It shall be the purpose of this article to regulate
those aspects of the use of land which because of their special nature
could, if unregulated, create conditions which would be detrimental
to the health, safety and welfare of the residents of the City and
the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. These aspects are dumps, refuse
disposals, wastepaper or rag establishments, junkyards, discarded
items and mausoleums.
As used in this article, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
Any area or place in or on which refuse has been or will
be deposited.
Any place used principally for the handling for sale or resale
of used or salvaged metal, metal products or building material, and
businesses principally used for or engaged in the scrapping or dismantling
of motor vehicles. The term includes scrap processing, reclaiming,
recycling and salvaging operations.
A vault or grave for the dead designed or intended to accommodate
more than two bodies.
A dump on land owned or leased by any person and used only
by such person principally as a place for disposition of refuse from
his own business, industry or other operations.
A dump where dumping is permitted by the private owner or
private lessee or private owner's agent with or without payment of
a fee or charge for the privilege of dumping thereon.
Any material commonly considered solid or liquid garbage
and includes all such waste material which is laid aside by an owner
who is not in the business of salvaging, processing or recycling scrap.
Leftover natural discarded material or any other material
suitable for salvage, sale or reprocessing.
Any place used principally for the handling for sale or resale
of used or salvaged paper or rags.
No person shall operate or maintain a private
or public dump in the City. However, this provision shall not be interpreted
so as to prohibit the filling of holes or other depressions with earth
or other noncombustible materials not classified as refuse. All such
existing dumps shall be closed within 30 days of the effective date
of this chapter.
A.
The only methods of refuse disposal permitted shall
be sanitary landfill, incineration or other methods expressly approved
by the Department of Health or Department of Environmental Protection
of the commonwealth. Any landfill operation shall have a daily coverage
of a minimum of two feet of compacted earth at final grade. If the
covering is to take place daily with additional dumping to follow
the next day, a minimum coverage of six inches of compact earth shall
be required.
C.
The management of all solid waste treatment within
the City shall be subject to the Pennsylvania Solid Waste Management
Act, as amended, and Title 25, Pennsylvania Code, Chapter 75, as amended.
[Amended 4-22-1987 by Ord. No. 2889]
No person shall discard, place, sweep or throw
any paper, debris, grass clippings, street or sidewalk sweepings,
garbage, ashes or other waste or refuse material or other material
commonly known as litter on, into or along any of the gutters, streets,
highways, alleys, courts or sidewalks or into the yards or porches
of dwellings or other buildings within the City.
A.
Permits. Applications for permits shall be on forms
provided by the Board which shall set forth the name, residence and
business address of the applicant, legal description of premises,
whether applicant owns or leases premises and such other pertinent
information as the Board shall require.
B.
Required. No person shall operate or maintain a wastepaper
or rag establishment or junkyard without obtaining a permit from the
Board. A permit will not be issued to any person until the Public
Officer has inspected and approved the establishment. The permit shall
at all times be kept posted prominently on the premises. A permit
shall be required within six months of the effective date of this
chapter and annually thereafter on the due date of the first six months.
C.
Fee for inspection. Each applicant at the time of applying for a permit shall pay an annual fee as specified in Chapter 285, Fees, for inspection services.
[Amended 2-11-2009 by Ord. No. 5179]
D.
Regulations. No wastepaper or rag establishment or
junkyard shall be eligible for an annual permit unless it complies
with the following regulations:
(1)
The premises shall be maintained wholly within an
enclosed roofed-over building, or be screened on all sides by a solid
fence not less than eight feet in height, or by a hedge of evergreens
or other hardy vegetation approved by the Board, planted not further
than 18 inches apart and maintained so as to be not less than eight
feet in height; it being understood, however, that such hedge of evergreens
or other vegetation, when planted, need not be more than four feet
in height. Exits or entrances shall be equipped with gates so as to
render the area inaccessible except by authorized persons.
(2)
All goods, articles, merchandise or vehicles shall
be stored and kept within the enclosed fence or building above described
and not upon the sidewalk, street or any part thereof. No materials
shall be stored to a height which exceeds that of the enclosed fence
above described.
(3)
No burning shall be permitted, and the piling or placing
of materials upon the premises shall be done in such manner as not
to create a fire hazard and shall be subject to approval of the Fire
Inspector of the City.
(4)
No person shall deposit or leave any abandoned or
unlicensed automobile, truck or other automotive equipment or any
part thereof, or other junk, scrap, refuse or salvaged materials in
open fields or upon other unfenced private property without first
obtaining the permission of the Board and of the owner of such property.
(5)
All operation of such establishments or junkyards
shall be conducted in order to prevent the harborage or breeding of
rodents and vermin.
(6)
All operators of junkyards shall, immediately upon
receipt, drain all engine oil and gasoline from vehicles placed in
the yard for scrapping or repair. All engine oil, gasoline and other
flammable liquids shall be collected and stored in appropriate containers
with tight lids and shall not be permitted to be absorbed into the
ground.
