[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Commissioners of the Township of Lower Pottsgrove 7-6-2017 by Ord. No. 335. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Building construction — See Ch. 100.
Grading and excavating — See Ch. 142.
Zoning — See Ch. 250.
No person, firm, partnership, association, company, corporation, organization, individual or group of any kind shall do or perform, conduct, supervise or permit any blasting or the detonation of explosives or blasting material within the Township of Lower Pottsgrove nor within any street, highway or property of Lower Pottsgrove Township without first obtaining a blasting permit from the Township Building Code Official and complying with the regulations and provisions hereinafter set forth.
An applicant seeking issuance of a permit shall execute an application in writing on a form to be provided by the Township Building Code Official, setting forth the following specific information:
A. 
The complete name, address and identity of the person, firm, corporation, association or organization who or which proposes to do the blasting, and the name, address and identity of the specific person who shall be in charge thereof.
B. 
The project or work in connection with which the blasting is proposed to be done.
C. 
The time, date and place when the blasting shall be done.
D. 
The type, kind and amount of explosives to be used.
E. 
A completed/approved copy of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) blasting activity permit.
The applicant shall provide a valid copy of a Commonwealth of Pennsylvania blaster's license for each individual to be on the site and involved with the blasting activity to the Township and the Township Building Code Official for the permanent files and records. The applicant shall also furnish the name of the blasting contractor and/or subcontractor.
Every applicant, as a condition precedent to issuance of a permit, shall furnish evidence to the Township Building Code Official that there is and will continue in full force a public liability insurance policy against personal injury and property damage in an amount of not less than $2,000,000 for any one accident, which liability insurance coverage must remain in effect during the entire period of the blasting operations.
No blasting shall be permitted except between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and at no other times shall blasting be permitted.
A preblast survey shall be performed by the blasting contractor or subcontractor free of charge of all structures within 500 feet of any blasting activity (inside or outside of Lower Pottsgrove Township) that is associated with any project located within Lower Pottsgrove Township. The owners must be given ample time to review the results and contest the findings. In addition, all residential wells within the five-hundred-foot area shall be checked for well water turbidity and bacterial contamination. (Residents shall make wells reasonably available for the purpose of checking.) The provisions of this section shall in no way supersede any other state or federal requirements concerning public notification or preblast inspections.
A. 
Blasting operations shall be conducted by the permittee in a safe, careful manner with full, proper and adequate safety precautions and protection to all persons and property and after suitable public warning at the expense and responsibility of the permittee to within a one-quarter-mile radius, in writing, with a minimum of 48 hours' notice.
B. 
The permittee shall give the Building Code Official a twenty-four-hour notice prior to any blasting. The blasting contractor or subcontractor shall provide the Township Building Code Official with a plan showing the location of the blasting activities.
C. 
The blasting contractor or subcontractor shall forward copies of all blasting reports prepared by submission to PADEP to the Township Building Code Official.
D. 
The applicant, general contractor, blasting contractor or subcontractor and the seismic geologist shall interface with affected Township residents to provide additional information with regard to blasting activity upon request. Township officials shall also be kept in the loop for informational purposes.
E. 
All blasts which will take place within 250 feet of a structure will be monitored by an independent certified seismic geologist using seismic instrumentation.
The permittee shall be fully liable for any and all damages of every kind and nature resulting to any person or property from the conduct of the blasting operation.
A permit fee shall be paid to the Township of Lower Pottsgrove for the processing and issuance of the permit and any inspections associated with the blasting operations. The amount of the fee shall be set by the Lower Pottsgrove Township Board of Commissioners by resolution from time to time.
Any permit issued under the provisions of this chapter may be revoked at any time by the Building Code Official in the event of any breach by the permittee of the provisions hereof.
To the extent any blasting activity is regulated under state or federal law, rule or regulation, the provisions of this chapter shall not apply.
Any person who shall violate any provisions of this chapter shall, upon conviction thereof, be punishable by a fine of not more than $600 and costs of such proceedings or, upon default in payment of such fine and costs, by imprisonment in the county jail for a term of not more than 30 days. The continuation of such violation for each successive day shall constitute a separate offense, and the person or persons allowing or permitting the continuation of the violation may be punished as provided above for each separate offense.
All ordinances and resolutions inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed. All ordinances not inconsistent herewith are hereby reenacted and reordained.
If any sentence, clause, section or part of this chapter is for any reason found to be unconstitutional, illegal or invalid, such unconstitutionality, illegality or invalidity shall not affect or impair any part of the remaining provisions, sentences, clauses, sections, or parts of this chapter. It is hereby declared as the intent of the Lower Pottsgrove Township Board of Commissioners that this chapter would have been adopted had such unconstitutional, illegal, or invalid sentence, clause, section or part thereof not been included herein.