[HISTORY: Adopted by the Borough Council of the Borough of
Mount Joy as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where
applicable.]
[Adopted 4-12-1982 by Ord. No. 426 (Ch. 18, Part 2, of the
1992 Code of Ordinances)]
This article shall be known as the "Mount Joy Borough Holding
Tank Ordinance."
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 the Borough of Mount Joy.
Unless the context specifically and clearly indicates otherwise,
the meanings of terms used in this article shall be as follows:
Mount Joy Borough Authority, a body politic and corporate
created pursuant to the Pennsylvania Municipality Authorities Act.[1]
Mount Joy Borough, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
A watertight receptacle which receives and retains sewage
and is designed and constructed to facilitate ultimate disposal of
the sewage at another site. Holding tanks include but are not limited
to the following:
CHEMICAL TOILETA toilet using chemicals that discharge to a holding tank.
RETENTION TANKA holding tank where sewage is conveyed to it by a water-carrying system.
VAULT PIT PRIVYA holding tank designed to receive sewage where water under pressure is not available.
Any property within the Borough 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.
Any person vested with ownership, legal or equitable, sole
or partial, of any property located in the Borough.
Any individual, partnership, company, association, corporation
or other group or entity.
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 substance being harmful or inimical
to the public health or to animal or aquatic life or to the use of
water for domestic water supply or for recreation.
[1]
Editor's Note: See 53 Pa.C.S.A. § 5601 et seq.
A.
Rights
and privileges granted. The Authority is hereby authorized and empowered
to undertake within the Borough the control and methods of holding
tank sewage disposal and the collection and transportation thereof.
B.
Rules and
regulations.
(1)
The
Authority is hereby authorized and empowered to adopt such rules and
regulations concerning sewage which it may deem necessary from time
to time to effect the purposes herein.
(2)
All
such rules and regulations adopted by the Authority shall be in conformity
with the provisions herein, all other ordinances of the Borough, and
all applicable laws and applicable rules and regulations of administrative
agencies of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
C.
Rates and
charges. The Authority shall have the right and power to fix, alter,
charge and collect rates, assessments, and other charges in the area
served by its facilities at reasonable and uniform rates as authorized
by applicable law.
The collection and transportation of all sewage from any improved
property utilizing a holding tank shall be done solely by or under
the direction and control of the Authority, and the disposal thereof
shall be made only at such site or sites as may be approved by the
Department of Environmental Protection of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
The owner of an improved property that utilizes a holding tank
shall:
A.
Maintain the holding tank in conformance with this article or any
ordinance of this Borough, 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 of a holding tank.
[Amended 9-14-1992 by Ord. No. 497]
Any person who shall violate any provision of this article shall,
upon conviction thereof, be sentenced to pay a fine not exceeding
$1,000 and costs and, in default of payment thereof, shall be subject
to imprisonment for a term not to exceed 30 days. Each day that a
violation of this article continues shall constitute a separate offense.
In addition to any other remedies provided in this article, any violation of § 210-6 above shall constitute a nuisance and shall be abated by the Borough or the Authority by either seeking appropriate equitable or legal relief from a court of competent jurisdiction.
[Adopted 4-13-1992 by Ord. No. 495 (Ch. 18, Part 1, of the
1992 Code of Ordinances)]
A.
AUTHORITY
AUTHORITY ENGINEER
IMPROVED PROPERTY
INDUSTRIAL ESTABLISHMENT
INDUSTRIAL WASTE
LATERAL SEWER or SERVICE CONNECTION
MUNICIPAL ENGINEER
MUNICIPALITY
NATURAL OUTLET
OWNER
PERSON
SANITARY FACILITIES
SANITARY SEWAGE
SANITARY SEWER
SERVICE LINE or HOUSE CONNECTION
SEWAGE TREATMENT PLANT
SEWER
SEWER SYSTEM
STORM SEWER or STORM DRAIN
STREET
Unless the context specifically and clearly indicates otherwise,
the meanings of the terms used in this article shall be as follows:
Mount Joy Borough Authority.
An engineer retained or employed by the Authority, including
any authorized member of the staff of such engineer.[1]
Any property within this Borough upon which there is erected
any structure intended for continuous or periodic habitation, occupancy
or use by human beings or animals and from which structure sanitary
sewage and/or industrial wastes shall be or may be discharged.
Any property situate in the Borough used wholly or in part
for the manufacture, processing, cleaning, laundering or assembling
of any products, commodity or article, or any other property situate
in this Borough from which wastes, in addition to or other than sanitary
sewage, are discharged.
Any solid, liquid or gaseous substance or waterborne wastes
or form of energy ejected or escaping from any industrial, manufacturing,
trade or business process or from the development, recovering or processing
of natural resources.
That part of the sewer system extending from a sewer to the
curbline or, if there shall be no curbline, to the edge of the street
abutting the property affected or, if no such lateral shall be provided,
then "lateral sewer" or "service connection" shall mean that portion
of, or place in, a sanitary sewer which is provided for the connection
of any service line.
An engineer retained or employed by the Borough or any authorized
member of the staff of such engineer.
The Borough of Mount Joy, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania,
and its duly authorized representatives or agents.
Any outlet into a watercourse, ditch, pond, lake or other
body of surface water or groundwater.
Any person vested with ownership, legal or equitable, sole
or partial, of any property situated in the Borough.
Any individual, partnership, company, association, society,
corporation, estate, trust or other entity.
Toilets, sinks and other plumbing fixtures and related piping
intended to receive and discharge sanitary sewage into a service line.
The normal water-carried household and toilet waste from
any improved property, excluding, however, the effluent from septic
tanks or cesspools, rain, stormwater and groundwater, as well as roof
or surface water, drainage of percolating or seeping waters, or accumulation
thereof, whether underground or in cellars or basements.
A sewer which is part of the sewer system and which carries
sanitary sewage and/or industrial waste permitted to be discharged
into the sewer system.
That part of the main house drain or sewer line extending
from a point five feet outside the outer building wall or foundation
wall to its connection with the lateral sewer.
Devices and/or structures or facilities owned by the Authority
for the treatment and disposal of sanitary sewage and industrial waste.
Any pipe or conduit constituting a part of the sewage system
and used or usable for sewage collection or transportation purposes.
Sewer mains, lateral sewers from a sewer main to service
line or house connection, sewage ejector and/or pumping stations,
sewer force mains, sewage treatment plants, and all appurtenant facilities
operated by the Mount Joy Borough Authority in furnishing sewage service.
A pipe or conduit which carries stormwater, surface water,
drainage and certain industrial water discharges, such as cooling
and air-conditioning waters.
A public way, including any highway, street, road, lane,
court, public square or alley or other passageway.
[1]
Editor’s Note: The former definition for "gravity sewer,"
which immediately followed this definition, was repealed 11-5-2012
by Ord. No. 6-12.
B.
In the interpretation of this article, the masculine gender shall
include the feminine and neuter genders, the singular shall include
the plural, and the plural shall include the singular.
[Amended 11-5-2012 by Ord. No. 6-12]
A.
The owner of any improved property situate in the Borough and abutting
on, adjoining or adjacent to any street, easement or right-of-way
in which there shall have been located a sewer forming part of the
sewer system, where said property is accessible thereto and is benefitted,
improved or accommodated by such sewer, shall, at his own expense,
install suitable sanitary facilities therein and connect such sanitary
facilities directly with such sewer in accordance with the provisions
of this article within 60 days after the date of official notice from
this Borough so to do, which notice shall have been given by first-class
mail, postage prepaid, personal service or as otherwise provided or
permitted by law.
B.
In the event any owner of any such improved property shall refuse
or neglect to connect such property with such sewer within said sixty-day
period, the Borough or its duly authorized agent (the Authority),
or the agents of the Borough or said Authority, may enter upon such
property and construct such connection. In such case, the proper officials
of this Borough shall forthwith, upon completion of the work, send
an itemized bill of the cost of construction of such connection to
such owner, which bill shall be payable forthwith. In case of neglect
or refusal by such owner of such property to pay said bill within
30 days thereafter, it shall be the duty of said officials of this
Borough to cause a municipal lien for said construction to be filed,
the same to be subject in all respects to the general law provided
for the filing and recovery of municipal liens.
All sanitary sewage and industrial waste from any improved property, after connection of such improved property with a sewer as required under § 210-20, shall be discharged into a sewer, subject to such limitations and restrictions as shall be established herein or otherwise shall be established from time to time by this Borough or the Authority.
It shall be unlawful to discharge or permit the discharge of
sanitary or industrial waste or other polluted water into any natural
outlet within this Borough, unless such discharge is pursuant to a
permit issued by, or with the approval of, the Department of Environmental
Protection of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
A.
It shall be unlawful to construct or maintain any privy, privy vault,
septic tank, cesspool, sinkhole or similar receptacle intended for
the disposal of sanitary sewage within this Borough where such sewage
emanates from any improved property which the owner thereof is required
to connect to the sewer system. No privy vault, cesspool, sinkhole,
septic tank or similar receptacle shall be connected with a sewer
at any time.
B.
Each such privy vault, cesspool, sinkhole, septic tank or similar
receptacle shall be abandoned upon the making of such connection to
the sewer system and, at the request of this Borough, shall be cleansed
and filled under the direction and supervision of this Borough, and
any such privy vault, cesspool, sinkhole, septic tank or similar receptacle
not so abandoned and, if required by this Borough, cleansed and filled
shall constitute a nuisance, and such nuisance shall be abated as
provided by law at the expense of the owner of such improved property.
There is hereby reserved to the Authority and this Borough the
right to refuse to any person the privilege of connecting any improved
property to a sewer or to compel discontinuance of the use of any
sewer by any person or to compel the pretreatment of industrial wastes,
in order to prevent discharge into the sewer system of wastes which
may be deemed by the Authority, the Authority Engineer, this Borough
or the Borough Engineer to be harmful to the sewer system or to have
a deleterious effect on sewage treatment processes or to be injurious
to personnel operating the sewer system.
No person shall uncover, connect with, make any opening into
or use, alter or disturb in any manner any sewer or the sewer system
without first making application for and obtaining a permit, in writing,
from the Authority.
Application to the Authority for a permit required under this
article shall be made by the owner of the improved property to be
served, in such form as may be prescribed by the Authority. The application
shall be accompanied by the connection and tapping fees required by
the Authority.
No person, other than this Borough, the Authority, or their
agents, shall make or cause to be made the connection of any improved
property with a lateral sewer until such person shall have fulfilled
each of the following conditions:
A.
Such person shall have notified the Authority of the desire and intention
to connect to a lateral sewer.
B.
Such person shall apply for and obtain a permit as required by this
article.
C.
Such person shall have given the Authority at least 24 hours' notice
of the time when such service line is to be connected and such connection
made so that the Authority, as the agent of this Borough, may inspect
the service line, the work of connection and perform necessary testing.
All costs and expenses of construction of a service line and
all costs and expenses in connection of such service line to a lateral
sewer shall be borne by the owner of the improved property to be connected,
and such owner shall indemnify and save harmless the Authority and
this Borough from all loss or damage that may be occasioned, directly
or indirectly, as a result of the construction of a service line or
the connection of a service line to a lateral sewer.
Whenever the surface of any public street, sidewalk or cartway
is disturbed by the construction of a service line, it shall be the
responsibility of the applicant for a connection to obtain street
opening permits from this Borough or highway occupancy permits from
the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. Unless otherwise required,
all surfacing materials must be restored in kind, thickness and construction
to the satisfaction of the Authority and the Borough or the Pennsylvania
Department of Transportation, as applicable.
A.
Rules
and regulations. Service lines and connections to lateral sewers shall
be constructed in accordance with rules and regulations promulgated
by the Authority.
B.
Inspection
and approval. No service line or connection to a lateral sewer shall
be covered until the same has been inspected and approved by the Authority.
If any part of a service line or connection to a lateral sewer is
covered before being so inspected and approved, such service line
or such connection shall be uncovered for inspection, at the request
of the Authority, at the cost and expense of the owner of the improved
property to be served through such service line.
C.
Maintenance
of service lines. Every service line shall be maintained in a sanitary
and safe operating condition by the owner of the improved property
served. Whenever the Authority or this Borough has reason to believe
any service line has become defective, such service line shall be
subject to test and inspection. Defects found upon such inspection
shall be corrected as required by the Authority or this Borough at
the cost and expense of the owner.
A.
Prohibited
discharges. No person shall discharge or cause to be discharged any
stormwater, surface drainage, ground drainage, roof runoff, subsurface
drainage, cooling water or unpolluted process waters into any sanitary
sewer. No sump pumps, floor drains or similar devices may be connected
to the sewer system.
B.
Storm
sewers. Stormwater, industrial cooling water, unpolluted process waters
and all other unpolluted drainage shall be discharged into such sewers
as are specifically designated as storm sewers, if available, or to
a natural outlet approved by the Authority Engineer or the Borough
Engineer.
C.
Substances
discharged in violation of rules and regulations. No person shall
discharge or cause to be discharged any sewage into the sewer system
which shall contain any substances or possess characteristics in violation
of rules and regulations promulgated by the Authority.
D.
Admission into the sewer system. The admission into the sewer system of any polluted water, sanitary sewage or industrial waste containing any of the substances or possessing the characteristics referred to in Subsection C shall be subject to the provisions of the Authority's industrial waste regulations or other relevant regulations, as well as the review and approval of the Authority Engineer. Where necessary, the owner of the property or premises producing such waters or wastes shall provide, at his own expense, such preliminary treatment as may be necessary to reduce objectionable characteristics or constituents to within the maximum limitations provided for in the rules and regulations of the Authority or to control the quantities or rates of discharge of such waters or wastes. Construction drawings, specifications and other pertinent information relating to the proposed preliminary treatment facilities shall be prepared by the owner, at his expense, and shall be submitted for the approval of the Authority Engineer, and no construction of such facilities shall be commenced until said approval is obtained in writing. Where preliminary treatment facilities are provided, the same shall be maintained continuously in satisfactory and effective operation by the owner, at his expense. In lieu of introducing untreated or partly treated polluted waters or industrial waste into the sewer system, the owner of the premises producing such wastes may construct and operate, at his expense, private waste treatment facilities with the effluent discharged to a natural outlet, provided such facilities are constructed and operated in compliance with all requirements of the Department of Environmental Protection of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Where private waste treatment facilities are provided, they shall be maintained continuously in satisfactory and effective operation by the owner, at his expense.
Mount Joy Borough Authority is hereby designated and appointed
as the agent of this Borough for the purpose of adopting or promulgating
rules and regulations for the use of the sewer system and connection
thereto and receiving all applications for permits required under
the provisions of this article, designating a place of connection
and carrying out all inspections, observations, measurements, samplings
and testing required or permitted hereunder.
The Authority Engineer and other duly authorized representatives
or employees of the Authority and of this Borough bearing proper credentials
and identification shall be permitted, at all reasonable times, to
enter upon any premises connected or about to be connected or required
to be connected to the sewer system for the purpose of inspection,
observation, measurement, sampling and testing in accordance with
the provisions of this article.
No person shall maliciously, willfully or negligently damage,
destroy, deface, block or otherwise tamper with any sewer or any other
structure or equipment which is part of the sewer system.
[Amended 9-14-1992 by Ord. No. 497; 11-5-2012 by Ord. No. 6-12]
A.
Written notice. Any person who shall violate any provision of this article may be served with a written notice stating the nature of the violation and providing a reasonable time limit for the satisfactory correction thereof. The offender, within the period of time stated in such notice, shall permanently cease all violations. No notice shall be required for any violation of § 210-34 or where any representatives of the Authority or the Borough reasonably believe that the issuance of such notice would be repetitive of prior notices or would serve no effective purpose.
B.
Any person who shall violate any provision of this article or, having
been served with a written notice, continues such violation after
the time period for satisfactory correction set forth in such notice,
shall be liable, upon conviction, of a fine of not less than $100
nor more than $1,000 plus costs, including the Borough's reasonable
attorneys' fees incurred in the enforcement proceedings. Each
day that a violation continues shall constitute a separate violation.
Each section of this article violated shall constitute a separate
violation.
C.
The provisions of this article may be enforced through an action in equity in the Lancaster County Court of Common Pleas. The defendant may be assessed court costs and reasonable attorneys' fees incurred by the Borough in such proceedings in addition to equitable relief and monetary penalties as set forth in § 210-35B.
D.
Liability. Any person violating any of the provisions of this article,
in addition to becoming liable for fines and costs of prosecution,
including the Borough's reasonable attorneys' fees, shall
be liable to the Authority for any expense, loss or damage occasioned
the Authority by reason of such violation.
