(a) Compliance with Section Required. No unauthorized person shall uncover, make any connection with or opening into, use, alter or disturb any public sewer or appurtenance thereto, except in accordance with this section.
(b) Permits. A person desiring a permit to make a connection with, to open or to tap any public sewer or drain shall first make application to the Code Enforcement Officer, who shall consult with the City Engineer's office with regard to the sewer or drain desired to be connected with, opened or tapped. If such connection, opening or tap can be made, the Engineer's office shall give the applicant the approximate location at which the connection, opening or tap is to be made. Upon receipt of all fees therefor, the Code Enforcement Officer shall give to the applicant a permit stating that permission is granted to connect with, open or tap such sewer or drain and also stating the name of the street and the number of the lot abutting such sewer. All such permits shall be issued by the Code Enforcement Officer. No permit to connect to the sewerage system shall be issued until the Engineer's office has determined that there is capacity, including capacity for compatible wastes, available for the wastewater to be discharged in all downstream sewers, lift stations, force mains and the wastewater treatment plant.
(c) Charges; Inspections. For each permit issued by the Code Enforcement Officer, a charge shall be made as hereinafter provided. A connection charge shall be made for all new buildings, major additions or alterations to buildings causing increased wastewater discharge, any land use causing the discharge of wastewater into the wastewater system and any change in wastewater flow. Such connection charge shall be computed as provided in this section.
Such connection charge shall also be made if a dwelling or building is connected to the wastewater system. Before the permit can be used, evidence that the connection charge has been paid shall be filed with the Code Enforcement Officer.
An inside City tap-in fee for connections to the sanitary sewer system of the City shall be charged as follows:
(1) One-family dwellings | $850.00 |
(2) Multiple-dwelling units per unit | 850.00 |
(3) Motels or hotels: | |
First unit | 850.00 |
For each additional unit | 225.00 |
(4) Business and professional buildings: | |
With 4 lavatories and commodes | 850.00 |
For each additional lavatory, commode or combination thereof over 4 | 150.00 |
(5) Restaurants: | |
Drive-in | $850.00 |
Seating capacity: 10 or less | 850.00 |
11 to 25 | 900.00 |
26 to 35 | 950.00 |
over 35 | 1,000.00 |
(6) Service stations | 850.00 |
(7) Mobile home parks, per mobile home | 850.00 |
(8) Subdivisions: | |
Extension initial tap | 850.00 |
Each buildable lot | 850.00 |
(9) Rest homes, nursing homes or extended care facilities: | |
First unit | 850.00 |
Each additional unit | 200.00 |
A bathroom-restroom facility, which shall include a commode, lavatory and shower or tub, or any part thereof, within a confined area, shall be considered one unit. | |
(10) Hospitals: | |
Base fee | 850.00 |
Each hospital bed | 75.00 |
In addition to the fee charges above, if the City does the tap, the party requesting a tap on the sanitary sewer line shall pay the cost of labor and materials for making the tap, plus a sum equal to 20% of the costs of labor and materials as an administrative fee. Outside the City limits, tap-in fees shall be two times the inside City rates.
All fees for taps and inspections shall be placed in the Sewer Capital Expansion Funds, which shall be established by the Finance Director for the improvement and extension of the sewer system.
(d) Duties of the Code Enforcement Officer re: Permits. The Code Enforcement Officer shall devise and procure the permit forms. Such permits shall be consecutively numbered. Payment shall be made to the Finance Department, and funds shall be credited to the Sewer Fund. The Finance Director shall notify the Code Enforcement Officer when payment has been made. Permits for connection to the sewerage system will be valid for ninety calendar days from the date of issuance. The Code Enforcement Officer shall have the option of extending the permit for 60 days upon application and for good cause shown. If work is not satisfactorily completed within the time limits provided, the permit applicant shall forfeit permit fees paid therefor.
(Ord. 4216. Passed 7-6-92; Ord. 4948. Passed 1-7-02; Ord. 5005. Passed 12-16-02.)
(e) Installation and Connection Costs; Loss or Damage. All costs and expenses incident to the installation and connection of the building sewer shall be borne by the owner. The owner shall indemnify the City for any loss or damage that may directly or indirectly be occasioned by the installation of the building sewer. The owner shall hold the City harmless from any loss or damage that may result from or be occasioned by such installation or connection.
(f) Separate Sewers Required. A separate and independent building sewer shall be provided for every building, except that if one nonresidential building stands at the rear of another nonresidential building on an interior lot and no private sewer is available or can be constructed to the rear building through an adjoining alley, courtyard or driveway, the front building sewer may be extended to the rear building and the whole considered as one building sewer. However, the City does not and shall not assume any obligation or responsibility for damage caused by or resulting from any such single connection.
A single connection to the public system may be provided for several nonresidential building sewers collected by a privately owned interceptor. All provisions of this chapter shall apply to such privately owned interceptor.
(g) Old Building Sewers. Old building sewers may be used in connection with new buildings only when they are found, on examination and test by City officials responsible for enforcement of the Plumbing Code of the City, to meet all the requirements of this chapter and the current rules and regulations of the Engineer as set forth in Section 923.08(l). Abandoned sewers or openings shall be plugged to prevent dirt or fill material from entering the sewerage system.
(h) Elevation of Building Sewers. Whenever possible, the building sewer shall be brought to the building at an elevation below the basement floor. In all buildings in which a building drain is too low to permit gravity flow to the public sewer, sanitary sewage carried by such building drain shall be lifted by an approved means and discharged to the building sewer.
(i) Construction of Connections and Laterals. No connection or lateral extending to private property from a public sewer or drain shall be constructed except in accordance with specifications issued by the City Engineer.
(j) Supervision of Connections, Tappings and Openings. All connections, tappings and openings shall be made under the supervision of the City Engineer. The applicant for the permit described in division (b) hereof shall notify the Engineer when the connection, tapping or opening is ready for inspection. No building sewer or connection shall be covered or placed in service until it has been approved by the Engineer. The City shall inspect such building sewer or connection within one working day after notification.
At least 24-hours notice must be given to the Engineer before any street or public right-of-way can be opened for the purpose of laying a private sewer or drain, and such work may not proceed until the approval of the Engineer is obtained.
(k) Barricades and Warning Lights Required. All excavations for building sewer installation shall be adequately guarded with barricades and lights so as to protect the public from hazards. Streets, sidewalks, parkways and other public property disturbed in the course of the work shall be restored in a manner satisfactory to the City. All refilling of the excavation made for the connection shall be under the supervision of the City officials responsible for streets.
(l) Demolished Buildings; Plugging of Connections. Whenever a building is demolished, thus terminating sewage flow from such location, all building connections to the sewerage system shall be plugged at the tapping or opening into the sewer, unless the building sewer is found to meet the requirements of this chapter and the rules and regulations of the City Engineer as provided in Section 923.08(l), in which case the plug shall be at the property line. Such plugging shall be made under the supervision. of the Engineer. The owner of the building shall notify the Engineer as to when the plugging will occur.
(m) Connections from Outside City. Whenever sewers are about to be or have been constructed for the purposes of carrying off sewage and drainage from lots and lands outside the City, no permission shall be given or granted to connect such sewers with the treatment works of the City, nor shall the use of the treatment works be permitted for the sewage and drainage of such lots and lands, without written permission from the City Engineer, which shall be given only if the sewers or system of sewers for which such connection or use is sought conforms to plans theretofore adopted by the City. A certificate of approval of such sewers by the State Environmental Protection Agency shall also be furnished where, by law, such plans are required to be approved.
(n) Agreements by Users Outside City. In addition to the City Engineer's approval, as required in division (m) hereof, applicants for permission to use or connect with City sewers shall execute such agreements as to terms, conditions and compensation for the use of such sewers and treatment works as are required by the City and as authorized by law.
(o) After Hours Service Calls. When the city responds to a sewer service call after hours (at any time other than non-holiday weekdays of Monday through Friday, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.), and the problem is determined not to be caused by or within the City’s system, there shall be a service charge of sixty dollars ($60.00) charged to the consumer.
(Ord. 3018. Passed 9-6-88; Ord. 5117. Passed 11-15-04; Ord. 5243. Passed 11-19-07; Ord. 5288. Passed 11-17-08; Ord. 5442. Passed 12-5-11.)