Unless indicated otherwise in this article, the meanings of
terms used herein shall be as follows:
APPLICANT
Any person who has duly applied for a permit under this article.
AUTHORITY
The Northwest Bergen County Utilities Authority, which owns
and/or controls the district sewage works into which the Borough sewer
system discharges, or its authorized representative.
BOARD OF HEALTH
The Board of Health of the Borough of Franklin Lakes, or
its authorized representative.
BOD (denoting BIOCHEMICAL OXYGEN DEMAND)
The quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation
of organic matter under standard laboratory procedure in five days
at 20° C., expressed in milligrams per liter.
BOROUGH
The Borough of Franklin Lakes, the governing body of the
Borough of Franklin Lakes or other official or department designated
by the Borough of Franklin Lakes.
BOROUGH ENGINEER
The Borough Engineer or Construction Code Official of the
Borough of Franklin Lakes, or its authorized agent.
BOROUGH SEWER SYSTEM
The sanitary sewer system owned and/or controlled by the
Borough of Franklin Lakes.
BUILDING
Any dwelling, building, or structure used for human occupancy,
employment, business, recreation, commercial, industrial, or other
purpose.
BUILDING CONNECTION
The extension from the building drains to the building sewer
at the property line, including the actual connection to the building
sewer.
BUILDING DRAIN
That part of the lowest horizontal piping of a drainage system
which receives the discharge from soil, waste and other drainage pipes
inside the walls of the building and conveys it to the building connection
beginning five feet (1.5 meters) outside the inner face of the building
wall.
BUILDING SEWER
That part of the Authority or public sewer system extending
from the public sewer or Authority sewer in the street or other right-of-way
to the property line for the purpose of providing sewer service to
private property.
COMMERCIAL AND OTHER NONRESIDENTIAL PROPERTY
Any property or structure or unit within a structure, other
than residential property, from which sanitary sewage originates and
in which water meters are installed indicating the amount of water
consumed by occupants thereof.
COMMERCIAL BUILDING
Any building not used as a one-family dwelling house and
not used for industry.
DWELLING UNIT
Separate living quarters for a person or family within any
structure other than a one-family dwelling.
GARBAGE
Solid wastes from the domestic and commercial preparation,
cooking, and dispensing of food and from the handling, storage and
sale of produce.
HEALTH OFFICER
The Health Officer of the Board of Health, or his or her
duly authorized representative.
INDIVIDUAL SEWAGE DISPOSAL FACILITY
Any privately owned septic tank, cesspool, or other similar
facility intended or used for the disposal of sewage from a single-family
residence, small commercial building, or other establishment producing
similar quantities of sewage.
INDUSTRIAL WASTES
The liquid wastes from an industrial manufacturing process,
trade, or business, as distinct from sanitary sewage.
LOCAL LAW
All existing ordinances, rules, and regulations of the Borough
of Franklin Lakes and the Board of Health of the Borough of Franklin
Lakes.
NATURAL OUTLET
Any outlet into a watercourse, pond, ditch, lake, or other
body of surface water or groundwater.
NORMAL SEWAGE
A composite of sanitary sewage which is representative of
that delivered to Authority sewage works. The average characteristics
of "normal sewage" shall be determined by the Authority periodically
and shall be used as a basis for assessing the strength of industrial
wastes.
PERMITTEE
A person who has been granted a permit from the Borough.
PERSON
Any individual, firm, company, association, society, corporation,
group, board, or other agency.
PH
The logarithm of the reciprocal of the weight of hydrogen
ions in grams per liter of solution.
PREMISES
Any lot shown on the Tax Map of the Borough, or shown on
an approved subdivision.
PROPERLY SHREDDED GARBAGE
The wastes from the preparation, cooking and dispensing of
food that have been shredded to such degree that all particles will
be carried freely under the flow conditions normally prevailing in
public sewers, with no particle greater than 1/2 inch (1.27 centimeters)
in any dimension.
PUBLIC SEWER
The Borough sewer which is generally laid longitudinally
along the center lines or other part of the street or other right-of-way
in which all owners of abutting properties have equal rights. "Public
sewer" shall not include any dry sewer which is not yet connected
to functioning sewage works.
SANITARY SEWAGE
Sewage (including properly shredded garbage) discharging
from the sanitary conveniences of dwellings, office buildings, factories,
or institutions and which is free from storm- and surface water.
SANITARY SEWER
A sewer which carries sewage and to which storm-, surface
and groundwaters are not intentionally admitted.
SEWAGE
A combination of the water-carried wastes from residences,
business buildings, institutions, and industrial establishments, together
with such ground-, surface, and stormwaters as may be present.
SEWAGE WORKS
All facilities for collecting, pumping, treating, and disposing
of sewage.
SEWER
A pipe or conduit for carrying sewage.
SLUDGE
Any discharge of water, sewage, or industrial waste which,
in concentration of any given constituent or in quantity of flow,
exceeds for any period of duration longer than 15 minutes more than
five times the average twenty-four-hour concentration of flows during
normal operation.
SUSPENDED SOLIDS
Solids that either float on the surface of or are in suspension
in water, sewage or other liquids and which are removable by laboratory
filtering.
UNPOLLUTED WATER OR WASTE
Any water or waste containing none of the following: free
or emulsified grease or oil; acid or alkali; phenols or other substances
imparting taste and odor in receiving waters; toxic and poisonous
substances in suspension, colloidal state or solution; and noxious
or odorous gases. It shall contain not more than 10,000 parts per
million by weight of dissolved solids, of which no more than 2,500
parts per million shall be as chloride, with permissible volume subject
to review by the Authority, and not more than 10 parts per million
each of suspended solids and BOD. The color shall not exceed 50 parts
per million.
WATERCOURSE
A channel in which a flow of water occurs, either continuously
or intermittently.
[Amended 3-17-2015 by Ord. No. 1618; 3-15-2016 by Ord. No. 1667]
A. Enforcement authority. The Construction Official, Borough Engineer,
Health Officer and such other persons as may be designated by the
Borough shall have the authority to enforce this article.
(1) Right of entry for inspection and samplings. By acceptance of a permit
and/or use of a public or Authority sewer, the owner and/or occupant
of premises within the Borough shall thereby be deemed to have agreed
that the Borough Engineer and other duly authorized employees of the
Borough bearing proper credentials and identification shall be permitted
to enter his, her or its properties for the purposes of inspection,
observation, measurement, sampling and testing in accordance with
the provision of this article.
(2) Right of entry for construction and repair of sewage works. A Borough
representative shall be permitted to enter all private properties
through which the Borough holds a right-of-way or easement for the
purposes of but not limited to construction, reconstruction, repair,
maintenance, or inspection of any portion of the sewage works lying
within such right-of-way or easement. Any entry on such right-of-way
or easement shall be done in accordance with the terms of any applicable
right-of-way or easement agreement.
B. Sewer service charges.
(1) Levy of service charge. There is hereby established a sewer service
charge for the use, operation, and maintenance of the sewer system
of the Borough and such charge is hereby levied upon the owners of
properties connecting to the sewer system.
(2) Schedule of charges.
[Amended 7-16-2019 by Ord. No. 1793; 3-19-2024 by Ord. No. 1940]
Type of unit
|
Annual charge
|
---|
Residential
|
|
Single-family residential dwelling
|
$400
|
Multifamily residential dwelling
|
$300 per dwelling unit
|
Commercial/industrial/municipal
|
|
Commercial/industrial/municipal: single tenant
|
$400 plus $2.50 per 1,000 gallons for flow in excess of 104,000
gallons
|
Commercial/industrial/municipal: multitenant, individual
water meters
|
$400 plus $2.50 per 1,000 gallons for flow in excess of 104,000
gallons per tenant
|
Commercial/industrial/municipal - multitenant, no
individual water meters
|
$330 plus $2.50 per 1,000 gallons for flow in excess of 104,000
gallons
|
Vacant property
|
$400
|
(3) For multitenant commercial/industrial/municipal users that lack individual
water meters to separately measure flow, the Borough Engineer shall
determine the annual sewer charge based on the number of equivalent
commercial units. "Equivalent commercial unit" (ECU) shall be defined
for the purposes of this section as the billing unit for certain multitenanted
commercial properties as determined by the Borough Engineer. Multitenanted
commercial properties lacking individual water meters which are owned
and maintained by a public utility require such a determination to
administer this section. Guiding factors to be utilized by the Borough
Engineer in determining the number of ECUs for such multitenanted
commercial properties shall include gross square footage of floor
area, use and other information provided by the owner of said property.
The Borough Engineer shall issue a written determination of the number
of ECUs for each property. Said report which shall be retained within
the Borough's Construction Enforcement Department records and be available
for inspection. This report and determination of ECUs shall be subject
to revision as changes in occupancy occur for said property.
[Amended 2-21-2017 by Ord. No. 1697]
(4) Any commercial/industrial/municipal user which utilizes a private
well in their operations may be required to install a sanitary sewer
discharge meter.
(5) The sewer service charge shall address the following:
(a)
Cover all the charges, costs and expenses related to the sewer
service, such as, but not limited to, the charges of the Authority,
the charges of the pump stations and ejector station operation and
maintenance costs.
(b)
Create a reasonable reserve for maintenance and repairs.
(6) The sewer service charge shall be an annual charge which shall begin
upon the date when a building connection is approved by the Borough,
and this charge shall stay in effect until modified by an ordinance.
C. Payment of charges. The use charges established and levied by this
section shall be due and payable in accordance with the billing policy
established by the Mayor and Council.
D. Determination of quantity of sewage flow. Where the charge set forth
in this section is based upon the quantity of sewage flow, such quantity
shall be determined to be the quantity of water used on the premises
based upon water consumption records of United Water New Jersey for
the six-month period from October through March of the year prior
to the billing year, as shown by the past water bill usage. In instances
where a private well provides potable water to the property, then
the Borough Engineer shall determine the quantity of sewage flows.
However, where the owner of commercial or nonresidential property
can show that water used on the premises was not discharged into the
sewer system, such fact shall be taken into account when determining
the quantity of discharge into the sewer system.
E. Special or additional charges. Where any special or additional charge
is made, levied, or assessed by the Authority as a result of the special
nature of sewage, such special or additional charge may be added to
the charge set forth in this section. Nothing shall preclude the Authority
from charging directly for special sewage.
F. Interest on late payments; liens. The sewer service charge established
by this article shall draw delinquent interest at the rate of 8% for
balances up to $1,500 and 18% for balances exceeding $1,500, and shall
be a lien upon the premises connected until paid. The first half of
the sewer service charge will be due in the office of the Tax Collector
on April 1 of the current year; on August 1 the second half of the
sewer service charge will be due for the current year. Delinquent
interest is to be calculated based upon the sum of all delinquent
sewer service charges from year to year and is not to be calculated
on an individual basis. At the end of any calendar year, a penalty
of 6% may be charged where there is tax and or any other municipal
charge delinquency in excess of $10,000. The Borough shall have the
same remedies for the collection of sewer service charges with delinquent
interest, cost and penalties, as it has by law for collection of taxes
upon real estate.