GENERAL REFERENCES
Township officer's and employees' right to inspect property to enforce ordinances, § 2-1.
The ordinances embraced in the following chapters and sections
shall constitute and be designated the "Code of Ordinances of the
Township of Plymouth, Pennsylvania," and may be so cited.
The catchlines of the several sections, article, etc., of this
Code printed in boldface type are intended as mere catchwords to indicate
the contents of the section, article, etc., and shall not be deemed
or taken to be titles of such sections, articles, etc., nor as any
part of the section, article, etc., nor, unless expressly so provided,
shall they be so deemed when any of such sections, articles, etc.,
including the catchlines, are amended or re-enacted.
In the construction of this Code, and of all ordinances, the
following rules shall be observed, unless such construction would
be inconsistent with the manifest intent of the township council.
The provisions of this Code shall be liberally construed
to effect the purposes expressed therein or implied from the expression
thereof. In case of doubt or ambiguity in the meaning of such provisions,
the general shall yield to the particular. Reference for interpretation
and construction shall tend to further the accomplishment of the elimination
of the particular mischiefs for which the provisions were enacted.
Words shall be construed in their common and usual significance unless
the contrary is clearly indicated.
The words "the charter" or "the township charter" shall mean
the home rule charter approved by the voters of Plymouth Township,
Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, at the primary election on May 21,
1974.
The words "the commonwealth" or "this commonwealth" shall
be construed as meaning and referring to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Whenever a notice is required to be given or an act to be
done, a certain length of time before any proceeding shall be had,
the day on which such notice is given, or such act is done, shall
be counted in computing the time, but the day on which such proceeding
is to be had shall not be counted.
Whenever the words "corporate limits," "corporation limits"
or "township limits" are used, they shall mean the legal boundary
of the Township of Plymouth.
Whenever the words "the corporation" or "this corporation"
are used, they shall be construed as if the words "of Plymouth Township,
Pennsylvania" followed them.
Whenever the word "council" is used it shall be construed
to mean the Township Council of Plymouth Township, Pennsylvania.
The word "Councilman" shall mean any person elected or appointed
to the Township Council of the Township of Plymouth.
The words "the county" or "this county" shall mean the County
of Montgomery in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Whenever a provision appears requiring the head of a department
of the township to do some act or make certain inspections, it is
to be construed to authorize the head of the department to designate,
delegate and authorize subordinates to perform the required act or
make the required inspection unless the terms of the provision or
section designate otherwise.
A word importing the masculine gender only shall extend and
be applied to females and to firms, partnerships and corporations
as well as to males.
In the interpretation and application of any provision of
this Code, it shall be held to be the minimum requirements adopted
for the promotion of the public health, safety, comfort, convenience
and general welfare. Where any provision of the Code imposes greater
restrictions upon the subject matter than the general provision imposed
by the Code, the provision imposing the greater restriction or regulation
shall be deemed to be controlling.
All words giving a joint authority to three (3) or more persons
or officers shall be construed as giving such authority to a majority
of such persons or officers.
The word "keeper" or "proprietor" shall mean and include
persons, firms, associations, corporations, clubs and partnerships,
whether acting by themselves or through a servant, agent or employee.
The word "month" shall mean a calendar month.
Whenever the name of an officer is given, it shall be construed
as though the words "of the Township of Plymouth" were added.
Words and phrases shall be construed according to the common
and approved usage of the language; but technical words and phrases
and such others as may have acquired a peculiar and appropriate meaning
in law shall be construed and understood according to such meaning.
A word importing the singular number only may extend and
be applied to several persons and things as well as to one person
and thing.
The word "oath" shall be construed to include an affirmation
in all cases in which, by law, an affirmation may be substituted for
an oath, and in such cases, the words "swear" and "sworn" shall be
equivalent to the words "affirm" and "affirmed."
The word "or" may be read "and," and "and" may be read "or"
if the sense requires it.
The word "owner," applied to a building or land, shall include
any part owner, joint owner, tenant in common, tenant in partnership,
joint tenant or tenant by the entirety, of the whole or of a part
of such building or land.
The word "person" shall extend and be applied to associations,
clubs, societies, firms, partnerships and bodies politic and corporate
as well as to individuals.
The words "personal property" shall include every species
of property except real property, as herein described.
The words "preceding" and "following" shall mean next before
and next after, respectively.
Whenever the word "premises" is used, it shall mean place
or places.
The word "property" shall include real and personal property.
The words "public place" shall include any park, cemetery,
school yard or open space adjacent thereto, and all beaches, canals
or other waterways.
The words "real property" shall include lands, tenements
and hereditaments.
The word "residence" shall be construed to mean the place
adopted by a person as his place of habitation, and to which, whenever
he is absent, he has the intention of returning. When a person eats
at one place and sleeps at another, the place where such person sleeps
shall be deemed his residence.
Whenever the word "seal" is used, it shall mean the township
or corporate seal.
The word "sidewalk" shall mean any portion of a street between
the curbline and the adjacent property line, intended for the use
of pedestrians, excluding parkways.
The "signature" or "subscription" of a person shall include
a mark when the person cannot write.
The words "the state" shall be construed to mean the State
of Pennsylvania.
The word "street" shall be construed to embrace streets,
avenues, boulevards, roads, alleys, lanes, viaducts and all other
public highways in the township.
The words "tenant" or "occupant," applied to a building or
land, shall include any person holding a written or oral lease or
who occupies the whole or a part of such buildings or lands, either
alone or with others.
Words used in the past or present tense shall include the
future as well as the past and present.
The words "the township" or "this township" shall mean the
Township of Plymouth, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, a municipality
of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, acting by and through its township
council or, in appropriate cases, acting by and through its authorized
representatives.
The word "week" shall be construed to mean seven (7) days.
The words "written" or "in writing" shall be construed to
include any representation of words, letters or figures, whether by
printing or otherwise.
The word "year" shall mean a calendar year.
The ordinances contained in this Code of Ordinances are intended
to encompass and to promote the general health, welfare, peace, good
order and morals of the community at large and such ordinances have
been codified herein for the purpose of facilitating the enforcement
thereof.
(a)
All ordinances passed subsequent to this Code of Ordinances, which
amend, repeal or in any way affect this Code, may be numbered in accordance
with the numbering system of this Code and printed for inclusion therein,
or in the case of repealed chapters, sections and subsections or any
part thereof, by subsequent ordinances, such repealed portions may
be excluded from the Code by omission from reprinted pages affected
thereby and the subsequent ordinances as numbered and printed or omitted,
in the case of repeal, shall be prima facie evidence of such subsequent
ordinances until such time as this Code of Ordinances and subsequent
ordinances numbered or omitted are readopted as a new Code of Ordinances
by the Council.
(b)
Amendments to any of the provisions of this Code should be made by
amending such provisions by specific reference to the section of this
Code in language substantially as follows: "That section _____ of
the Code of Ordinances of the Township of Plymouth, Pennsylvania,
is hereby amended to read as follows: . . . ." The new provisions
may then set out in full as desired.
(c)
In the event a new section not heretofore existing in the Code is
to be added, the following language may be used: "That the Code of
Ordinances of the Township of Plymouth, Pennsylvania, is hereby amended
by adding a section (or article, chapter or other designation, as
the case may be), to be numbered _____, which reads as follows: .
. ." The new provisions may then be set out in full as desired.
(d)
In lieu of the foregoing subsection, when the township council desires
to enact an ordinance of a general and permanent nature embracing
a subject not previously existing in the Code, which the township
council desires to incorporate into the Code, a provision in substantially
the following language may be made a part of the ordinance: "It is
the intention of the township council, and it is hereby ordained that
the provisions of this ordinance shall become and be made part of
the Code of Ordinances of the Township of Plymouth, Pennsylvania,
and the sections of this ordinance may be renumbered to accomplish
such intention."
(e)
All sections, articles, chapters or other provisions of this Code
desired to be repealed should be specifically repealed by section
number, article number, chapter or other number, as the case may be.
(a)
Supplements to this Code shall be prepared and printed by contract
or by township personnel whenever authorized or directed by the council.
A supplement to the Code shall include all substantive parts of permanent
and general ordinances passed by the council during the period covered
by the supplement and all changes made thereby in the Code. The pages
of a supplement shall be so numbered that they will fit properly into
the Code and will, where necessary, replace pages which have become
obsolete or partially obsolete, and the new pages shall be so prepared
that, when they have been inserted, the Code will be current through
the date of the adoption of the latest ordinance included in the supplement.
(b)
In preparing a supplement to this code, all portions of the Code
which have been repealed shall be excluded from the Code by the omission
thereof from reprinted pages.
(c)
When preparing a supplement to this Code, the codifier (meaning the
person, agency or organization authorized to prepare the supplement)
may make formal, nonsubstantive changes in ordinances and parts of
ordinances included in the supplement, insofar as it is necessary
to do so to embody them into a unified Code. For example, the codifer
may:
(1)
Organize the ordinance material into appropriate subdivisions;
(2)
Provide appropriate catchlines, headings and titles for sections
and other subdivisions of the Code printed in the supplement, and
make changes in such catchlines, headings and titles;
(3)
Assign appropriate numbers to sections and other subdivisions to
be inserted in the Code and, where necessary to accommodate new material,
change existing section or other subdivision numbers;
(4)
Change the words "this ordinance" or words of the same meaning to
"this chapter," "this article," "this division," etc., as the case
may be, or to "sections _____ to _____" (inserting section numbers
to indicate the sections of the Code which embody the substantive
sections of the ordinance incorporated into the Code); and
(5)
Make other nonsubstantive changes necessary to preserve the original
meaning of ordinance sections inserted into the Code; but, in no case,
shall the codifier make any change in the meaning or effect of ordinance
material included in the supplement or already embodied in the Code.
(a)
The repeal of an ordinance shall not revive any ordinances in force
before or at the time the ordinance repealed took effect.
(b)
The repeal of any ordinance or any portion thereof by this enactment
or by any future enactments hereunder shall not affect or impair any
act done or right vested or accrued for any proceeding, suit or prosecution
had or commenced in any cause before such repeal shall take effect
but every such act done, or right vested or accrued, or proceeding,
suit or prosecution had or commenced shall remain in full force and
effect as if such ordinance or part thereof so repealed had remained
in force. No offense committed and no liability, penalty or forfeiture
either civilly or criminally incurred prior to the time when any such
ordinance or part thereof shall be repealed or altered shall be discharged
or affected by such repeal or alteration, but prosecutions and suits
for such offenses, liabilities, penalties or forfeitures shall be
instituted and proceeded with in all respects as if such prior ordinance
or part thereof had not been repealed or altered.
It shall be unlawful for any person in the township to change or amend by additions or deletions, any part or portion of this Code, or to insert or delete pages, or portions thereof, or to alter or tamper with such Code in any manner whatsoever which will cause the law of the Township of Plymouth to be misrepresented thereby. Any person violating this section shall be punished as provided in section 1-9 hereof.
[Ord. No. 1000, § 1, 11-14-1988]
(a)
Whenever in this Code or in any ordinance of the township any act
is prohibited, or is made or declared to be unlawful or an offense,
or wherever, in such Code or ordinance, the doing of any act is declared
to be unlawful, and no specific penalty is provided therefor, the
violation of any such provision of this Code or any such ordinance
shall be punishable by fine not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000.00),
which fine or penalties may be collected by suit or summary proceeding
brought in the name of the township before a district justice or,
in default of payment of such fine, by imprisonment for not more than
thirty (30) days.
(b)
Each day in which any violation of this Code or of any ordinance
continues shall constitute a separate offense unless otherwise provided
herein.
(c)
In addition to the fine and penalty hereinabove provided, any condition
caused or permitted to exist in violation of any of the provisions
of this Code or any ordinance of the township shall be deemed a public
nuisance and may be abated by the township by a proceeding against
the violator in a court of equity for relief.
In all cases where the same offense may be made punishable,
or shall be created by different clauses or sections of the ordinances
of the township, the prosecuting officer may elect under which to
proceed; but not more than one recovery shall be had against the same
person for the same offense.
The sections, subsections, paragraphs, sentences, clauses and
phrases of this Code are severable, and if any phrase, clause, sentence,
paragraph, subsection or section of this Code shall be declared unconstitutional
by the valid judgment or decree of a court of competent jurisdiction,
such unconstitutionality shall not affect any of the remaining phrases,
clauses, sentences, paragraphs, subsections and sections of this Code.
[Ord. No. 1192, § 1, 5-13-1996]
Whenever in this Code or in any ordinance of the township the
township undertakes the collection of a delinquent account by municipal
claim under the Municipal Claim and Tax Lien Law of the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania, as amended, the township shall be entitled to recover
attorney fees incurred in the collection of such delinquent account
based upon the hourly rate for services rendered to the township by
the township attorney (solicitor) approved annually by council at
its organization meeting under section 308 of the Home Rule Charter.
