[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors
of the Township of Washington 5-7-1984 by Ord. No. 88. Amendments noted where
applicable.]
For the purposes of this chapter, the following
terms, phrases, words and their derivations shall have the meaning
given herein. When not inconsistent with the context, words used in
the present tense include the future, words used in the present number
and words in the singular number include the plural number, and the
word "shall" is always mandatory and not merely directory.
The Board of Supervisors of Washington Township, Franklin
County, Pennsylvania.
The unreasonable, unwarrantable or unlawful use of public
or private property which causes injury, damage, hurt, inconvenience,
annoyance or discomfort to any person in the legitimate enjoyment
of his reasonable rights of person or property.
A person owning, leasing, occupying or having charge of any
premises within the Township.
Any natural person, firm, partnership, association, corporation,
company or organization of any kind.
The Township of Washington, Franklin County, Pennsylvania.
The following activities or actions shall be
prohibited as nuisances when, based upon actual conditions in the
Township, they constitute nuisances in fact:
A.
Storing or accumulating, or causing to be stored or
accumulated, the following:
B.
Storing or accumulating abandoned or junked motor
vehicles or parts thereof.
C.
Storing or accumulated more than three antique or
collector motor vehicles for restoration neither sheltered by a building
nor enclosed behind an evergreen or solid fence of a minimum height
of eight feet; or storing or accumulating in a disorderly fashion
three or less antique or collector motor vehicles for restoration.
D.
Drainage or flowing, or allowing to drain or flow,
by pipe or other channel, whether natural or artificial, any foul
or offensive water or drainage from sinks, bathtubs, wash stands,
lavatories, water closets, swimming pools, privies or cesspools of
any kind or nature whatsoever, or any other foul or offensive water
or foul or offensive drainage of any kind, from property along any
public highway, road, street, avenue, lane or alley in the Township
into or upon any said highway, road, street, avenue, lane, or alley;
or from any property into or upon any adjoining property.
E.
Drainage or flowing, or allowing to drain or flow,
any water or drainage from within dwellings situate upon property
along any public highway, road, street, avenue, lane, or alley in
the Township into or upon the cartway or traveled portion of any said
highway, road, street, avenue, lane or alley, except where provision
has been made in said cartway or traveled portion for said drainage
by means of a drainage ditch or otherwise.
F.
Burning garbage, tires or tar products.
G.
Maintaining or causing to be maintained any dangerous
structure, including but not limited to abandoned or unoccupied buildings
or parts of buildings in a state of dilapidation or disrepair.
H.
Refusing or failing to cut and destroy ragweed, chicory,
thistle, golden rod, poison oak, sumac, or other similar vegetation
which has grown above the height of 12 inches.
I.
Permitting or allowing any well or cistern to be or
remain uncovered.
J.
Interfering with the flow of a stream, creek or other
waterway, by means of dam construction or otherwise.
K.
Removing the embankment of a stream so as to alter
the natural flow of the stream.
L.
Pushing, shoveling, or otherwise depositing snow upon
the cartway or traveled portion of any public highway, road, or street
which is maintained by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and allowing
same to remain thereon.
M.
Allowing or permitting any excavation, material excavated,
or obstruction, on or adjoining any highway, street or road, to remain
opened or exposed without the same being secured by a barricade, temporary
fence, or other protective materials.
N.
Allowing or permitting the storage/ponding of stagnant water in artificial
containers including but not limited to buckets, rain barrels without
screen or covers, tires, clogged gutters, window wells, bird baths,
ornamental ponds without filtration or fish, flower pots with saucers
that hold water, tarpaulins, portable swimming pools, junk piles,
or other items that can collect and store/pond stagnant water.
[Added 12-19-2016 by Ord.
No. 263]
O.
Allowing or permitting a dead tree or tree branch to remain that
may cause a hazardous condition to a neighbor, neighbor's property,
the public or public property.
[Added 12-19-2016 by Ord.
No. 263]
Whenever a condition constituting a nuisance
is permitted or maintained, the Board of Supervisors, the Township
Manager, the Township Code Enforcement Officer, or the Township Police
Department shall cause written notice to be served upon the owner
in one of the following ways:
A.
By making personal delivery of the notice to the owner.
B.
By handing a copy of the notice at the residence of
the owner to an adult member of the family with which he resides;
but if no adult member of the family is found, then to an adult person
in charge of such residence.
C.
By fixing a copy of the notice to the door at the
entrance of the premises in violation.
D.
By mailing a copy of the notice to the last known
address of the owner by certified mail.
E.
By publishing a copy of the notice in the local newspaper
once a week for three successive weeks.
Written notice of a violation or violations
of the provisions of this chapter shall be in accordance with the
following:
A.
Such notice shall set forth in what respects such
condition constitutes a nuisance, and whether removal is necessary
and required by the Township, or whether the condition can be corrected
by repairs, alterations, mowing, or by fencing or boarding or in some
way confining and limiting the nuisance.
If the owner, after receiving due notice, refuses
to comply with the terms thereof:
A.
Upon conviction in a summary proceeding brought before
a Magisterial District Judge under the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal
Procedure, he shall be guilty of a summary offense and shall be punishable
by a fine of not more than $1,000, plus costs of prosecution. In default
of payment thereof, the defendant may be sentenced to 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, and each section of this chapter that is violated
shall also constitute a separate offense. The minimum fine to be imposed
is $50 per day or portion thereof for a first offense; $100 per day
or portion thereof for a second offense and $500 per day or portion
thereof for each subsequent offense. The Magisterial District Judge
may impose a fine of more than the minimum amounts set forth above.
[Amended 9-15-1997 by Ord. No. 141; 11-16-2009 by Ord. No. 224]
B.
The Board of Supervisors may direct the removal, repairs
or alterations, as the case may be, to be done by the Township and
the cost thereof with a penalty of 10% may be collected from the owner
of the premises by an action of assumpsit or may file a municipal
claim or lien therefor against such real estate.
C.
The Township by means of a complaint in equity may
compel the owner to do so or seek such other relief as such court
is empowered to afford.
