[HISTORY: Adopted by the Borough Council
of the Borough of Danville 7-10-2012 by Ord. No. 507A. Amendments noted where applicable.]
A.
The Borough Council has been informed and hereby finds that groundwater
in certain areas of the Borough has been contaminated or otherwise
adversely impacted by hazardous substances and that identified public
health, safety, and welfare risks may affect water drawn from or around
certain areas of such impacted groundwater. The Borough Council has
determined that it is necessary and appropriate to prohibit the use
of wells in order to protect Borough residents by minimizing the health,
safety and welfare risks. The purpose hereof is to protect the public
health, safety and welfare by imposing the restrictions and requirements
set forth herein.
[Amended 4-12-2022 by Ord. No. 571]
B.
The Borough Council further finds that the Borough is serviced by
a public water system that is available to residents of the Borough
and that providing public water is in the best interests of the health,
safety, and welfare of the residents of the Borough.
The following definitions shall apply to terms used in this
chapter:
Commercial agricultural activities, including, but not limited
to, irrigation of crops, watering of livestock, and food production,
processing or packaging.
The Borough of Danville, County of Montour, Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania.
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Environmental
Protection.
The use of water for drinking, cooking, food preparation
and other food-related services, cleaning, washing, bathing, watering
lawns, gardens and landscaping irrigation, and similar household-type
water uses at any residential dwelling, or at any building in which
commercial/business, governmental/public or industrial activities
are conducted. The term does not include water used solely for closed
loop heat pumps, noncontact cooling, other types of geothermal units.
[Amended 4-12-2022 by Ord. No. 571]
The Borough Secretary or his or her designee when acting in his or her capacity to enforce the terms of this chapter pursuant to § 123-6 hereof.
The holder of record title for a parcel.
Any plot of land defined by the metes and bounds set forth
in the deed for that land and located within the Borough.
An individual, firm, corporation, association, partnership,
consortium, joint venture, commercial entity, authority, nonprofit
corporation or other legal entity which is recognized by law as the
subject of rights and duties. The term includes the federal government,
state government, political subdivisions and commonwealth instrumentalities.
A system for the provision to the public of water for human
consumption and/or domestic use and/or agricultural use.
An opening in the surface of the earth for the purpose of
removing water through nonmechanical or mechanical means for any purpose
other than a public emergency.
[Amended 4-12-2022 by Ord. No. 571]
Except as provided in § 123-7 hereof, no person shall install, construct, develop, expand, modify or use a well within the Borough for the purpose of removing water in any quantity through mechanical or nonmechanical means.
[Amended 4-12-2022 by Ord. No. 571]
A person shall be permitted to install, construct, develop,
expand, modify or use a well within the Borough for groundwater monitoring
and construction dewatering. Under no circumstances, however, may
a well installed for such purposes be used for either domestic use,
industrial use or agricultural use.
[Amended 4-12-2022 by Ord. No. 571]
Except as provided in § 123-7 hereof, in the event that any parcel is being serviced by a well for domestic use, industrial use and/or an agricultural use as of the date of the enactment of this chapter, within 30 days after the effective date of this chapter, the owner of said parcel shall be required to take those steps necessary to connect to a public water system to obtain water for domestic use, industrial use and/or agricultural use. The cost of constructing a main from the structure to be serviced to the boundary of the parcel and connecting to a public water system shall be borne by the owner. The use of any existing well for domestic use, industrial use and agricultural use is expressly prohibited.
[Amended 4-12-2022 by Ord. No. 571]
The Borough Secretary, or his/her designee, shall be the official having the authority to enforce this chapter. After the effective date of this chapter, the enforcement official shall contact all owners of parcels which, from the information available to the Borough, appear to have wells prohibited under this chapter and give written notice of the need to cease using such wells for domestic use, industrial use and/or agricultural use and the need to connect to a public water system, as required under § 123-5 hereof. The owner shall take steps to comply with the provisions of this chapter within 30 days from the date of such notice. Where, upon information available to the enforcement official, it is suspected that a well is being used on a parcel in violation of this chapter, the enforcement official may inspect such parcel and serve an appropriate notice and order of such violation, requiring that action be taken promptly by the owner to bring the parcel into compliance with this chapter. If the owner fails to act in accordance with such order, the enforcement official may seek remedies and penalties as provided in § 123-8.
[Amended 4-12-2022 by Ord. No. 571]
As of the date of enactment of this chapter, the parcels situate at 489 Wall Street (the "grandfathered parcels") currently have a well which is supplying or could supply water for agricultural use or domestic use. The Borough Council finds that the grandfathered parcels are outside the area where groundwater has been impacted by hazardous substances which were the impetus for this chapter. As a result, the grandfathered parcels are exempt from the requirements of §§ 123-3 through 123-5 hereof; provided, however, that if the owner of a grandfathered parcel, who owns the grandfathered parcel on the date of enactment of this chapter, subsequently sells, transfers or otherwise conveys ownership of the grandfathered parcel, through whatever means, to another individual or entity, the grandfathered parcel shall forfeit its exempt status, and the new owner shall be required to comply with all provisions of this chapter, including §§ 123-3 through 123-5 above.
Any person who violates the provisions of this chapter shall
be subject to all rights and remedies available to the Borough as
provided by law, including the right of the Borough to seek an order
from a court of appropriate jurisdiction requiring compliance with
this chapter. The Borough may also seek collection of costs and attorneys'
fees associated with such enforcement action. Any violation of this
chapter is a public nuisance, subject to abatement, and any well in
violation of this chapter shall be immediately taken out of service
and lawfully abandoned in compliance with applicable legal requirements.
A court of competent jurisdiction may order any person violating any
provision of this chapter to properly and lawfully remove or abandon
a well.
[Amended 4-12-2022 by Ord. No. 571]
No permit for the construction or alteration of a building or
structure, nor any permit for any zoning approval, shall be issued
for any improvement on a parcel which has, or proposes, a water supply
for domestic use, industrial use and/or agricultural use from a well
in violation of this chapter.
The Borough Secretary, or his/her designee, shall provide a
copy of this chapter to all water suppliers that operate a public
water system in any portion of the Borough, whether the public water
system services a development or services Borough residents, generally.
Prior to the enactment of any modification, amendment or repeal
of this chapter, the Borough shall give to DEP notice of its intent
to modify, amend or repeal this chapter. Such notice shall be provided
at least 30 days prior to the date of the meeting at which the modification,
amendment or repeal of this chapter will be presented to the Borough
for consideration and vote.
Any portion of the Code of the Borough of Danville that is in
conflict with any provision of this chapter is hereby repealed solely
to the extent of such conflict.
Should any sentence, paragraph, subdivision, clause, phrase
or section of this chapter be adjudged or held to be unconstitutional,
illegal or invalid, the same shall not effect the validity of this
chapter as a whole, or any part or provision thereof, other than the
part decided to be unconstitutional, illegal or invalid, and such
shall not effect the validity of the Code of the Borough of Danville.
This chapter is enacted pursuant to, inter alia, the Uniform
Environmental Covenants Act, Act No. 68 of December 18, 2007, P.L.
450, 27 Pa.C.S.A. § 6501 et seq., and applicable regulations,
and the Land Recycling and Environmental Remediation Standards Act,
Act No. 2 of May 19, 1995, P.L. 4, 35 P.S. § 6026.101 et
seq., and applicable regulations.
