[HISTORY: Adopted by the Township Committee
of the Township of Oxford 12-16-1993 by Ord. No. 93-15 (Ch. 77A of the 1974
Township Code). Amendments noted where applicable.]
A.
A publicly owned sewer utility is hereby established
by the Township of Oxford, Warren County, New Jersey. Said facility
shall be known as the “Oxford Township Sewer Utility." The purpose
of said Utility shall be to construct, operate, maintain, manage and
control all sewer facilities, as defined by N.J.S.A. 40A:26A-3, and
all extensions and improvements thereof, situate in and constructed
or acquired at public expense by the Township of Oxford, to fix the
amount and charges for the use thereof, and to provide rules and regulations
therefor.
B.
The Oxford Township Sewer Utility, as herein created,
shall be deemed to be a separate entity having all of the powers as
more specifically enumerated in N.J.S.A. 40A:26A-5.
C.
The Oxford Township Sewer Utility governing body shall
consist of three members, which said members shall be appointed by
the Mayor and Committee of the Township of Oxford.
All moneys derived from the operation of the
Oxford Township Sewer Utility (including but not limited to annual
user fees and connection fees) and any other moneys applicable to
its support shall be segregated by the Township and kept in a separate
fund which shall be known as the "Township of Oxford Sewer Utility
Fund." Said fund shall be used as required to:
A.
Recover and/or pay all costs of acquisition, construction
or operation, including the costs of raw materials, administration,
real or personal property, maintenance, taxes, debt service charges,
debt interest, fees, insurance, improvements, extensions, enlargements
and/or replacements.
B.
Establish a surplus in an amount sufficient to provide
for the reasonable anticipation of any contingency that may affect
the operation of the sewer facility and, at the discretion of the
Township, allow for the transfer of moneys from the budget for the
sewer facilities to the local budget in accordance with Section 5
of P.L. 1983, c. 111 (N.J.S.A. 40A:4-35.1).
A.
ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT
AGENT
BUILDING SEWER
COMMERCIAL CONCERN
INDUSTRIAL CONCERN
INSTITUTION
OWNER
PERSON
SANITARY SEWER
SEWER SYSTEM
STREET
UNIT
USER
WASTE
WASTEWATER
WCPRMUA
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall
have the meanings indicated:
The individual designated as the agent and representative
of the Township of Oxford charged with the operation of the Oxford
Township Sewer Utility system.
The designated representative of the owner of the property
or, in the absence of instructions from the owner or his duly authorized
agent to the contrary, the occupant of any property or premises.
A sewer pipe, including fittings, which carries wastewater
from a building of any kind to the sewer stub connection.
Any concern engaged in service, trade, traffic or commerce
in general, including concerns which provide recreational and municipal
services (industrial concerns are excluded).
Any concern engaged primarily in a manufacturing or processing
operation or in research and development activities.
Any charitable, hospital, relief, training, correctional,
reformatory or public institution.
Any person or persons actually owning any property or premises,
or that person's duly authorized agent.
Any individual, firm, company, association, society, corporation
or group.
Any appurtenance which carries or is intended to carry wastewater
and into which stormwater, surface water and groundwater is not intentionally
admitted.
All pipes, conduits, manholes, siphons, pumping and ejecting
facilities, force mains, treatment plants and other appurtenances
installed on public roads or other public property, rights-of-way,
easements or private property by consent of the owner, within the
boundaries of the Township of Oxford, owned and maintained by the
Township of Oxford, or its authorized agents, for the express purpose
of collecting wastewater. It also includes any such system installed
by any private person or public agency within the boundaries of the
Township of Oxford where the provisions of this chapter are applicable
by reason of valid consent of the owner or operator of said system,
or any such system installed or maintained beyond the boundaries of
the Township of Oxford where the provisions of this chapter are applicable
by reason of the valid consent of the owner or operator of said system,
or any such system installed or maintained beyond the boundaries of
the Township of Oxford where the provisions of this chapter are applicable
by reason of the valid consent of the municipality in which said system
is situated.
Any and all streets, avenues, highways and roads, whether
or not publicly used, dedicated or accepted by the Municipality.
Shall be considered as a single-family dwelling, each apartment,
each motel room, each hotel room, each store, home unit, lodging home
or other lodging units, mobile home and industrial building.
Any person that discharges or causes or permits the discharge
of wastewater into the public sewers.
Sewerage and any and all other waste substances, liquid,
solid, gaseous or radioactive, associated with human habitation or
of human or animal origin or from any producing, manufacturing or
processing operation of whatever nature, including such waste placed
within containers of whatever nature prior to and for purposes of
disposal.
A combination of water-carried wastes from residences, commercial
concerns, institutions, industrial concerns and other buildings or
places.
The Warren County-Pequest River Municipal Utilities Authority,
the regional sewer system to which the Township of Oxford sewer system
shall discharge.
A.
The management and affairs of the Oxford Township
Sewer Utility shall be conducted by the administrative agent designated
by the Utility governing body. The Utility governing body may make
such rules and regulations not inconsistent with this chapter as it
shall from time to time deem necessary.
B.
The Utility governing body shall appoint from time
to time such employees as it shall deem necessary for the proper administration
of the business of the Oxford Township Sewer Utility.
C.
The salaries of all of the employees of the Oxford
Township Sewer Utility shall be in such amount as shall be fixed by
an ordinance of the Township Committee from time to time.
D.
All authorized employees or representatives of the
Oxford Township Sewer Utility shall have the right to enter any buildings
or premises, at reasonable hours, for the purpose of but not limited
to inspection, observation, measurement, sampling, repair and maintenance
of any portion of the sewer system and to carry out any and all other
provisions of this chapter.
A.
The owners of all houses or buildings used for human
occupancy, employment or recreation or other purposes situated within
the Township and abutting on or having access to any street, alley
or right-of-way in which there is located a public sanitary sewer
of the Township shall, at their expense:
(1)
Install suitable toilet facilities therein.
(2)
Connect such facilities directly with the proper public
sewer in accordance with the provisions of this chapter within 180
days after the date of official notice from the Township to do so,
provided that said public sewer is within 200 feet of such house or
building.
B.
At such time as a public sewer becomes available to
a property served by an individual sewage disposal system, as provided
in Chapter 110, Sewage Disposal System, Individual, of the Oxford
Township Code,[1] a direct connection shall be made to the public sewer
in compliance with this chapter, suitable toilet facilities shall
be installed, and any septic tanks, cesspools and similar individual
sewage disposal facilities shall be removed or filled with suitable
materials as directed by the administrative agent.
C.
Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of Subsection B, the Township Committee may, for a period of one year and at its discretion from year to year thereafter, waive the requirements thereof relating to immediate sewer connections of a dwelling with the public sanitary sewer system. Such waiver by the Township shall be based upon the following conditions:
It shall be unlawful to make any connection
to the sewer system without first obtaining a written permit from
the Township Clerk. All connections shall be made by a licensed plumber
under the direction and supervision of the administrative agent or
his representative and in the manner hereinafter set forth.
A.
All costs and expenses incident to the installation
of suitable toilet facilities and connection of the building sewer
to the public sewer system shall be borne by the owner. The owner
shall indemnify the Township from any loss or damage that may, directly
or indirectly, be occasioned by the installation of the building sewer.
B.
The maintenance of the building sewer shall be the
responsibility of the owner of the property served.
A.
If, after the expiration of said 180 days from the
date of official notification, the owner of any property affected
by the provisions of this chapter has failed to install such sanitary
sewer facilities, including suitable toilet facilities, and/or to
make such sewer connection as required herein, after receiving official
notice requiring such action as hereinbefore provided, the Township
may, upon 30 days' written notice to the owner or owner's agent, cause
such installation or connection to be made under the direction and
supervision of the administrative agent or award one or more contracts
for the making of such improvements to any persons who are licensed
plumbers in the State of New Jersey authorized to perform work on
sanitary sewers.
B.
When any such connection or toilet installation shall
be made by the Township, a true and accurate account of the cost and
expense shall be kept and apportioned to the property or properties
thereby connected, and a true statement of such costs, under oath,
shall be forthwith filed by the officer of the Municipality in charge
of such connection or installation with the Clerk of the governing
body. The governing body shall examine the same and, if properly made,
shall confirm it and file such statement with the officer of the Municipality
charged with the duty of collecting taxes. Said officer shall record
the connection or installation charge in the same book in which he
records sidewalk and other assessments.
C.
Each such connection or installation charge shall be a first lien or charge against the property benefited therefrom. Interest upon the amount so charged shall accrue as provided by N.J.S.A. 40A:26A-12. Liens levied in accordance with this section shall be enforceable in the manner provided for real property tax liens in Chapter 5 of Title 54 of the Revised New Jersey Statutes.
A separate and independent building sewer shall
be provided for every building, except that, where one building stands
at the rear of another on an interior lot and no building sewer is
available or can be constructed to the rear building through an adjoining
alley, courtyard or driveway, the building sewer from the front building
may be extended to the rear building and the whole considered as one
building sewer. In the case of multiple housing units, it is not necessary
to have a separate and independent building sewer for every building,
but instead the sewage from the various principal buildings shall
be gathered together into one or more building sewers of a size satisfactory
to the Plumbing Inspector and carried out to the nearest public sewer
adjacent to the property.
Old building sewers may be used in connection
with new buildings only when they are found, upon examination and
test by the administrative agent and Plumbing Inspector, to meet all
the requirements of this chapter and the New Jersey Uniform Construction
Code.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: See N.J.S.A. 52:27D-119 et
seq.
The Uniform Commercial Code,[1] as adopted by the State of New Jersey, is hereby established
and adopted as the specifications for building sewer materials and
construction.
[1]
Editor's Note: See N.J.S.A. 12A:1-101 et seq.
The holder of the building sewer permit shall
notify the administrative agent when the building sewer is ready for
inspection. The installation shall be made under the supervision of
the administrative agent, or his representative, within 48 hours of
the receipt of notice by the Township.
All excavations for building sewer installations
shall be adequately guarded with barricades and lights so as to protect
the public from hazard. Streets, sidewalks, parkways and other public
property disturbed in the course of the work shall be restored in
a manner satisfactory to the administrative agent.
In addition to the requirements of this chapter,
where the applicant for the building sewer permit must connect to
a public sewer discharging into the sewer system of an adjacent municipality
or governing body, the provisions of any ordinance or ordinances,
rules and regulations of such municipality or governing body concerning
the connection to the public sewer shall govern and apply, as well
as the applicable terms of any agreement in connection therewith entered
into between the Township and such adjoining municipality.
[Amended 6-15-2005 by Ord. No. 2005-07]
No person shall discharge or cause to be discharged
the following substances into any sanitary sewer:
A.
Water or substances from roof leaders, yard drains,
area drains, foundation drains, drains from springs and swampy areas,
manhole covers, catch basins, cooling towers, cross-connections between
storm sewers and/or sanitary sewers and sewer service connections.
B.
Water or substances from sump pumps, cellar drains,
steam exhaust, blowoff, drip pipes, air-conditioning equipment, industrial
cooling-water systems, rainwater conductors, swimming pools, roof
drains and/or oil pipes.
C.
Surface water, groundwater, subsurface drainage, stormwaters
and/or street wash waters.
[Amended 1-7-2009 by Ord.
No. 2008-21]
An inspection fee in the sum of $100 shall be
paid by the owner or his agent for each inspection or reinspection
performed by representatives of the Sewer Utility with respect to
the connection to the sewer system or other installations or improvements
installed pursuant to this chapter.
A.
The owner of each property connected to the sewer
system owned and operated by the Oxford Township Sewer Utility shall
pay to Oxford Township an annual user fee.
B.
The annual user fee shall be based on the average
quantity of discharge from a single-family dwelling unit, herein referred
to as "equivalent dwelling unit" (EDU). The average daily quantity
of discharge from an EDU has been established as 200 gallons. This
quantity shall be subject to review not less often than annually and
may be adjusted with the approval of the Sewer Utility governing body.
C.
User charge per EDU. The annual user charge per equivalent
dwelling unit (EDU) for users in both Oxford Township and Washington
Township shall be within a range of $700 to $1,500. The Township Committee
shall, on an annual basis, adopt a resolution setting the specific
charge per EDU for that year for users within Oxford Township and
shall also establish the specific charge per EDU for users within
Washington Township.
[Amended 2-21-1994 by Ord. No. 94-11; 4-20-1995 by Ord. No.
95-4; 3-21-1996 by Ord. No. 96-3; 3-20-1997 by Ord. No. 97-2; 4-16-1998 by Ord. No. 98-5; 5-20-1999 by Ord. No. 99-5; 5-18-2000 by Ord. No.
2000-5; 6-19-2002 by Ord. No. 2002-8; 7-16-2003 by Ord. No. 2003-5; 6-16-2004 by Ord. No. 2004-6; 6-21-2006 by Ord. No. 2006-10; 6-21-2017 by Ord. No. 2017-07; 4-6-2022 by Ord. No. 2022-05]
D.
The annual user fee to be charged the various users
of the system shall be as follows:
(1)
Single-family dwellings, apartments and mobile homes
situate within Oxford Township: 100% of the annual charge per EDU
by the WCPRMUA.
(2)
Single-family dwellings, apartments and mobile homes
not situate within Oxford Township: 112.5% of the annual charge per
EDU by the WCPRMUA.
(3)
Commercial, industrial, institutional and municipal units shall be
assessed an annual sewer fee based on Schedule A, attached hereto.
[Amended 5-20-2015 by Ord. No. 2015-07; 7-15-2015 by Ord. No. 2015-10]
|
Schedule A
| ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Classification
|
Use Fee Per Quarter
|
Pruma Costs Per Quarter
|
Sewer Fee Quarterly
|
Sewer Fee Annually
| ||
|
Each restaurant, bar room or commercial establishment which
regularly dispenses food or beverages
|
$34.75
|
$231.36
|
$266.11
|
$1,064.44
| ||
|
Each retail store, business or professional office, barber shop
or beauty shop (not operation in a house)
|
$34.75
|
$175
|
$209.75
|
$839
| ||
|
Combination dwelling unit and retail/commercial establishment
located in one structure
| ||||||
|
Charges per commercial unit
|
$34.75
|
$175
|
$209.75
|
$839
| ||
|
Chargers per dwelling unit
|
$34.75
|
$59.25
|
$94
|
$376
| ||
|
For a retail/commercial unit with 3 dwellings (apartments) total
fee would be $209.75 + $282 (3 units at $94; total $491.75/qtr. $1,967/yr.
| ||||||
|
NOTE:
| |
|---|---|
|
The fees on this schedule shall be retroactive to January 1,
2015.
|
E.
The Township Committee may waive the annual sewer
fee charges for uninhabitable properties or upon a showing of an exceptional
hardship. A determination of whether a specific property is uninhabitable
or the property owner suffers from an exceptional hardship shall be
determined by the Township Committee. The waiver shall not include
the contribution to capital improvements as calculated by the Authority
on a yearly basis.
[Added 9-17-2008 by Ord.
No. 2008-09]
A.
In addition to the annual user fee, a separate charge in the nature of a connection fee shall be imposed upon the owner or occupant of each property so connected, which said fee shall be due and payable as a condition precedent to the issuance by the Township of the sewer connection permit required by § 260-6 of this chapter.
B.
The sewer connection fee shall be established annually,
after public hearing, in the manner provided by N.J.S.A. 40A:26A-11.
C.
The sewer connection fee shall be $1,025.
[Added 12-10-2008 by Ord. No. 2008-16; amended 3-4-2009 by Ord. No. 2009-03]
[Added 12-10-2008 by Ord. No. 2008-16; amended 3-4-2009 by Ord. No. 2009-03]
A.
Sewer
permit fee. The owner or his agent shall make application on a form
furnished by the Township. The permit application shall be supplemented
by any plans, specifications or other information considered pertinent
by the Township. A permit and inspection fee of $25 for a sewer permit
shall be paid to the Township Sewer Utility System at the time the
application is filed.
B.
The
permit will expire six months after the date of issue but will be
subject to renewal for not to exceed six months with the approval
of the administrative agency.
[Amended 6-15-2005 by Ord. No. 2005-07; 1-7-2009 by Ord. No. 2008-21]
Every person found guilty of violating any of
the provisions of this chapter may, in addition to the other procedures
outlined in this chapter, be liable, upon conviction, to a fine of
up to $2,000, imprisonment for a term not exceeding 90 days or a period
of community service not exceeding 90 days, or any combination thereof,
for each conviction. A violation of this chapter shall not be considered
a continuing violation on a day-to-day basis; however, a new violation
shall be deemed to have occurred 30 days after each prior violation.
