Requirements related to extensions of utility systems vary depending upon whether the extension: includes only service laterals and/or service connections, or includes new mains located between one or more service laterals and a portion of the system depicted in the master plan, or includes a portion of the system depicted in the master plan.
(A) Service Laterals and Service Connections.
(1) If a main already exists in a right-of-way abutting a property line, but there is no service lateral, or a replacement lateral is necessary, then the city shall construct the service lateral and service connection, and the developer or property owner shall pay a meter charge (water only) and a tapping charge. If only a new or replacement water service connection is required, then the city shall do the work and a meter charge shall be paid.
(2) If a new main also is required, then both the main and the service lateral shall be constructed at the same time as the new main. A water service connection may, at the discretion of the city, be constructed either at the same time as the lateral or subsequently. If either one is constructed by the developer, title to the completed product shall be transferred to the city. In that event, payment of the tapping and/or meter charge corresponding to the transferred work shall not be required and this fact shall be stated in the connection contract. The relationship between actual costs incurred by the developer and standard tapping and/or meter charges shall be immaterial, and no credits for any differences shall accrue to either the city or the developer. If either the lateral or the water service connection is constructed by the city, then the corresponding charge shall be paid.
(B) New Mains Not in Master Plan.
(1) In general, any new facilities between those depicted in a master plan and the service laterals for a development shall be constructed by the developer, at his own expense. Drawings and specifications shall be submitted to the City Utility Director for review. Assisted as he sees fit by recommendations of the engineer, the revision and resubmittal. If the director determines that any portion of the work must be an oversized facility, then the developer shall obtain two cost estimates for the portion designated to be oversized - one if built oversized and one if built to the size required to serve only the development, where both sizes are as approved by the utility director. The director also shall obtain two such estimates. The developer and the director then shall negotiate both a contract for the utility connection, which will indicate whether the oversized facility is to be built by the developer or by the city, and a developer’s agreement, which will indicate: the amount of reimbursement from future construction charges to which the developer will be entitled because of the oversizing, the specific properties that are considered to be the future beneficiaries of the oversizing, and the specific formula to be used in calculating the construction charges to be paid to the city by the owners when those properties are connected to the system. If the city is to construct the oversized facilities, the developer shall be required to fully reimburse the city for all costs actually incurred, including any costs for engineering services during design and construction. That full reimbursement shall be due and payable at the same time as payment of the required connection charge. Any reimbursements back to the developer for oversizing shall not be made until the city has received construction charges from future beneficiaries of the oversizing, as stipulated in the developer’s agreement.
(2) If mutually agreeable, the contract for the connection might stipulate that the city shall construct not only the oversized facility but also all other new facilities needed to serve the development. In this case, the developer shall reimburse the city for all costs for design and construction of all work done by the city, but he shall not receive any subsequent reimbursement from future users for the portions not considered to be oversized.
(C) Master Plan Facilities. In general, all facilities depicted in a master plan are to be built by the city, using funds already available to the city and without immediate one-for-one reimbursement from a specific developer. However, it is intended that connection charges shall reimburse the city for those costs. It shall be the policy of the city that the costs of master plan facilities needed for future developments shall be borne primarily by reimbursements to the city from those developments, and that connection charges paid by those developments shall serve as an equitable means of accomplishing the reimbursements. Accordingly, at a frequency of every two to three years the city will review projected future developments, connection charges to be paid by those developments, and projected costs of existing and new master plan facilities needed to serve those developments. After each such review, the required connection charges will be adjusted in an attempt to ensure:
(1) Approximate equality between the then current projected total connection charges to be received from future developments and the then current projected costs of master plan facilities constructed to serve those developments.
(2) The ratio of any one connection charge to projected total connection charges from new developments approximately equal to the ratio of the utility services that development is expected to receive from new master plan facilities and the total services to be provided by those facilities.
(3) (a) It may occur that some of the facilities shown in a master plan will be needed to serve a proposed development, but the then current city construction program will not ensure that those facilities will be available at the time the developer desires to start his construction. In such a case, the developer may, if he wishes, request that he be allowed to assist in accelerating the construction of those master plan facilities needed to serve his development. Upon receipt of such a request, the city will attempt to negotiate mutually agreeable terms concerning: whether the needed master plan facilities will be built by the developer or by the city; who shall pay the costs of the construction; and how much, if any, of the master plan costs paid by the developer will be returned to him in the future. The amount of any such reimbursement will be negotiated on a case-by-case basis, and shall be determined in a manner similar to that described for reimbursement of costs for “Oversized” non-master plan facilities, in § 50.03(B).
(b) Regardless of the size of the agreed upon reimbursement for a developer’s payment of the costs of master plan facilities, that reimbursement shall be made from future connection charges. The reimbursement initially shall serve as a direct credit against the connection charges which the developer will be required to pay, as established in this chapter. In the event the agreed upon reimbursement exceeds his own connection charges, then the remainder of the reimbursement will be made from future connection charges, as they are received by the city from other developments.
(c) Details of the reimbursement shall be stipulated in a negotiated developer’s agreement, which will indicate: the amount of the reimbursement the developer is to receive, the period of reimbursement, whether reimbursement shall be from all connection charges collected in that period or only from those collected from specified geographical locations, and whether all or only a specified fraction of each eligible connection charge shall be used for reimbursement.
(Ord. 641, passed 12-15-82; Am. Ord. 692, passed 5-16-84; Am. Ord. 1978, passed 11-17-21)