(A) (1) No access or connection shall be made to the city sewer or water systems unless a permit is issued by the City Administrator. The permit fees shall be as set by Council. These fees shall be in addition to any fees required under any other subdivision of this chapter.
(2) When a connection requires installation of a service line from the main to the property line, the applicant for a permit shall pay to the city an amount not less than the cost of making the necessary connections, taps and installation of pipe and appurtenances to provide service to the property and the necessary street repairs.
(3) No permit shall be issued to connect with any water or sanitary sewer main unless the City Administrator certifies to the truth of one of the following or the payment required hereunder is made:
(a) The lot or tract to be served has been assessed for the cost of construction of the main with which the connection is made or that proceedings for levying the assessment have been or will be commenced in due course;
(b) The construction cost has been paid by the developer platting the lot or tract; or
(c) If neither of the foregoing is true, a sum equal to the portion of the cost of constructing the main which would be assessable against the lot or parcel has been paid to the city.
(4) If no certificate can be issued, the applicant shall pay an additional connection fee equal to the greater of the following:
(a) The uniform charge which represents the average sewer and water assessment for the city based on actual past assessments levied within the city; and/or (The uniform charge shall be set by the City Council and adjusted, as necessary, from time to time.)
(b) A fee equal to the amount actually levied against the other properties served when the service line(s) were originally installed.
1. In addition to any other charges or fees for sewer connection and use, an incremental treatment capacity connection charge shall be required of each individual or entity requesting or receiving connection to the sanitary sewer system, as a prerequisite to connection. A single-family unit equivalent incremental treatment capacity connection charge shall be as set by Council.
2. The City Administrator shall maintain a separate fund within the sewer account of the city and shall deposit all proceeds collected pursuant to this chapter in the Fund. Proceeds in the Incremental Treatment Capacity Connection Charge Fund shall be used only to finance construction and incidental costs of additional capacity, purchase of machinery or equipment increasing present capacity, purchase of additional lands in connection with the sewage disposal plant, for lands, construction or equipment and incidents in connection with the development of a new sewage disposal plant, or for interceptors necessitated by additions of effluent to be treated in the city sewage system.
(B) Trunk line charges: The City Council may, by resolution, apportion costs incurred by the city for the construction of trunk sewer and/or water infrastructure in an area against new construction in the area serviced by the trunk line. The trunk charges shall be payable from the developer as a condition of development but, if specified in a development agreement between the developer and city, may be collected as lots are developed or sold as a surcharge to the water access fee and /or sewer access fee or in another manner. No access or connection to the city sewer or water systems shall be allowed until all applicable trunk line charges are paid. Trunk line charges shall be in addition to any fees required under any other ordinance or resolution.
(C) (1) Water shall not be shut off hereunder or for a violation of rules and regulations affecting water service until notice and an opportunity for a hearing have first been given the occupant of the premises involved. The notice shall be personally served and shall state that if payment is not made before a day stated in the notice but not less then ten days after the date on which the notice is given, the water supply to the premises will be shut off. The resolution and any customer who does so shall be charged $5 for each day of violation and the charge shall be added to his or her next water bill. No water service of a residential customer shall be disconnected if the disconnection affects the primary heat source for the residential unit when the disconnection would occur during the period between October 15 and April 15, the customer has declared inability to pay on forms provided by the city, the household income of the customer is less than 185% of the federal poverty level as documented by the customer to the city, and the customer’s account is current for the billing period immediately prior to October 15 or the customer has entered into a payment schedule and is reasonably current with payments under the schedule. The city shall, between August 15 and October 15, of each year, notify all residential customers of these provisions.
(2) If the emergency requires immediate compliance with terms of the resolution, the Council may provide for the delivery of a copy of the resolution to the premises of each customer, and any customer who has received the notice and thereafter uses or permits water to be used in violation of the resolution shall be subject to the charge provided above. Continued violation shall be cause for discontinuance of water service.
(D) Private wells existing prior to the installation of the city owned water lines abutting any lot piece of parcel of property in the city may be used by the occupant of the property for non-potable purposes (such as watering lawns, washing vehicles and the like) so long as the property remains in conformance with the following:
(1) The structure on the property must be properly hooked up to the city water system;
(2) The connection to the private well shall be distinctly severed from all inside water taps and connected to only one outside spigot; and
(3) The property owner shall agree in writing that the connection(s) may be inspected by the city at least once a year for compliance with the above for an initial and annual fee, both to be set by motion of the City Council. The inspection may be done at any reasonable time or times and may be without prior notice of the city. The well use agreement shall bind any and all current and future users of the system and shall be recorded with the County Recorder at the property owner’s expense.
(E) Calculation of units. The city shall calculate the number of units for the purposes of the Water Access Fee (WAC) and the Sewer Access Fee (SAC) in accordance with the Metropolitan Council’s SAC Procedure Manual, Appendix A-1: Gross Square Foot SAC Criteria for Commercial Properties, issued on January 1, 2021, as it may be amended from time to time. The aforementioned Appendix A-1 is incorporated herein.
(`87 Code, § 401.04) (Ord. 01-01, passed 1-18-2001; Am. Ord. 20210520-01, passed 5-20-2021)