A. The City shall be permitted to enter and inspect facilities subject to regulation under this chapter as often as may be necessary to determine compliance with this chapter. If a discharger does not wish to allow the City to enter a building to conduct the required activity, they may retain a private inspector to conduct the activity. The private inspector must have credentials that are acceptable to the City. The private inspector shall provide the City with relevant samples, test results, reports or any other information that is being requested.
B. Facility operators shall allow the City ready access to all parts of the premises for the purposes of inspection, sampling, examination and copying of records that must be kept under the conditions of the NPDES permit to discharge stormwater, and the performance of any additional duties as defined by State and Federal law.
C. The City has the right to require the discharger to install monitoring equipment as necessary. The facility's sampling and monitoring equipment shall be maintained at all times in a safe and proper operating condition by the discharger at its own expense. All devices used to measure stormwater flow and quality shall be calibrated to ensure their accuracy per manufacturer's recommendations.
D. Any temporary or permanent obstruction to safe and easy access to the facility to be inspected and/or sampled shall be promptly removed by the operator at the written or oral request of the City and shall not be replaced. The costs of clearing such access shall be borne by the operator.
E. Unreasonable delays in allowing the City access to a permitted facility are a violation of a stormwater discharge permit and of this section. A person who is the operator of the facility with an NPDES permit to discharge stormwater associated with industrial activity commits an offense if the person denies the City reasonable access to the permitted facility for the purpose of conducting any activity authorized or required by this section.
F. If the City has been refused access to any part of the premises from which stormwater is discharged, and he/she is able to demonstrate probable cause to believe that there may be a violation of this chapter, or that there is a need to inspect and/or sample as part of a routine inspection and sampling program designed to verify compliance with this chapter or any order issued hereunder, or to protect the overall public health, safety, and welfare of the community, then the City may seek issuance of a search warrant from any court of competent jurisdiction. (Ord. 2018-04, 1-16-2018)