The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has
directed that all municipalities take those steps necessary and proper
to eliminate improper water infiltration into its sanitary sewer system.
In that regard, the Board of Supervisors finds that excessive storm
and/or surface waters may be illegally routed into the sanitary sewer
systems owned and operated by the Peters Creek Sanitary Authority
(as located in Nottingham Township), thus requiring increased and
unnecessary treatment capacity and activity and thus curtailing the
availability of tap-ins and treatment to other users who need sanitary
sewage treatment. The Board of Supervisors finds that the procedure,
fees and penalties provided for herein are necessary to achieve the
purposes of this article. The Board of Supervisors does hereby designate
the Peters Creek Sanitary Authority to administer and enforce this
article.
This article may be known and cited as the "Dye Test Ordinance."
Unless the context specifically and clearly indicates otherwise,
the meaning of terms used in this article shall be as follows:
CODE
Nottingham Township Ordinances, as the same may be from time
to time amended.
DOCUMENT OF CERTIFICATION
An official statement from the Authority stating that there
are no illegal storm or surface water connections into the sanitary
sewer connections on the property to be sold which violate any section
of the Code.
PERSON
Any person, syndicate, association, partnership, firm, corporation,
institution, agency, authority or other entity recognized by law as
the subject of rights and duties.
After the effective date of this article, it shall be unlawful
for any person to sell or purchase real estate within the Township
on which a building or improvement exists without first delivering
to the purchaser a document of certification or a temporary document
of certification issued by the Authority.
A document of certification shall be valid for a period of one
year from the date of issuance. Real estate may be sold during the
one-year effective life of such document without further dye testing
or certification.
A document of certification shall not be required in the following
instances:
A. When property is refinanced, but no conveyance takes place.
B. Individual apartment-type units within a single condominium building
may be sold without individual certification, provided that the building
in which the units are located has been certified no longer than one
year previous to the date of the sale of the individual condominium
unit.
C. When the real estate is such that tap-in to the sanitary sewer system
is not required by law or ordinance.
A temporary document of certification may be issued by the Authority
at its sole discretion when, either:
A. The applicant proves that dye testing cannot be performed because
of weather conditions. When such is the case, the applicant shall
provide the Authority with security in such amount as the Authority,
by resolution, shall establish to guarantee that the dye test will
be performed. The applicant will cause to have the dye test performed
within 14 days of written notification from the Authority which will
be given at such time as weather conditions make the dye test possible.
In addition, the applicant shall provide a signed, written acknowledgement
from the purchaser agreeing to correct, at purchaser's sole cost and
expense, any violations that may be discovered as a result of subsequent
dye tests. Nothing in this subsection shall prohibit any purchaser
from requiring the applicant to reimburse purchaser for any costs
incurred; provided, however, that primary liability shall run with
the land and no such agreement shall affect Authority's enforcement
powers or excuse the current owner from compliance with this Code;
or
B. Illegal connections.
(1) When
an illegal storm or surface water connection is discovered and the
necessary remedial activities to correct such connection would require
a length of time such as to create a practical hardship for the applicant,
applicant may apply to the Authority for a temporary document of certification
which may only be issued when the applicant provides the Authority
with all of the following:
(a) A bona fide, executed contract between the applicant and a contractor
to complete the necessary remedial work with the Authority listed
herein as a third party beneficiary; and
(b) Cash security in the amount of said contract is posted with the Authority;
and
(c) A written agreement by the purchaser to be responsible for all cost
overruns and extras related to the remedial work together with a written
license to enter upon the property to complete work in case of default
of the contractor referred to above.
(2) The
Authority's Secretary shall determine when such temporary document
of certification shall expire. Upon expiration, the security shall
be forfeited and the Authority may use the security to have the necessary
remedial work completed.
The Authority is hereby empowered to undertake the duties imposed
by this article, including but not limited to:
A. Establishing acceptable forms of security or guarantees.
B. Establishing the form of:
(2) Purchaser
acknowledgements; and
(3) Inspector
certifications.
C. Limiting the times of year in which the temporary document of certification
is available for reasons of weather.
The Authority may, by resolution, change from time to time the
fees authorized in this article.
Nothing in this article shall limit in any fashion whatsoever
the Authority's or Township's right to enforce its ordinances or the
laws of the commonwealth. Nothing in this article shall be a defense
to any citation issued by any municipal corporation or the commonwealth
pursuant to any other law or ordinance.
This article shall become effective June 7, 1994.