Township of Straban, PA Township Sponsored Sewer Systems

It is 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.

§ 103-38 Definitions.

Unless the context specifically and clearly indicates otherwise, the meanings of terms used in this article shall be as follows:

AUTHORITY

Any municipal authority incorporated under the Municipality Authorities Act of 1945, as amended, by the Township to provide sewer services.

BOARD OF SUPERVISORS

The Board of Supervisors of the Township of Straban or, in appropriate cases, its authorized representatives.

BUILDING SEWER

The extension from the sewage drainage system of any structure to the lateral of a sewer.

COMMERCIAL ESTABLISHMENT

Any room, group of rooms, building or enclosure connected directly or indirectly to the sewer system and used or intended for use in the operation of one business enterprise for the sale and distribution of any product, commodity, article or service.

DWELLING UNIT

Any room, group of rooms, house trailer, building or other enclosure connected directly or indirectly to the sewer system and occupied or intended for occupancy as separate living quarters by a family or other group of persons living together or by a person living alone.

GARBAGE

Solid wastes resulting from preparation, cooking and dispensing of food and from handling, storage and sale of produce.

IMPROVED PROPERTY

Any property upon which there is erected a structure intended for continuous or periodic habitation, occupancy or use by human beings or animals and from which structure sanitary sewage and/or industrial wastes shall be or may be discharged.

INDUSTRIAL ESTABLISHMENT

Any room, group of rooms, building or other enclosure connected directly or indirectly to the sewer system and used or intended for use, in whole or in part, in the operation of one business enterprise for manufacturing, processing, cleaning, laundering or assembling of any product, commodity or article or from which any process waste, as distinct from sanitary sewage, shall be discharged.

INDUSTRIAL WASTE

Any and all wastes discharged from an industrial establishment other than sanitary sewage.

INSTITUTIONAL ESTABLISHMENT

Any room, group of rooms, building or other enclosure connected directly or indirectly to the sewer system which does not constitute a commercial establishment, a dwelling unit or an industrial establishment.

LATERAL

That part of the sewer system extending from a sewer to the curbline or, if there shall be no curbline, to the property line, or, if no such lateral shall be provided, then "lateral" shall mean that portion of or place in a sewer which is provided for connection of any building sewer.

MULTIPLE UNIT

Any improved property in which there is located more than one dwelling unit, commercial establishment, industrial establishment or institutional establishment, or any combination thereof.

OWNER

Any person vested with ownership, legal or equitable, sole or partial, of any improved property.

PERSON

Any individual, partnership, company, trust, association, society, corporation, school district, municipality, municipal authority or other group or entity.

SANITARY SEWAGE

The normal water-carried household and toilet wastes from any improved property.

SEWER

Any pipe, main or conduit constituting a part of the sewer system and used or usable for collection and transportation of sanitary sewage and industrial wastes.

SEWER SYSTEM

All facilities, as of any particular time, for collecting, pumping, transporting, treating and disposing of sanitary sewage and industrial wastes by means of a community sewerage system operated by the Township or an Authority (as defined in this article).

TOWNSHIP

The Township of Straban, Adams County, Pennsylvania.

§ 103-39 Applicability.

This article shall apply to all areas of Straban Township, Adams County, Pennsylvania, which now are, or which hereafter may be, provided with public sewer service by the Township or an authority (as defined in this article).

This article shall apply to all future extensions of the sewage system as described in Subsection A hereof.

The mandatory use of the sewer system shall not be effective or enforced against any improved property or owner thereof if the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection will not allow such use for any reason.

§ 103-40 Rules and regulations; connection required.

The owner of any improved property accessible to and whose principal building is within 150 feet from the sewer system shall connect such improved property with and shall use such sewer system, in such manner as the Township and/or an authority may require, within 60 days after notice to such owner to make such connection, for the purpose of discharge of all sanitary sewage and/or industrial wastes from such improved property; subject, however, to such limitations and restrictions as shall be established by ordinance of the Township or by rules and regulations adopted by an authority.

All sanitary sewage and industrial wastes from any improved property, after connection of such improved property with the sewer system as required by this article, shall be discharged into a sewer; subject, however, to such limitations and restrictions as shall be established by the Township and by such rules and regulations as shall be adopted by an authority.

No person shall place, deposit or permit to be placed or deposited upon public or private property within the Township any sanitary sewage or industrial wastes from any property required to be connected to the sewer system as provided in Subsection A hereof.

No privy, privy vault, cesspool, sinkhole, septic tank or similar receptacle shall be used or shall be maintained at any time upon any improved property which has been connected to a sewer or to the sewer system or which shall be required under Subsection A to be connected to the sewer system.

Every such privy, privy vault, cesspool, sinkhole, septic tank or similar receptacle in existence shall be abandoned, shall be cleansed and shall be filled at the expense of the owner of such improved property, under the direction and supervision of the Township. Any such receptacle not so abandoned, cleansed and filled shall constitute a nuisance, and such nuisance shall be abated, as provided by law, at the expense of the owner of the improved property.

No privy, privy vault, cesspool, sinkhole, septic tank or similar receptacle shall be connected with a sewer or to the sewer system at any time.

The notice by the Township to make a connection to the sewer system referred to in Subsection A shall consist of a copy of this article, including any amendments or supplements at the time in effect, or a summary of each section hereof and a written or printed document requiring the connection in accordance with the provisions of this article and specifying that such connection shall be made within 60 days after the date such notice has been sent. Such notice may be sent by certified or registered mail, return receipt requested, or may be served upon the owner in person by any adult.

§ 103-41 Building sewers; connections.

No person shall uncover, connect with, make any opening into or use, alter or disturb in any manner any sewer or part of the sewer system without first obtaining a permit, in writing, from the Township or an authority, whichever is the operator of the sewer system.

Application for a permit required under Subsection A shall first be made by the owner of the improved property or by an authorized agent of such owner. The permit application shall be in accordance with such rules and regulations as may be adopted from time to time by the Township and/or an authority.

The Township or an authority operating the sewer system shall consider the application and, within 45 days after submission, shall either approve or disapprove the application. If the application is disapproved, it shall be returned to the applicant with a statement explaining why the application was disapproved.

No person shall make or shall cause to be made a connection of any improved property with a sewer until such person shall have fulfilled each of the following conditions:

(1)

Such person shall have submitted an application and shall have received approval from the sewer system's operator to connect such improved property to a sewer.

(2)

Such person shall have applied for and shall have obtained a permit as required by Subsection A from the operator of the system.

(3)

Such person shall have given notice to the operator of the sewer system in accordance with its rules and regulations concerning when such connection will be made so that the operator may supervise and inspect or may cause to be supervised and inspected the work of connection and any necessary testing.

(4)

Such person shall have furnished satisfactory evidence that any tapping fee which may be charged and imposed against the owner has been paid.

Except as otherwise provided in this section, each improved property shall be connected separately and independently with a sewer through a building sewer. Grouping of more than one improved property on one building sewer shall not be permitted, except under special circumstances and for good sanitary reasons or other good cause shown, but then only after special permission of the operator of the sewer system shall have been secured, in writing, and only subject to such rules, regulations and conditions as may be prescribed by the operator of the sewer system.

All costs and expenses of construction of a building sewer and all costs and expenses of connection of a building sewer to a sewer shall be borne by the owner of the improved property to be connected; and such owner shall indemnify and shall save harmless the operator of the sewer system from all loss or damage that may be occasioned, directly or indirectly, as a result of the construction of a building sewer or connection of a building sewer to a sewer.

A building sewer shall be connected to a sewer at the place designated by the operator of the sewer system and where, if applicable, the lateral is provided.

The connection shall be in conformity with the rules and regulations of the operator of the sewer system, or as directed by its engineer; and no connection in violation of the operator of the sewer system's rules and regulations, or in violation of the directions of the operator of the sewer system's engineer, shall be permitted.

If, after 60 days' notice from the Township in accordance with § 103-39A, the owner of any improved property located within the Township and accessible to and whose principal building is within 150 feet from the sewer system shall fail to connect such improved property, as required, the Township may enter upon such improved property and construct such connection and may collect from such owner the costs and expenses thereof in the manner permitted by law, with any additional charges permitted by law.

If any person, upon receipt of a notice from either the Township or an authority, in writing, shall fail or shall refuse to remedy any unsatisfactory condition and/or violation of the rules and regulations with respect to a building sewer, within 60 days of receipt of such notice, the Township and/or an Authority may refuse to permit such person to discharge sanitary sewage or industrial wastes into the sewer system until such unsatisfactory condition shall have been remedied to the satisfaction of the Township and/or an authority.

§ 103-42 Sewer rentals; charges.

Sewer rentals and/or charges shall be imposed upon properties connected to the sewer system in accordance with the classifications and rates as adopted by the operator of the sewer system from time to time.

Residential flat fee. Residential properties connected to the sewer system that do not have metered water service, or which are not otherwise metered in a manner approved by the operator of the sewer system, shall be charged a flat fee for sewer service as provided by the fee schedule adopted from time to time.

All commercial, institutional and industrial establishments must have the water supply metered no matter what the source or sources of water may be. If the establishment is not a water customer of a community water system, it must use a water meter or meters approved by the operator of the sewer system and installed and maintained in accord with applicable regulations and/or policies. All costs associated with the purchase, installation, repair and maintenance of such meter or meters shall be paid by the establishment.

§ 103-43 Collection.

The sewer rentals or charges as calculated in § 103-41 are imposed upon and shall be collected from the owner of each improved property that shall be or is connected, directly or indirectly, to the sewer system, for the use of the sewer system, which sewer rentals or charges shall be imposed and shall be effective as of the date of connection of the improved property to the sewer system.

The sewer rentals or charges imposed by this article shall be deemed to be a lien, in the nature of a municipal claim, upon the property served by the sewer system, and the operator of the sewer system shall have the right, in accordance with law and its regulations, to enforce such lien against the improved properties serviced or required to be serviced by the sewer system when such rentals or charges are delinquent.

The operator of the sewer system shall administer the billing and collection of the sewer rentals or charges in accordance with its rules and regulations.

§ 103-44 Tapping fee.

Whenever an improved property shall be connected with the sewer system, the owner of such property shall be charged a tapping fee and any connection fee and customer facilities fee imposed by the operator of the sewer system.

The amount of the tapping fee shall be determined from time to time by the operator of the sewer system in accord with statutory law.

The tapping fee shall be due and payable at the time application is made for the approval for connection, or upon the date of connecting any such improved property to the sewer system, at the cost and expense of the owner, when such owner shall have failed to make such connection as required by this article.

All tapping fees collected pursuant to this article shall be credited to an account maintained to identify such fees collected within a designated service district located in the Township.

Tapping fees imposed by this article shall be a lien, in the nature of a municipal claim, on the improved property connected to, or required to be connected to, the sewer system.

§ 103-45 Violations and penalties.

Any person who shall violate this article shall be liable, upon summary conviction, to a fine of not more than $1,000, together with the costs of prosecution and attorney fees in each case. Each day that a violation shall continue shall be deemed to be a separate offense and shall be punishable as such.