[Adopted 3-15-1989 by Ord. No. 89-4]
Unless the context specifically and clearly indicates otherwise, the meanings of terms and phrases used in this article shall be as follows:
AUTHORITY
The Lower Saucon Authority, a municipal authority incorporated pursuant to provisions of the Municipality Authorities Act of 1945, approved May 2, 1945, P.L. 382, as amended and supplemented, of the commonwealth.
[1]
BUILDING SEWER
The extension from the sewage drainage system of any structure to the lateral of a sewer.
COMMONWEALTH
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
IMPROVED PROPERTY
Any property within this Township upon which there is erected a structure intended for continuous or periodic habitation, occupancy or use by human beings or animals and from which structure sanitary sewage and/or industrial waste is or may be discharged.
INDUSTRIAL ESTABLISHMENT
Any improved property located within this Township and used or intended for use, wholly or in part, for the manufacturing, processing, cleaning, laundering or assembling of any product, commodity or article, or any other improved property located in this Township from which wastes, in addition to or other than sanitary sewage, shall be discharged.
INDUSTRIAL WASTE
Solid, liquid or gaseous waste from any industrial, manufacturing, or commercial process or from the development, recovery or processing of natural resources, but not sewage.
[Amended 5-20-1998 by Ord. No. 98-17
LATERAL
That part of the sewer system extending from a sewer to the curbline or, if there shall be no curbline, to the property line, or if no such lateral shall be provided, then "lateral" shall mean that portion of or place in a sewer which is provided for the connection of any building sewer.
OWNER
Any person vested with ownership, legal or equitable, sole or partial, of any improved property.
PERSON
Any individual, partnership, company, association, society, trust, corporation, municipality, municipality authority or other group or entity.
SANITARY SEWAGE
Normal water-carried household and toilet wastes from any improved property.
SEWER
Any pipe or conduit constituting a part of the sewer system, used or usable for sewage collection purposes.
SEWER SYSTEM
All facilities, as of any particular time, for collecting, pumping, transmitting, treating and disposing of sanitary sewage and/or industrial waste, situated in or adjacent to this Township and owned by the Township (or its Authority);
STREET
Includes any street, road, lane, court, cul-de-sac, alley, public way or public square.
TOWNSHIP
The Township of Lower Saucon, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, a Township of the Second Class of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, acting by and through its Council or, in appropriate cases, acting by and through its authorized representatives.
[1]
Editor's Note: Said Act was repealed by Act of June 19, 2001, P.L. 287, No. 22; see now 53 Pa.C.S.A. § 5601 et seq.
A. 
The owner of any improved property adjoining and adjacent to and whose principal building is within 150 feet of the sewer system shall connect such improved property with and shall use such sewer system, in such manner as this Township may require, within 60 days after notice to such owner from this Township to make such connection (or within an approved extension), for the purpose of the discharge of all sanitary sewage and industrial waste from such improved property; subject, however, to such limitations and restrictions as shall be established herein or otherwise shall be established by this Township from time to time.
B. 
All sanitary sewage and industrial waste from any improved property, after connection of such improved property with a sewer shall be required under Subsection A, shall be conducted into a sewer; subject, however, to such limitations and restrictions as shall be established herein or otherwise shall be established by this Township from time to time.
C. 
No person shall place, shall deposit or shall permit to be placed or to be deposited upon public or private property within this Township any sanitary sewage or industrial waste in violation of Subsection A. No person shall discharge or shall permit to be discharged to any natural outlet within this Township any sanitary sewage or industrial waste in violation of Subsection A, except where suitable treatment has been provided which is satisfactory to this Township.
D. 
Privy vaults, cesspools, sinkholes and septic tanks.
(1) 
No privy vault, cesspool, sinkhole, septic tank or similar receptacle shall be used or shall be maintained at any time upon any improved property which has been connected to a sewer or which shall be required under Subsection A to be connected to a sewer.
(2) 
Every such privy vault, cesspool, sinkhole, septic tank or similar receptacle in existence shall be abandoned and, at the discretion of this Township, shall be cleansed and shall be filled, at the expense of the owner of such improved property, with the inspection of this Township; and any such privy vault, cesspool, sinkhole, septic tank or similar receptacle not so abandoned and, if required by this Township, not cleansed and filled, shall constitute a nuisance, and such nuisance may be abated, as provided by law, at the expense of the owner of such improved property.
(3) 
The fill for each such privy vault, cesspool, sinkhole, septic tank or similar receptacle shall constitute clean earth, stone, rocks, sand or concrete at the option of the property owner.
[Added 3-7-1990 by Ord. No. 90-5]
(4) 
If a property owner wishes to utilize a cesspool or a septic tank and drain field system for the disposal of either groundwater or rainwater, the property owner may utilize these facilities for this purpose upon satisfying the following criteria:
(a) 
The septic tank or cesspool shall be pumped empty by an approved septic tank pumping contractor; and
(b) 
The septic tank or cesspool shall be filled with clean, large limestone aggregate of three inches' size or larger.
E. 
No privy vault, cesspool, sinkhole, septic tank or similar receptacle at any time shall be connected with a sewer.
F. 
The notice by this Township to make a connection to a sewer, referred to in Subsection A, shall consist of a copy of this article, including any amendments and/or supplements at the time in effect, or a summary of each section hereof, and a written or printed document requiring the connection in accordance with the provisions of this article and specifying that such connection shall be made within 60 days after the date such notice is given or served. Such notice may be given or served at any time after a sewer is in place which can receive and can convey sanitary sewage and industrial waste for treatment and disposal from the particular improved property. Such notice shall be given or served upon the owner in accordance with law. If for some reason the owner cannot make the connection within this sixty-day period, the Township Manager, at his sole discretion, may grant, case by case, extensions of time for a sixty-day period if the following conditions are met:
(1) 
The owner requests such extension, in writing, citing the reasons for the request.
(2) 
The owner pays all connection and/or tapping fees and/or assessments.
(3) 
The Manager makes a finding that the reasons cited by the owner are sufficient to justify the extension of time.
A. 
No person shall uncover, shall connect with, shall make any opening into or shall use, shall alter or shall disturb, in any manner, any sewer or any part of the sewer system without first obtaining a permit, in writing, from this Township.
B. 
Application for a permit required under Subsection A shall be made by the owner of the improved property served or to be served or by the duly authorized agent of such owner.
C. 
No person shall make or shall cause to be made a connection of any improved property with a sewer until such person shall have fulfilled each of the following conditions:
(1) 
Such person shall have notified the Township of the desire and intention to connect such improved property to a sewer;
(2) 
Such person shall have applied for and shall have obtained a permit, as required by Subsection A;
(3) 
Such person shall have given the Township at least 24 hours' notice of the time when such connection will be made so that this Township may inspect or may cause to be inspected the work of connection and necessary testing; and
(4) 
If applicable, such person shall have furnished satisfactory evidence to the Township that any tapping (or connection) fee which may be charged and imposed by the Township or the Authority against the owner of each improved property who connects such improved property to a sewer has been paid.
D. 
Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, each improved property shall be connected separately and independently with a sewer through a building sewer. Grouping of more than one improved property on one building sewer shall not be permitted, except under special circumstances and for good sanitary reasons or other good cause shown, but then only after special permission of this Township, in writing, shall have been secured and only subject to such rules, regulations and conditions as may be prescribed by this Township or the Authority, as applicable.
E. 
All costs and expenses of construction of a building sewer and all costs and expenses of connection of a building sewer to a sewer shall be borne by the owner of the improved property to be connected, and such owner shall indemnify and shall save harmless this Township and the Authority from all loss or damage that may be occasioned, directly or indirectly, as a result of construction of a building sewer or of connection of a building sewer to a sewer.
F. 
A building sewer shall be connected to a sewer at the place designated by this Township or by the Authority and where, if applicable, the lateral is provided.
G. 
If the owner of any improved property located within this Township and adjoining and adjacent to and whose principal building is within 150 feet of the sewer system, after 60 days' notice from this Township and any extension approved, in accordance with § 130-32A, shall fail to connect such improved property, as required, this Township may enter upon such improved property and construct such connection and may collect from such owner the costs and expenses thereof in the manner permitted by law.
A. 
Where an improved property, at the time connection to a sewer is required, shall be served by its own sewage disposal system or sewage disposal device, the existing sewer line shall be broken on the structure side of such sewage disposal system or sewage disposal device, and attachment shall be made, with proper fittings, to continue such sewer line as a building sewer.
B. 
No building sewer shall be covered until it has been inspected and approved by this Township. If any part of a building sewer is covered before being inspected and approved, it shall be uncovered for inspection at the cost and expense of the owner of the improved property to be connected to a sewer.
C. 
Every building sewer of any improved property shall be maintained in a sanitary and safe operating condition by the owner of such improved property.
D. 
Every excavation for a building sewer shall be guarded adequately with barricades and lights to protect all persons from damage and injury. Any street, sidewalk and other public property disturbed in the course of installation of a building sewer shall be restored, at the cost and expense of the owner of the improved property being connected, in a manner satisfactory to this Township.
E. 
If any person shall fail or shall refuse, upon receipt of a notice of this Township or the Authority, in writing, to remedy any unsatisfactory condition with respect to a building sewer within 60 days of receipt of such notice, this Township or the Authority may refuse to permit such person to discharge sanitary sewage and industrial waste into the sewer system until such unsatisfactory condition shall have been remedied to the satisfaction of this Township or the Authority.
F. 
This Township reserves the right to adopt, from time to time, additional rules and regulations as it shall deem necessary and proper relating to connections with a sewer and with the sewer system, which additional rules and regulations, to the extent appropriate, shall be and shall be construed as part of this article.
A. 
This Township does charge a tapping fee, as set from time to time by resolution or ordinance, as may be required by law, against the owner of any improved property whenever such owner hereafter shall connect any such improved property with the sewer system.[1] Such tapping fee is charged for connection of each such improved property by the owner of such improved property.[2]
[1]
Editor's Note: The current Fee Schedule is available at the Town Hall.
[2]
Editor's Note: Original Section 5.02, which immediately followed this section and which set forth tapping fees, was deleted 5-20-1998 by Ord. No. 98-17.
B. 
The tapping fee shall be due and payable at the time application is made to the Township to make any such connection to the sewer system or upon the date when the Township shall connect any such improved property to the sewer system, at the cost and expense of the owner, when such owner shall have failed to make such connection as required by the Township pursuant to this article.
C. 
All tapping fees shall be payable to the Township.
D. 
Payment of tapping fees charged by this Township pursuant to this article shall be enforced by this Township in any manner appropriate under laws in effect at the time.
E. 
This Township reserves the right, from time to time, to adopt modifications of, supplements to or amendments of this article.
F. 
In those cases where the Township is constructing a sanitary sewer collection system along or abutting a property that is not improved, and where such property owner abutting the system requests the Township to install a lateral for the future utilization and benefit of that unimproved property, then in that event the property owner will be billed and charged the tapping fee in accordance with this article, and such tapping fee shall be paid within 60 days of the receipt by such owner of the notice that such payment is due. In these cases, the owner will not be charged the inspection fee and will not be required to connect to the system until such time as the property is improved. At the time the property owner applies for the permission to connect to the system, the property owner shall pay all applicable inspection fees established at the time the application is made and shall pay for any additional tapping fee or connection fee above and beyond that already paid, if such tapping fee or connection fee is greater than the fee in this article, at the time the property owner is ready to connect to the system.
[Added 3-7-1990 by Ord. No. 90-5]
[Amended 9-18-1996 by Ord. No. 96-10; 5-20-1998 by Ord. No. 98-17; 3-3-2021 by Ord. No. 2021-01]
This article shall be enforced by action brought before a Magisterial District Judge in the same manner provided for the enforcement of summary offenses under the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure. Any person who violates or permits the violation of this article shall, upon conviction in a summary proceeding, be punishable by a fine of not more than $1,000 or by 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. Each section of this article that is violated shall also constitute a separate offense.