 and costs for each day of violation and, in default of payment of said fine and costs, to undergo imprisonment in the Beaver County Jail for a period not in excess of 90 days.
[1]
Editor's Note: Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I).
In addition to any other remedies provided in this article, any violation of § 126-24 above shall constitute a nuisance and shall be abated by the municipality by seeking appropriate equitable or legal relief from a court of competent jurisdiction.