[Adopted 11-8-2000 by Ord. No. 2000-2]
The Board of Supervisors of Thornbury Township
makes the following legislative findings and determinations:
A.
There are throughout the Township numerous community
sewage systems and private on-lot systems to which multiple users
are connected and upon which those users rely for the safe and efficient
collection, treatment and disposal of sanitary sewage generated by
those users. Such users include multiple dwelling units connected
to community sewage treatment and disposal systems, occupants of shopping
centers, multitenant office buildings and single properties under
single control whereon there are conducted multiple uses or activities,
each with separate sewage disposal capacity requirements.
B.
Some of these community systems, although privately
owned, operate under the terms of sewage facilities permits wherein
the Township is either permittee or co-permittee. Even where the Township
is not the permittee or co-permittee, where the system fails, the
Township is called upon by the Department of Environmental Protection
(hereinafter "DEP") or the Chester County Health Department (hereinafter
"CCHD") to abate existing failures of these systems or to see to their
abatement and may be subject to fines, assessments and penalties issued
by the DEP for such system failures or the failure of any permittee
or co-permittee to comply with the terms of the permits issued. Further,
the system failures or violations of permit conditions constitute
a public health hazard and a burden upon the Township funds and personnel.
C.
Much of the development within the Township consists
of single-family detached dwellings on individual lots, and in most
cases, sanitary sewage facilities serving those lots are individual
on-lot systems. Because of the dispersion of this development throughout
the Township, it would be difficult from an engineering standpoint
and financially destructive to the Township's resources to provide
public sewage facilities to this widely disbursed housing. Therefore,
it is of utmost importance that these sewage facilities be properly
maintained in order to avoid the need to provide public sewage facilities
to widely distributed individual housing units.
D.
The ultimate responsibility to assure compliance with
the terms of the permits issued and to assure property maintenance
of the facilities is placed upon the Township by the regulating agencies
as part of the maintenance component of the sewage facilities planning
responsibility under the Act 537 sewage facilities planning process.
E.
In order to meet this obligation of the Township,
it is necessary that the Township affirmatively monitor the quantity
and quality of sewage effluent discharged into such treatment plants
and assure that proper personnel and facilities are used to maintain
such systems.
F.
The Township has the power and duty to so regulate
and monitor these systems under the provisions of Act 537 and § 1522
of the Second Class Township Code.
G.
The regulation of facilities under this article is
not intended to and shall not be construed as assuming or guaranteeing
the management or operation of any such system for the benefit of
any tenant, occupant, owner or operator or assuming any responsibility
with respect to any such facility with respect to compliance with
any permit issued to persons other than the Township or to relieve
any other permittee or co-permittee of their obligations with respect
thereto. The oversight and regulation here undertaken are to be construed
as actions within the Township's governmental responsibilities and
functions.
As used herein, unless the context clearly requires
to the contrary or the terms are elsewhere otherwise defined, the
following words and phrase shall have the following meanings:
A sewage collection, treatment and disposal system serving
a nonresidential use generating in whole or in part other than sanitary
waste; or a nonresidential use generating more than one EDU of sanitary
waste per day, or serving more than one single-family dwelling unit;
or serving an institutional use. A dormitory, hotel, motel or rooming
house shall not be considered as a single-family dwelling unit.
That amount of sanitary sewage anticipated to be generated
by a single-family dwelling. In the absence of empirical data collected
at the site by a reliable measurement system such as a sewage flow
meter of an acceptable type or a water meter where it can be shown
that the water intake is substantially equal to the sewage use, the
daily flow of an EDU shall be that which is established by or adopted
by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources (DEP) from
time to time with reference to such systems.
A sanitary sewage collection, treatment and disposal system
or any part or component thereof owned, permitted to or operated by
a municipality, municipal authority or public utility.
A mechanical or electronic instrument of a size, design and
type approved by DEP for measurement of sewage flow for the type of
COLDS under consideration. Where it can be demonstrated that the sewage
to be generated by the use is substantially equal to the water use
anticipated for the use, the measured flow from a water meter of a
type satisfactory to the Building Inspector of Thornbury Township
may be used in lieu of a sewage flow meter for the purpose of determining
flows and residual capacity of the COLDS to which connection is requested.
For purposes of calculating estimated, proposed or planned
sewage flow, the sewage generation quantities set forth in DEP regulations
shall prevail. Where empirical data is established for a site over
a substantial and meaningful period of time, a facility may be reevaluated
as to remaining capacity based thereon.
A passive treatment and disposal system consisting of a septic
tank, piping and subsurface tile field, elevated sand mound and other
related or similar facilities for the collection of sanitary sewage
effluent from a single-family residential dwelling. No special treatment
is afforded the sanitary waste except, if applicable, a garbage grinder
for kitchen waste. The term shall not be deemed to include any experimental
system or any such system into which there is discharged any industrial
waste, whether or not pretreated, nor any other type of system above
described when installed at a commercial location if, but only if,
the sewage discharge thereto is only sanitary waste generated from
public or employee rest rooms and does not exceed in volume one EDU.
It shall not include waste generated by such uses as restaurants,
or any other use where kitchen waste is of a volume or quality in
excess of that which would be generated in a single-family dwelling.
Any of the following: a single-family dwelling unit, including,
without limitation, a detached, semidetached, attached or apartment
unit; a mobile home; a retail store, office or other commercial entity.
Where a development project is owned by a cooperative, condominium
or fee-simple-unit-owner regime, each unit shall constitute a separate
unit of use. Further, no unit of use shall occupy more than one lot
within a development project. Each store area within a multiuse center,
and each office within a multitenant office building shall constitute
a separate unit of use.
A.
Operator's reports. Contemporaneously with the submission
of any periodic, interim or special report to any authority regulating
the connection to or use, maintenance, repair or operation of any
COLDS or public sewage facility (hereinafter a "regulated system")
rendering service to any land, building or unit of use in Thornbury
Township (and only to the extent thereof within the Township), the
operator, owner or permittee (hereinafter "regulated parties") shall
submit a true and correct copy thereof to the Township.
B.
Initial report. Within 30 days after the effective
date of this article, the regulated parties of a regulated system
shall submit to Thornbury Township an initial report stating thereon
the following information:
(1)
The names, addresses, business and emergency telephone
number and contact officers of the owners, operators and responsible
officials owning, managing or operating a regulated system within
the Township or rendering service to land, buildings or facilities
within the Township.
(2)
The type of system, its permit number as issued by
any regulating entity and the date of issuance and expiration of any
such permit.
(3)
The quantitative and effluent standards for the system
and the committed and reserved capacity of the system.
(4)
Whether the system is in any manner out of compliance
with the terms of its permit.
(5)
The name, address and contact person of each user
connected to the system and the average periodic usage by that user.
(6)
Such other information as the Code Official may reasonably
require to assist in the administration of this article.
C.
Change notices. Upon the occurrence of any event making
any portion of the initial report, as previously modified by change
notices filed, inaccurate, the regulated parties shall, within 5 days
after the occurrence thereof, file with the Township a change notice
identifying the regulated system, the regulated parties and the relevant
facts constituting the change. Such changes requiring reporting include
but are not limited to:
(1)
A change in the identity of any regulated party.
(2)
A change in the permit authorizing the operation of
the regulated system.
(3)
A change in the occupant of any unit of use.
(4)
Any expansion, change in activity or change in committed
flow of any unit of use.
(5)
Any notice of violations or occurrence of any violation
of the permit issued.
(6)
The connection of any new unit of use.
(7)
The disconnection or termination of connection or
termination of activity of any unit of use. Each change notice shall
contain thereon the permitted capacity of the regulated system, the
current flow, the anticipated new flow generated by the change and
the amount of unused capacity remaining (both planned and actual).
(8)
The exceeding of allocated capacity of any unit of
use.
When any new unit of use is connected to a regulated
system or any new occupant, whether by sale, lease, license or change
of use within a unit of use occurs, a change notice shall be filed
with the Township and the sewage flow allocation applicable to that
unit of use shall be included in the agreement of sale, deed, lease
or other document permitting such occupancy thereof or use therein.
It shall be unlawful for any owner, tenant,
licensee, builder, developer or any other entity or person (hereinafter
collectively called "users"):
A.
To connect any unit of use as herein defined to a
regulated system without a connection certificate being first issued
to that user by the Codes Enforcement Officer of Thornbury Township.
B.
To change or expand the use of any unit of use or
change the identity of the user without first obtaining a connection
certificate from the Codes Enforcement Officer of Thornbury Township.
C.
To cause or permit the flow from any unit of use to
exceed for more than ten days in any calendar quarter the flow authorized
in the current connection certificate.
D.
To cause to suffer to be discharged from the unit
of use into the regulated system any substance not meeting the qualitative
parameters of the permit issued for the regulated system. Where the
permit limit is stated in a total amount rather than in an amount
per gallon or similar ratio, the limit for each unit of use shall
be the total permitted discharge of the regulated substance as set
forth in the permit times the percentage of total licensed capacity
(whether or not allocated to units of use) allocated under the connection
certificate to that unit of use.
E.
To misstate or omit any relevant fact on an application
for a connection certificate.
F.
To discharge stormwater or basement or other similar
accumulations of water into the COLDS.
G.
To cause or suffer any connection system to bypass
in whole or in part the flow meter into the collection system.
H.
To misstate or withhold any relevant fact on any report
required to be filed with the Township pursuant to this article.
I.
To modify any regulated system without all regulatory
permits being first had and obtained.
J.
To willfully or negligently damage any regulated system
while any unit of use is connected thereto or permit the connection
or continued use of any regulated system by any unit of use while
the regulated system is damaged in a manner making it a violation
of the regulatory permits to continue such use.
K.
To fail to file at or prior to the time required for
such filing any report required to be filed under the terms of this
article.
L.
To do or suffer to be done any other act in violation
of this article or fail to perform any duty imposed by the terms of
this article as and when required.
M.
To fail to file any report required hereunder or to
do or refrain from doing any act herein required or prohibited by
a regulated party. This shall be deemed a violation as to all regulated
parties and their respective liabilities shall be joint and several.
Any violation of this article as to a regulated
party shall be deemed a separate offense as to each and every regulated
party to that regulated system. Each day that a violation continues
shall be deemed a separate offense. Each separate offense shall be
subject to a separate fine, penalty and punishment.
A.
Any person or entity who or which violates any provisions of § 105-16K shall, upon conviction in a summary proceeding, be sentenced to pay a fine of $100 for each day of violation.
B.
Any person or entity who or which violates any provision other than a violation of § 105-16K shall, upon conviction in a summary proceeding, be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than $1,000 for each separate violation.
C.
In default of payment of any fine and costs imposed
for each separate violation, a person or the principals of any entity
so convicted in a summary proceeding shall be sentenced to serve imprisonment
of not more than 15 days for each separate offense.
