The following terms, wherever used or referred to in this article,
shall have the following respective meanings, which definitions shall
apply in the interpretation and enforcement of this article unless
a different meaning clearly appears from the context:
BASEMENT
A portion of a building located partly underground but having
less than half its clear floor-to-ceiling height below the average
grade of the adjoining ground.
BUILDING INSPECTOR
The officer or other designated authority charged with the
administration and enforcement of this article or his/her duly authorized
representative.
CELLAR
A portion of a building located partly or wholly underground
and having half or more than half of its floor-to-ceiling height below
the average grade of the surrounding ground.
COMMISSIONERS
The duly elected members of the Board of Commissioners of
the Township.
DWELLING
Any building which is wholly or partly used or intended to
be used for living or sleeping by human occupants, provided that temporary
housing, as hereinafter defined, shall not be regarded as a dwelling.
DWELLING UNFIT FOR HUMAN HABITATION
Any dwelling which by reason of overcrowding or serious deficiencies
in drainage, plumbing, water supply, light, heat, ventilation, floor
area, or rodent or pest control facilities or by reason of dilapidation,
disrepair or other similar conditions, or because of the need for
major repairs to the roof, walls, ceilings, floors, stairs or other
parts of the dwelling, is unsanitary or unsafe and constitutes a serious
hazard to the health, safety or welfare of the occupants of the dwelling,
or to the public.
DWELLING UNIT
Any room or group of rooms, together with the means of ingress
and egress thereto, located within a dwelling and forming a single
habitable unit with facilities which are used or intended to be used
for living, sleeping, cooking and eating.
EXTERMINATION
The control and elimination of insects, rodents or other
pests by eliminating their harborage places; by removing or making
inaccessible materials that may serve as food; by poisoning, spraying,
fumigating, or trapping; or by any other recognized and legal pest
elimination methods approved by the laws of the commonwealth.
GARBAGE
The animal and vegetable waste resulting from the handling,
preparation, cooking and consumption of food.
HABITABLE ROOM
A room or enclosed floor space used or intended to be used
for living, sleeping, cooking or eating purposes, excluding bathrooms,
water closet compartments, laundries, foyers, pantries, communicating
corridors, closets and storage places.
INFESTATION
The presence, within a structure and/or the surrounding grounds,
of rats, mice, termites, lice, roaches, water beetles or any similar
pests, in such number to endanger the health or safety of the occupants
or of the surrounding area.
OCCUPANT
Any person over one year of age living, sleeping, cooking,
or eating in, or having actual possession of, a dwelling unit or rooming
unit.
OPERATOR
Any person who owns or has charge, care or control of a structure
or part thereof.
OWNER
Any person who, alone or jointly or severally with others,
has legal title to any structure, with or without accompanying actual
possession thereof, or shall operate or have charge, care or control
of any structure under an article of agreement, or as executor, executrix,
administrator, administratrix, trustee or guardian of the estate of
the person having legal title. Any person representing the owner as
heretofore defined, as agent, shall be bound to comply with the provisions
of this article, to the same extent as if he/she were the owner, except
that no agent of such owner shall be held personally responsible for
the failure of the owner to make expenditures to comply with the terms
of this article, provided the agent has notified the owner of the
provisions of this article with which he/she is required to comply
and has not been authorized by the owner to make the expenditures
required.
PARTIES IN INTEREST
All individuals, associations and corporations who or which
have interests of record in a dwelling or building and who or which
are in possession thereof.
PERSON
Any individual, firm, corporation, association or partnership.
PLUMBING
All of the following supplies, facilities, and equipment:
gas pipes, gas-burning and oil-burning equipment, water pipes, garbage
disposal units, waste pipes, water closets, sinks, installed dishwashers,
lavatories, bathtubs, shower baths, installed clothes-washing and
clothes-drying machines, catch basins, drains, vents and any other
similar supplies and fixtures, together with all connections to water,
sewer, gas or oil lines.
ROOMING HOUSE
Any dwelling or that part of any dwelling containing one
or more rooming units, in which space is let by the owner or operator
to three or more persons who are not husband or wife, son or daughter,
mother or father, sister or brother, or those standing in such relationships,
of the owner or operator.
ROOMING UNIT
Any room or group of rooms forming a single habitable unit
used, or intended to be used, for living and sleeping, but not for
cooking or eating purposes.
RUBBISH OR REFUSE
Combustible and noncombustible waste materials, except garbage,
and the term shall include the residue from burning wood, coal, coke,
and other combustible materials, paper, rags, cartons, boxes, wood,
excelsior, rubber, leather, tree branches, yard trimmings, tin cans,
metals, mineral matter, glass, crockery and dust.
STRUCTURES
Buildings of all kinds, including partial and incomplete
buildings and foundations, whether being built or demolished, trailers
of all kinds, and all mobile habitable units with or without wheels.
SUPPLIED
Paid for, furnished or provided by or under the control of
the owner or operator.
TEMPORARY HOUSING
Any tent, trailer or other structure used for human shelter
which is designed to be transportable and which is not attached to
the ground, to another structure or to any utility system on the same
premises for more than 30 consecutive days.
TOWNSHIP
The Township of Rochester, Beaver County, Pennsylvania.