For the purposes of this Division 4, the following definitions shall apply.
ACT. Tex. Local Government Code Chapter 552, Subchapter C.
BENEFITTED PROPERTY. A developed parcel to which stormwater service is made available.
CUSTOMER/OWNER. The person(s) or entity(ies) that is recorded as the customer or user of utility services for a parcel as recorded in the records of the city’s utility or tax billing system.
DEVELOPED PROPERTY. A lot or tract that has been improved with impervious surface.
DIRECTOR. The director of transportation and public works or the designated representative.
DRAINAGE INFRASTRUCTURE. The property, real, personal or mixed, that is used in providing stormwater capabilities and capacity to manage and control stormwater runoff for the drainage utility system, including bridges, catch basins, channels, conduits, creeks, culverts, detention ponds, retention ponds, ditches, draws, flumes, pipes, pumps, sloughs, treatment works and appurtenances to those items, whether natural or artificial, or using force or gravity, that are used to draw off surface water from land, carry the water away, collect, store or treat the water, or divert the water into natural or artificial watercourses.
DRAINAGE UTILITY FEE. The charge, including interest and penalties paid by the customer/owner of a benefitted property for services provided by the drainage utility system including, but not limited to, the items described in “cost-of-service” in § 402.044(2) of the Act and any charges for future funding of the drainage utility system construction as described in § 402.044(4).
DRAINAGE UTILITY SYSTEM. The drainage utility system owned or controlled, in whole or in part by the city, including the city’s existing stormwater and drainage facilities, materials and supplies, and dedicated to the service of benefitted properties, and including provision for additions, extensions and improvements thereto and replacements thereof.
DRAINAGE UTILITY ONLY ACCOUNT. A utility billing account that is established for the sole purpose of billing applicable drainage utility fees where no other utility services are provided through the city.
EQUIVALENT RESIDENTIAL UNIT or ERU. Two thousand six hundred square feet of impervious area or surface.
HIGH OCCUPANCY RESIDENTIAL/ NON-RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY. All developed properties within the city that do not fall under the definition of Low Occupancy Residential Property, generally consisting of commercial, industrial, institutional, and apartment type land uses.
IMPERVIOUS AREA or IMPERVIOUS SURFACE. A surface that has been compacted or covered with a layer of material so that it is highly resistant to infiltration by water. IMPERVIOUS AREAS include, but are not limited to, compacted soils with a surface treatment, buildings, pavement, parking lots, driveways, sidewalks and other human-made structure or surface that is built or laid on the natural surface of the land which has the effect of increasing, concentrating, or otherwise altering stormwater runoff so that flows are increased.
LOW OCCUPANCY RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY. Any property platted, zoned or used for one-family or two-family residential purposes including manufactured homes, or any triplex or quadplex used for residential purposes.
PARCEL. One or more lots or tracts, or portions of lots or tracts.
STORMWATER RUNOFF POTENTIAL. Relative potential for causing stormwater runoff quantities or velocities from a parcel based on the type of development on the parcel.
WHOLLY SUFFICIENT AND PRIVATELY OWNED DRAINAGE SYSTEM. Land and facilities owned and operated by a person or entity other than the city’s drainage utility system, the stormwater from which does not discharge under any storm frequency event or conditions into a creek, river, slough, culvert or other channel or facility that is part of the city’s drainage utility system.
(Ord. 16782, § 1, passed 1-24-2006; Ord. 23884-10-2019, § 1, passed 10-15-2019, eff. 1-1-2020; Ord. 26205-06-2023, § 1, passed 6-13-2023)