The Township has heretofore imposed reserve
capacity charges on subdividers and land developers required or desiring
to reserve capacity in the sewer system. The payment of reserve capacity
charges guaranteed capacity to the developer while providing revenue
to the Township to offset the capital cost of providing that capacity
in advance of its actual use. The General Assembly of the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania, by the enactment of Act 203 of 1990, has now provided
a uniform system available to all municipalities for the recovery
of certain capital costs through the imposition of certain fees payable
at the time connection is made to the sewer system or payable in advance
to guarantee the right of connection. It is deemed to be in the public
interest of the Township that future users of the sewer system pay
those fees authorized by Act 203 of 1990, as a means of purchasing
into the facilities provided by the existing users. The purpose of
this article is to provide for the imposition and collection of such
fees in substitution for the reserve capacity charges previously in
effect.
When used in this article, the following words,
terms and phrases shall have prescribed to them the meanings hereinafter
set forth:
ACT
Act 203 of 1990, enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania, effective June 19, 1991.
AUTHORITY
The Springettsbury Township Sewer Authority.
CAPITAL RECOVERY STUDY
The study authorized by the Act which forms the basis for
the imposition of tapping fees.
COMMERCIAL USE
An improved property which is intended to be used for the
purpose of carrying on a trade or business or is used for social,
religious, educational, charitable or public uses.
CONNECTION
The physical attachment of the sewer facilities of an improved
property to the Township's lateral at the property line or curb stop.
CONNECTION FEE
The charge authorized by the Act for cost of construction
or use of the Township's lateral.
CUSTOMER FACILITIES FEE
The charge authorized by the Act representing the cost of
connecting the sewage facilities of an improved property to the Township's
lateral at the property line or curb stop.
DOMESTIC USE
An improved property which is intended to be used for continuous
or periodic habitation by human beings in a single-family unit.
EDU (EQUIVALENT DWELLING UNIT)
In the case of domestic use, any room, group of rooms, apartment,
house, trailer or other structure or enclosure occupied or intended
for occupancy as separate living quarters by a family or by persons
living together or by persons living alone. The volume of sanitary
sewage generated by one EDU is stated to be 350 gallons per day average.
IMPROVED PROPERTY
Any property located within the Township upon which there
is erected or proposed to be erected a structure or structures intended
for domestic use, office use, commercial use or industrial use and
from which any sanitary sewage and/or industrial waste is or may be
discharged into the Township's sewage system.
INDUSTRIAL USE
An improved property which is intended to be used in whole
or in part for the manufacture, fabrication, processing, assembly
or conversion of any product, commodity or article.
INDUSTRIAL WASTE
Any solid, liquid, gaseous or waterborne wastes from industrial
processes or commercial operations, as distinguished from sanitary
sewage.
LATERAL
The sewer line extending from a collector sewer line of the
Township in any street or right-of-way to the property line or curb
of an improved property.
OFFICE USE
An improved property which is intended to be used in whole
or in part as a business or professional office or similar activity.
OWNER
Any person vested with ownership or title, legal or equitable,
sole or partial of any improved property.
SANITARY SEWAGE
The normal water-carried household and toilet wastes from
dwellings, offices, commercial establishments, institutions and industrial
facilities, exclusive of stormwater runoff, surface water, groundwater
or industrial waste.
SEWAGE SYSTEM
All sanitary or combined sewers, all laterals, all pumping
stations, all force mains, all sewage treatment works and all other
sewage facilities owned by or leased to and operated by the Township
for the collection, transportation and treatment of sanitary sewage
and industrial waste, together with the appurtenances thereof and
any addition extensions or improvements thereto.
TAPPING FEE
The charge authorized by the Act for connecting an improved
property to the Township's lateral at the property line or curb stop.
TOWNSHIP
Springettsbury Township, York County, Pennsylvania.
No person shall connect or cause to be connected
any improved property to the sewer system owned by Authority and operated
by the Township without first making application for a permit, obtaining
such permit, in writing, from the Township and paying such fees and
in such amounts as are provided for in this article. Applications
shall be made on a form to be provided by the Township and shall require
the disclosure of such information as the Township shall deem necessary.
All sewer facilities between the property line
or curb stop and any structure on any improved property required to
be served shall be constructed by the owner of the improved property
at such owner's sole expense. The only fee payable to the Township
in connection with such customer facilities shall be an inspection
fee equal to the reasonable cost to the Township of inspecting the
construction of the facilities. Such charge for inspections shall
be established, from time to time, by resolution of the Board of Supervisors.
Tapping fees shall be based upon the capital
charges study and revisions thereof prepared by the Township's sewer
consulting engineer and in effect at the time application is made
to connect an improved property to the sewer system as provided in
this article. The tapping fee in each case shall consist of a capacity
component and a distribution-collection component and may include
a special purpose facilities component and/or a reimbursement EDU
to be connected to the sewer system.
In the event that the improved property requires or is in an area served by special purpose facilities as defined in the Act, the Township may designate certain such sewer facilities as special purpose facilities and cause the Township's sewer consulting engineer to make a capital recovery study with respect to such facilities in order to establish a component value per EDU. All improved properties benefitted by the special purpose facilities thereafter connected to the sewer system shall pay a tapping fee which shall include a special purpose facilities component part in addition to the component parts imposed pursuant to §
265-28 hereof.
[Amended 11-20-2002 by Ord. No. 2002-11]
All fees imposed by this article shall be a lien on the improved property connected to the sewer system and shall be enforced and collected in the manner provided in the Municipal Lien Law and Chapter
195, Liens, of this Code. In addition, the payment of such fees may be enforced by any appropriate action in law or in equity.