[11-10-2022 by Ord. No. 8423]
(a) The ordinances of the City of New Castle, Pennsylvania, of a general
and permanent nature, consolidated and codified with minor nonsubstantive
changes as attached hereto and made a part hereof are hereby ordained
as the general ordinances of the City, and are hereby approved, adopted
and enacted as the "Codified Ordinances of New Castle, Pennsylvania,
1977."
(b) This ordinance shall be introduced in Council, notice of introduction
shall be published, and legal advertisement of the contents of the
Codified Ordinances shall be made in conformity with the Third Class
City Code Subsections 1014.1(b) and (c) of 1961 P.L. 662 as amended
by 1957 P.L. 631.
[11-10-2022 by Ord. No. 8423]
The Codified Ordinances of New Castle, Pennsylvania, shall be
comprised of the following component parts:
Part One: Administrative Code
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Part Three: Business Regulation and Taxation Code
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Part Five: Traffic Code
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Part Seven: General Offenses Code
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Part Nine: Streets, Utilities and Public Services Code
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Part Eleven: Health and Sanitation Code
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Part Thirteen: Planning and Zoning Code
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Part Fifteen: Fire Prevention Code
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Part Seventeen: Building and Housing
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The Codified Ordinances of New Castle, Pennsylvania, may be referred to as the "Codified Ordinances"; any component Code of the Codified Ordinances may be referred to by its name, such as the "Traffic Code"; and sections of the Codified Ordinances may be cited by their number, such as §
101.01.
[11-10-2022 by Ord. No. 8423]
(a) The Codified Ordinances of New Castle, Pennsylvania, may be amended
or supplemented at any time and, when any amendment or supplement
is adopted in such form as to indicate the intention of Council to
make the same a part thereof, such amendment or supplement shall be
incorporated in, and deemed a part of, the Codified Ordinances, so
that a reference to the Codified Ordinances, shall be understood and
construed as including the Codified Ordinances of New Castle, Pennsylvania,
and any and all such amendments and supplements. Failure of an ordinance
to refer to the codification shall not render such ordinance invalid
or ineffective.
(b) All amendments and supplements enacted as a part of the Codified
Ordinances shall be integrated therewith by following the form of
arrangement and plan set forth in the original Codified Ordinances
as follows: each code shall be subdivided into titles; each title
shall be subdivided into articles; and each article shall be subdivided
into sections which shall be numbered in accordance with the decimal
numbering system. The numbering of all sections except the penalty
sections shall be consecutive within each article commencing with
the first section of Article 101, which shall be numbered 101.01,
the first "1" signifying Code 1, the two figures "01" before the decimal
signifying the article within the Code, and the two figures "01" after
the decimal signifying the first section in Article 101 of the Code.
Penalty sections shall be designated "99" and shall be the last section
of the article.
[11-10-2022 by Ord. No. 8423]
In the construction of the Codified Ordinances the following
rules shall control, except those inconsistent with the manifest intent
of Council as disclosed in a particular provision, section or article.
(a) "Adopting Ordinance" means the ordinance the City adopting the Codified
Ordinances of New Castle, Pennsylvania, in conformity with the Third
Class City Code of Pennsylvania, and this Article 101.
(b) Authority. Whenever in the Codified Ordinances authority is given
to an officer or an act is required to be performed, such authority
may be exercised and such act may be performed, at the instance of
such officer, by a deputy or subordinate unless contrary to law or
to the clear intent of any such particular provision.
(c) Calendar-computation of time. The terms "month" and "year" shall
mean the calendar month or year. The time expressed in days within
which an act is to be done or a period is to expire shall be computed
by excluding the first and including the last day except if the last
be Sunday it shall be excluded. If time is expressed in hours, the
whole of Sunday shall be excluded.
(d) "City" and "Municipality" mean the City of New Castle, Pennsylvania.
(e) Conjunctions. "And" includes "or" and "or" includes "and" if the
sense so requires.
(f) "Council" means Council of the City of New Castle, Pennsylvania.
(g) "County" means the County of Lawrence, Pennsylvania.
(h) "Fire Bureau" means the Bureau of Fire of the City.
(i) Gender. Words importing the masculine shall extend and be applied
to the feminine and neuter genders.
(j) General rule. Except as otherwise provided in this section, words
and phrases shall be construed according to the common usage of language.
However, technical words and phrases and such others as may have acquired
a special meaning in the law, shall be construed according to such
technical or special meaning.
(k) Joint authority. Words giving authority to a board, commission, authority
or to three or more officers or employees or other persons shall be
construed as giving authority to a majority thereof unless otherwise
specifically provided.
(l) "Keeper" or "proprietor" includes persons, firms, associations, corporations,
clubs and copartnerships, whether acting by themselves or as a servant,
agent or employee.
(m) "Land" or "real estate" include rights and easements of incorporeal
nature.
(n) Number. Words in the plural include the singular and the singular
includes the plural number.
(o) "Oath" includes affirmation. When an oath is required or authorized
by law, an affirmation in lieu thereof may be taken by a person having
conscientious scruples to taking an oath. An affirmation shall have
the same force and effect as an oath.
(p) "Owner" when applied to property includes a part owner, joint owner
or tenant in common of the whole or any part of such property.
(q) "Person" extends to and includes associations, clubs, corporations,
firms, partnerships and bodies politic, as well as to individuals.
(r) "Police Bureau" means the Bureau of Police of the City.
(s) "Premises" when used as applicable to property extends to and includes
land and buildings.
(t) "Property" includes real and personal, and any mixed and lesser estates
or interests therein. "Personal property" includes every kind of property
except real property. "Real property" includes lands, tenements and
hereditaments.
(u) Reasonable time. In all cases where provision is made for an act
to be done or notice to be given within a "reasonable time," it shall
be deemed to mean such time only as may be necessary for the prompt
performance of such act or giving of such notice.
(v) "Sidewalk" means any portion of a street between the curbline and
the adjacent property line, intended for the use of pedestrians, excluding
parkways.
(w) "State" or "Commonwealth" means the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
(x) "Street" includes highways, alleys, avenues, boulevards, lanes, roads,
streets and other public ways in the City.
(y) "Tenant" or "occupant" as applied to the building or land extends
and includes any person holding a written or oral lease or who occupies
the whole or any part of a building or land, alone or with others.
(z) Tenses. The use of any verb in the present tense shall include the
future.
(aa)
"Third Class City Code" means the Pennsylvania Act of June 28,
1951, P.L. 662, as amended. The sections of the Third Class City Code may be cited
herein as "3rd Class Section."
(bb)
"Written" or "in writing" includes any representations of words,
letters or figures, whether by printing or otherwise.
(cc)
"Municipal election" means that election required by the Constitution
of Pennsylvania to be held in odd-numbered years.
(dd)
"Charter Law" means the Optional Third Class City Charter Law,
Act of July 15, 1957, P.L. 901 (53 P.S. § 41101 et seq.).
[11-10-2022 by Ord. No. 8423]
Whenever any time established by the Codified Ordinances for
the taking of any action expires on a Sunday or any legal holiday,
such time shall not expire on such day but shall expire on the next
work day.
[11-10-2022 by Ord. No. 8423]
(a) Each section and each part of each section of the Codified Ordinances
is hereby declared to be an independent section or part of a section
and, notwithstanding any other evidence of legislative intent, it
is hereby declared to be the controlling legislative intent that if
any such section or part of a section, or any provision thereof, or
the application thereof to any person or circumstances, is held to
be invalid, the remaining sections or parts of sections and the application
of such provision to any other person or circumstances, other than
those as to which it is held invalid, shall not be affected thereby,
and it is hereby declared to be the legislative intent that the Codified
Ordinances would have been adopted independently of such sections
or parts of a section so held to be invalid.
(b) Should any decision by a court of competent jurisdiction render this
codification or the Act of 1957, July 10, P.L. 631, Section 1 (the
enabling legislation by the authority of which this codification has
been compiled and adopted) invalid or unconstitutional, it is hereby
declared to be the legislative intent of Council that the body of
the ordinances of the City of New Castle as originally adopted shall
be and remain in full force and effect to the same extent as they
would be had this codification not been adopted.
[11-10-2022 by Ord. No. 8423]
All ordinances or parts of ordinances in conflict with the Codified
Ordinances of New Castle, Pennsylvania, are hereby repealed; provided,
however, that such repeal shall not affect:
(a) Any offense or act committed or done, or any penalty or forfeiture
incurred, or any contract or right established or accruing before
the effective date of the Codified Ordinances.
(b) Any ordinance promising or guaranteeing the payment of money by or
to the City, or authorizing the issuance of any bonds of the City,
or any evidence of the City's indebtedness, or any contract or obligation
assumed by the City.
(c) The administrative ordinances or resolutions of Council not in conflict
or inconsistent with the provisions of the Codified Ordinances.
(d) Any right, license or franchise conferred by any ordinance of Council
or any person, firm or corporation.
(e) Any ordinance establishing, naming, relocating or vacating any street
or alley.
(f) Any ordinance or part thereof providing for salaries or compensation.
(g) Any ordinance levying or imposing taxes or assessments.
(h) All ordinances in the process of adoption or subsequently adopted
after the effective date of the Codified Ordinances.
(i) Zoning Ordinance 5201 passed July 9, 1951, as amended.
[11-10-2022 by Ord. No. 8423]
Unless stated otherwise, the violation of any ordinance provision
shall be classified a summary offense if the violation of the offense
provides a maximum 90 days' imprisonment, maximum $300 fine, or both
such maximums.
[11-10-2022 by Ord. No. 8423]
The following words, when used in the Administrative Code, shall
have the following meaning:
(a) "Charter" shall mean the Home Rule Charter adopted by the voters
for the City of New Castle on May 18, 2021.
(b) "City" shall mean the Home Rule Municipality known as the City of
New Castle.
(c) "City Administrator" shall mean the Chief Appointed Administrative
Officer of the City.
(d) "City Building" shall mean the primary building from which the administrative
operations of the City are conducted as may be designated by the Council
from time to time. The current location of the City Building is at
230 North Jefferson Street, New Castle, Pennsylvania, 16101.
(e) "City Solicitor" shall mean the legal advisor and chief lawyer for
the City.
(f) "City's official information site" shall mean the website or
whatever digital notification used to provide formal notification
and information to residents.
(g) "Council" shall mean the duly elected governing body of the City;
the Mayor and Councilmembers/Council members.
(h) "Councilmember(s) or Council member(s)" shall mean one or more, as
the context requires, of the six individuals elected as Councilmembers
pursuant to Article 2 of the Charter. The term shall not include the
position of Mayor.
(i) "Elected officials" shall mean the Mayor and Councilmembers.
(j) "Mayor" shall mean the elected Mayor provided for in the Charter.
(k) "Member(s) of the Council" shall refer to the Mayor and/or a Councilmember(s)/Council
member(s).
(l) "Public notice" shall mean a legal advertisement in compliance with-the
current laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
[11-10-2022 by Ord. No. 8423]
(a) Whenever in the Codified Ordinances an act is prohibited or is made
or declared to be unlawful or an offense, or whenever in the Codified
Ordinances the doing of any act is required or the failure to do any
act is declared to be unlawful, and where no specific penalty is provided
for such act or failure to act, the violator may be proceeded against
under this section.
(b) Such violator shall, upon conviction in a summary proceeding, be
fined not more than $1,000 for a violation of any building, housing,
property maintenance, health, fire or public safety code or ordinance
provision, and for any water, air and noise pollution violation; and
not more than $600 for a violation of any other ordinance provision,
recoverable with costs, together with imprisonment for not more than
90 days, if the amount of such judgment and costs are not paid.
(c) This section and the foregoing penalties shall not be construed to
limit or deny the right of the City or any person to equitable or
other remedies as may otherwise be available, with or without process
of law.