GENERAL REFERENCES
Township officer's and employees' right to inspect property to enforce ordinances, § 2-1.
The ordinances embraced in the following chapters and sections shall constitute and be designated the "Code of Ordinances of the Township of Plymouth, Pennsylvania," and may be so cited.
The catchlines of the several sections, article, etc., of this Code printed in boldface type are intended as mere catchwords to indicate the contents of the section, article, etc., and shall not be deemed or taken to be titles of such sections, articles, etc., nor as any part of the section, article, etc., nor, unless expressly so provided, shall they be so deemed when any of such sections, articles, etc., including the catchlines, are amended or re-enacted.
In the construction of this Code, and of all ordinances, the following rules shall be observed, unless such construction would be inconsistent with the manifest intent of the township council.
GENERALLY
The provisions of this Code shall be liberally construed to effect the purposes expressed therein or implied from the expression thereof. In case of doubt or ambiguity in the meaning of such provisions, the general shall yield to the particular. Reference for interpretation and construction shall tend to further the accomplishment of the elimination of the particular mischiefs for which the provisions were enacted. Words shall be construed in their common and usual significance unless the contrary is clearly indicated.
CHARTER
The words "the charter" or "the township charter" shall mean the home rule charter approved by the voters of Plymouth Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, at the primary election on May 21, 1974.
COMMONWEALTH
The words "the commonwealth" or "this commonwealth" shall be construed as meaning and referring to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
COMPUTATION OF TIME
Whenever a notice is required to be given or an act to be done, a certain length of time before any proceeding shall be had, the day on which such notice is given, or such act is done, shall be counted in computing the time, but the day on which such proceeding is to be had shall not be counted.
CORPORATE LIMITS, CORPORATION LIMITS
Whenever the words "corporate limits," "corporation limits" or "township limits" are used, they shall mean the legal boundary of the Township of Plymouth.
CORPORATION
Whenever the words "the corporation" or "this corporation" are used, they shall be construed as if the words "of Plymouth Township, Pennsylvania" followed them.
COUNCIL
Whenever the word "council" is used it shall be construed to mean the Township Council of Plymouth Township, Pennsylvania.
COUNCILMAN
The word "Councilman" shall mean any person elected or appointed to the Township Council of the Township of Plymouth.
COUNTY
The words "the county" or "this county" shall mean the County of Montgomery in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
DELEGATION OF AUTHORITY
Whenever a provision appears requiring the head of a department of the township to do some act or make certain inspections, it is to be construed to authorize the head of the department to designate, delegate and authorize subordinates to perform the required act or make the required inspection unless the terms of the provision or section designate otherwise.
GENDER
A word importing the masculine gender only shall extend and be applied to females and to firms, partnerships and corporations as well as to males.
INTERPRETATION
In the interpretation and application of any provision of this Code, it shall be held to be the minimum requirements adopted for the promotion of the public health, safety, comfort, convenience and general welfare. Where any provision of the Code imposes greater restrictions upon the subject matter than the general provision imposed by the Code, the provision imposing the greater restriction or regulation shall be deemed to be controlling.
JOINT AUTHORITY
All words giving a joint authority to three (3) or more persons or officers shall be construed as giving such authority to a majority of such persons or officers.
KEEPER and PROPRIETOR
The word "keeper" or "proprietor" shall mean and include persons, firms, associations, corporations, clubs and partnerships, whether acting by themselves or through a servant, agent or employee.
MONTH
The word "month" shall mean a calendar month.
NAME OF OFFICER
Whenever the name of an officer is given, it shall be construed as though the words "of the Township of Plymouth" were added.
NONTECHNICAL AND TECHNICAL WORDS
Words and phrases shall be construed according to the common and approved usage of the language; but technical words and phrases and such others as may have acquired a peculiar and appropriate meaning in law shall be construed and understood according to such meaning.
NUMBER
A word importing the singular number only may extend and be applied to several persons and things as well as to one person and thing.
OATH
The word "oath" shall be construed to include an affirmation in all cases in which, by law, an affirmation may be substituted for an oath, and in such cases, the words "swear" and "sworn" shall be equivalent to the words "affirm" and "affirmed."
OR, AND
The word "or" may be read "and," and "and" may be read "or" if the sense requires it.
OWNER
The word "owner," applied to a building or land, shall include any part owner, joint owner, tenant in common, tenant in partnership, joint tenant or tenant by the entirety, of the whole or of a part of such building or land.
PERSON
The word "person" shall extend and be applied to associations, clubs, societies, firms, partnerships and bodies politic and corporate as well as to individuals.
PERSONAL PROPERTY
The words "personal property" shall include every species of property except real property, as herein described.
PRECEDING, FOLLOWING
The words "preceding" and "following" shall mean next before and next after, respectively.
PREMISES
Whenever the word "premises" is used, it shall mean place or places.
PROPERTY
The word "property" shall include real and personal property.
PUBLIC PLACE
The words "public place" shall include any park, cemetery, school yard or open space adjacent thereto, and all beaches, canals or other waterways.
REAL PROPERTY
The words "real property" shall include lands, tenements and hereditaments.
RESIDENCE
The word "residence" shall be construed to mean the place adopted by a person as his place of habitation, and to which, whenever he is absent, he has the intention of returning. When a person eats at one place and sleeps at another, the place where such person sleeps shall be deemed his residence.
SEAL
Whenever the word "seal" is used, it shall mean the township or corporate seal.
SIDEWALK
The word "sidewalk" shall mean any portion of a street between the curbline and the adjacent property line, intended for the use of pedestrians, excluding parkways.
SIGNATURE or SUBSCRIPTION
The "signature" or "subscription" of a person shall include a mark when the person cannot write.
STATE
The words "the state" shall be construed to mean the State of Pennsylvania.
STREET
The word "street" shall be construed to embrace streets, avenues, boulevards, roads, alleys, lanes, viaducts and all other public highways in the township.
TENANT, OCCUPANT
The words "tenant" or "occupant," applied to a building or land, shall include any person holding a written or oral lease or who occupies the whole or a part of such buildings or lands, either alone or with others.
TENSE
Words used in the past or present tense shall include the future as well as the past and present.
TOWNSHIP
The words "the township" or "this township" shall mean the Township of Plymouth, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, a municipality of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, acting by and through its township council or, in appropriate cases, acting by and through its authorized representatives.
WEEK
The word "week" shall be construed to mean seven (7) days.
WRITTEN, IN WRITING
The words "written" or "in writing" shall be construed to include any representation of words, letters or figures, whether by printing or otherwise.
YEAR
The word "year" shall mean a calendar year.
The ordinances contained in this Code of Ordinances are intended to encompass and to promote the general health, welfare, peace, good order and morals of the community at large and such ordinances have been codified herein for the purpose of facilitating the enforcement thereof.
(a) 
All ordinances passed subsequent to this Code of Ordinances, which amend, repeal or in any way affect this Code, may be numbered in accordance with the numbering system of this Code and printed for inclusion therein, or in the case of repealed chapters, sections and subsections or any part thereof, by subsequent ordinances, such repealed portions may be excluded from the Code by omission from reprinted pages affected thereby and the subsequent ordinances as numbered and printed or omitted, in the case of repeal, shall be prima facie evidence of such subsequent ordinances until such time as this Code of Ordinances and subsequent ordinances numbered or omitted are readopted as a new Code of Ordinances by the Council.
(b) 
Amendments to any of the provisions of this Code should be made by amending such provisions by specific reference to the section of this Code in language substantially as follows: "That section _____ of the Code of Ordinances of the Township of Plymouth, Pennsylvania, is hereby amended to read as follows: . . . ." The new provisions may then set out in full as desired.
(c) 
In the event a new section not heretofore existing in the Code is to be added, the following language may be used: "That the Code of Ordinances of the Township of Plymouth, Pennsylvania, is hereby amended by adding a section (or article, chapter or other designation, as the case may be), to be numbered _____, which reads as follows: . . ." The new provisions may then be set out in full as desired.
(d) 
In lieu of the foregoing subsection, when the township council desires to enact an ordinance of a general and permanent nature embracing a subject not previously existing in the Code, which the township council desires to incorporate into the Code, a provision in substantially the following language may be made a part of the ordinance: "It is the intention of the township council, and it is hereby ordained that the provisions of this ordinance shall become and be made part of the Code of Ordinances of the Township of Plymouth, Pennsylvania, and the sections of this ordinance may be renumbered to accomplish such intention."
(e) 
All sections, articles, chapters or other provisions of this Code desired to be repealed should be specifically repealed by section number, article number, chapter or other number, as the case may be.
(a) 
Supplements to this Code shall be prepared and printed by contract or by township personnel whenever authorized or directed by the council. A supplement to the Code shall include all substantive parts of permanent and general ordinances passed by the council during the period covered by the supplement and all changes made thereby in the Code. The pages of a supplement shall be so numbered that they will fit properly into the Code and will, where necessary, replace pages which have become obsolete or partially obsolete, and the new pages shall be so prepared that, when they have been inserted, the Code will be current through the date of the adoption of the latest ordinance included in the supplement.
(b) 
In preparing a supplement to this code, all portions of the Code which have been repealed shall be excluded from the Code by the omission thereof from reprinted pages.
(c) 
When preparing a supplement to this Code, the codifier (meaning the person, agency or organization authorized to prepare the supplement) may make formal, nonsubstantive changes in ordinances and parts of ordinances included in the supplement, insofar as it is necessary to do so to embody them into a unified Code. For example, the codifer may:
(1) 
Organize the ordinance material into appropriate subdivisions;
(2) 
Provide appropriate catchlines, headings and titles for sections and other subdivisions of the Code printed in the supplement, and make changes in such catchlines, headings and titles;
(3) 
Assign appropriate numbers to sections and other subdivisions to be inserted in the Code and, where necessary to accommodate new material, change existing section or other subdivision numbers;
(4) 
Change the words "this ordinance" or words of the same meaning to "this chapter," "this article," "this division," etc., as the case may be, or to "sections _____ to _____" (inserting section numbers to indicate the sections of the Code which embody the substantive sections of the ordinance incorporated into the Code); and
(5) 
Make other nonsubstantive changes necessary to preserve the original meaning of ordinance sections inserted into the Code; but, in no case, shall the codifier make any change in the meaning or effect of ordinance material included in the supplement or already embodied in the Code.
(a) 
The repeal of an ordinance shall not revive any ordinances in force before or at the time the ordinance repealed took effect.
(b) 
The repeal of any ordinance or any portion thereof by this enactment or by any future enactments hereunder shall not affect or impair any act done or right vested or accrued for any proceeding, suit or prosecution had or commenced in any cause before such repeal shall take effect but every such act done, or right vested or accrued, or proceeding, suit or prosecution had or commenced shall remain in full force and effect as if such ordinance or part thereof so repealed had remained in force. No offense committed and no liability, penalty or forfeiture either civilly or criminally incurred prior to the time when any such ordinance or part thereof shall be repealed or altered shall be discharged or affected by such repeal or alteration, but prosecutions and suits for such offenses, liabilities, penalties or forfeitures shall be instituted and proceeded with in all respects as if such prior ordinance or part thereof had not been repealed or altered.
It shall be unlawful for any person in the township to change or amend by additions or deletions, any part or portion of this Code, or to insert or delete pages, or portions thereof, or to alter or tamper with such Code in any manner whatsoever which will cause the law of the Township of Plymouth to be misrepresented thereby. Any person violating this section shall be punished as provided in section 1-9 hereof.
[Ord. No. 1000, § 1, 11-14-1988]
(a) 
Whenever in this Code or in any ordinance of the township any act is prohibited, or is made or declared to be unlawful or an offense, or wherever, in such Code or ordinance, the doing of any act is declared to be unlawful, and no specific penalty is provided therefor, the violation of any such provision of this Code or any such ordinance shall be punishable by fine not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000.00), which fine or penalties may be collected by suit or summary proceeding brought in the name of the township before a district justice or, in default of payment of such fine, by imprisonment for not more than thirty (30) days.
(b) 
Each day in which any violation of this Code or of any ordinance continues shall constitute a separate offense unless otherwise provided herein.
(c) 
In addition to the fine and penalty hereinabove provided, any condition caused or permitted to exist in violation of any of the provisions of this Code or any ordinance of the township shall be deemed a public nuisance and may be abated by the township by a proceeding against the violator in a court of equity for relief.
In all cases where the same offense may be made punishable, or shall be created by different clauses or sections of the ordinances of the township, the prosecuting officer may elect under which to proceed; but not more than one recovery shall be had against the same person for the same offense.
The sections, subsections, paragraphs, sentences, clauses and phrases of this Code are severable, and if any phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph, subsection or section of this Code shall be declared unconstitutional by the valid judgment or decree of a court of competent jurisdiction, such unconstitutionality shall not affect any of the remaining phrases, clauses, sentences, paragraphs, subsections and sections of this Code.
[Ord. No. 1192, § 1, 5-13-1996]
Whenever in this Code or in any ordinance of the township the township undertakes the collection of a delinquent account by municipal claim under the Municipal Claim and Tax Lien Law of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, as amended, the township shall be entitled to recover attorney fees incurred in the collection of such delinquent account based upon the hourly rate for services rendered to the township by the township attorney (solicitor) approved annually by council at its organization meeting under section 308 of the Home Rule Charter.