[Ord. 51, 12/11/1986, § 1]
This Part shall be known as the "Vector Control Ordinance."
[Ord. 51, 12/11/1986, § 2]
The acts prohibited herein are hereby declared to constitute a public nuisance, which unless controlled, constitute a serious threat to the health, safety and welfare of the citizens of West Cocalico Township.
[Ord. 51, 12/11/1986, § 3]
1. 
For the purpose of this Part the following definitions shall apply:
ACCESSORY STRUCTURE
A detached structure which is not used or not intended to be used for living or sleeping by human occupants and which is located on or partially on any premises.
BREEDING AREA
Any condition either created or contributed to by man which provides the necessary environment for the birth or hatching of vectors.
COLLECTION OF WATER
Considered in this Part shall be held to be those contained in ditches, pools, ponds, streams, excavations, holes, depressions, open cesspools, privy vaults, fountains, cisterns, tanks, shallow wells, barrels, troughs, urns, cans, boxes, bottles, tubs, buckets, roof gutters, tanks of flush closets, reservoirs, vessels, or other receptacles, containers, or devices of any kind which may hold water.
DILAPIDATED
Fallen into partial ruin or decay.
DISPOSAL
The storage, collection, disposal, or handling of refuse.
EXTERMINATION
The control and elimination of vectors by eliminating their harborage places; by removing or making inaccessible materials that may serve as their food; by poisoning, spraying, fumigating, fogging larviciding, trapping, or by any other recognized and legal vector control elimination methods approved by the local or State authority having such administrative authority.
GARBAGE
All animal and vegetable wastes resulting from the handling, preparation, cooking or consumption of foods.
HARBORAGE
Any place where vectors can live, nest, or seek shelter.
OCCUPANT
Any person, over one year of age, living, sleeping, cooking, or eating in, or actually having possession of, a dwelling unit or a rooming unit; except that in dwelling units a guest will not be considered an occupant.
OFFAL
Include sewage, sludge, manure, animal carcasses or parts thereof, blood, bones, or other waste products of an organic nature.
OWNER
Any person who, alone or jointly or severally, with others:
A. 
Shall have legal title to any premises, dwelling or dwelling unit, with or without accompanying actual possession thereof.
B. 
Shall have charge, care, or control of any premise, dwelling or dwelling unit, as owner or agent of the owner, or an executor, administrator, trustee, or guardian of the estate of the owner. Any such person thus representing the actual owner shall be bound to comply with the provisions of this Part and of the rules and regulations adopted pursuant thereto, to the same extent as if he were the owner.
REFUSE
All solid wastes, except body wastes, and shall include garbage, ashes, and rubbish.
RUBBISH
Includes glass, metal, paper, plant growth, wood, or nonputrescible solid wastes.
VECTOR
A rodent, arthropod, or insect capable of transmitting a disease or infection. Vectors shall include, but not be limited to, rats, mosquitoes, cockroaches, flies, ticks, fleas, etc.
VECTOR PROOFING
A form of construction to prevent the ingress or egress of vectors to or from a given space or building or gaining access to food, water or harborage. This term shall include, but not be limited to, rat proofing, fly proofing, mosquito proofing, etc.
[Ord. 51, 12/11/1986, § 4; as amended by Ord. 125B, 9/16/2014]
1. 
It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to deposit any refuse, offal, garbage, pomace, decaying matter, or organic substance of any kind in or upon any public or private lot, building, structure, accessory structure, premises, or in or upon any street, avenue, alley, parkway, ravine, ditch, gutter, stream, pond, or into any of the waters of the Commonwealth so that same shall or may afford food, harborage, or breeding areas for rats, flies, mosquitoes, or other vectors.
2. 
It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, or corporation to deposit or permit to accumulate in or upon any premise, improved or vacant, or on any open lot, or alley, any lumber, boxes, barrels, bottles, cans, glass, scrap iron, wire, metal articles, pipe, broken stone or cement, broken crockery, broken plaster, or rubbish of any kind, unless the same may be kept in approved covered receptacles or placed on open racks that are elevated above the ground, and evenly piled or stacked, or disposed of as may be approved by the Department of Environmental Protection.
3. 
It shall be unlawful to maintain a junkyard or place for the dumping or wrecking or disassembling of automobiles, trucks, tractors, or machinery of any kind or for the storing or leaving of dilapidated, wrecked or abandoned automobiles, trucks, tractors, or machinery of any kind, or of any of the parts thereof, or for the storing or leaving of any machinery or equipment used by contractors or builders or by other persons which said places may afford harborage or breeding areas for rats or other vectors, unless same shall constitute an approved use within the Township, and then only if such other methods of vector control are employed, such as extermination or vector proofing, which will substantially eliminate the breeding, propagation of vectors, or the harborage of same.
4. 
It shall be unlawful to store refuse in containers other than those which shall be made of durable, watertight, rust-resistant material having a tight-fitting lid which must be kept on the container when in use. These containers must be kept clean by thorough rinsing and draining as often as necessary so as not to provide food or breeding areas for flies. Plastic garbage bags must be kept within such containers.
5. 
It shall be unlawful to dump, burn, bury, destroy, or otherwise dispose of refuse in such a manner as to foster the propagation of vectors, or except at an approved refuse disposal site.
6. 
It shall be unlawful to collect, haul, transport, or convey garbage in open, unenclosed, non-leakproof vehicles.
7. 
It shall be unlawful to construct, maintain or use a sewage system, privy, urinal, cesspool, or other receptacle for human excrement so that vectors may have access to the excrementitious matter contained therein.
8. 
It shall be unlawful to have, keep, maintain, cause or permit any collection of standing or flowing water in which mosquitoes breed or are likely to breed, other than those occurring naturally, unless such collection of water is treated or maintained so as effectually to prevent such breeding.
[Ord. 51, 12/11/1986, § 5]
1. 
Every owner of a dwelling containing two or more dwelling units shall maintain in a clean and sanitary condition the shared or public areas of the dwelling and premises thereof.
2. 
Every occupant of a dwelling or dwelling unit shall maintain in a clean and sanitary condition that part or those parts of the dwelling, dwelling unit and premises thereof that he occupies and controls.
3. 
Every occupant of a dwelling containing a single-dwelling unit shall be responsible for the extermination of insects, and/or rodents, on the premises, and every occupant of a dwelling unit in a dwelling containing more than one dwelling unit shall be responsible for such extermination whenever his dwelling unit is the only one infested. Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this subsection, whenever infestation is caused by failure of the owner to maintain the dwelling in a rodent proof or reasonable insect-proof condition, extermination shall be the responsibility of the owner. Whenever infestation exists in two or more of the dwelling units in any dwelling, or in the shared or public parts of any dwelling containing two or more dwelling units, extermination shall be the responsibility of the owner.
[Ord. 51, 12/11/1986, § 6]
1. 
Any dwelling, building, structure, accessory, structure, premise or any other place may be required to be vector-proofed when found to be providing harborage or breeding areas for rats, flies, mosquitoes, or any other vectors.
2. 
It shall be unlawful for the owner, occupant, contractor, public utility company, plumber, or any other person to remove and fail to restore in like condition the vector proofing from any building, structure or accessory structure for any purpose.
[Ord. 51, 12/11/1986, § 7]
A program plan and specifications for private vector control programs may be required to be submitted to the Township as deemed necessary by the Vector Control Officer. Said program plan shall be submitted by the owner or agent of the property on or in which said vector control program is or will be conducted. The program plan shall state the type of vectors to be controlled, the name of the company contracted to carry out the program, and any and all work to be conducted in an effort to control said vectors. If, after review of the program plan by the Vector Control Officer, it is found to be inadequate or incomplete, additional information may be required as well as additional control methods.
[Ord. 51, 12/11/1986, § 8]
1. 
From and after passage of this Part, the Township and/or a representative of the vector control program is empowered to make inspections of the interior and exterior of all dwellings, buildings, structures, and accessory structures, premises, collections of water, or any other places to determine full compliance with this Part, and to determine evidence of vector infestation and the need for vector proofing or additions or repairs to existing vector proofing.
2. 
Whenever it shall be determined that any dwelling, building, structure, accessory structure, premise, collection of water, or any other place is in violation of this Part, a notice shall be issued setting forth the alleged violations, and advising the owner, occupant, operator, or agent that such violations must be corrected. The recipient of the notice shall have seven days to present to the Vector Control Officer a plan of correction, which shall upon approval be immediately initiated. A recipient shall have an additional seven days to amend the plan as required by the Vector Control Officer.
3. 
Whenever said violations shall fail to be corrected within the time set forth in the approved plan, and an extension of this time is not deemed to be necessary, the Township may proceed to abate the said violations in the manner provided by the law. To this end, the Vector Control Officer is hereby empowered, with the Township Supervisors' consent, to enter onto the property where the violation exists, along with such of the Township employees as may be necessary, and take such steps as are reasonably necessary to correct the violation. In the alternative, the Vector Control Officer may contract, on behalf of the Township, for the services of professional exterminators or other contractors to enter onto the premises and abate the violation. All costs attributable to the abatement procedure shall be charged to the owner of the property on which the violation occurs. If the owner fails to reimburse the Township within 30 days of demand for payment, the Township may file a claim in assumpsit, file a municipal claim, or both. This provision shall be in addition to, and shall not replace, § 10-211 below.
4. 
The foregoing to the contrary notwithstanding, the Vector Control Officer may direct specific corrections of a minor nature in the notice. Such corrections shall be accomplished within seven days of the date of posting of the notice without the necessity of a plan being submitted.
[Ord. 51, 12/11/1986, § 9; as amended by Ord. 76, 1/19/1993]
1. 
The position of Township Vector Control Officer shall be held by such person or entity, and under such terms and conditions, as the Supervisors may from time to time direct by a duly adopted resolution of the Board.
2. 
The present Township Vector Control Officer shall remain in such position until replaced as aforesaid.
[Ord. 51, 12/11/1986, § 10]
1. 
A farm shall be defined as any place where 10 or more acres of land are employed by the owner to raise crops or animals for sale for human or animal consumption, or where there is less than 10 acres, but it has an anticipated annual income in excess of $10,000 from the same sources.
2. 
Farms shall be exempt from the requirements of §§ 10-203 — 10-206, unless the prohibited practice creating or fostering the vector problem results from poor agricultural practices, or practices which are not normally accepted as necessary to the operation of a farm, or which present a direct risk to the health or safety of the residents of West Cocalico Township.
[Ord. 51, 12/11/1986, § 11; as amended by Ord. 125B, 9/16/2014]
Any person, firm or corporation who shall violate any provision of this Part, upon conviction thereof in an action brought before a magisterial district judge in the manner provided for the enforcement of summary offenses under the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure, shall be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than $1,000 plus costs and, in default of payment of said fine and costs, to a term of imprisonment not to exceed 90 days. Each day that a violation of this Part continues or each Section of this Part which shall be found to have been violated shall constitute a separate offense.