Township of Hilltown, PA Article I Connections Required

[Adopted 7-8-1991 by Ord. No. 91-4]

§ 124-1 Definitions and word usage.

A. As used in this article, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated, unless a different meaning clearly appears from the context:

AUTHORITY

[Amended 5-24-2004 by Ord. No. 2004-4]

The Hilltown Township Water and Sewer Authority or such other body politic and corporate, created pursuant to the Municipal Authorities Act (53 Pa.C.S.A. § 5601 et seq.).

BUILDING DRAIN

Part of the lowest horizontal piping of a drain system which receives the discharge from soil, waste, and other drainage pipes inside the walls of the building and conveys it to the building sewer, beginning five feet outside the inner face of the building wall.

BUILDING SEWER

Piping carrying wastes from a building to the treatment or holding tank or to the public sewer main.

DEPARTMENT

Department of Environmental Protection of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

LOT

A part of a subdivision or a parcel of land used as a building site or intended to be used for building purposes, whether immediate or future.

OCCUPIED UNIT

Each single dwelling unit, household unit, flat or apartment unit, store, shop, office, business or industrial unit or family unit contained within any structure erected within 150 feet from the public sewage system and intended for continuous or periodic habitation, occupancy or use by human beings or animals and from which structure sanitary sewage is, or may be, discharged.

PERSON

Any natural person, partnership, association or corporation. Whenever used in any clause prescribing and imposing a penalty, or imposing a fine or imprisonment, or both, the term “person” shall include the members of an association and the officers of a corporation.

PUBLIC SEWAGE SYSTEM

Sewer system and any treatment facility, or other appurtenant facilities owned, operated, or maintained by the Hilltown Township Water and Sewer Authority or any other legally created authority, and approved by the Department under a permit issued pursuant to the Clean Streams Law, Act of June 22, 1937, P.L. 1987, No. 394, 35 P.S. § 691.1 et seq. (1982), as hereafter amended, supplemented, modified or reenacted by the General Assembly of Pennsylvania.

SEWAGE

Any substance that contains any of the waste products or excrementitious or other discharge from the bodies of human beings or animals, and any noxious or deleterious substances 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.

SEWAGE TREATMENT PLANT

Any arrangement of devices and structures used for treating sewage.

STORM SEWER

Sewer which carries storm and surface waters and drainage, but excludes sewage and industrial wastes.

TOWNSHIP

Hilltown Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

B. In this article, the singular shall include the plural; the plural shall include the singular; and the masculine shall include the feminine and neuter.

§ 124-2 Required connections to public sewage system.

A. Property owner requirements.

[Amended 1-29-2007 by Ord. No. 2007-1]

(1) All property owners whose primary building lines are within 150 feet of any existing public sanitary sewer line shall not be required to connect thereto; but shall be required to connect thereto in any of the following instances:

(a) All new construction requiring public sanitary sewer service;

(b) All new building lots requiring public sanitary sewer service;

(c) All conversions of buildings from a single or dual principal residential use to a principal nonresidential use or multi-residential use (more than two).

(d) Any existing nonresidential or multi-residential (more than two) structures determined to have failing existing on-site private sanitary sewage facilities by either the Bucks County Department of Health or by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

(2) Exceptions. Single- and two-family residential:

(a) Any single-family or two-family residential unit (owner-occupied) structure determined to have a failing existing on-site private sanitary sewage facility by either the Bucks County Department of Health and PADEP shall have the option to remedy the failing on-site system to the satisfaction of the Bucks County Department of Health and PADEP with a new on-site system or elect to tie in to the public sanitary sewage system.

(b) Should a public sanitary sewer line be installed by a private developer for the purpose of providing public sanitary sewer to that developer's project, there is no requirement that any other property owner along the path of such line tie into the line; nor shall any other property owner desiring to tie into such line be precluded from doing so upon receiving approval by the Hilltown Township Board of Supervisors and the Township-approved municipal authority in whose service district said property is located.

(c) Hilltown Township hereby requires that the installation of public sanitary sewer lines by a private developer shall include the installation of sewer laterals to the right-of-way line of each lot adjacent to the location of the said sewer main, or as otherwise directed by the Board of Supervisors of Hilltown Township, without charge to the lot owner along the route of the main extension of the proposed sewer main for the development.

(3) Where connection to any public sanitary sewer line is made, the owner of the property for which the connection is made shall pay applicable connection fees, tapping fees and usage charges to the Township-approved municipal authority having ownership or scheduled to accept ownership of the proposed sewer main, except as may be modified by the Hilltown Township Board of Supervisors and the municipal authority involved.

B. If the owner of any property, after 60 days’ notice from the Township to make connection of such property with the public sewage system, shall fail to make such connection, the Township or its authorized agents may make the connection and collect the costs thereof in the manner provided by law.[1]

[1] Editor's Note: Former Subsection C, connections to public sewage systems, which immediately followed this subsection, was repealed 1-29-2007 by Ord. No. 2007-1. This ordinance also renumbered Subsection D to Subsection C, respectively.

C. The Township or its authorized agent, and agents of the Authority, shall have access at all reasonable hours of the day to all parts of the premises to which sewage service is supplied to make necessary inspections.

§ 124-3 Connection permits and specifications.

A. No unauthorized person shall uncover, make any connection with or open into, use, alter or disturb any part of the public sewage system or appurtenances thereto without first obtaining the appropriate permit from the Township or Authority.

B. No connection shall be made with the sewer system except in compliance with this article, as amended, and the rules and regulations of the Authority.

C. All costs and expenses incident to the installation and connection of the building sewer shall be borne by the owner.

D. A separate and independent building sewer shall be provided for every building. When more than one occupied unit, as defined above, is contained in a separate structure, a single, common connection to the lateral of the sewer system may be permitted for accommodating all units contained in such structure, provided that separate connections shall be required for each semidetached or row type house or structure.

E. All permit holders shall notify the Authority with jurisdiction when the building sewer is ready for inspection and connection with the public sewer, and the connection shall be made under the supervision of the appropriate Authority.

F. All excavations for building sewer installation and connections shall be adequately guarded with barricades and lights so as to protect the public from hazards. Streets, sidewalks, parkways and other public property disturbed in the course of the work shall be restored in the manner satisfactory to the Township and/or Authority.

§ 124-4 Violations and penalties.

Any person who violates or permits a violation of this article shall, upon conviction in a summary proceeding brought before a District Justice 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.