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(a) Establishment of an Illicit Discharge and Illegal Connection Monitoring Program. The City shall establish a program to detect and eliminate illicit discharges and illegal connections to the MS4. This program shall include the mapping of the MS4, including MS4 outfalls; the routine inspection of stormwater outfalls to the MS4, and the systematic investigation of potential residential, commercial, industrial, and institutional facilities for the sources of any dry weather flows found as the result of these inspections.
(b) Inspection of Residential, Commercial, Industrial, or Institutional Facilities.
(1) The City shall be permitted to enter and inspect facilities subject to this regulation as often as may be necessary to determine compliance with this regulation.
(2) The City shall have the right to set up at facilities subject to this regulation such devices as are necessary to conduct monitoring and/or sampling of the facility's stormwater discharge, as determined by the City.
(3) The City shall have the right to require the facility owner/operator to install monitoring equipment as necessary. This sampling and monitoring equipment shall be maintained at all times in safe and proper operating condition by the facility owner/operator at the owner/operator's expense. All devices used to measure stormwater flow and quality shall be calibrated by the City to ensure their accuracy.
(4) Any temporary or permanent obstruction to safe and reasonable access to the facility to be inspected and/or sampled shall be promptly removed by the facility's owner/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 facility owner/operator.
(5) Unreasonable delays in allowing the City access to a facility subject to this regulation for the purposes of illicit discharge inspection is a violation of this regulation.
(6) If the City is refused access to any part of the facility from which stormwater is discharged, and the City demonstrates probable cause to believe that there may be a violation of this regulation, or that there is a need to inspect and/or sample as part of an inspection and sampling program designed to verify compliance with this regulation or any order issued hereunder, or to protect the public health, safety, and welfare, the City may seek issuance of a search warrant, civil remedies including but not limited to injunctive relief, and/or criminal remedies from any court of appropriate jurisdiction.
(7) Upon confirmation of an illicit discharge from a facility by the City, any costs associated with the review of proposed remediation plans, inspecting the facility to determine compliance with this regulation, and monitoring and/or sampling of the facility's stormwater discharge, throughout the time period it takes to adequately resolve the illicit discharge, shall be assessed to the facility owner/operator.
(Ord. 77-15. Passed 7-13-15.)
(a) Notice of Violation. When the City finds that a person has violated a prohibition or failed to meet a requirement of this regulation, the City may order compliance by written Notice of Violation. Such notice must specify the violation and shall be hand delivered, and/or sent by registered mail, to the owner/operator of the facility. Such notice may require the following actions:
(1) The performance of monitoring, analyses, and reporting;
(2) The elimination of illicit discharges or illegal connections;
(3) That violating discharges, practices, or operations cease and desist;
(4) The abatement or remediation of stormwater pollution or contamination hazards and the restoration of any effected property;
(5) Payment of a fine to cover administrative and remediation costs;
(6) The implementation of source control or treatment BMPs.
(b) If abatement of a violation and/or restoration of affected property is required, the Notice of Violation shall set forth a deadline within which such remediation or restoration must be completed. Said Notice shall further advise that, should the facility owner/ operator fail to remediate or restore within the established deadline, a legal action for enforcement may be initiated.
(c) Any person receiving a Notice of Violation must meet compliance standards within the time established in the Notice of Violation.
(d) Injunctive Relief. It shall be unlawful for any owner/operator to violate any provision or fail to comply with any of the requirements of this regulation pursuant to Ohio R.C. 3709.211. If an owner/operator has violated or continues to violate the provisions of this regulation, the City may petition for a preliminary or permanent injunction restraining the owner/operator from activities that would create further violations or compelling the owner/operator to perform abatement or remediation of the violation.
(e) Suspension Due to Illicit Discharges in Emergency Situations. The City may, without prior notice, suspend MS4 discharge access to a person when such suspension is necessary to stop an actual or threatened discharge which presents or may present imminent and substantial danger to the environment, or to the health or welfare of persons, or to the MS4 or waters of the United States. If the violator fails to comply with a suspension order issued in an emergency, the City may take such steps as deemed necessary to prevent or minimize damage to the MS4 or waters of the United States, or to minimize danger to persons.
(f) Suspension Due to the Detection of Illicit Discharge. Any person discharging to the MS4 in violation of this chapter may have their MS4 access terminated if such termination would abate or reduce an illicit discharge. The City Engineer will notify a violator of the proposed termination of its MS4 access. The violator may petition the authorized enforcement agency for a hearing for reconsideration. A person commits an offense if the person reinstates MS4 access to premises terminated pursuant to this section, without the prior approval of the authorized enforcement agency.
(Ord. 77-15. Passed 7-13-15.)
(a) Any person, firm, entity or corporation; including but not limited to, the owner and or operator of the property, his agents and assigns, occupant, property manager, and any contractor or subcontractor who violates or fails to comply with any provision of this regulation is guilty of a misdemeanor of the third degree and shall be fined no more than five hundred dollars ($500.00) or imprisoned for no more than 60 days, or both, for each offense. A separate offense shall be deemed committed each day during or on which a violation or noncompliance occurs or continues beyond the date established in the Notice of Violation set forth in Section 1053.09.
(b) All expenses incurred by the City to initiate an enforcement action, implement a mitigating event, remediation of damages caused or resolve a violation shall be the responsibility of the property owner and/or operator.
(Ord. 77-15. Passed 7-13-15.)