[Adopted 9-6-1983 by Ord. No. 238]
The intent of this article is to establish procedures
for the use and maintenance of retaining tanks designed to receive
and retain sewage from certain residential uses, and 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 this Township during the time that a connection ban
is in effect.
The following words, terms and phrases, as used
in this article, shall have the following meanings given herein. When
not inconsistent with the context, words used in the singular include
the plural, words in the plural include the singular, and words used
in the present tense include the future. The word "shall" is always
mandatory.
The Board of Supervisors of Upper Providence, Montgomery
County, Pennsylvania, or its authorized representative.
Any property within the Township upon which there is erected
a residential structure intended for continuous or periodic occupancy
or use by human beings or animals and from which structure sewage
shall or may be discharged and which would ordinarily be served by
public sanitary sewers, but for a sewer connection ban.
Any person vested with ownership, legal or equitable, sole
or partial, of any property located in the Township.
Any person or persons, male or female, corporation, partnership,
association, company, individual, owner, occupant, lessee, tenant
or any organization.
A watertight receptacle which receives and retains sewage
and is designed and constructed to facilitate the ultimate disposal
of the sewage at another site. The term includes but is not limited
to the following:
CHEMICAL TOILETA permanent or portable nonflushing toilet using chemical treatment in the retaining tank for odor control.
HOLDING TANKA tank, whether permanent or temporary, to which sewage is conveyed by a water-carrying system.
PRIVYA tank designed to receive sewage where water under pressure is not available.
INCINERATING TOILETA device capable of reducing waste materials to ashes.
COMPOSTING TOILETA device for holding and processing human and organic kitchen waste, employing the process of biological degradation through the action of microorganisms to produce a stable, humus-like material.
RECYCLING TOILETA device in which the flushing medium is restored to a condition suitable for reuse in flushing.
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 the domestic water supply or for recreation.
The Township of Upper Providence, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
The Board is hereby authorized and empowered
to undertake within the Township the control and methods of retaining
tank sewage disposal and the collection and transportation thereof.
[Amended 6-2-2008 by Ord. No. 490]
All such rules and regulations adopted by the Board shall be in conformity with the provisions herein, all other ordinances of the Township, all applicable laws and applicable rules and regulations of administrative agencies of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, particularly the Department of Environmental Protection and, in particular, the regulations set forth in Chapter 71, Sections 71.51 and 71.52, and Chapter 73, Sections 73.81 and 73.82.
All applications for retaining tank systems
shall include a contract for maintenance by a disposal agency approved
by the Board. Such contract shall include but not be limited to the
name of the contractor, method of maintenance, method of disposal,
frequency of inspection and ultimate place of disposal of all waste.
Such contract shall be required to remain in force for the entire
period of operation of the system. Failure by the owner to renew such
contract or submit proof of another approved contract shall constitute
a violation of this article. The system must be inspected by the approved
disposal agency a minimum of three times per year. Further, prior
to the issuance of any building permits for any residential dwelling
that will utilize a retaining tank, a performance bond must be posted
with the Township in an amount equal to three years' contract price
for sewage removal and for the cost of removal of the retaining tank
as estimated by the Township Engineer, which shall run for the entire
period that the retaining tank is to be in use. This bond shall be
conditioned upon the landowner maintaining the retaining tank system
in accordance with the rules and regulations of this article.
The Board shall, by resolution, have the power
to fix, alter, charge and collect such fees or costs as may be necessary
to properly enforce this article.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: The current fee resolution
is on file in the office of the Township Secretary.
By obtaining permission to use a retaining tank
under this article, the owner of the subject property shall agree
that any failure to make timely removal of the contents of the retaining
tank, or any other violation of this article or sanitary requirements,
will subject the owner to an automatic revocation of the use and occupancy
permits issued for the subject properties.
[Amended 6-2-2008 by Ord. No. 490]
The collection and transportation of all sewage
from any improved property using a retaining tank shall be done under
the direction of the Board, and the disposal thereof shall be made
only at such site or sites as may be approved by the Department of
Environmental Protection of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
The installation of a retaining tank, at the
expense of an improved property owner, shall be required when it is
determined that the malfunctioning of an on-lot sewage system constitutes
a public health hazard. Such installation shall be required only after
all other means of on-site sewage disposal have been determined to
be inadequate.
The owner of an improved property that utilizes
a retaining tank shall:
A.
Maintain the retaining tank in conformance with this
article or any ordinance of this Township, the provisions of any applicable
law and the rules and regulations of the Board and any administrative
agency of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
B.
Permit only an approved agency acting in accordance
with the regulations of the Board to collect, transport and dispose
of the contents therein.
C.
Remove the retaining tank system within 30 days after
connection to the public sewage system.
D.
Within 24 hours of the execution of an agreement of
sale for the sale of any lot to be connected to a retaining tank,
submit to the Township an executed statement in a form to be designed
by the Township Sewage Enforcement Officer in which the purchaser
acknowledges that the purchaser has been advised of the terms of this
article and understands the procedures, penalties and fines for noncompliance
with this article.
[Amended 9-17-1990 by Ord. No. 301]
Any person who violates any provisions of this
article shall, upon conviction thereof by summary proceedings, be
sentenced to pay a fine of not more than $1,000 plus costs and, in
default of said fine and costs, to undergo imprisonment for a period
of not in excess of 30 days. After notice of a violation, each day
that the violation continues shall be considered a separate violation.
In addition to any other remedies provided in
this article, any violation of this article may be deemed to constitute
a nuisance and may be abated by the Board by seeking either appropriate
equitable or legal relief from a court of competent jurisdiction.
The appropriate officials of the Township are
directed to take such action as may be necessary to amend the Official
Plan of Upper Providence Township to implement the purposes of this
article.
