[Adopted 5-12-2014 by Ord. No. 01-2014]
A.
Title. This article shall be known as the "Mandatory Tapping Ordinance-Water
Expansion II."
B.
Purposes.
(1)
Establish a portion of the Water Expansion II Project Area within
the Township of Allegheny.
(2)
Establish subareas within those parts of the Water Expansion II Project
Area in the Township of Allegheny in which each property to be benefited
by said project is located.
(3)
Specify the activities to be undertaken in the subareas by the municipal
authority of the City of New Kensington.
(4)
Provide a mandatory requirement for the making of an authority connection
from an available water main to the curb stop at the property line
of each property within a subarea.
(5)
Impose a mandatory tapping fee on each property within a subarea
for the making of the authority connection to the curb stop at the
property.
(6)
Establish administrative procedures as to the making of an authority
connection and for payment of the mandatory tapping fee therefor.
(7)
Confirm the creation, by the municipal authority of the City of New
Kensington, of a separate rate district to be known as "Rate District
(3)" which shall include all subareas within the Township of Allegheny.
(8)
Establish the general rules and penalties for violation of the provisions
of this article, and confirm the rules and regulations and schedule
of rates and charges of the municipal authority of the City of New
Kensington as being applicable to all subareas and to provide for
any violation thereof.
A.
General interpretation. Unless otherwise expressly stated, the words
set forth below shall have the following meanings for the purposes
of this article, the present tense to include the future tense, the
word "shall" to always be "mandatory" and the word "may" to always
be permissive.
B.
AUTHORITY
AUTHORITY CONNECTION
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
CUSTOMER FACILITY
EXCLUDED AREAS
MAIN or MAINS
MANDATORY TAPPING FEES
MUNICIPALITY
OWNER
PROJECT AREA
PROPERTY or PROPERTIES
STRUCTURE
SUBAREAS
WATER EXPANSION II
Specific words and phrases. As used in this article, the following
terms shall have the meanings indicated:
Municipal authority of the City of New Kensington.
A water line installed from a main which abuts a property
to a curb stop at the property line.
Board of Supervisors of the Township of Allegheny.
A water line installed from a curb stop on a property line
to the meter in a structure erected on the property.
All areas of the municipality which are not included in a
subarea.
All water mains of the authority which are installed in a
subarea and which are contiguous to a property.
Mandatory fees associated and applied to all customers'
properties that are a part of the Water Expansion II Project Area.
The Township of Allegheny, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania.
An individual, partnership, corporation or any other legally
recognized entity having a fee simple interest in a property within
a subarea.
The subareas of the municipality which are collectively designated
the "project area," as part of the Water Expansion II Project and
which are described in Exhibit 1 attached to and which forms part
of this article.[1]
All tracts or parcels of land within a subarea which have
public water service made available to them as part of Water Expansion
II.
A building erected on a property which is reasonably suited
for human occupancy, commercial or industrial use or is actually so
occupied and/or used.
All areas included in the project area of the municipality
and which have water service made available within them as part of
Water Expansion II and which are further delineated and established
within the municipality by Exhibit 1 attached to this article.[2]
A water expansion project of the Authority whereby Authority
water mains will be extended within the subareas of the municipality.
A.
Undertaking. The Authority, with the full consent, approval and pledged
cooperation of the municipality, has undertaken a project known as
"Water Expansion II," within all those subareas of the municipality
which are set forth and defined in Exhibit 1 which is attached to
and made a part of this article.[1] The project provides for installation of mains by the
Authority within certain parts of those streets and roads, both public
and private, and within rights-of-way and easements, all of which
are within the subareas.
[1]
Editor's Note: Exhibit 1 is on file in the Township offices.
B.
Boundaries of the subareas within the municipality. All the subareas
which are hereby established within the municipality include those
streets and roads, both public and private, and all rights-of-way
or easements which are set forth and described in Exhibit 1, as well
as all those parts of any street, road, right-of-way or easement which
may, by further agreement between the Authority and the municipality,
be designated as being within a subarea.
C.
Availability of water service. A main shall be deemed available to
serve a structure erected on a property within a subarea if the structure
is reasonably suitable for human occupancy, a commercial or industrial
use or it is actually so occupied and/or used. The structure must
be erected on a property which abuts a street, road, right-of-way
or easement in which a main is installed and any part of the structure
is, by the closest lineal measurement, situate within 150 feet of
the curb stop which is installed at the property line as part of an
authority connection.
A.
Applicability of tapping fee. At any time a main has been installed
at a location contiguous to or abutting a property within a present
or latter established subarea, on which a structure is presently,
or in the future, constructed, the owner of the property shall, upon
notice from the Authority, be required to pay a tapping fee to the
Authority, this tapping fee now being established by the Authority
in its Schedule of Rates and Charges ("Rate Schedule") as $2,350;
provided, nevertheless, that such tapping fee is subject to the revision
by the Authority from time to time, in its sole discretion, by a rate
revision uniformly applicable to all subareas within the municipality.
This tapping fee shall be imposed by the Authority and paid to it
notwithstanding the fact that no part of a customer facility is installed
by the owner from the curb stop to the structure.
B.
Establishment of Rate District (3). The Authority may, in its sole
discretion, establish a separate rate district to be known as "Rate
District (3)," as part of its Schedule of Rates and Charges. All rates
and charges which are established for Rate District (3) shall:
(1)
Be applicable to and enforced by the Authority as to all properties
in present and future subareas;
(2)
Continue in full force and effect until final repayment has been
made of all debt incurred by the Authority for construction of the
Water Expansion II Project; and
(3)
Provide for payment to the Authority of its cost of repayment of
all debt incurred by the Authority as a result of the project, the
rates and charges to be applicable to and assessed against each owner
on a pro-rata basis.
C.
Adoption of rules and regulations. The municipality hereby approves
and confirms all rules and regulations and the Schedule of Rates and
Charges of the Authority which are now in effect and as each may be
later amended, revised and/or rescinded by the Authority in the exercise
of its exclusive power so to do, the municipality confirming that
said rules and regulations and Schedule of Rates and Charges shall
be applicable to and controlling as to each property which is now
or in the future included in any subarea within the municipality.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, the municipality and its sewer authority
reserve the right to challenge the reasonableness and validity of
rates and fees adopted and amended by the Authority, from time to
time, as permitted by law.
A.
Failure to pay tapping fees or rates and charges. If any owner of
a property within Rate District (3), as established by the Authority,
shall fail or refuse to timely pay any tapping fee assessed by the
Authority or fail to timely pay any rate or charge applicable, as
established by the Authority, the Authority shall have the absolute
right, acting either for itself or as an agent for the municipality
and without any further grant of authority by the municipality, to
file a claim or lien against the property in order to secure payment
by the owner of any such claim. This claim shall be entered in the
Office of the Prothonotary of Westmoreland County at the same time
and in the same form and be collected in the same manner as municipal
claims are filed and collected. The municipality hereby confirms that
the Authority also has and shall retain the exclusive right to proceed
in any other way that it shall see fit to compel and secure payment
of all tapping fees and rates and charges which are established by
the Authority as applicable to owners in Rate District (3), provided
only that the Authority shall give 20 days' written notice to
the municipality advising it of its intent to proceed under the provisions
of this article against any party to whom it is applicable.
B.
Enforcement. The municipality hereby irrevocably designates and appoints
the Authority, on behalf of the municipality, and to the fullest extent
necessary and possible, to carry out all the intents, purposes and
requirements of both this article and the Water Expansion II Project
of the Authority, all as same are applicable to the municipality,
and to act in all ways and in all manner, either in its own name as
the Authority or on behalf of and in the name of the municipality,
in the administration and enforcement of all terms and conditions
of this article, the rules and regulations of the Authority and its
Schedule of Rates and Charges, all such rules and regulations and
Schedule of Rates and Charges being capable, in the sole discretion
of the Authority, of amendment by it from time to time.
C.
Exclusion. Notwithstanding any other provisions of this article,
the municipality reserves to itself, and the Authority conceded to
the municipality, the absolute right of the municipality to enact
a mandatory tapping ordinance, which may apply to all areas of the
municipality which are not now, nor which in the future, form part
of any subarea of the municipality as same are herein defined.
D.
Civil penalties. Any owner who fails to timely pay a tapping fee
established by the Authority for Rate District (3) within 60 days
following his receipt, by personal service or by certified mail, of
a notice to make such payment or who fails to pay any rate or charge
as defined, established and made part of a schedule of rates and charges
of the Authority for Rate District (3) shall, upon being found to
be legally responsible for any such failure by a District Justice,
in addition to being required to pay such tapping fee, rate or charge,
pay a civil penalty of not less than $25 nor more than $1,000, plus
costs, all for the use of the Authority, it being further provided
that each day's failure to so pay any tapping fee, commencing
with the first day following the initial sixty-day period or pay any
rate or charge, commencing with the 31st day following its billing
date, shall constitute a separate offence and impose liability therefor
as such.
