[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors
of the Township of Hanover 6-10-1969 by Ord. No. 69-2. Amendments noted where applicable.]
This chapter shall be known and may be cited
as the "Health and Nuisance Article of the Township of Hanover."
This chapter is adopted for the purposes of
promoting public health, life, safety, morals, welfare, peace, decency,
dignity, reasonable and comfortable use of property, and the tranquillity
of the community of the Township of Hanover, County of Northampton,
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and to further the following related
and more specific objectives:
A.
To prohibit the creation or maintenance of impure,
unwholesome, or offensive conditions relating to streets, sidewalks,
air, soil, structures, premises, food or drink.
B.
To prohibit the sale, lease, or distribution of impure,
offensive, or unwholesome products.
C.
To prohibit the existence of unsanitary conditions.
D.
To prohibit blocking or obstructing, streets or sidewalks.
E.
To prohibit unguarded open excavations, piles of dirt
or debris, and collection of stagnant water.
F.
To prohibit the unauthorized posting of handbills,
signs, and posters.
G.
To prohibit the accumulations of brush, debris, litter,
and any other such materials which may create an unwholesome and unhealthy
condition in the Township.
H.
To prohibit the smoking of and the use of all tobacco products and/or
electronic cigarette products on or at all Township-owned property,
to include but not be limited to the municipal building, public works
facilities, parking lots and all areas of parks, playgrounds, recreational
fields and open spaces.
[Added 3-24-2020 by Ord.
No. 2020-01]
I.
To prohibit the drinking of and use of alcohol and products containing
alcohol for consumption on or at all Township-owned property, to include
but not be limited to the municipal building, public works facilities,
parking lots and all areas of parks, playgrounds, recreational fields
and open spaces.
[Added 3-24-2020 by Ord.
No. 2020-01]
Certain words and terms are used in this chapter
for the purposes hereof and are defined as follows:
A.
Unless the context clearly indicates the contrary,
words used in the present tense include the future, the singular numbers
include the plural, and the plural the singular, and the masculine
includes the feminine and neuter, and the neuter includes the masculine
and feminine, and the feminine includes the masculine and neuter.
B.
ALCOHOL
NUISANCE
PERSON
SMOKING
STRUCTURE
TOBACCO PRODUCT
(1)
(2)
(3)
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall
have the meanings indicated:
Includes alcohol and all beverages and products containing
alcohol for consumption.
[Added 3-24-2020 by Ord.
No. 2020-01]
Such activity, existence of a condition, or state of being,
which, based upon actual conditions in the Township, shall be offensive
to public life, health, safety, morals, welfare, peace, decency, dignity,
reasonable and comfortable use of property, and the tranquillity of
the community.
Includes an individual, organization, corporation, partnership,
government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust,
estate, trust, association, and any other legal or commercial entity.
The carrying by a person of a lighted cigar, cigarette, pipe
or other lighted smoking device used for tobacco or the carrying by
a person of an electronic cigarette.
[Added 3-24-2020 by Ord.
No. 2020-01]
Includes any building, permanent or temporary, fully erected
or not, intended for shelter, housing or enclosure of persons, animals,
or property of any kind.
Includes all of the following:
[Added 3-24-2020 by Ord.
No. 2020-01]
Any product containing, made or derived from tobacco or nicotine
that is intended for human consumption, whether smoked, heated, chewed,
absorbed, dissolved, inhaled, snorted, sniffed, snuffed, dipped or
ingested by any means, including, but not limited to, cigarettes,
cigars, chewing tobacco, pipe tobacco and snuff, or dipping tobacco;
Any electronic device that delivers nicotine or other substances
to the person inhaling from the device, including, but not limited
to, electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), vape pens, juul devices,
pipes, hookah pipes or devices and any other similar electronic tobacco
devices which ignite tobacco and/or emit smoke, aerosol or vapor;
and
Notwithstanding any provision of Subsection (1) and (2), above, to the contrary, tobacco product further includes any component, part or accessory of a tobacco product whether or not sold separately. Tobacco product does not include any product that has been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration for sale as a tobacco-cessation product or for other therapeutic purposes where such product is marked and sold for such use.
It shall be unlawful for any person to create
a nuisance as herein defined. Any person violating any provision of
this chapter shall be subject to the penalties hereinafter provided.
The following activities shall be deemed to
be a nuisance when, based upon actual conditions in the Township,
they constitute a nuisance in fact:
A.
The accumulation of garbage and rubbish and the storage
of abandoned or junked automobiles, on private and public property,
and the carrying on of any offensive manufacture or business.
B.
The ownership, maintenance, inhabitation, use, or
offering for use, any structure on public or private grounds which
may be dangerous, unwholesome, or offensive to the public.
C.
The willful making, or causing to be made, any loud,
boisterous or unseemly noise or disturbance so as to disturb or annoy
the peaceable public, near to or upon any street, lane, alley, park,
square, common, or in any public building, public place or business
place, or private building, or private place, within the Township
of Hanover.
D.
Any act or conduct such as might tend to cause riot,
panic, violence, or general disturbance.
E.
Any wanton discharge, without legal rights, except
in authorized celebrations, any gun, pistol, firearm, fireworks, or
other explosive.
F.
The obstruction of any sidewalk, pavement, highway,
street, lane, alley, thoroughfare, passageway in any public building,
or public place, or business place.
G.
The sale, or offering for sale, the lease, or offering
for lease, gift, or offering for gift, or distributing any unwholesome,
impure, or offensive food or drink, or any other material intended
for human or animal consumption.
H.
The participation in an unlawful gathering, or the
vexing, hindering, annoying or delaying any person, whereby the public
peace or comfort is broken, or the public annoyed.
I.
The lounging or loitering upon any street, road, highway,
street corner, curb, sidewalk, lane, alley, park, square, common,
or any public building, public place, or business place, or private
residence, store, shop, church, entrance, or exit, or passageway.
J.
The traveling about the Township soliciting, or begging,
from door to door, or upon the streets, sidewalks, curbs, lanes, alleys,
parks, squares, commons, or in any public building, public place,
or business place, school, or private dwelling, for the purpose of
acquiring money or a living and who shall have no fixed place of residence,
lawful occupation, or permit from the said Township.
K.
The use of indecent, vile, and profane language audibly
upon the public streets, lanes, alleys, parks, squares, commons, public
buildings, public places, business places, churches, schools, or any
public place within the Township.
L.
The congregating or assembling at, near, or about
a place where a fire is in progress, or where the fire or police apparatus
have been summoned by an alarm or necessity, and thereby hindering,
delaying, or obstructing any such apparatus, its men and equipment,
or rendering dangers by such assembly, the management or handling
of such apparatus.
M.
The neglect or refusal to promptly regard and obey
the orders of any police officer or fireman in respect to the discharge
of their duties in the enforcement of the laws and ordinances of the
Township, and at any place where a fire is in progress.
N.
Parking a disabled vehicle (i.e., one that is incapable
of being operated in a safe and legal manner) on a Township street
in excess of 48 hours.
[Added 10-14-1980 by Ord. No. 80-2]
O.
The smoking of or use of all tobacco products at or on all Township-owned
property.
[Added 3-24-2020 by Ord. No. 20-01]
P.
The drinking of and use of alcohol and products containing alcohol
for consumption.
[Added 3-24-2020 by Ord. No. 20-01]
For any and every violation of any provision
of this chapter, the Township may exercise any one or more of the
following remedies:
A.
Any person who violates or permits a violation of
this chapter shall, upon conviction in a summary proceeding brought
before a District Justice under the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal
Procedure, be guilty of a summary offense and shall be punishable
by a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $1,000, plus costs of
prosecution. In default of payment thereof, the defendant may be sentenced
to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 90 days. Each day or portion
thereof that such violation continues or is permitted to continue
shall constitute a separate offense, and each section of this chapter
that is violated shall also constitute a separate offense.[1]
B.
Upon notice to the person violating said chapter,
by certified mail, return receipt requested, to abate the nuisance,
and upon failure of such person to do so within a period of 10 days
from the date of the receipt of said notice, the Township shall take
such steps as are necessary to abate the nuisance, and charge said
person violating the chapter with all costs thereof, together with
a collection fee of 10%, or file a municipal claim against said person,
together with a collection fee of 10%, or by an action of assumpsit
without the filing of a claim.
C.
Institute proceedings in any court of equity having
jurisdiction to abate the nuisance.
