[Adopted 7-5-2010 by Ord.
No. 90]
The purpose of this article is to establish procedures for the
use and maintenance of existing and new holding tanks designed to
receive and retain sewage, whether from residential or commercial
uses. 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:
The Board of Supervisors, Township of Nottingham, Washington,
Pennsylvania, or their designee.
A watertight receptacle, whether permanent or temporary,
which receives and retains sewage conveyed by a water carrying system
and is designed and constructed to facilitate the ultimate disposal
of the sewage at another site.
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.
The Township of Nottingham, Washington County, Pennsylvania.
Any person vested with ownership, legal or equitable, sole
or partial, of any property located in the Township.
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, or any substance
which constitutes pollution under the Clean Streams Law (35 P.S. §§ 691.1
through 691.1001).
The agency is hereby authorized and empowered to undertake within
the Township the control and methods of holding tank use, sewage disposal
and sewage collection and transportation thereof.
The agency is hereby authorized and empowered to adopt such
rules and regulations concerning sewage which it may deem necessary
from time to time to affect the purposes herein.
All such rules and regulations adopted by the agency shall be
in conformity with the provisions herein, all other ordinances of
the Township, and all applicable laws, and applicable rules and regulations
of administrative agencies of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Any person using or maintaining a holding tank shall submit
an application for same on a form prescribed by the Township, accompanied
by the payment of an application fee to be set by the Township.
The use of holding tanks in the Township shall be permitted
only in accordance with the provisions of this article.
A.
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 agency or its designee, 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.
B.
The agency, or its designee, will receive, review and retain pumping
receipts from permitted holding tanks.
C.
The agency, or its designee, will complete and retain annual inspection
reports for each permitted holding tank.
The owner of an improved property that utilized a holding tank
shall:
A.
Maintain the holding tank in conformance with this article or any
ordinance of this Township, the provisions of any applicable law,
and the rules and regulations of the agency and any administrative
agency of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, which holding tank shall
have a maximum discharge of 800 gallons;
B.
Permit only the agency or its designee to inspect holding tanks on
an annual basis;
C.
Permit only the agency or its designee to collect, transport, and
dispose of the contents therein.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
Any person who violates or permits a violation of this article
shall, upon conviction in a summary proceeding brought before a Magisterial
District Judge under the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure,
be guilty of a summary offense and shall be punishable by a fine of
not more than $1,000, plus costs of prosecution. In default of payment
thereof, the defendant may be sentenced to imprisonment for a term
not exceeding 90 days. Each day or portion thereof that such violation
continues or is permitted to continue shall constitute a separate
offense, and each section of this article that is violated shall also
constitute a separate offense. No judgment shall be commenced or imposed,
levied or payable until the date of the determination of a violation
by the Magisterial District Judge. Further, the appropriate officers
or agents of the Township are hereby authorized to issue a cease-and-desist
notice and/or to seek equitable relief, including judgment, to enforce
compliance herewith. No bond will be required if injunctive relief
is sought by the Township.
In addition to any other remedies provided in this article, any violation of § 310-36 above shall constitute a nuisance and shall be abated by the municipality or the agency by either seeking mitigation of the nuisance or appropriate equitable or legal relief from a court of competent jurisdiction.
If any sentence, clause, section or part of this article is
for any reason found to be unconstitutional, illegal or invalid, such
unconstitutionality, illegality or invalidity shall not affect or
impair any of the remaining provisions, sentences, clauses, sections,
or parts of this article. It is hereby declared as the intent of the
Board of Supervisors of the Nottingham Township that this article
would have been adopted had such constitutional, illegal or invalid
sentence, clause, section or part thereof not been included therein.
