The purpose of this article is to establish procedures for the installation,
use and maintenance of sewage grinder pumps and any associated force mains
or low-pressure laterals. 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 Franconia Township.
Unless the context specifically and clearly indicates otherwise, the
meaning of terms used in this article shall be as follows:
ACT 537 PLAN
A municipality's Official Plan as defined in the Pennsylvania
Sewage Facilities Act, Act of January 24, 1966, P.L. 1535 (1965), No. 537,
as amended, 35 P.S. §§ 750.1-750.20a ("Sewage Facilities Act"
or "Act 537").
AUTHORITY
The Franconia Sewer Authority and the Board of the Franconia Sewer
Authority, authorized by law to adopt resolutions regarding sewage collection,
conveyance, treatment and disposal in Franconia Township, under the provisions
of the Municipality Authorities Act of 2001 (2001, June 19, P.L. 287, No.
22, and as amended thereafter, 53 Pa.C.S.A. § 5601 et seq.).
DEPARTMENT
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
GRINDER PUMP
Any electric motor-driven, submersible, centrifugal pump capable
of macerating all material found in normal domestic sanitary sewage, including
reasonable amounts of objects such as plastics, sanitary napkins, disposable
diapers, rubber and the like, to a fine slurry and pumping this material through
a small-diameter discharge. Grinder pumps can be used as one component of
an area-wide low-pressure sewer system or to deliver wastewater from a single
building to a gravity collector sewer system. In either case, the property
owner's system will include the low-pressure lateral from the pump to
the Authority's limit of responsibility for the publicly owned sewer
system.
IMPROVED PROPERTY
Any property within Franconia 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 sewage shall or may be
discharged.
LOW-PRESSURE SEWER SYSTEM
An alternative to a conventional gravity collector sewer system that
relies on individual grinder pumps to deliver wastewater from buildings to
a system of pressurized small-diameter pipes that serve an area of the municipality.
The system is typically used where gravity sewers are not cost-effective and/or
not feasible due to topography, excessive rock or other reason.
MUNICIPALITY
Franconia Township and the Board of Supervisors of Franconia Township
of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
OFFICIAL PLAN REVISION
A change in the municipality's Act 537 Official Plan to provide
for additional, newly identified future or existing sewage facilities needs,
as defined fully in Section 1 of the Sewage Facilities Act, 35 P.S. § 750.1,
which may include one or more of the following:
A.
UPDATE REVISIONA comprehensive revision to an existing Official Plan required when the Department or municipality determines the Official Plan or one or more of its parts is inadequate for the existing or future sewage facilities needs of a municipality or its residents or landowners.
B.
SPECIAL STUDYA study, survey, investigation, inquiry, research report or analysis which is directly related to an update revision. The studies provide documentation or other support necessary to solve specific problems identified in the update revision.
PROPERTY OWNER
Any person vested with ownership, legal or equitable, sole or partial,
of any property located in Franconia Township.
SEWAGE
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 domestic water supply
or for recreation or any substance which constitutes pollution under the Clean
Streams Law (35 P.S. §§ 691.1- 691.1001).
The connection of existing properties or proposed land development to
an existing or proposed sewerage system through the use of sewage grinder
pumps, their associated low-pressure laterals, and/or force mains shall only
occur after an Official Plan revision to the Municipality's Act 537 Plan,
approved by both the Municipality and Department, designates that the proposed
properties be served by such a connection.
In addition to any other remedies provided in this article, any violation of §§
112-66 and
112-67 above shall constitute a nuisance and shall be abated by the municipality by either seeking mitigation of the nuisance or appropriate equitable or legal relief from a court of competent jurisdiction.
From and after the enactment of this article, it shall be the responsibility
of any property owner whose property is served in whole or in part by a grinder
pump who shall convey his, her or its property to another, to disclose to
the new owner, prior to the sale of the property, that the property is served
by such grinder pump equipment and that the said grinder pump is in good operating
condition.
Any property owner or owners who shall fail to disclose to a new purchaser
of any property which is served in whole or in part by a grinder pump the
existence of the grinder pump and low-pressure installation equipment and
the condition thereof and who shall also fail to certify to the Township that
proper notification of the grinder pump service to the property in violation
of this article shall be subject to a penalty of up to $500 for each such
violation.
All such rules and regulations adopted by the Authority to effectuate
this article shall be in conformity with the provisions herein, all other
ordinances of the Township, and all applicable laws, and applicable rules
and regulations of administrative agencies of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.