(A) The County Commissioners will adopt and, from time to time, revise a general plan for development of a Comprehensive Water and Sewer Master Plan ("the Master Plan") in the county.
(B) The Master Plan will include operating systems, projected systems, and planned systems. Operating systems are those elements of the Master Plan for which a cost center has been established to track revenue and/or expenditures, as determined by the Comptroller. Projected systems are those elements of the Master Plan for which identification pursuant to § 51.01(B) has been made, but which have not been accepted as operating systems. Planned systems are those elements of the Master Plan which reflect anticipated service areas and systems but which are not yet projected systems.
(C) For a system to be a planned system, included within the Master Plan there must be:
(1) Petition by private citizen;
(2) Decision by the county that the system is in the interest of the public health and welfare;
(3) Directive by the Carroll County Health Department; or
(4) Directive by the Maryland Department of the Environment.
(D) Once planned systems are included in the Master Plan, the county may require that a feasibility study be done. The county shall contract for the feasibility study with a consultant.
(E) The county may require the private citizen who has petitioned that a system be included in the Master Plan, pursuant to division (C) above, to bear the cost of the feasibility study, and to secure the cost by a deposit with the county. In the event that the project proves feasible and is included as a projected system within the Master Plan, the cost of the feasibility study becomes part of the total project cost and will be refunded to the private citizen.
(F) The feasibility study shall determine the technical and economic feasibility of the proposed project. The results of the study will be an assertion that the project is or is not technically feasible. The study shall also contain an estimate of the project cost, which shall include construction, engineering, inspection and administrative cost, plus an estimate for contingencies, and an estimate of the lump sum income available from area connection charges; it shall contain an estimate of the annual income required to support the system and shall establish suggested charges or assessments necessary to raise such income. The results will also include an estimate of the annual surplus or deficit. The county shall inform the person or party responsible for the inclusion of the system in the Master Plan of the complete results of the feasibility study in a timely manner.
(G) Subject to reserves maintained by the county pursuant to division (I) below, allocations for water and sewer service by the county shall be granted on a first-come, first-served basis whenever public water or sewer service is available at the property in question through service provided by the county's transmission and/or main lines. Allocations shall only be granted upon the execution and acceptance of a standard Public Works Agreement (PWA) or other agreement as required by county policy, the recordation of an approved subdivision plat and payment of all applicable charges; provided, however, that prior to an allocation being made, all necessary approvals as may be required by law must have been secured.
(H) To determine availability, the county will allocate and record capacity or flows for single equivalent dwelling units (EDUs) at the time building permits are approved or at the time area connection charges and any other applicable charges are paid.
(I) The county may set aside allocations for water and sewer service as it deems necessary for industrial development, educational, and governmental purposes.
(J) If a property is required to connect to the county water or sewer system as a result of § 14-303 of the Code of Public Local Laws ("the Code") and not for reasons of health:
(1) The County Commissioners may establish a time to connect and shall record in the Land Records of Carroll County for each such property the notice to connect to the system;
(2) Upon petition of a property owner, the County Commissioners may determine that it is not feasible for the property to connect to the system. In such cases where it is determined that it is not feasible for the property to connect, then the property shall not be required to connect to the system. Feasibility shall be determined:
(a) By engineering studies prepared and certified by a professional engineer licensed to do business in this state, if those studies determine that it is impossible to connect the property to the system on a technical basis; or
(b) By a combination of engineering and financial studies, which reflect that it would be commercially impractical to connect the property to the system based upon costs that would be substantially greater than could be expected at then current costs to connect other properties in the area (that have connected to the system) and based upon the costs to connect that property to the system versus the benefits to be derived from the services to be provided.
(3) The determination of feasibility shall be in the county's sole discretion and may be based on the effect the exemption may have on the cost of the project or on the county's ability to provide service to other properties in the area. The burden shall be on the property owner to establish in the feasibility of service with clear and convincing evidence; and
(4) An exemption granted hereunder may exempt the property from any front-foot benefit assessment levied or to be levied on the property which fronts the county water or sewer main.
(2004 Code, § 179-2) (Ord. 46, passed 4-17-1984; Ord. 46-J, passed 8-11-1997; Ord. 02-20, passed 11-21-2002; Ord. 2021-09, passed 10-14-2021)