[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors of the Township of
West Goshen: Art. I, 11-22-1977 by Ord. No. 10-1977.
Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Property maintenance — See Ch. 63.
[Adopted 11-22-1977 by Ord. No. 10-1977]
Unless otherwise expressly provided, the following words shall, for
the purposes of this article, have the following meanings:
Any natural person, partnership, firm, corporation or other legal
entity, including singular and plural, male and female, owning any private
road; and, in the case of a land subdivision or land development containing
undedicated private roads granted approval by the Board of Supervisors pursuant
to the West Goshen Township Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance,[1] the developer thereof.
A strip of land, be it a street, alley or right-of-way, paved or
unpaved, but limited to the cartway thereof, and intended for general public
use as a means of vehicular and pedestrian circulation to provide access to
two or more dwelling units, office units, commercial units, industrial units
or any combination thereof. The term includes any thoroughfare intended for
public use.
From and after the effective date of this article, it shall be the duty
of the owner of any private road that connects two or more dwelling units,
two or more office units, two or more commercial units, two or more industrial
units or any combination thereof to commence removal of, at his expense, snow
or ice from such private road, by snowplowing, snowblowing, cindering or salting,
within a period of two hours after the commencement of any fall of snow or
accumulation of ice.
Following initial removal of such snow or ice as required by § 68-2 hereof, it shall be the duty of such owner, during any period of continued snowfall or ice accumulation, to continue to plow, cinder and salt such private road and to maintain such private road in at least the same condition as township roads are maintained during such periods. Specifications for township road maintenance during periods of snow and ice accumulation shall be maintained by and be available from the office of the Township Manager during regular business hours or, in the event of emergency conditions, at any other time from the Township Police Department.
In the event of snow accumulation in excess of one inch or such ice accumulation as, in the opinion of the West Goshen Township Police Department, causes hazardous driving conditions, and noncompliance by the owner of any private road with §§ 68-2 and 68-3 of this article, the Police Department shall notify the owner to remove such snow or ice accumulation as herein required. In conjunction with such notification, it shall be the responsibility of all owners of private roads in West Goshen Township to register with the West Goshen Police Department the name, address and telephone number of such owner or his agent to whom notification is to be given by the Police Department pursuant to this section. Thereafter, telephonic notification or the bona fide attempt thereat by the Police Department shall constitute sufficient notice for the purposes of this article.
From and after the passage of this article, it shall be unlawful for the owner of any private road affected by the provisions of this article to permit the accumulation of snow and/or ice in violation hereof, and all such accumulation is hereby declared to be a nuisance and detrimental to the health, safety and welfare of the inhabitants of the township, and such nuisance may be abated as provided in § 68-6 hereof.
In the event that the owner of any private road within the provisions of this article fails, after notice pursuant to § 68-4 hereof, to comply with the provisions of §§ 68-2 and 68-3 hereof, the township may, at its own option, plow, cinder and/or salt such private roads in such fashion as the township shall deem necessary. Such action by the township shall not relieve the owner of penalties for violation of this article. The township may, thereafter, by proper accounting means, compute the cost of such corrective action on its part and either file a lien against the property from which the nuisance was removed or by which it is caused or proceed by civil suit against such owner for collection of such cost.
[Amended 6-23-1992 by Ord. No. 9-1992; 7-24-1996
by Ord. No. 7-1996]
Any person who violates or permits the violation of any provision of
this chapter shall, upon being found liable therefor in a civil enforcement
proceeding commenced by the township before a District Justice, pay a fine
for each such violation in an amount not less than $100 and not more than
$600 plus all court costs, including reasonable attorney fees, incurred by
the township. No judgment shall be imposed until the date of the determination
of a violation by the District Justice. If the defendant neither pays nor
timely appeals the judgment, the township may enforce the judgment pursuant
to the applicable rules of civil procedure.
