[Adopted 6-4-2001 by Res. No. 626]
It is resolved by the Board of Supervisors of the Township of Pine that
its policies and procedures for the creation of sanitary sewer districts and
for the payment, assessment and collection of the costs and expenses of construction
of certain of the improvements related thereto shall include, but not be limited
to, the following.
Except as otherwise may be provided herein, the Township of Pine shall
proceed in accordance with the procedures set forth in the Second Class Township
Code (Article XXV; 53 P.S. § 67501 et seq.).
Upon the request, by written petition, of property owners representing
at least 51% of the property valuation (as such is assessed for real estate
tax purposes) of a defined area, the Board of Supervisors may provide access
to public sanitary sewers for the properties within such area through the
construction/extension of public main sanitary sewer lines and creation of
a sanitary sewer district therefor.
The Board of Supervisors shall establish any sanitary sewer district
by enactment of an ordinance therefor. Prior to the adoption of any such ordinance,
notice of intention to adopt and of the proposed construction shall be published
in a newspaper of general circulation once per week for three successive weeks.
Each property owner within a sanitary sewer district may be required
to dedicate, free of cost, a public right-of-way through such property to
facilitate installation of the main sanitary sewer line.
The Board of Supervisors may authorize the appropriate municipal sewer
authority (McCandless Township Sanitary Authority, Marshall Township Municipal
Sanitary Authority or Breakneck Creek Regional Sanitary Authority), in accordance
with such authority's established procedures, to bid and to award the contract
for the construction and/or extension of the main sanitary sewer line to provide
public sanitary sewer service to the sanitary sewer district. Alternatively,
the Board of Supervisors may elect to directly bid and award the contract
and to construct such main sanitary sewer line pursuant to the established
procedures of the Township of Pine.
A.
The Township of Pine shall make the initial payment of
all necessary costs and expenses for the main sanitary sewer line's construction,
including engineering and legal fees, but excluding any service connection
fees and/or construction of service tines for individual properties.
B.
All property owners within the sanitary sewer district
shall be thereafter assessed by the Township of Pine for all such costs and
expenses previously paid by the Township in connection therewith by the use
of one of the two following methods:
(1)
By proportion of a property's frontage abutting on the
main sanitary sewer line (allowing for an equitable reduction for corner properties
or those that are unusually shaped); or
(2)
By an equal assessment on all properties abutting on
the main sanitary sewer line in proportion to the total costs and expenses
paid by the Township of Pine.
C.
Any owner of property so assessed by the Township of
Pine shall have the choice, within 60 days from receipt of the assessment
bill, of thereafter paying the assessment immediately in full or, alternatively,
by payment in five equal, annual installments with interest applied at the
rate of 6% per annum.
D.
A municipal lien shall be filed by the Township of Pine
against all properties within the sanitary sewer district for which the assessments
are not immediately paid in full in the amount of said assessment.
E.
Any additional costs attributable solely to providing
sanitary sewer service to individual properties (i.e., service line, service
connection fee, etc.) will be paid directly by the property owner and shall
not be the responsibility of the Township of Pine.
In accordance with the requirements of the Allegheny County Department
of Health, property owners abutting on the main sanitary sewer line shall
be required to connect thereto in the event that the property's primary structure
is within 250 feet of the main sanitary sewer line.
Petitions filed with the Township of Pine for creation of a sanitary
sewer district and the construction/extension of a main sanitary sewer line
will be considered and acted upon in the sole discretion of the Township's
Board of Supervisors, and such creation and construction shall be contingent
upon the Township having appropriate funds and/or financing available to it,
as such is determined by the Township's Board of Supervisors.
Attorneys' fees incurred on all accounts referred to the Township's
Solicitor for enforcement and collection shall, if not collected in due course
with the debt as by voluntary agreement, be included in all claims (including
liens) filed on behalf of the Township of Pine in the course of enforcement,
including (if accrued before liening) in any claim originally filed with the
Prothonotary and in accordance with Ordinance No. 281 of the Township of Pine.[1]
