Certain terms used in this chapter shall have the meanings given them in this section unless a different meaning is indicated by the context in which the particular term is used.
(a) "Apartment/Condominium Property" is considered to be a lot or parcel of real estate on which is situated a building containing four or more dwelling units.
(b) "Capital charge" means a fee imposed by Section 915.03 hereof upon all units of service of the wastewater disposal system in a total amount sufficient to pay the costs of principal and of interest obligations issued to finance acquisition and construction of the wastewater disposal system.
(c) "Capital costs" means payments of principal and of interest or obligations issued to finance the costs of acquisition and construction of the wastewater disposal system.
(d) "Connection" means a residential, commercial or industrial establishment served by a water or wastewater meter, public or private, the metered flow of which is subsequently discharged to the wastewater disposal system. Establishments with more than one meter, the metered flow of which is subsequently discharged to the wastewater disposal system, are hereby determined to have one connection for each such meter.
(e) "Commercial unit of service" means, for purposes of system charges, any aggregation of space or area occupied for a distinct purpose such as retail store, office, laundry, restaurant or other like units, which is equipped with one or more water fixtures draining into the wastewater disposal system, separate and distinct from other units of service. In office buildings or other premises containing more than one tenant, only those tenants shall be classified as users of service who occupy space which are equipped with a distinct opening or fixture or set of fixtures for the use ofwater separately from other tenants and with waste draining into the wastewater disposal system.
(f) "Commercial wastewater" means normal domestic wastewater discharged by a nonresident or nonindustrial unit of service into the wastewater disposal system.
(g) "Equivalent Residential Unit (ERU)" is a value, equal to 2,800 square feet of measured impervious area and is equal to the average amount of impervious area of residential properties within the City of Lakewood.
(h) "Impervious area" means areas that have been paved and/or covered with buildings and materials that do not allow natural infiltration, which include, but are not, limited to, concrete, asphalt, rooftop, and blacktop.
(i) "Impervious surface fee" means a charge based upon the Equivalent Residential Unit to recover costs of construction of projects necessary to meet the requirements of consent orders that mandate elimination of wet weather flow from combined sewer overflows. This charge recovers debt service costs and other expense of all projects related to correcting wet weather overflows.
(j) "Industrial unit of service" means, for purposes of system charges, any aggregation of space or area occupied for a distinct purpose such as manufacturing which results in the discharge of industrial wastewater as defined in Section 915.02(h) into the wastewater disposal system.
(k) "Industrial unit of service" means, for the purposes of industrial cost recovery, any nongovernmental user of the wastewater disposal system which discharges industrial wastewater and which is identified in the Standard Industrial Classification Manual, 1972, Office of Management and Budget, as amended and supplemented under the following divisions as contained therein:
(1) Division A. Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing.
(2) Division B. Mining.
(3) Division D. Manufacturing.
(4) Division E. Transportation, Communications, Electric, Gas and Sanitary Services.
(5) Division I. Services.
(l) "Industrial wastewater" means trade, process or nondomestic waste discharged from a unit of service which exceeds twenty-five gallons per employee per day or whose wastewater characteristics exceed 250 milligrams per liter BOD5, 200 milligrams per liter total suspended solids or whose wastewater contains toxic pollutants or poisonous solids, liquids or gasses in sufficient quantity to contaminate the sludge, to interfere with any sewage treatment process or which constitutes a hazard to humans or animals, creates a public nuisance or creates a hazard to the receiving waters of the wastewater disposal system.
(m) "Infiltration" is defined as a complex process of allowing runoff to penetrate the ground surface and flow through the upper soil surface.
(n) "General Property Tax" means that tax used to partially defray capital costs.
(o) "Non-residential properties" are all properties not encompassed by the definition of Residential and shall be defined as Non-residential. Non-residential properties will include:
(1) Apartment and condominiums properties;
(2) Commercial property;
(3) Industrial property;
(4) Institutional property;
(5) Governmental property;
(6) Churches;
(7) Schools;
(8) Federal, state, and local properties; and
(9) Any other property not mentioned in this or the list of residential properties below.
(p) "Normal domestic wastewater" means wastewater characterized by wastes created in the preparation of foods, bathing, laundry facilities and sanitary facilities, i.e., resulting from normal living functions.
(q) "Operation and maintenance costs" means the current, reasonable and necessary costs of operation and maintenance of the wastewater disposal system, paid or incurred, determined in accordance with general accepted accounting principles, including replacement costs, but excluding payments of principal of and interest on obligations issued to finance the cost of acquisition and construction of the wastewater disposal system.
(r) "Owner" The owner of a property shall be defined as the person who holds actual, not merely equitable, title to the property. Executors, administrators of estates, and persons who hold property in trust shall be considered owners.
(s) "Industrial pretreatment" means a regulatory program administered by the City for the purpose of permitting and monitoring the discharge of industrial wastewater into the wastewater disposal system.
(t) "Recovery period" means the thirty-year period during which the industrial cost recovery charge shall be imposed upon industrial units of service of the wastewater disposal system.
(u) "Replacement costs" means those costs incurred in obtaining and installing equipment, accessories or appurtenances which are necessary during the service life of the wastewater disposal system to maintain the capacity and performance for which the wastewater disposal system was designed and constructed.
(v) "Residential property" means all single-family properties, two-family, and three-family properties within the City of Lakewood.
(w) "Residential unit of service" means, for purposes of system charges, any aggregation of space or area occupied as a single residence, and any apartment or flat which is equipped with one or more fixtures for supplying sewer service separate and distinct from the other users on the premises. In multi-unit dwellings, only those divisions of the building shall be considered as units of service where the suite or apartment has facilities for cooking.
(x) "Square footage of impervious area" means, for the purpose of assigning an appropriate number of ERUs to a parcel of real property, the square footage of all impervious area using the outside boundary dimensions of the impervious area to include the total enclosed square footage, without regard for topographic features of the enclosed surface.
(y) "Stormwater" means stormwater runoff, snowmelt runoff, and surface runoff and drainage.
(z) "Treatment plant" means the facility forming a part of the wastewater disposal system which is utilized primarily to treat wastewater flows.
(aa) "User charge" means the fee imposed by Section 902.03 upon all units of service of the treatment works in a total amount sufficient to pay the costs of operation and maintenance, including costs of replacement of the wastewater disposal system.
(bb) "Wastewater" means the water and water-borne wastes discharged into the wastewater disposal system from premises on which any structure has been erected.
(cc) "Wastewater disposal system" includes all lateral, main and intercepting sewers, lift stations, pumps, sewage treatment and disposal plant or system, and structures and other appurtenances for the collections, transportation, treatment and disposition of wastewater and stormwater. This shall not include plumbing inside or in connection with buildings services or service sewers from a building to the street lateral.
(Ord. 24-2021. Passed 7-19-21.)