In the interpretation of this article, the singular shall include
the plural, and the masculine shall include the feminine and neuter.
The following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
BOROUGH
The Borough of Palmyra, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania.
DWELLING UNIT
Any room, group of rooms, mobile home, building or other
enclosure connected, directly or indirectly, to the sewer system and
occupied or intended for occupancy as a separate living quarters by
a family or any other group of persons living together or by a person
or persons living alone.
EDU
An equivalent dwelling unit; when computing the tapping fee,
the amount of water consumed by an average dwelling in a day which
is estimated to be 195 gallons per day ("gpd"). When computing the
tapping fee, nonresidential uses shall be assigned a number of EDUs
based upon the estimated or actual water consumption, and each 195
gpd of water consumed or estimated to be consumed shall be considered
one EDU.
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 wastewater shall be or may be
discharged.
NONRESIDENTIAL ESTABLISHMENT
Any structure or any portion thereof intended to be used
wholly or in part for the purpose of carrying on a trade, business
or profession or for social, amusement, religious, educational, charitable,
institutional or public uses, or used or intended to be used in the
operation of a business enterprise for manufacturing, processing,
cleaning, laundering or assembling any product, commodity or article
and which contains plumbing for kitchens, toilets or washing facilities,
excluding dwelling units.
OWNER
Any person vested with the ownership, legal or equitable,
sole or partial, of any improved property.
PERSON
Any individual, partnership, estate, trust, firm, association,
corporation, municipality, municipality authority, school district
or any other group or legally recognized entity, and the members of
such partnership or association and the officers of such corporation.
SEWER SYSTEM
The wastewater collection and conveyance facilities and the
capacity acquired in the wastewater treatment plant of North Londonderry
Township owned and operated by the Borough.
TAPPING FEE
A fee imposed to enable the recovery of the equity in the
sewer system which shall be composed of a capacity part and a collection/conveyance
part and may, in the future, if warranted, include for some customers
a special purpose part and/or a reimbursement part. A tapping fee
shall be considered the fee referred to as a "tapping fee" in the
Municipality Authorities Act and as made applicable to the Borough by the Borough Code,
8 Pa.C.S.A. § 2053.
A tapping fee as set forth in § 228-57 of this article
is imposed upon and shall be collected by the Borough from the owner
of each improved property who or which shall physically connect such
improved property to the sewer system or who or which shall expand,
change or intensify the use of an improved property previously connected
to the sewer system, for the use of the sewer system, whether such
use or the expansion, change or intensification of such use shall
be direct or indirect. A tapping fee is charged for each dwelling
unit and each nonresidential establishment as set forth in § 228-57.
Should any owner of any improved property connected to the sewer
system expand, change or intensify the use of said improved property,
the owner shall pay a tapping fee calculated in the manner set forth
in this article upon the expanded, changed or intensified portion
of such use of the sewer system by the improved property. Examples
of an expansion, change or intensification of the use of an improved
property shall include, but shall not be limited to, the installation
of an additional dwelling unit or units in an existing dwelling or
the commencement of a home occupation which requires use of the sewer
system such as a beauty salon or barber shop; the conversion of a
warehouse to a restaurant or manufacturing facility; or the adding
of a third work shift to an industrial processing operation. A change
in sewage flows generated by an improved property of more than 500
gallons per day on the basis of average daily flows over the prior
12 months shall be considered an expansion of the use of the sewer
system, regardless of whether the improved property has been enlarged
or any new use has been instituted. The Borough may compare current
flow rates with flow rates previously approved by means of the payment
of tapping fees or the approval of a planning module for land development
or with the last calendar year average daily flow based on water meter
readings for the entire year to determine whether there has been a
change in sewage flows exceeding 500 gallons per day, regardless of
whether the improved property has been expanded or any new use has
been instituted.
The tapping fee shall be due and payable at the time application is made to the Borough to make any such connection to the sewer system as provided in Article
III of this Part
3; or at the time application is made to the Borough for a zoning or building permit; or on the date when the Borough shall connect 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 the Borough pursuant to the provisions of Article
III of this Part
3; or when the use of an improved property connected to the sewer system is expanded, as the same may hereafter be amended or supplemented, whichever shall occur earlier.
All tapping fees shall be payable to the Treasurer of this Borough
or to such other officer or representative of this Borough as shall
be authorized, from time to time, to accept payment thereof. Tapping
fees which are not paid in full when due shall bear interest at the
rate of 12% per annum or at the rate of any outstanding debt incurred
by the Borough, whichever is greater.
The tapping fees imposed hereunder shall be in addition to any fees or charges imposed by the Rate Ordinance, codified as Article
IV, Sewer Rates and Charges, of this Part
3, or any other fees or charges fixed or imposed by the Borough by reason of the reservation of capacity in the sewer system or the use, or availability for use, of the sewer system.
This Borough reserves the right, from time to time, to adopt
modifications of, supplements to, or amendments of this article. The
Borough reserves the right to establish separate service areas which
may have a special purpose part and/or reimbursement part of the tapping
fee in addition to the capacity part and collection part imposed throughout
the sewer system. Where an extension of the sewer system has been
made at the expense of a private person, the Borough reserves the
right to require payment of a reimbursement part of the tapping fee.
In accordance with the requirements of the Municipality Authorities
Act, as amended by Act 57 of 2003, a report showing the calculation of the fees imposed by
this article is attached hereto as Exhibit "A" and incorporated herein.