As used herein, the following terms shall have
the meanings stated:
OCCUPIED BUILDING
Each structure for continuous or periodical human occupancy
from which sanitary sewage is or may be discharged and includes, without
limiting the generality of the foregoing, dwellings, flats, apartments,
stores, shops, offices and business or industrial establishments.
PERSON
Any individual, firm, company, association, society, partnership
or corporation.
PROPERTY ACCESSIBLE TO A PUBLIC SEWER
Property which adjoins, abuts on or is adjacent to a public
sewer or a street or highway in which a public sewer is located, but
shall not include any property on which the principal occupied building
is located more than 150 feet from a public sewer.
PUBLIC SEWER
Facilities (including any part of but not necessarily the
entirety of a system of such facilities) operated by a sewer authority
for the collection of sanitary sewage within this Township. Such term
includes lateral lines from a main street sewer to the curb or right-of-way
line where such lateral lines are constructed by a sewer authority.
SANITARY SEWAGE
The normal, water-carried household and toilet wastes resulting
from human occupancy.
SEWER AUTHORITY
The Township of Upper Providence or any sewer committee or
department of the Township or of the Board of Township Supervisors
or any other agency operating public sewers for or at the request
of the Board of Township Supervisors.
[Amended 9-18-2006 by Ord. No. 466; 12-11-2011 by Ord. No.
521]
Upon the completion of any public sewer, the
sewer authority charged with the operation thereof shall cause notice
of that fact to be published once in a newspaper of general circulation
in the Township, such notice to state that the owners of property
accessible to such sewer upon which there is an occupied building
are permitted to make connection therewith, pursuant to this article.
A copy of such notice, together with a copy of this article and any
ordinance then in effect imposing sewer connection fees and sewer
rents, shall be mailed to each person known to the sewer authority
to own property accessible to such sewer by personal service or registered
mail.
[Amended 10-3-1977 by Ord. No. 194; 9-18-2006 by Ord. No.
466; 7-6-2010 by Ord. No. 509; 12-11-2011 by Ord. No. 521]
A. Any person owning
property accessible to a public sewer on which an occupied building
is hereafter erected shall, at the time of erection and at his expense,
install sanitary facilities in such building and connect the same
to the public sewer.
B. Any person owning
property accessible to a public sewer on which there is an occupied
building shall be permitted to connect the same to the public sewer
at his expense.
C. Any person owning property accessible to public sewer on which there is an occupied building shall be required to connect the same to the public sewer system, at his expense, within 60 days of that property being determined to have a documented on-site sewer system failure or within 60 days of the receipt of the notice from the Township set forth in §
237-2 above, whichever occurs later.
D. Any person owning
property not accessible to a public sewer on which there is an occupied
building, but who can arrange for connection thereto through intermediate
properties, shall be permitted to connect the same thereto at his
expense.
E. All industrial property and all commercial property connecting after the effective date of this subsection shall be required to install a meter to measure water usage and shall be subject to the rates computed on the basis of water usage as set forth in Article
II hereof, as amended.
It shall be unlawful for any person owning or occupying a property on which there is a building required to be connected to a public sewer under the provisions of §
237-3 hereof to construct or use on such property any privy, privy vault, cesspool, septic tank or other device for the disposal of sanitary sewage, and any such prohibited devices shall be cleaned and filled in with clean bank-run gravel or dirt within 30 days following the date on which the aforesaid connection is required to be made. Any such privy, privy vault, cesspool, septic tank or other device constructed or used in violation hereof is hereby declared to be a nuisance which shall be abated as provided by law.
If any person required to make a connection to a public sewer by §
237-3 hereof fails to do so after reasonable notice and opportunity, the sewer authority shall report such failure to the Board of Township Supervisors, who may proceed as permitted by law to enter upon the property, make such connection and collect the cost thereof by municipal lien or otherwise.
No unauthorized person shall maliciously, willfully
or negligently break, damage, destroy, uncover, deface or tamper with
any structure, appurtenance or equipment which is a part of the sewage
works. Any person violating this provision shall be subject to immediate
arrest under charge of disorderly conduct.
[Amended 9-17-1990 by Ord. No. 301; at
time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I)]
Any person violating any provision of this article shall be
served by the sewer authority with written notice stating the nature
of the violation and prescribing a reasonable time limit for the correction
thereof. Any person continuing such a violation beyond such time limit
shall, upon conviction in a summary proceeding brought before a Magisterial
District Judge 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 separate building or dwelling unit in
respect of which a violation occurs and 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.