(a) No person, being the owner, lessee, user or occupier of lands, or having control or supervision of lands, within the township, upon which there is contained, maintained or existing any excavation to the depth of four feet, or deeper, whether or not the excavation is in or on the lands, in earth, stone or clay, and whether or not water is therein accumulated and contained, shall fail to erect and maintain, at his or her expense, a tight fence of permanent material, i.e., wood or metal, to the height of four feet, completely enclosing the excavation in order to prevent persons from straying, wandering or otherwise entering such depression or excavation.
(b) The fence shall be securely closed at all times except when being entered and a gate or gates shall be maintained, which gate or gates shall be securely locked when not otherwise guarded.
(c) (1) The Police Department is hereby charged with the duty of notifying the township of all such excavations now existing, constructed or maintained within the township or hereafter made. The township shall immediately send notice of this section to the owner, lessee, occupier or user of the premises requiring such person to comply with the provisions of this section and to erect a fence as hereinbefore described.
(2) This section shall not apply to natural depressions, wading pools, creek banks, quarries, ponds or lakes, unless the same, in the judgment of the Board of Township Commissioners, creates a public danger to passersby and others who might stray and fall into the same and suffer injury thereby, and provided that notice, as herein provided, is given to the owner, lessee, occupier or user of the premises.
(d) The erection of the fence shall be made within 48 hours from the receipt of such notice. Service of the notice may be made personally, by registered mail, by leaving the notice at the habitation of the person charged, and, in the event that service in the foregoing manner is not accomplished, then by posting the premises with a notice of this section.
(e) The existence of any excavation as herein described upon any land within the township is hereby declared to be a public nuisance and is prohibited.
(f) Upon failure of the owner, lessee, user or occupier of premises containing an excavation, as above described, to comply with the provisions of this section within the period prescribed in the notice provided for in subsections (c) and (d) above, the township may enter the property, abate the nuisance at the expense of the owner, bill the owner for the cost thereof, together with a penalty of 10%, and, upon failure of the owner to pay the bill within 30 days from the date thereof, file the claim as a municipal lien and proceed to collect the same under the Municipal Claims and Lien Act, being 53 P.S. §§ 7101 et seq. or sue in assumpsit. This remedy shall be in addition to the penalty provided in § 660.99.
(g) A separate offense shall be deemed committed each day a violation exists after notice thereof as provided in this section.
(Ord. 228, passed 11-18-1959)