By Ron Leir
KEARNY –
The town has declared war on the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission.
By resolution, the Town Council declared that, effective May 16, Kearny was severing its participation in the PVSC connection fee incentive program.
Under the program, the local Building Department could not issue a permit unless and until a property owner paid a fee to the PVSC, which treats sewage generated by the town.
These payments included an “administrative” fee of $250 for the processing of a permit application plus an additional fee targeted to the type of structure involved.
As noted in the town resolution, back in 2009 Kearny sought a ruling from the state Department of Community Affairs “as to whether the payment of PVSC fees was required before a permit could be issued under the Uniform Construction Code.” The DCA concluded that those payments were not prescribed by the code and were “strictly a matter between the town and the PVSC.”
Therefore, the resolution said, because the program “imposes an unreasonable burden on the town’s construction office to interpret and enforce PVSC fee regulations, the applicability of which are not always clear, and, in turn, imposes burdens on residents and businesses,” Kearny would hereafter issue construction permits on its own “except for projects involving new construction that require a (sewage) treatment works approval.”
To read the full story, see this week’s issue of The Observer.
