(a) Connection Required. The owner of all existing houses or buildings used for human occupancy, employment, recreation or other purposes, situated within the Village of Franklin, shall be connected to a properly operating and permitted on-site sanitary disposal system. Where it is determined that an on-site system cannot be properly or safely utilized or where such property is within an area of the Village meeting the criteria of a designated pollution area as set forth herein, then each such property owner shall, at his or her own expense, install suitable facilities to connect such house or building to the public sewer in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. It is the intent of this division that each property within the Village of Franklin utilized for human occupancy, employment, recreation or other purposes, shall be required to either maintain a properly operating on-site sanitary system or, in the alternative, if such system cannot be made to operate properly, then be connected to the public sewer system in accordance with this chapter. Nothing contained in this division shall prohibit a property owner from maintaining, repairing or installing an on-site sanitary system, also known as an on-site septic facility, provided that such an on-site sanitary system can meet all lawful requirements and is not in a designated pollution area. The Village shall not require any such property owner to connect to the pressure sewer system.
(b) Mandated Connection Area. The Village of Franklin Council may from time to time designate geographic areas of the Village in which all properties shall connect to the pressure sewer system. This division shall not apply to properties which have received approval for construction of a private sewer system from the Village of Franklin since August, 1988. Such designated pollution areas shall be determined after investigation by and on recommendation of an appropriate State or County health official.
(1) Areas may be mandated for connection where investigation determines the existence of fecal coliform where the source(s) of the same cannot be determined.
(2) Mandated connection areas shall be determined so as to reasonably accomplish the abatement of pollution in such areas, and the Village of Franklin shall consider the following information in making such determination:
A. Soil maps of the area to determine soil characteristics relative to on- site septic systems.
B. A search of the Oakland County Health Department records for a history of repairs, soil characteristics, water tables and any other data such as a disclaimer relative to site limitations.
C. Reliance on the health official's knowledge of the area gained through soil evaluations associated with the septic permit system and past documentation of the area such as seasonal high water tables.
(3) After reviewing the above information, the health official shall develop a conclusion relative to mandating sewer connection in a geographically defined area which shall be summarized in a report with recommendations to the Village Council.
(4) In reviewing the above information, the Village Council shall also consider cost effectiveness and engineering feasibility in determining geographic boundaries of the mandated area.
(5) In making its determination of any mandated area, the Village Council shall hold a public hearing with written notice to each property owner by first class mail at least ten days prior to the date set for such hearing; such notice to include a map of the proposed mandated area, including the location of all lateral lines within such proposed area and street addresses.
(6) The Village shall cause the map of any such mandated area to be published in the official records of the Village.
(c) Individual Polluting Properties. The owner of any property which is a source of human pollution and on which an on-site sanitary system cannot be properly or safely utilized shall cause such property to connect to the pressure sewer system.
(d) Connection to Public System. The owner of any house, building or property used for human occupancy, employment, recreation or other purposes, and abutting on any street or right-of-way in which there is located or in the future may be located a public sanitary sewer of the Village, and which is either an individual polluting property or is within a mandated area, is hereby required at the owner's expense to connect to the public sewer system in accordance with the provisions of this chapter within 30 days after the date of the second official notice to do so.
(e) Connection Procedures.
(1) First notice. This chapter shall constitute the first notice to the affected property owners that the Village of Franklin will require immediate connection to the pressure sewage system once it becomes operational and available to the property in question and shall be mailed by first class mail to those property owners upon its enactment or upon determination of required hook up.
(2) Second notice. The second notice sent to the affected property owners shall require the connection to the pressure sewer system to be made within 30 days after said notice is given. Notice may be given by first class or certified mail or posting on the affected property. The notice shall:
A. Give the approximate location of the relevant section of the pressure sewer system which is available for connection; and
B. Advise the property owner of the requirements and of the enforcement provisions of this chapter.
(f) Exception for Late Connection. In the event the property owner is unable to connect to the pressure sewer system within the time prescribed by this chapter, said property owner may appeal to the Village Council to allow said owner additional time in which to connect without penalty and without civil and criminal proceedings being initiated against him or her. This appeal must be made in writing within ten days of the second written notice as provided for in division (c) of this section.
(g) Enforcement Remedies.
(1) Penalties for late connection. In addition to other charges required herein, failure or refusal to connect to the pressure system within the prescribed time may result in the property being charged such additional connection charges as may be established by the Village Council.
(2) Civil penalties to compel connection. Where any structure in which sanitary sewage originates is not connected to the available and operational pressure sewer system within thirty days after the date of mailing or posting of the second written notice as required by division (e) of this section, the provisions of this chapter shall be enforceable through the bringing of an appropriate action for injunction, mandamus, or otherwise, in any court having jurisdiction to compel the owner of the property on which said structure is located to connect to said system. The Village may charge in such action or actions any number of owners of such properties to compel said person or persons to connect to the pressure sewer system.
(3) Recourse of Village for continued failure to connect. The continued failure or refusal of any property owner to connect to the pressure sewer system after a civil action has been brought by the Village of Franklin and a court of competent jurisdiction has rendered an order compelling said connection, shall allow the Village to:
A. Seek a contempt order against the recalcitrant property owner;
B. Enter upon said property and physically connect it to the pressure sewer system;
C. Charge any expense incurred in making said connection to the property owner through a lien the Village shall acquire against such property for such expense, said lien to be enforced in the manner now provided by law for the enforcement of tax liens; and
D. Report the amount of the lien to the Village Clerk who shall notify the property owner or party in interest whose name appears upon the last local tax assessment records of the lien, by first class mail. If the property owner fails to pay the same within thirty days after mailing by the Clerk of the notice of the amount thereof, the Clerk shall add the same to the next Village delinquent tax roll and it shall be collected in the same manner in all respects as provided by law for the collection of taxes by the Village.
(Ord. 179. Passed 8-17-92; Amended 3-13-95; Ord. 2001-08. Passed 12-10-01.)