[Adopted 10-15-2002 by Ord. No. 363]
The Borough Code Enforcement Officer or his designee, bearing proper identification, shall be permitted to enter any premises at any reasonable time for the purpose of inspecting and/or testing to ensure compliance with §
102-1 of this article.
It shall be unlawful for any person to sell or convey title
to property located within the Borough on which a building or improvement
exists without first delivering unto the purchaser a document of certification
or temporary document of certification issued by the Borough. The
Borough shall not issue a municipal lien letter for the subject property
transaction unless and until a document of certification or temporary
document of certification has been issued.
A temporary document of certification may be issued at the sole
discretion of the Borough when either:
A. Weather conditions.
(1) The Borough determines that the required testing cannot be performed
because of weather conditions, and when such is the case, the applicant
shall provide the Borough with a signed written acknowledgment from
the purchaser of the subject property, agreeing to test for and correct,
at the said purchaser's sole expense, any unlawful discharges.
(2) The application shall also provide the Borough with full payment
of the Borough's established fee for processing costs.
(3) Within 30 days of the date of issuance of a temporary document of
certification, the seller or property owner will perform adequate
testing of the subject property and the Borough will issue a document
of certification if the testing reveals no unlawful discharges. If
unlawful discharges are found during this testing, the purchaser of
the property will be held responsible for immediate remediation.
(4) A failure to remediate within a reasonable time specified by the
Borough may result in the imposition of a fine not to exceed $500
for violation of this article.
B. When an unlawful discharge or malfunctioning drainage system has
been discovered and the necessary remedial activities to correct such
violation(s) would require a length of time such as to create a practical
hardship for the applicant, the applicant may apply to the Borough
for a temporary document of certification which may only be issued
when the applicant provides the Borough with all of the following:
(1) A bona fide executed contract between the applicant and a registered,
licensed plumber to complete the necessary remedial work;
(2) A deposit equal to the amount of said plumbing contract is posted
with the Borough as surety for work completion; and
(3) An agreement by the purchaser to be responsible for all cost overruns
related to the remedial work, together with a license to the Borough
to enter upon the property to complete work in case of default by
the contractor. The Borough Code Enforcement Officer or his/her designee
shall determine when such temporary document of certification shall
expire. At the expiration of such time period, if the remedial work
has been completed on the subject property, the deposit shall be returned
to the applicant.
(4) If the time period set forth on the temporary document of certification
should expire prior to the completion of the required remediation
work, the deposit will be forfeited in the amount required by the
Borough to complete the necessary remedial work.
The Borough is hereby authorized, empowered and directed to
make reasonable rules and regulations for the application and/or issuance
of the required document of certification as it deems necessary.
All ordinances or parts of ordinances insofar as they conflict
with this article are hereby repealed.