An issue with excessive grease in the borough’s sewer lines over the last few years has resulted in the governing body proposing a law that will require businesses to have and maintain grease traps.
Ordinance 2485 will minimize grease from restaurants, eateries, and food service facilities which – in turn – will prevent blockage and plugging of pipelines and lessen difficulties to water treatment plants.
A lack of grease traps – according to Mayor Carl Hokanson at the March 2nd municipal meeting – has lead to the borough spending between $10,000 and $20,000 to clean lines that were clogged with grease over time. It has gotten so bad that the Department of Public Works (DPW) currently checks the lines once very three to four days. In speaking with the Board Of Health, the municipality found out that no grease trap ordinance existed to monitor and regulated discharge.
“Right now we’re having a major problem and we’ve had one or two businesses actually get flooded out because of the grease,” said Mayor Hokanson about how serious the issue has become.
It was asked in February if existing businesses would be grandfathered in and exempt from having and maintaining grease traps, Borough Attorney Richard Huxford stated that the committee would consider that possibility. A review of the ordinance makes no mention of exempting existing businesses and sections refer to the requirements of businesses already established.
A copy of the ordinance is included below:
Download Ordinance 2485