[Adopted 3-18-1993 by Ord. No. 1993-02]
This article shall be known as "The Solid Waste, Sewage Sludge,
Composting, Rendering and Crematory Regulation Ordinance of Lower
Windsor Township."
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
The authority of Lower Windsor Township to regulate and/or manage
the collection, removal and disposal of sewage sludge and the composting
procedures therein and the maintenance or operation of incineration,
landfill or similar facilities, is set forth by 53 P.S. §§ 67101
to 67107 and 53 P.S. § 66529.
It is the finding of Lower Windsor Township that the construction,
maintenance, operation and utilization of a sludge composting facility,
sludge composting and utilization facility; sewage sludge composting
and/or utilization facility; solid waste landfill disposal, composting,
and/or utilization facility; solid waste incinerator; medical waste
incinerator; hazardous waste disposal facility; solid waste transfer
facility; rendering plant; or crematory within a radius of 500 yards
from any residence or other occupied structure is, by the nature of
the type of activity undertaken and odor, litter, noise, vectors,
and/or pathogens necessitated by or resulting from such activity or
operation, together with the resulting effects of such an operation
or activity, contrary to the health, safety, welfare, and best interests
of residents of Lower Windsor Township within a radius of 500 yards
of said operation or activity and therefore constitutes a nuisance.
As used in this article, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
A partnership, limited partnership, or any other form of
unincorporated enterprises owned or conducted by two or more persons.
The process in which organic solid waste is biologically
decomposed under anaerobic and/or aerobic conditions to yield a humus-like
product.
A corporation, joint-stock association, business trust, or
banking institution which is organized under the laws of this commonwealth,
the United States, or any other state, territory, foreign, county,
or dependency.
A facility for the cremation of human or animal remains.
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and any political subdivision
thereof.
Any garbage, refuse, sludge from an industrial or other wastewater
treatment plant, sludge from a water supply treatment plant, or air
pollution control facility and other discarded material including
solid, liquid, semisolid or contained gaseous material resulting from
municipal, commercial, industrial, institutional, mining or agricultural
operations, and from community activities, or any combination of the
above, (but does not include solid or dissolved material in domestic
sewage, or solid or dissolved materials in irrigation return flows
or industrial discharges which are point sources subject to permits
under Section 402 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, as amended
(86. Stat. 880) or source, special nuclear, or by-product material
as defined by the U.S. Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (68 Stat.
923), which because of its quantity, concentration or physical, chemical,
or infectious characteristics may:
Cause or significantly contribute to an increase in mortality
or an increase in morbidity in either an individual or the total population;
or
Pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health
or the environment when improperly treated, stored, transported, disposed
of or otherwise managed.
A plant or operation utilizing any technology for the purpose
of reducing the volume or bulk of municipal or residential waste by
burning or converting part or all of such waste material by burning
for off-site reuse.
A system of underground pipings, tank and/or tanks to an
underground holding tank or septic tank established and in conformity
with the regulations of the Department of Environmental Protection
of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
A land site utilized to bury deposits of solid wasted.
Any individual, partnership, corporation, association, institution,
cooperative enterprise, municipal authority, federal government or
agency, state institution and agency (including, but not limited to,
the Department of General Services and the State Public School Buildings
Authority), or any other legal entity whatsoever which as recognized
by law as the subject of rights and duties. In any provisions of this
article prescribing a fine, imprisonment or penalty, or any combination
of the foregoing, the term "person" shall include the officers and
directors of any corporation or other legal entity having officers
and directors.
All materials which are discarded as useless.
A facility for the rendering of fat and similar substances
from animals.
A building or buildings used for the occupancy and dwelling
by one or more persons.
The waste matter carried off in sewers.
The coarse screening, grit, and dewatered or air-dried sludges,
septic and holding tank pumpings, and other residues from sewage collection
and treatment systems which require disposal and which further include
the precipitate resulting from chemical treatment, coagulation or
sedimentation of water or wastewater and which specifically include
residue generated from public treatment plants.
Any plant or building engaged in processing or using sludge
as part of its operation.
An underground drain to carry off wastewater and refuse.
A soft, thick, muddy mixture, deposit or sediment.
Any waste, including but not limited to, municipal, residual
or hazardous wastes, including solid, liquid, semisolid, or contained
gaseous materials. The term does not include coal ash or drill cuttings.
A facility which receives and processes or temporarily stores
municipal or residual waste at a location other than the generation
site, and which facilitates the transportation or transfer of municipal
or residual waste to a processing or disposal facility. The term includes
a facility that uses a method or technology to convert part or all
of such waste materials for off-site reuse. The term does not include
a collection or processing center that is only for source-separated
recyclable materials, including clear glass, colored glass, aluminum,
steel and bimetallic cans, high-grade office paper, newsprint, corrugated
paper and plastics.
No association, corporation, governmental entity or person shall
construct, maintain, operate and/or utilize a sewage/sludge composting
facility, sludge composting and utilization facility or sewage sludge
composting and utilization facility, solid waste landfill disposal,
composting, and/or utilization facility, solid waste incinerator,
medical waste incinerator, hazardous waste disposal facility, solid
waste transfer facility, rendering plant, or crematory within a radius
of 500 yards from any residence or other occupied structure in Lower
Windsor Township, York County, Pennsylvania.
[Amended 9-12-1996 by Ord. No. 1996-03; 3-13-1997 by Ord. No. 1997-01]
A.
Any person who shall violate any provision of this article shall,
upon conviction thereof in a summary proceeding before a Magisterial
District Judge, be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than $1,000,
plus the costs of prosecution and, upon default of payment of said
fine and costs, to imprisonment in the York County Prison for not
more than 90 days. Each day or portion thereof in which a violation
is found to have been violated shall be a separate offense.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
B.
Enforcement. This article shall be enforced by the Lower Windsor
Township Police Department or by the other appropriate officer or
officers of Lower Windsor Township. Any such officer is authorized
to determine whether a violation of such ordinance has occurred.
In addition to the above penalties, all other actions are reserved
including an action in equity for the proper enforcement of this article.
Lower Windsor Township is empowered to proceed with an action in equity
to assure compliance with the provisions of this article, and is empowered
to take any reasonable action of abate said prohibited activity. Any
costs, including court costs and reasonable attorneys fees, incurred
in such a proceeding shall be assessed against the violator.
A.
Nothing herein contained shall prevent farming operations, including
the management, collection, storage, transportation or use of poultry
and livestock manure in conjunction with farming operations. Nothing
herein contained shall prohibit the construction and maintenance of
an individual sewage system.
B.
Nothing contained in this article shall prevent the burning of coal
or coal products or oils in conventional residential or commercial
heating furnaces nor shall this article be construed to prevent individual
homeowners from limited and controlled burning of leaves and combustible
waste generated on said homeowner's property not for off-site reuse.
The provisions of this article shall be severable, and if any
of its provisions shall be held to be unconstitutional, illegal or
otherwise invalid, that decision shall not affect the validity of
any of the remaining provisions of this article. It is hereby declared
as a legislative intent that the article would have been enacted had
that unconstitutional, illegal or otherwise invalid provision not
been included in the article.
This article shall be effective five days after date of enactment
as provided by law.
