[Adopted 9-6-1983 by Ord. No. 238 (Ch.
143, Art. III, of the 1990 Code)]
The intent of this article is to establish procedures
for the use and maintenance of retaining tanks designed to receive
and retain sewage from certain residential uses, and it is hereby
declared that the enactment of this article is necessary for the protection,
benefit and preservation of the health, safety and welfare of the
inhabitants of this Township during the time that a connection ban
is in effect.
The following words, terms and phrases, as used
in this article, shall have the following meanings given herein. When
not inconsistent with the context, words used in the singular include
the plural, words in the plural include the singular, and words used
in the present tense include the future. The word "shall" is always
mandatory.
The Board of Supervisors of Upper Providence, Montgomery
County, Pennsylvania, or its authorized representative.
Any property within the Township upon which there is erected
a residential structure intended for continuous or periodic occupancy
or use by human beings or animals and from which structure sewage
shall or may be discharged and which would ordinarily be served by
public sanitary sewers, but for a sewer connection ban.
Any person vested with ownership, legal or equitable, sole
or partial, of any property located in the Township.
Any person or persons, male or female, corporation, partnership,
association, company, individual, owner, occupant, lessee, tenant
or any organization.
A watertight receptacle which receives and retains sewage and is designed and constructed to facilitate the ultimate disposal of the sewage at another site. The term does not include "septic tanks," in which sewage is collected and allowed to decompose through bacterial activity before draining by means of a leaching field, and which are addressed in Article V of this chapter. The term includes but is not limited to the following:
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
CHEMICAL TOILETA permanent or portable
nonflushing toilet using chemical treatment in the retaining tank
for odor control.
HOLDING TANKA tank, whether permanent
or temporary, to which sewage is conveyed by a water-carrying system.
PRIVYA tank designed to receive
sewage where water under pressure is not available.
INCINERATING TOILETA device capable
of reducing waste materials to ashes.
COMPOSTING TOILETA device for holding
and processing human and organic kitchen waste, employing the process
of biological degradation through the action of microorganisms to
produce a stable, humus-like material.
RECYCLING TOILETA device in which
the flushing medium is restored to a condition suitable for reuse
in flushing.
Any substance that contains any of the waste products or
excrement or other discharge from the bodies of human beings or animals
and any noxious or deleterious substance being harmful or inimical
to the public health or to animal or aquatic life or to the use of
water for the domestic water supply or for recreation.
The Township of Upper Providence, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
The Board is hereby authorized and empowered
to undertake within the Township the control and methods of retaining
tank sewage disposal and the collection and transportation thereof.
[Amended 6-2-2008 by Ord. No. 490; at
time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I)]
All such rules and regulations adopted by the
Board shall be in conformity with the provisions herein, all other
ordinances of the Township, all applicable laws and applicable rules
and regulations of administrative agencies of the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania, particularly the Department of Environmental Protection
and, in particular, the regulations set forth in 25 Pa. Code §§ 71.51
and 71.52.
All applications for retaining tank systems
shall include a contract for maintenance by a disposal agency approved
by the Board. Such contract shall include but not be limited to the
name of the contractor, method of maintenance, method of disposal,
frequency of inspection and ultimate place of disposal of all waste.
Such contract shall be required to remain in force for the entire
period of operation of the system. Failure by the owner to renew such
contract or submit proof of another approved contract shall constitute
a violation of this article. The system must be inspected by the approved
disposal agency a minimum of three times per year. Further, prior
to the issuance of any building permits for any residential dwelling
that will utilize a retaining tank, a performance bond must be posted
with the Township in an amount equal to three years' contract price
for sewage removal and for the cost of removal of the retaining tank
as estimated by the Township Engineer, which shall run for the entire
period that the retaining tank is to be in use. This bond shall be
conditioned upon the landowner maintaining the retaining tank system
in accordance with the rules and regulations of this article.
The Board shall, by resolution, have the power
to fix, alter, charge and collect such fees or costs as may be necessary
to properly enforce this article.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: The current fee resolution
is on file in the office of the Township Secretary.
By obtaining permission to use a retaining tank
under this article, the owner of the subject property shall agree
that any failure to make timely removal of the contents of the retaining
tank, or any other violation of this article or sanitary requirements,
will subject the owner to an automatic revocation of the use and occupancy
permits issued for the subject properties.
[Amended 6-2-2008 by Ord. No. 490]
The collection and transportation of all sewage
from any improved property using a retaining tank shall be done under
the direction of the Board, and the disposal thereof shall be made
only at such site or sites as may be approved by the Department of
Environmental Protection of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
The installation of a retaining tank, at the
expense of an improved property owner, shall be required when it is
determined that the malfunctioning of an on-lot sewage system constitutes
a public health hazard. Such installation shall be required only after
all other means of on-site sewage disposal have been determined to
be inadequate.
The owner of an improved property that utilizes
a retaining tank shall:
A.
Maintain the
retaining tank in conformance with this article or any ordinance of
this Township, the provisions of any applicable law and the rules
and regulations of the Board and any administrative agency of the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
B.
Permit only an
approved agency acting in accordance with the regulations of the Board
to collect, transport and dispose of the contents therein.
C.
Remove the retaining
tank system within 30 days after connection to the public sewage system.
D.
Within 24 hours
of the execution of an agreement of sale for the sale of any lot to
be connected to a retaining tank, submit to the Township an executed
statement in a form to be designed by the Township Sewage Enforcement
Officer in which the purchaser acknowledges that the purchaser has
been advised of the terms of this article and understands the procedures,
penalties and fines for noncompliance with this article.
[Amended 9-17-1990 by Ord. No. 301; at
time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I)]
Any person who violates or permits a violation
of this article 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 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.
In addition to any other remedies provided in
this article, any violation of this article may be deemed to constitute
a nuisance and may be abated by the Board by seeking either appropriate
equitable or legal relief from a court of competent jurisdiction.
The appropriate officials of the Township are
directed to take such action as may be necessary to amend the Official
Plan of Upper Providence Township to implement the purposes of this
article.
